Hudson County DSA Statement on Hoboken Rent Control Vote 8/5/24

Hudson County DSA is an organization of working people across the county with a shared vision of a future with security, dignity, and real freedom for every person. We believe, without qualification, that housing is a human right and that an injury to one is an injury to all. Our current effort to fight Ron Simoncini and Miles Square Taxpayers Association’s initiative to undermine rent control protections in Hoboken is led by our Hoboken members and other Hoboken residents who want to see a future for their city that isn’t restricted to the very rich. The truth is that if we were not in Hoboken, we likely wouldn’t be present in this fight – not one of us is being paid for our work, and we all have day jobs, so it’s likely that MSTA’s attempt to quietly gut rent control protections wouldn’t have been on our radar if our organization didn’t include Hoboken tenants who would be directly affected and are simply keeping tabs on their own city’s politics.

 

If either MSTA’s ballot measure or City Council’s “compromise” pass, the results for tenants in Hoboken will be catastrophic. Not a single person isn’t already aware of the exorbitant price of rent in Hoboken as it is – the only residents who are paying anything close to what most people would consider reasonable rent are long-time tenants in rent-controlled units, disproportionately seniors, whose landlords would be immediately incentivized to force them out of the apartments that have been their homes for decades just to increase their profit margin. Further, those who can currently afford the rents on controlled units without the benefit of that decades-long residence would be effectively denied a future in the city. By passing their “compromise,” City Council would be telling these people that in order to start a family, in order to get married or split up, they will need to look for housing elsewhere and leave the unit they’re currently occupying open to decontrol and inaccessibility to anyone but the wealthy.

 

The argument for this “compromise,” supposedly mitigating the damage of the passage of the full ballot measure while giving MSTA the lion’s share of what they want, is either a cynical excuse to cozy up to the landlord lobby or rank political cowardice, and in either case is a gross dismissal of the agency of the people of Hoboken. City Council should not be negotiating and rolling over on behalf of tenants who have no seat at the table and if they truly want to stop the harm that a successful referendum would bring they should be using their positions as civic leaders to mobilize opposition to the measure. People will be at the polls for the Presidential election in November and we trust the people of Hoboken, we ask that City Council trusts them too.

 

Housing in Hoboken is also not the only issue here. The ballot measure in Hoboken is one part of a large-scale effort by Simoncini to undermine rent control protections and drive up rent prices throughout the state. Our Hoboken members are leading the charge to protect their own community, and the people and Council of Hoboken should stand with tenants and not greedy landlords in their city but City Council currently and the Hoboken voters in November have a larger social responsibility here to tenants all across New Jersey to not set the precedent that it’s acceptable to undermine anyone’s access to housing. Where our members who live outside Hoboken are helping fight MSTA’s attack on rent control, they’re doing it first in solidarity with the local tenants who will be immediately affected and second because Hoboken tenants aren’t the only ones at risk – if rent control can’t be saved in Hoboken, every other city will be fighting this same battle in the near future. 

 

While local DSA members are organizing in Hoboken with help from their neighbors and fellow DSAers, MSTA is attempting to smear us as outside agitators. Let’s look at the facts here: Ron Simoncini, the public face of the ballot measure, lives in Ridgewood. While both our and MSTA’s efforts are focused on mobilizing voters in Hoboken, our members are speaking to their neighbors about the real content of the legislation and its potential impact on the community, whereas MSTA has paid canvassers to collect petition signatures with a vague and misleading line about “affordable housing.” While the measure would allegedly create as many as 700 new affordable units, no one is disputing that it would remove as many as 8,000 already existing affordable units. The idea that this group of landlord lobbyists with a clear financial incentive to displace rent control tenants is a legitimate political actor and representative of the interests of Hoboken, but tenants who live in Hoboken represent some sort of shadowy conspiracy, is absolutely ridiculous. We’re here now in solidarity with our neighbors and community members, we’ll be here to fight the referendum in November, and we call on Hoboken City Council to have the political courage to do the same. 

 

Send the Council a letter and take action here

Join the Hoboken City Council Meeting Call Monday, August 5th 7PM

RSVP for our debrief call after the vote, Tuesday, August 6th 

The post Hudson County DSA Statement on Hoboken Rent Control Vote 8/5/24 first appeared on North NJ DSA.

Thorn West: Issue No. 211

City Politics

• BIG:LEAP was a guaranteed basic income program that provided $1,000 a month to 3,200 Los Angeles families with incomes below the federal poverty program. One year after the program’s close, a study reports “overwhelmingly positive” results.

• A ballot measure authored by the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors that would expand the board from five to nine members will also, if passed, establish a county ethics commission. Critics say the ballot measure as written does not establish a truly independent ethics commission.

• A motion to spend $2 million subsidizing private security for faith-based institutions has been withdrawn. The motion, which was originally presented as a means of suppressing protest of the treatment of Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank, drew widespread public opposition.

Health Care

• A sharp increase of COVID infections in Los Angeles, driven by new, rapidly mutating variants, shows no sign of subsiding.

Housing Rights

• In San Francisco, the “very aggressive” sweeps that were promised by Mayor Breed as a result of the Grants Pass Ore ruling have begun. In Los Angeles County, there has been a different reaction from officials; the Board of Supervisors just unanimously passed a motion containing a resolution to “affirm Los Angeles County’s Care First approach to encampment resolution.”

• Per California’s Tenant Protection Act of 2019, every August 1 a maximum rent increase for most apartments is calculated, based on inflation. LAist explains this year’s calculations. In Los Angeles, the Rent Stabilization Ordinance limits rent increases on many apartments even further.

• A continuing audit of the city’s Inside Safe program, conducted by the city controller’s office, has revealed that one of the program sites was not providing any fresh food to residents, and was primarily serving instant noodles.

• San Francisco became the first city in the nation to pass an ordinance banning Real Page, the price fixing software that landlords use to maintain higher rent.

Police Violence and Community Resistance

• [Content warning: police violence] An LAPD officer was filmed punching a man in the face. Bodycam footage released later in the week revealed that officers had escalated what began as a parking violation. More via @sahrasulaiman on X.

• Mayor Bass’ veto of a police reform measure will stand. Bass, and others, opposed the reform measure for not being comprehensive enough. A motion to challenge the veto this week failed 9–5.

Environmental Justice

• The Park Fire has burned 400,000 acres in Northern California, becoming the fourth largest wildfire in state history.

The post SF BoS Pass Law to Combat Rent Fixing + LA BoS Reaffirm “Care First” Policy appeared first on The Thorn West.

In March 2024 at the Seattle DSA Chapter’s Local Convention, the Membership passed the following resolutions:

Resolution R1-2024: For an Anti-Zionist Seattle DSA Electoral Policy

Seattle DSA (SDSA) once again reaffirms our organization’s commitments to Palestinian liberation and the BDS movement by conveying our expectation that all candidates endorsed by SDSA at all levels hold true to the following basic commitments: 

1. Publicly support the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement. 

This should allow for good-faith disagreements with certain tactics within the BDS movement, but candidates are expected to support BDS as a viable strategy;

2. Refrain from any and all affiliation with the Israeli government or Zionist lobby groups, such as, but not limited to, AIPAC, J Street, or Democratic Majority for Israel (DMFI), including participating in political junkets or any event sponsored by these entities; 

3. Pledge to oppose legislation that is at odds with Palestinian liberation, such 
as: 

A. Any official adoption of a redefinition of antisemitism to include opposition to Israel’s policies or legal system, or support for BDS (e.g., IHRA definition of antisemitism); 
B. Legislative and executive efforts to penalize individuals, universities, and entities that boycott Israel; 
C. Legislative and executive efforts to send any military or economic resources to the Israeli government, organizations promoting settlement in the occupied territories, or to settlers in the occupied territories; 

4. Pledge to support legislation that supports Palestinian liberation, such as: 

A. Legislative and executive efforts to end Israeli apartheid and ethnic cleansing 
against Palestinians and promote Palestinians’ rights to return to and live 
freely on the land (e.g., H.R. 2590); 
B. Condemnation of Israeli apartheid and colonial practices (e.g., H.Res. 751); 
C. Ending the program known as the “Deadly Exchange,” in which the SPD and Israeli 
law enforcement engage in training exchanges with one another; 
D. Attempts to end the spending of U.S. tax dollars on Israel and/or sanction 
Israel until it ceases its practices of apartheid and colonialism; 
E. Divests city, municipal, state, or federal funds from the Israeli state.  

Be it further resolved, potential candidates who cannot commit to the aforementioned basic expectations will be disqualified from endorsement by the Seattle DSA; 

Be it further resolved, our local chapter’s candidate questionnaires will continue to include a question that inquires about the candidate’s position on Palestinian liberation and BDS; 

Be it further resolved, SDSA demands Executive Order 01.01.2017.25 be overturned, which prohibits executive agencies from entering into procurement contracts with companies that boycotted Israel; 

Be it further resolved, the SDSA, in collaboration with trusted Palestine Solidarity movement partners in the grassroots (e.g., Palestinian Youth Movement) and with the National BDS and Palestinian Solidarity subcommittee of the International Committee, will provide all endorsed candidates with anti-Zionist educational materials, 1-to-1 training opportunities, and ongoing, open-door counsel as needed; 

Be it further resolved, endorsed candidates or electeds who fail in the aforementioned commitments shall be urged to meet with SDSA’s Local Council (LC) to explain their actions and be given an opportunity to publicly correct their position to be in alignment with SDSA.

Candidates or electeds who fail to do so shall be subject to un-endorsement by a vote of the membership of SDSA. 

Be it finally resolved, upon passage of this resolution, the resolution will be posted on the chapter blog. 

Resolution R2-2024: For an Anti-Zionist Seattle DSA Membership

SDSA members – regardless of endorsement status – who are credibly shown to: 

1. have consistently and publicly opposed Palestinian liberation, even after receiving fair and ample opportunity for education about the Palestinian struggle for liberation, excluding good-faith tactical disagreements with BDS (However, SDSA affirms our commitment to BDS as a viable strategy), 
2. be currently directly affiliated with the Israeli government, any Zionist lobby group(s), or,
3. be voluntarily providing material aid to the Israeli government, organizations promoting settlement in the occupied territories, or to settlers in the occupied territories, 

will be considered in substantial disagreement with DSA’s principles and policies; 

Be it further resolved, SDSA acknowledges that Zionist propaganda is very strong, and is committed to work with those censured to help them understand anti-Zionism from a socialist perspective; 

Be it finally resolved, upon passage of this resolution, the resolution will be posted on the chapter blog.

The post Reaffirming Our Anti-Zionist Commitments appeared first on Seattle Democratic Socialists of America.

At our general meeting on July 28, we voted on and passed a resolution that states (among other things) our chapter’s commitment to:

• Support the BDS movement and pro-Palestinian policy

• Reject legislation and politicians that (aim to) provide material support for the zionist entity

• Expel members that provide material support for the zionist entity

• Denounce zionism as a racist, fascist, and colonial ideology

• Denounce the zionist past of the DSA

Following the chaotic endorsement and subsequent un-endorsement of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC) by DSA’s National Political Committee (NPC), despite AOC’s actions to support zionism and the zionist entity (read more about that here), we now join many other DSA chapters in passing resolutions inspired by Member Submitted Resolution 12 (MSR-12). The NPC tabled MSR-12 at the 2023 DSA national convention, and recently passed a significantly amended and watered down version of the resolution in July. Their amended version is different from ours in several ways. For example, theirs does not specify that chapters expel zionists from DSA, even after ample opportunity to learn about the Palestinian struggle and Palestinian liberation. We’re disappointed in the NPC’s choice to water down their resolution. With the landslide passage of our resolution (shown below) we call on the NPC to become committed to anti-zionism in accordance with DSA’s stated values and, if our chapter is any indication, the values of the huge majority of DSA members.

The full text of our resolution is as follows:

Whereas, and in line with Convention Resolutions #4 and #62 from 2019, the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) is an anti-imperialist organization;

Whereas, and in line with Convention Resolution #50 from 2019, the DSA is an anti-colonialist organization committed to advancing decolonization projects;

Whereas, and in line with Convention Resolutions #41 and #45 from 2017 and Resolutions #4 and #31 from 2021, the DSA is an anti-racist organization;

Whereas, and in line with Convention Resolutions #7&8 from 2017 and Resolution #35 from 2019, DSA National has publicly declared on numerous occasions in recent years that it “unapologetically stands in solidarity with Palestinian people everywhere;”

Whereas, Zionism – as popularized by Theodore Herzl and explicitly described by him as “something colonial,” meant to be “a wall of Europe against Asia… an outpost of [Western] civilization against [Eastern] barbarism” – is and has always been a racist, imperialist, settler-colonial project that has resulted in the ongoing death, displacement, and dehumanization of Palestinians everywhere (i.e., in Palestine and in diaspora around the world);

Whereas, the establishment of a Jewish ethnostate in Palestine (i.e., the so-called “state of Israel”) and its maintenance via ongoing and illegal occupation, apartheid and ethnic cleansing represent the culmination of Zionists’ century-long colonization of Palestine;

Whereas, and antithetical to the DSA’s contemporary principles and policies, DSA’s founding merger was heavily predicated on ensuring that the DSA would uphold Democratic Socialist Organizing Committee’s position of supporting continued American aid for Israel’s Zionist settler-colonial project, as explicitly noted in our organization’s founding merger documents (e.g., Points of Political Unity) and by Michael Harrington himself in his autobiography;

Whereas, and antithetical to the DSA’s contemporary principles and policies, a number of DSA endorsed electeds (e.g., Jamaal Bowman & Nithya Raman) have consistently demonstrated a commitment to Zionism through their public opposition to BDS and/or support for legislation that harms Palestinians everywhere (e.g., public support for and votes in favor of U.S. financial aid to the Israeli military, which forcefully advances the ongoing ethnic cleansing of Palestine through systematic tactics of abuse, forcible displacement, and murder of Palestinians; governmental adoption of definitions of antisemitism that conflate anti-Zionism and antisemitism, leading to the suppression of speech of Palestinians and those in solidarity with them);

Whereas, the DSA’s historic and contemporary association with and enablement of Zionism has jeopardized DSA rank-and-file membership’s confidence in the integrity of DSA’s overall politics, as well as our organization’s working relationships with major Palestinian-led grassroots organizations across North America;

Whereas, DSA membership has overwhelmingly denounced Zionism through its stated principles and convention mandates since 2017 but has yet to articulate these newfound principles into a more coherent praxis;

Whereas, the resolution “Make DSA an Anti-Zionist Organization in Principle and Praxis” (MSR #12), failed to be heard or deliberated on at the 2023 National Convention, and there is an urgent need to address this on a chapter level;

Whereas, in failing to pass an Anti-Zionist resolution in the spirit of MSR #12, DSA is not a safe space for Palestinians and those who organize for Palestinian liberation, as evidenced by the digital and physical threats against Palestine organizers at the 2023 convention;

Therefore, be it resolved, the Colorado Springs DSA chapter denounces the organization’s Zionist roots and reaffirms its commitment to being an anti-racist, anti-imperialist organization by explicitly committing to being an anti-Zionist chapter– in both principle and praxis;

Be it resolved, Colorado Springs DSA once again reaffirms our organizations commitments to Palestinian liberation and the broad, international BDS movement by conveying our expectation that all of Colorado Springs DSA’s endorsed candidates hold true to the following basic commitments:

1. Publicly support the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement;

2. Refrain from any and all affiliation with the Israeli government or Zionist lobby groups, such as, but not limited to, AIPAC, J Street, or Democratic Majority for Israel (DMFI), including participating in political junkets or any event sponsored by these entities;

3. Pledge to oppose legislation that harms Palestinians, such as…

• Any official adoption of a redefinition of antisemitism to include opposition to Israel’s policies or legal system, or support for BDS (e.g., IHRA definition of antisemitism);

• Legislative and executive efforts to penalize individuals, universities and entities that boycott Israel;

• Legislative and executive efforts to send any military or economic resources to Israel;

4. Pledge to support legislation that supports Palestinian liberation, such as…

• Legislative and executive efforts to end Israeli apartheid and ethnic cleansing against Palestinians and promote Palestinians’ rights to return to and live freely on the land (e.g., H.R. 3103 (118th Congress));

• Condemnation of Israeli apartheid and colonial practices  (e.g., H.Res. 751);

• Attempts to end the spending of U.S. tax dollars on Israel and/or sanction Israel until it ceases its practices of apartheid and colonialism;

Be it resolved, our local chapter’s candidate questionnaires will continue to include a question that inquires about the candidate’s position on BDS;

Be it resolved, potential candidates who cannot commit to the aforementioned basic expectations will be disqualified from endorsement by the Colorado Springs DSA at every level;

Be it resolved, the Colorado Springs DSA, in collaboration with trusted Palestine Solidarity movement partners in the grassroots (e.g., Palestinian Youth Movement) and the DSA International Committee, will provide all endorsed candidates with anti-Zionist educational materials, 1-to-1 training opportunities and ongoing, open-door counsel as needed;

Be it resolved, upon receiving fair and ample opportunity for education about the Palestinian struggle for liberation, endorsed candidates who do not commit to the aforementioned basic expectations will have their Colorado Springs DSA endorsements swiftly revoked;

Be it resolved, Colorado Springs DSA members – regardless of endorsement status – who are credibly shown to:

1. have consistently and publicly opposed BDS and Palestine (e.g., denouncing the BDS movement in public interviews; writing public op-eds denouncing the BDS movement; drafting and voting in favor of legislation that suppresses BDS, such as legislation that suppresses speech rights around the right to freely criticize Zionism/Israel and/or the right to boycott), even after receiving fair and ample opportunity for education about the Palestinian struggle for liberation, 

2. be currently affiliated with the Israeli government or any Zionist lobby group(s) such as, but not limited to, AIPAC, J Street, or Democratic Majority for Israel (DMFI), or

3. have provided material aid to Israel (e.g., Congresspeople voting to provide Israel with material aid; gave direct financial donations of any kind to Israel and/or settler NGOs who carry out the mission of Israeli settlement and Palestinian dispossession/displacement, such as the Jewish National Fund, the Israel Land Fund, the Hebron Fund, and Regavim)

will be considered in substantial disagreement with DSA’s principles and policies, and thus, the chapter will initiate the expulsion process in line with Article 1, Section 3 of the national DSA Bylaws;

Be it resolved, members expelled on these grounds may be reconsidered for membership reinstatement once per year provided they write a statement to chapter membership that 1.) demonstrates a basic understanding of Palestinian issues and Zionism and 2.) apologizes for past anti-solidaristic behaviors with a commitment to putting their new anti-Zionist principles into practice;

Be it resolved, membership reinstatement of reformed Zionists will require recommendation for reinstatement by their local chapter, followed by a majority vote in favor of reinstatement by the National Political Committee, as per the national Bylaws.

WE WON! The people of Johnson City have chosen to retain the democratic rights that are written into the Johnson City charter. Together, we’ve sent a message to the Johnson City Board of Commissioners that says:

1. We want more, not fewer, opportunities to see the proposed budget before it’s passed.
2. We want more, not less, time to prepare for public hearings on ordinances that affect our neighborhoods and communities.
3. We want city jobs to continue to be good, stable jobs.
4. We want city elections to be held on a day that more–not fewer–people vote, we don’t want the 2026 city elections canceled, and we don’t want commissioners to receive nearly two-year extensions of their terms.

We can, however, go farther than maintaining the status quo. Here is a vision forward on each of these issues:

1. The city’s board of commissioners should strive to make sure residents are more, not less, able to understand the city budget and its impact. Nashville’s Citizens’ Guide to the Metro Budget is a good model to start with. This is an important step our city government can take toward the People’s Budget that our city should run on.
2. Public meetings of all city boards need to be more, not less, accessible. All public board meetings–not just the commission meetings–should be livestreamed and made available for later watching. Childcare should be made available during board meetings. Participation in public hearings and public comment periods of board meetings should be extended to virtual attendees. 
3. Our city should go out of its way to protect its workers and its good city jobs. One thing the board of commissioners and city manager could do in this direction is enshrine protections for LGBTQ workers in the city’s policies. We would also love to hear from city workers what they need.
4. In voting to put these questions on the ballot our city commissioners said that one reason they wanted to move city elections from November to August because the current election schedule was confusing to voters. If commissioners are truly committed to making elections less confusing to voters, they will work with the surrounding counties to move county general elections to November. When all of the primary races, from local to federal*, are on the August ballot, and all of the general races, from local to federal, are on the November ballot, elections will be much clearer to everyone. The city can also help with voter turnout at all elections by using their website, newsletter, and access to the press to educate voters on which offices are up for election when and what the responsibilities and functions of those offices are.

How do we get there?

1. Get Organized. This campaign would never have gotten off the ground had some of us not been organized before the Commissioners introduced their ballot questions. We would have been caught off guard and unable to respond quickly. If you want to see more wins like this in the future, get organized. Join (or form) a union. Join a community group. Why not try out DSA?  
2. Vote Them Out. This November, vote out the three commissioners who are up for re-election. Each one of them was fully in support of these amendments to reduce accountability, transparency, and public engagement. Red-baiting Todd Fowler, Joe Wise, and Aaron Murphy don’t need another term in office. In 2026–an election that would not be happening had these amendments passed–vote out Jenny Brock and John Hunter as well.
3. Write Your County Commissioners. Let’s do what really makes sense and move the county general elections to November with all the other general elections, and the county primaries to August with all the other primaries. (Find your district using this map.) 
4. Build a People’s Voice for a People’s Budget. We are working to build a People’s Budget for JC that prioritizes the needs of working people over those of outside development firms, the Ballad Health monopoly, and other special interests. City officials should be asking rather than telling us how our money will be spent. The good thing is, we don’t have to wait for city officials. We can do it ourselves. Fill out the People’s Budget Survey to let us know your priorities for city spending. 

Our victorious campaign to Protect the People’s Voice has shown us that people power can overcome the power of monied interests. Let’s not let up now! Let’s continue to organize so we can build a Johnson City and a Northeast Tennessee for all! 

*Excluding the presidential primary, for which an August primary would be too late for party conventions.

Mid-Missouri DSA collected thousands of signatures to put abortion rights and improved labor standards on the ballot. The strange phenomenon of majorities for progressive ballot measures in Republican strongholds may represent an opening for working class politics.

Over the last year Mid-Missouri DSA has gathered more than 3,000 signatures to put two initiatives on the ballot in Missouri in November: one to institute a $15 minimum wage and guaranteed paid sick leave (Healthy Families and Fair Wages, or HFFW) and another adding reproductive rights to the state constitution (Missourians for Constitutional Freedom, or MCF).

That represents 3,000 conversations with Missourians that ended with an affirmative decision to put their names on the record in support of these key issues – a remarkable experience for a small chapter like ours.

Scene: A spectator I approach about the HFFW petition in Columbia, Missouri’s Juneteenth parade asks me, gravely, if I “have ever heard of the proletariat.” He is, it turns out, a lefty from way back – a member of St. Louis’s Free Angela Davis Committee.

Scene: A man I approach for a signature in Fulton, interrogates me about how much I am getting paid. I assume he thinks I am lying about being a volunteer, but it turns out he is an itinerant paid signature gatherer trying to figure out how much it would cost to poach me. He usually works with his daughter and her family as his signature-gathering crew. She is, however, pro-life and will not travel with him in Florida to gather signatures for a reproductive rights initiative that winter. I run into him again almost a year later, trying to get the loyal Democrats of Columbia’s farmers market to put RFK Jr. on the ballot.

Scene: A member of the International Union of Operating Engineers contingent at the Jefferson City Labor Day parade signs with relish before saying, “Let’s get these motherfuckers.” Thirty minutes later I inexplicably fumble my pitch to a pair of sympathetic painters, staging the International Union of Painters and Allied Trades float on the other side of the parking lot (my attempt to sympathize with a nearby signer about concerns about enforcement of the sick leave rules in the petition, and the complications of paid leave benefits in the building trades, made the whole thing sound too complicated, if I recall correctly). They decline to sign, but console me with a branded frisbee.

Scene: A crew sets out to gather signatures at Columbia’s sedate “First Friday,” a downtown art gallery showcase – not registering that a substantial chunk of the University of Missouri’s 30,000 students would be celebrating Cinco de Mayo. It’s a great signature-gathering opportunity, but gets rougher as the night goes on. We call it a day after an apparently more-or-less sober signer’s erratic entry spoils another gatherer’s signature sheet.

Scene: It’s the end of our sprint to qualify the reproductive rights amendment for the November ballot, and Mid-Mo DSA is worryingly short of our goal. I have made a basic mistake of asking permission rather than forgiveness to gather somewhere and then, amazingly, given the political complexion of even red-state roller derby circuits, failed to secure the go-ahead to gather on the sidelines of a Columbia-Rolla-Iowa City roller derby spectacular. I am exiled to a gravel parking lot in Hallsville, population 1,614, trying to catch participants on smoke breaks, though they all seem to be with the out-of-state (and therefore) ineligible Iowa City contingent. As it gets dark, some self-destructive breed of beetle begins to throw itself at the lit door of the venue. Dead and dying beetles are strewn around my feet as my year of signature gathering comes to an end.

These scenes are all small pieces of the work that put these initiative petitions on the ballot in November (barring dirty tricks in the signature validation process). Mid-Mo DSA will campaign to get these measures passed. In the interim, we can reflect on the experience so far. 

Most importantly, the initiative petition campaigns allowed our chapter to contribute to significant material benefits for working class Missourians. Half a million Missourians would receive a raise should the minimum wage increase to $15, and 200,000 Missourians who do not have paid sick leave be eligible if the petition passes. Missouri’s abortion ban is effectively total. More than ten thousand Missourians crossed state lines to receive an abortion in 2023 according to estimates published by the Guttmacher Institute. The strategic considerations that follow would not matter if these goals were not worth fighting for.

These campaigns also help build a framework we can build on in the future. Mid-MoDSA’s work for these ballot measures put us in coalition with the labor unions and advocacy groups that are necessary ingredients of an alternative to the political coalitions contending for power in Missouri. In the Columbia area, important backers of the minimum wage ballot initiative included, for instance, the union local representing many city workers and the local Jobs With Justice chapter. We exchanged friendly signature-gathering bets with that union local and University of Missouri YDSA (we will make good on our bet with YDSA as soon as they get us their t-shirt sizes). A member of our steering committee, Alejandro G., spoke about the ballot measure and his experiences as a fast food worker at the HFFW signature turn-in rally. These are valuable relationships for our chapter.

Ballot measures are huge undertakings, demanding financial resources, organizational infrastructure and intense mobilizations of supporters, making coalitions indispensable if DSA is to engage at all. When I turned in my roller derby signatures on the last, desperate night of signature-gathering for the MCF ballot measure there were dozens of volunteers and campaign staff processing hundreds of signature sheets crowding the campaign headquarters for Boone County – the most remarkable demonstration of organized political enthusiasm I have seen in Missouri. Our chapter’s contribution was not nothing – we gathered around three percent of the required HFFW signatures (1.5 percent of the signatures turned in, since you want a healthy buffer). Other DSA chapters gathered signatures, and Mizzou YDSA in particular posted impressive signature totals and built themselves into the infrastructure of the campaign — one member, for instance, qualified as a notary, allowing her to witness signature sheets and help clear an important bottleneck in the signature-gathering process.  A concerted DSA campaign could have done more statewide, but a gap remains between DSA’s foreseeable strength in Missouri and the demands of these campaigns.

Mid-Missouri DSA and University of Missouri YDSA members pose with signature sheets at Mid-Missouri Pride-Fest.

But these near-term considerations — the good the policies will accomplish, and the relationships we built along the way — do not totally capture why I found these campaigns so exciting. If successful, they will be the most recent in a series of progressive ballot initiatives. Together, these results are full of political possibility. On the minimum wage, paid sick leave and abortion rights, the majority of Missourians likely agree with DSA over the state’s conservative political establishment. These issues both have a good chance of success, and recent history suggests that they represent an opportunity to build a coalition along class lines, breaking the state’s urban-rural polarization.

In the last decade, Democrats in Missouri have been wiped out, with the party reduced to a super-minority in the state legislature while losing both every state-wide office and control of county courthouses in the subset of rural areas where it had once been dominant. In the same period, Missourians voted for ballot measures striking down so-called “Right-to-Work,” passing a $12, inflation-adjusted minimum wage, legalizing marijuana, and expanding Medicaid. Many of these initiatives passed with overwhelming support:  elimination of “right-to-work” and the minimum wage passed with 68 and 62 percent of the vote, respectively.

In each of these campaigns the urban and suburban parts of Missouri generally put up the biggest margins. Working-class Black voters in North St. Louis City, South City bohemians and even well-off residents of inner-ring suburbs polarized against Trump were generally more likely to back these ballot measures than rural voters in any part of the state. St. Louis City had the highest margin in every one of these elections. Except for overturning “right-to-work”, Jackson County (containing most of Kansas City) and suburban St. Louis County occupied the next two spots. Blow-outs in St. Louis, Kansas City and Columbia are, however, perfectly compatible with humiliating losses statewide, as Joe Biden, Hillary Clinton, and any recent statewide office-seeking Democrat could testify. The ballot issues won where these candidates lost because they performed better outstate (in local usage the rest of Missouri is “outstate” from St. Louis and Kansas City as the rest of Illinois is downstate from Chicago and the rest of New York is upstate from New York City).

The maps below chart the over-performance of these ballot measures, displaying the percentage point gap between the vote for the “progressive” position and Biden’s 2020 vote share. Red and pink counties outperformed the state-wide gap between the ballot measure and Biden (26 percentage points on overturning “right-to-work”, 21 on the minimum wage, and 12 for marijuana legalization and Medicaid expansion). White counties matched the state-wide gap, while black and gray counties trailed the state-wide gap.Different factors are at play here across these ballot initiatives. I would speculate that union traditions, surviving party infrastructure in ancestrally Democratic areas, and low incomes drove support to different degrees in different ballot measures. Where these factors are combined – in the Lead Belt in central southeast Missouri – every ballot measure over-performed. Washington County in the Lead Belt delivered an 18 percentage point over-performance for Medicaid expansion, 30 for marijuana legalization, 39 for the minimum wage and 64 opposing “right-to-work” (the highest gap for any county across any of the four ballot measures).

[Map link]

The results of the minimum wage referendum is remarkable because it suggests the most direct relationship between ballot measure over-performance and class. The minimum wage posted majorities in the Bootheel in southeast Missouri, a northern outpost of the plantation economy of the Mississippi Delta. Pemiscot County in the Bootheel has the highest portion of the population below the poverty line of any county in the state. In Pemiscot, 64 percent of voters backed the minimum wage increase compared to only 34 percent voting to repeal “right to work” and 36 percent voting in favor of Medicaid expansion. Opposition to “right to work” outperformed the minimum wage statewide, but its performance in the Bootheel and low-income parts of the Ozarks with limited union traditions was disappointing.  The minimum wage result in particular suggests the possibility of a political coalition uniting the Missourians worst-treated by our economic system.

[Map link]

The alternatives to this coalition are grim. A particularly nasty state Republican party maintains uncontested control of the state. Republican primaries feature increasingly literal book burnings. Only the personal loathing its right wing inspires even among fellow conservatives restrains the state legislature. 

Shifts toward Democrats in suburban areas around St. Louis and Kansas City offer an alternative that is distant, dispiriting, and better than the status quo. Clayton township in St. Louis County provides a dramatic local example of this national trend. Clayton township, which includes tony suburbs like Ladue (median annual household income: $242,792) gave the Democratic presidential candidate 49 percent of the vote in 2012, 56 percent in 2016, and 63 percent in 2020. Improvements in the suburbs are largely responsible for Biden’s improvement over Hillary Clinton in Missouri, overwhelming the contrasting trends in places like Oregon County (median income $41,365) which gave the Democratic presidential candidate 47 percent of the vote in 2012, 30 percent of the vote in 2016, and 18 percent of the vote in 2020. Further blue drift in the suburbs could eventually restore political competition and occasionally dethrone the Republican party at the cost of making wealthy suburbanites, most opposed to any meaningful change to the distribution of wealth and power, into kingmakers.

These electoral trends would not matter if successful ballot initiatives were sufficient to accomplish progressive goals. There are limits, however, to government-by-referendum. Despite victories at the ballot box, working class Missourians can expect less from their state government than they could a decade ago (and Missouri under Democratic Gov. Jay Nixon was no Paris Commune). Ballot initiatives can staunch the bleeding and even make discrete gains, but without influence in the normal process of legislation and administration we will lose ground. I worry, for instance, about enforcement of paid leave and minimum wage rules, should they pass, under a Republican-run Department of Labor and Industrial Relations.

Moreover, if these majorities on ballot measures never get reflected in votes for candidates, elected officials will simply close off this route. Missouri’s secretary of state and attorney general engaged in an audacious legal campaign to saddle the MCF measure with deceptive ballot language and, as importantly, to delay the start of signature-gathering by tying the language up in court. The state legislature’s attempt to make future initiative petitions effectively impossible only failed after a Democratic filibuster and fissures in the Republican supermajority.

The phenomenon of huge majorities for both these ballot measures and the politicians that hate them still needs to be explained. It occurs in many red states with ballot initiative laws (see, for instance, votes for abortion rights in Ohio and Kansas, which were also backed by DSA chapters in those states). It is more complicated than a split between social and economic issues. While opposition to “right-to-work” and the minimum wage increase ran up the biggest majorities, Missourians are not voting for elected officials like a state where a majority of voters support marijuana legalization and, quite possibly, abortion rights. Until that puzzle is solved, and as long as the initiative petition process remains, we have a chance to put wins on the board and demonstrate the huge gap between Missouri’s governers and the governed.

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Knocking doors with former UAW local 5118 president Evan MacKay

By Henry De Groot

Mid-Cambridge – It’s almost 95 degrees and terribly muggy, but for Evan MacKay this is perfect canvassing weather.

“Hot days are the best for canvassing because people are more likely to be home,” Evan (they/them) relays to me as we set out to follow up with super-voters in a few apartment buildings a few blocks from Harvard square.

As a matter of fact, every day is a good day for canvassing according to MacKay. “I love canvassing. I know my neighbors better than ever before.”

And if it’s hot out, MacKay’s campaign to unseat incumbent Marjorie Decker in the Massachusetts 25th Middlesex district— which runs from Central Square to Harvard Square to Porter Square — is even hotter. In this primary race, held on September 3, a low turnout is a given. So the race will be decided by the habitual voters — who are typically better educated and lean more progressive — as well as voters who the campaign has been able to politicize and turn out to vote.

In Cambridge, well-educated, progressive leaning voters are numerous. And the campaign has an impressive roster of endorsements which should register with this informed crop of voters: Progressive Mass, Progressive Democrats of Massachusetts, Mass Alliance, Act on Mass, Our Revolution, and the Democratic Socialists of America have all endorsed. 

But still, it’s up to the campaign to get the word out about these progressive bonafides to convince every voter that MacKay is the true progressive in the race. And that means a lot of walking.

Bike Lanes and Other Big Issues

Earlier this month, I joined Evan on the doors to get a first hand look at this socialist, union-backed campaign for the state house.

In the park next to the Cambridge Public Library, I met up with a handful of veteran DSA activists, a UAW member, and a “paper” DSA member for whom this is their first DSA activity “IRL.”

Before we are sent off, Evan’s campaign manager hands me my “Rose Buddy Card,” a kind of frequent-flyer card for volunteers aimed at encouraging repeat canvassers. I’m reminded that this campaign is not about Evan, but about something bigger – building a socialist movement to win change for working people.

I follow Evan up our first driveway, where we are greeted by two middle aged home-owners enjoying a beverage on their deck. They could be my aunt and uncle, well-weathered townies who grew up in Medford before making their home in Cambridge decades ago.

They make it clear that they are not progressive voters, but still Evan listens patiently to them lay out concerns about the incumbent, Marjorie Decker. The husband begins a seemingly well-rehearsed tirade about the new bike lanes, but stops himself half-way through when he spots Evan’s red UAW hat. 

“Oh. You’re pro-union are you?” he asks. “I always liked unions. The working people of this country have it tough enough as it is.”  

And just like that Evan earns a vote, and with a wave goodbye, heads on to the next house.

The conservative couple proves to be an outlier. The next resident is more typical of this part of Greater Boston. A former engineer, the resident proudly shares his support for bike lanes, harm reduction, and additional development along Mass Ave to build more housing. He has even recently been attending city council meetings to support increased cycle lanes in the wake of several recent fatal collisions.

Evan speaks with the man about which issues the State House can help Cambridge address, and writes out a link to an Act on Mass video which explores corruption at the state government. The man expresses that he too would like to run for office, and Evan invites him to try his hand at local politics by knocking doors with their campaign.

Wondering if the voter will actually watch the video, I ask Evan if they think getting into such detail is worth the effort.

“It’s not just about earning a vote,” Evan relays to me. “It’s about educating people, empowering people, getting them involved.”

Before I know it, I’m trying to keep up with Evan as they bound up the stairs of a cramped apartment block that reminds me of a rabbit’s burrow, and I’m reminded by their pace that Evan is only 27. 

In the last unit of the narrow hallway, we meet a slight, older woman who is in the middle of making dinner. She tells us she is struggling to afford rent, and has been active in her local tenants’ union. 

“Marjorie wasn’t there for us on rent control” she relays, and asks for a handful of campaign literature to pass out to her neighbors. “If things keep on like they are, I won’t be able to live here anymore. We need change.”

We’re on the home stretch of today’s list when Evan is stopped by a former classmate in the street. 

“What are you doing?” they ask. 

“Running for State Representative,” Evan replies enthusiastically, before smoothly rolling into their election pitch. It seems you can’t go anywhere in Cambridge without running into someone who knows Evan, who has lived in the neighborhood for a decade.

On our last door, we speak with a supporter who met Evan at a community event the previous week. She holds Evan at the door to complain in detail about Decker’s faux-progressive politics.

“Whatever you’re doing, she’s taking notice,” the lady relays, as she shows us mailers from the Decker campaign.

“And by the way,” she says as we leave. “I watched that video you sent me. It really opened my eyes.” At least some of all this hard work seems to be making an impact.

Local Politics; Local Unions

When we spoke with Evan earlier this year, they relayed the importance of their union organizing experiences in informing their politics. 

“Through labor organizing, I developed a much deeper respect and lived experience for the power of everyday people and workers coming together to change problems. Our unions are, at their best, vehicles for helping workers come together to identify the problems in our workplaces and our communities and our lives and then work alongside somebody else and your co-workers to change them. And so my labor union taught me how to organize with my co-workers and it also really taught me that deep value of solidarity…

It’s through organizing with my union that I came to better understand what democratic socialism meant. And it is this recognition that we want workers to be collectively determining the conditions of our workplaces, and we want more power and resources to the workers and less to the CEOs in the corner offices and in the boardrooms.”

It is understandable why Evan’s message on the importance of unions, collective struggle, and the fight for socialism is inspiring to those who would like to see more labor leaders serving in the state house. And presumably that’s why UAW Region 9A, representing a massive surge in membership, bucking the rest of labor’s overall downward membership trend, from aggressive grad worker organizing in recent year,  and IBEW Local 2222, the local representing the thousands of Verizon workers and whose progressive leadership also bucked labor establishment in endorsing Bernie and who’ve organized the State House Employees Union amidst opposition from “pro-labor” state house leadership,  endorsed Evan.

But under pressure from MacKay, Decker too is trying to beef up her labor bonafides. In June, Decker spoke at a rally organized by the Massachusetts Building Trades Council in support of Project Labor Agreements, the construction agreements which mandate union labor and are a major strategy of the trades. Even this pandering should be seen as a result of the MacKay campaign’s hard work, as Decker suddenly assumes the mantle of ‘labor champion’ in response to pressure from her left.

The establishment wing of organized labor returned the support, with the MA AFL-CIO organizing a “labor walk” for Decker, in which union members canvass union households, last week. Area building trades were prominent participants. Especially for the building trades, membership participation in such events does not necessarily show genuine enthusiasm — often such unions offer a paid stipend to volunteers or require members to participate in volunteer work to avoid fines.

It is disappointing but unsurprising that the more institutional wing of the Massachusetts labor movement is supporting the incumbent in this race. For many unions, political advocacy is less about impacting the results of the election, and more about accommodating themselves to the status quo — where backroom deals are cut behind closed doors. 

Anyone who follows Massachusetts politics, or merely works and pays bills in this state, knows that this model, even with Democratic supermajorities in both the state house and state senate, has totally failed to deliver for working people or organized labor. And as long as committee votes remain confidential, the status quo will empower Democratic politicians to pander to unions and other progressive interest groups while actually falling in line with state house leadership.

It is shameful that the MA AFL-CIO is sending union workers to canvass against a former local union president.

But perhaps this seeming misalignment is less surprising than it first appears. Evan was, after all, a New England co-chair of reform candidate Shawn Fain’s successful run for the UAW’s top job. Such reform campaigns, if launched in other unions, would directly threaten the jobs of those union leaders who consistently back establishment democrats. There is a direct link between the internal politics of the labor movement, and which politicians labor backs for public office.

But if there is a link between bureaucratic union leadership and labor’s failed alliance with the Democratic party, then the flip-side is true as well: the union reform movement and the fight for real working class politics are now reinforcing one another into a mighty challenge to the status quo.

For everyone who wants a more democratic labor movement, and a stronger alternative to the Democratic establishment in Massachusetts, the choice is clear: Evan is labor’s voice.

For Cambridge — For The Commonwealth

If we are to have any chance of delivering the reforms that working people need — rent control, public housing, increased minimum wages,  curtailing unaccountable policing and overtime scandals, and more — we must take on the corruption of the Massachusetts state house. 

But politics as usual will not be overthrown merely by electing new faces or well intentioned progressives. It is only possible to build the power necessary to stand up to corporate politics if we organize as part of a collective movement, which challenges the economic system at the base of our social ills.

We need socialist politicians who will champion our policies unequivocally. We need politicians with union experience, who know how to unite workers in collective struggle. And we need an organization like DSA — and eventually a full political party — which centralizes this collective struggle so we can link our electoral work to our ongoing union and community work and our larger vision of a socialist Commonwealth. 

Evan has shown their competence leading fights on the shop floor. They are a proud member of Boston DSA and will be accountable to our organization and our larger movement. Now they are proving their ability to engage voters across Cambridge. There should be no doubt or contest who is better for labor, an entrenched Democrat or a DSA candidate with Evan’s credentials.

Socialists and union members, do not miss your chance to make a difference. Sign up to volunteer or donate to Evan’s campaign today!

Henry De Groot is the Managing Editor of Working Mass, and a member of Boston DSA and the DSA caucus Reform and Revolution. They are a proud Boston resident.

The Democratic Socialists of America condemn the killing of Sonya Massey by the Springfield, Illinois Police Department. Sonya Massey called 911 because she was afraid of a potential intruder but instead of receiving support, she was met with horrific violence. This brutal execution is another entry in the unending line of police killings of Black people in the United States. The problem is not police brutality. It’s the police.

Police exist to serve the interests of the ruling class, working with both Democrats and Republicans to repress the working class across the US, and collaborating with imperialists across the world, as in the many collaborations between US police departments and the IDF that is now waging a genocide in Palestine. 

The police cannot be reformed, and more funding only bolsters the fundamental role of police to protect and serve the forces of white supremacy and racial capitalism. 

DSA stands alongside abolitionists across the country in demanding the end of police and prisons. This means defunding and dismantling structures of policing and incarceration and building up the conditions that create real safety and justice for all people, including housing, economic security, transportation, and health care.  

Join us today to fight for a world without police.

The post Justice for Sonya Massey appeared first on Democratic Socialists of America (DSA).

Union busting is common, but the silver lining is that it’s also predictable. Bosses pull from a playbook that hasn’t changed much in the past century.

The post Anatomy of a Union-Busting Campaign appeared first on EWOC.