Logan W. Cole

The following remarks were made in front of Batavia City Hall at GLOW Community Alliance and Genesee County DSA’s Workers Over Billionaires rally on September 1st, 2025.

I am Logan Cole, secretary of Genesee County DSA, and I want to thank the GLOW Community Alliance for their planning of this event and this opportunity to support workers.

This Labor Day, I want to highlight how the ruling class divides workers from one another to weaken the working class. Race and gender have long been used to prevent the working class from cohering strategically. Union busting and misleading language (unions are not a third party — they are the workers) have also been used to divide workers. More recently, the differences between manufacturing and service workers have been cynically deployed to weaken the labor movement. 

The Trump administration’s more overt focus on migrant workers is part and parcel with these efforts — a riff on the now clichéd method of using race and xenophobia to divide workers and erode workers’ powers. The detention of fourteen workers in May and another seven workers a little over two weeks ago abducted by ICE from Lynn-Ette & Sons Farm in Orleans County is an attack not only on immigrants but also workers writ large. Among those detained were United Farm Worker organizers and workers who were owed back pay. These detentions were wrong because these are people but were also tactically beneficial for local agri-business tyrant farmers, who are nefarious agents of the ruling class in rural upstate New York. Many workers are detained right here at the Buffalo Detention Center in Batavia.

If your pay comes directly from making something, like a good or service, you are part of the working class. Fabricators, baristas, teachers, farmers, miners, cashiers, and others who make are workers regardless of their race, gender, immigration status, or job sector. We are all workers and we are stronger together.

Support workers and support unions — right now, we need to meet the moment and specifically support the United Farm Workers, who are leading the effort in supporting the most vulnerable workers, including those who have been detained — donate to the workers’ bond funds and follow the UFW online so you can attend their demonstrations, which are sometimes organized with very short notice.

The post Support Every Worker first appeared on Rochester Red Star.

DSA’s big tent makes it unique on the U.S. Left. Protecting it will help us weather and even grow during the second Trump administration.

The post Keep DSA Together appeared first on Democratic Left.

Boston DSA has finalized our Voter Guide for the 2025 general elections in Boston, Somerville, and Cambridge! The guide can be found at this link.

Events & Actions

Events with a are especially new-member-friendly!

Tuesday, October 21 (8:00 AM – 4:30 PM): ICE out of SF courts! (in person at 100 Montgomery St)

Tuesday, October 21 (6:00 PM – 7:30 PM): Ecosocialist Bi-Weekly Meeting (zoom and in person at 1916 McAllister St)

Wednesday, October 22 (4:00 PM – 7:00 PM): Zohran Debate Watch Party! (in person at The Savoy Tivoli, 1434 Grant Ave)

Thursday, October 23 (5:30 PM – 6:30 PM): Education Board Open Meeting (zoom)

Thursday, October 23 (6:30 PM – 9:30 PM): The Internet: Live & In-Person w/ Dean Preston! (in person at Make-Out Room, 3225 22nd St)

Thursday, October 23 (7:00 PM – 8:00 PM): Immigrant Justice Court Action Orientation (in person at 1916 McAllister St)

Friday, October 24 (8:00 AM – 4:30 PM): ICE out of SF courts! (in person at 100 Montgomery St)

Saturday, October 25 (11:00 AM – 2:00 PM): HWG RV Outreach Event (meet at 1916 McAllister St)

Sunday, October 26 (5:00 PM – 7:00 PM): Capital Reading Group (zoom and in person at 1916 McAllister St)

Monday, October 27 (6:00 PM – 8:00 PM): Tenderloin Healing Circle (in person at Kelly Cullen Community, 220 Golden Gate Ave)

Monday, October 27 (6:30 PM – 8:00 PM): Homelessness Working Group Regular Meeting (zoom and in person at 1916 McAllister St)

Wednesday, October 29 (6:00 PM – 8:00 PM): Tech Reading Group: Empire of AI by Karen Hao (zoom and in person at 518 Valencia St)

Wednesday, October 29 (6:45 PM – 8:30 PM): Tenant Organizing Working Group Meeting (zoom and in at person at Radical Reading Room, 438 Haight St)

Thursday, October 30 (7:30 PM – 9:30 PM): “Housing the City by the Bay: Tenant Activism, Civil Rights, and Class Politics in San Francisco” – TOWG Reading Group (in person at 1916 McAllister St)

Friday, October 31 (2:30 PM – 4:00 PM): Keep Market St. Moving! Roundtable with Drivers (in person at 1916 McAllister St)

Saturday, November 1 (1:00 PM – 5:00 PM): Growing Community: Urban Food Production at Alemany Farm (in person at Alemany Farm, 700 Alemany Blvd)

Sunday, November 2 (1:00 PM – 2:00 PM): SF EWOC Lead Generation Strategy Session (in person at 1916 McAllister St)

Sunday, November 2 (5:30 PM – 7:15 PM): HWG Reads  “Capitalism & Disability…” (zoom and in person at 1916 McAllister St)

Monday, November 3 (7:00 PM – 8:00 PM): Labor Board x SF EWOC Local Meeting (zoom and in person at 1916 McAllister St)

Check out https://dsasf.org/events for more events and updates.

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ICE Out of SF Courts!

Join neighbors, activists, grassroots organizations in resisting ICE abductions happening at immigration court hearings! ICE is taking anyone indiscriminately in order to meet their daily quotas. Many of those taken include people with no removal proceedings.

We’ll be meeting every Tuesday and Friday from 8:00 AM to 4:30 PM at Immigration Court at 100 Montgomery. We need all hands on deck. The 8:00 AM to 10:00 AM window is when we most need to boost turnout, but if you can’t make that please come whenever works for you. 1 or 2 hours or the entire time! We’re also holding orientation sessions for folks, but that is not required to attend. See the Immigrant Justice Court Action Orientation event in the calendar for more details.

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Zohran Debate Watch Party

Join us Wednesday, October 22, 4:00-7:00 PM to watch future New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani wipe the floor with Andrew “The Creep” Cuomo! We’ll watch party at Savoy Tivoli (1434 Grant Ave) with free food and fun!

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Apartheid-Free Bay Area Consumer Pledge Canvassing

Let’s build public support for stores that have pledged to go apartheid-free this Saturday, October 25 from 11:00 AM-1:00 PM! We’ll meet at Dolores Park on 18th St and Dolores St. We will first train you, and then you will put that training into practice by collecting signatures in Dolores Park. RSVP here!

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RV Ban Outreach Event and Letter Writing Campaign

Join Homelessness Working Group this Saturday, October 25 from 11:00 AM – 2:00 PM to do outreach to RV residents on the city’s new oversize vehicle ban before it goes into effect November 1st. We’ll meet at 1916 McAllister Street to learn more about the ban before pairing up and going out to door-knock and speak with our neighbors living in vehicles about how they can get refuge permits. 

RSVP here if you’re able to come. Can’t attend? Send a letter to the Board of Supervisors here to tell them to do better!

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Stop The Threat Of US War On Venezuela!

Stop The Threat Of US War On Venezuela! :flag-ve: Wondering how we got here? Want to understand why Trump is attacking Venezuela? Need to deepen your understanding of US-Venezuela relations? And most importantly: want to discuss how we can fight back?

Join the Palestine Solidarity and Anti-Imperialism working group in an educational forum on the history of Venezuela and the struggle against US imperialism.

Tuesday, October 28
  6:00-7:30 PM
1916 McAllister
RSVP here!

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DSA SF Tenant Organizing Reading Group – “Housing the City by the Bay: Tenant Activism, Civil Rights, and Class Politics in San Francisco” 

San Francisco has always had an affordable housing shortage, but solutions outside of the private sector have long been neglected or overlooked. Join us as we learn about the history of one proposed solution: public housing.

Our four-part reading group will meet every other Thursday at 7:30 PM to 9:30 PM hybrid in person at 1916 McAllister and Zoom with RSVP to discuss John Baranski’s book “Housing the City by the Bay”. The next meeting will be Thursday, October 30.

If you wish to join please RSVP here!

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DSA SF Homelessness Working Group Reads: Capitalism & Disability: Selected Writings by Marta Russell

Join DSA SF’s Homelessness Working Group as we read through Capitalism & Disability: Selected Writings by Marta Russell. We’ll be meeting every other Sunday evening starting in September for 4 or 5 sessions at 1916 McAllister. The next session is Sunday, November 2. For more info, register here and check the events calendar for latest details.

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Reportback: UESF Teachers for a Fair Contract

United Educators of San Francisco (UESF) gathered the evening of October 14th at 555 Franklin St. to deliver more than 4,000 strike-ready signatures to the management of San Francisco Unified School District. Union organizers have been in negotiations since March trying to get a fair contract, with district management unwilling to budge on reasonable demands. Teachers are asking for a more balanced work load for special education instructors, health care for dependents, fair pay for their labor, sanctuary protections against ICE on school grounds – only to be met with unwillingness by management. This was enough to rile up a host of teachers, parents, students, and community members to come out and rally together. The picket line took over the whole block at its height, with everyone from babies to the elderly chanting and marching together, accompanied by an endless chorus of supportive car horns. DSA members across the city came out to support our community and march in solidarity with our fellow DSA members in UESF. Union power and love for public schools was on full display as district management and the union drew the line in the sand. The ball is now in management’s court – let’s make sure they do what’s right! Let’s support our educators and comrades in UESF! Fight for Public Education!

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Reportback: DSA SF at No Kings Rally

Dozens of DSA SF members mobilized for the recent No Kings demonstration this Saturday (10/18) afternoon, with a reported 50,000 San Franciscans taking to the streets to protest the authoritarian federal regime and their domestic military invasion. DSA SF coordinated a two-pronged approach, hosting a literature table at Civic Center Plaza and a contingent at the Embarcadero. Our marching contingent drew support from those around us through anti-ICE chants and chants against military occupation.  Meanwhile, comrades at the table (and their children) received a warm welcome from the public with people of all ages feeling a sense of community and a desire to get organized. Lots of interest was displayed towards the Oakland Arms Embargo and ICE Court Watch. Thanks to the efforts of other comrades who participated in Maker’s Night, dropped off or picked supplies, or who just came by for a few minutes, the table was able to stay operating constantly from 12 to 4 PM; we passed out a lot of literature, had many extended discussions about socialism and signed up new potential recruits. We expect there will be many more demonstrations and actions to come as Trump sets his eyes on San Francisco, so come get involved in building community today for a socialist tomorrow.

What do we do when fascism comes to town? Stand up and Fight back!

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Reportback: Palestine Study on Understanding Zionism and Imperialism

On Sunday October 19th, the Palestine Solidarity and Anti-Imperialism working group hosted the first part of our Palestine Study on Understanding Zionism and Imperialism. We packed the office with 38 attendees, all interested in deepening their knowledge of zionism, to better fight for Palestinian liberation!

The second part of our Palestine Study, November 9th, 2:00 to 4:00 PM, will focus on debunking the myth of a socialist Israel. Stay tuned for more details on the event.

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Reportback: Tenant Organizing Working Group

Sunday afternoon (10/19), DSA comrades joined with Tenant and Neighborhood Councils (TANC) for a rally to protest the eviction of three elders from their home in Noe Valley. A great ruckus was made as the comrades chanted in unison in support of the at-risk elders. Apparently, a nearby neighbor even called the police, according to posts on neighborhood social media, though no officers ever arrived at the scene. The rally was also featured in a segment by ABC7 News. When people have no control over their own homes they are vulnerable to the whims of their landlords, who might push them out of their homes of decades just to raise the rent back to market rate; however when we come together as a community in the spirit of collective action and socialism, it is the people who ultimately hold the power!

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Reportback: Learning from Seattle’s Social Housing Win

Did you miss our panel and Q&A on social housing efforts in Seattle and across California? Now you can read a transcript from that event in California Red!

In February, Seattle beat Big Tech and real estate opposition and passed a ballot measure to fund a municipal social housing developer, by more than 20 points. On October 3, the Ecosocialist Working Group hosted a panel and Q&A to learn how Seattle did it and the current status of efforts in California, featuring Seattle DSA/House Our Neighbors organizer Eric Lee, and DSA SF member/Tenants Together advocate Shanti Singh.

Read the transcript here, and get involved by reaching out to ecosocialist@dsasf.org or joining #ecosocialism on Slack.

Behind the Scenes

The Chapter Coordination Committee (CCC) regularly rotates duties among chapter members. This allows us to train new members in key duties that help keep the chapter running like organizing chapter meetings, keeping records updated, office cleanup, updating the DSA SF website and publishing the weekly newsletter. Members can view current CCC rotations.

Interested in helping with the newsletter or other day-to-day tasks that keep the chapter running? Fill out the CCC help form.

Enjoy your October National Political Committee (NPC) newsletter! Our NPC is an elected 27-person body (including both YDSA Co-Chairs) which functions as the board of directors of DSA. This month, join our Fall Drive, hear about organizing across the country, and more!

And to make sure you get our newsletters in your inbox, sign up here! Each one features action alerts, upcoming events, political education, and more.

• From the National Political Committee — Fighting For Working Class Freedom
• Socialist Cash Takes Out Capitalist Trash. Help Elect Socialist Candidates!
• Saturday 10/25 Fall Drive Phonebank Kick Off — Special Guest Bhaskar Sunkara
• RSVP for International Migrant Rights Working Group ICE Watch Training Tuesday 10/28
• AfroSocialist and Socialists of Color Collective Meetings Tuesday 10/21 and Thursday 11/13
• Convention results
• Apply to Join the Democracy Commission (DemCom) 2025–2027! Deadline Extended to Friday 10/31

From the National Political Committee — Fighting For Working Class Freedom

Hot Socialist Summer has come to a close for 2025, but as the temperature drops this fall, organizing across DSA is heating up! 

DSA is at a pivotal moment, where the genocide in Palestine and the failures of the Democratic Party to mount meaningful opposition to the Trump administration, the oligarchy, and the rise of the far-right is motivating tens of thousands of people to build a mass, socialist organization in the United States. According to a Gallup poll, support for socialism is at an all-time high among Democratic voters. DSA’s presence at mass actions like the No Kings protests last weekend show how many people are ready for a fighting alternative to the catastrophic status quo. 

All across the country, people are being inspired to believe that building a powerful socialist party is possible — and that they can be a part of it. Just this past month, DSA has surpassed 80,000 members in good standing, our highest membership peak to date! DSA now has better organization, more political development, more vibrant internal democracy, and more radical ambitions coming to fruition than ever. We have more DSA members contesting elected office while operating together as socialist blocs, from Missoula, Montana, to Minneapolis, Minnesota, to Portland, Oregon. We are more embedded in the labor movement, we are more functionally part of social movements, we are more deeply internationalist — and thus are even better positioned to motivate and sustain a new membership surge.

We are just weeks away from Zohran Mamdani’s election for mayor of New York City — a democratic socialist mayor in the highest executive office in the heart of global capital! — and chapters across the country are throwing down for their locally and nationally-endorsed campaigns as Election Day nears (and you can, too, even if you’re not in a city with a candidate – jump on a Socialist Cash Takes Out Capitalist Trash phonebank and help push these candidates across the finish line)!

State power is just one piece of DSA’s strategy — we’re also… 

• Building out our support network for Starbucks Workers United and helping chapters across the country to connect with their local SBWU organizing units as the holiday rush draws near
• Showing up in solidarity with the Cuban people, with a delegation we just sent to Havana of 40 DSA elected leaders and rank-and-file members from chapters big and small across the country to deliver hundreds of pounds of solidarity aid, learn about the achievements and challenges of Cuban socialism.
• Ramping up the pressure on Avelo Airlines as they continue to profit off mass deportations via ICE contracts, both with a consumer boycott and with pressure campaigns to kick them out of airports
• Continuing to build out resources and new fronts in our boycott against Chevron, a primary BDS target, as we continue to stand firm for Palestinian liberation
• And so much more!

As we continue the fight for working class freedom everywhere — from down the block to the other side of the globe — we know that as DSA, we must be bigger and stronger by many orders of magnitude. DSA is and will always be a dues-funded organization, where organizing new members increases our people power, allowing us to deepen and expand our base as we fight to oppose US military aggression and free Palestine, prepare for major political interventions toward midterms, organize toward May Day 2028, and so much more. DSA now has more members in good standing than ever before — and we’re turning the heat up higher with our just-launched Fall Recruitment Drive, with a stretch goal of reaching 100,000 DSA members by the end of this year! 

We’re rooted in struggle, blooming in solidarity — and together we’ll keep growing democratic socialism throughout this fall. Read on for more about how you can plug into the Fall Drive — and sign up for phonebanks with special guests, to help us reconnect with lapsed members to rejoin DSA in this crucial political moment!  Watch this space for more information about how you can get involved at the chapter level, or by taking on your own recruitment campaigns among your coworkers, neighbors, and friends.

For even more ways to get plugged into DSA, scroll down! We will see you in the fight!

Yours, 

Megan Romer and Ashik Siddique
DSA National Co-Chairs

Socialist Cash Takes Out Capitalist Trash. Help Elect Socialist Candidates!

It’s 3 weeks till election day and we’re 6.5k short of our goal! It’s been a hugely successful year for the DSA’s National Electoral Commission and our fundraising campaign, and we’re hoping to have a new crop of socialists in office to show for it.

But taking out the capitalist trash won’t be possible without YOUR help. Corporate money is flooding into our races across the country in this crucial final stretch. We’ve set a goal of raising $100,000 before election day to ensure our slate has the support it needs to win and we’re just a little over $5,000 short! Can you donate to our slate to support a socialist running for office?

Saturday 10/25 Fall Drive Phonebank Kick Off — Special Guest Bhaskar Sunkara

Be part of the Growth and Development Committee’s nation-wide membership drive! Our strength is rooted in solidarity and in our communities. Let’s work to build deep roots in our local communities, reach out to lapsed members to renew, and bring thousands more into the struggle together! Join us for Fall Drive phonebanks to talk with lapsed DSA members about renewing their dues. We’ll kick off Saturday 10/25 at 5pm ET/4pm CT/3pm MT/2pm PT with special guest Bhaskar Sunkara!

And you can join calls throughout November:

• Saturday 11/1 at 5pm ET/4pm CT/3pm MT/2pm PT
• Wednesday 11/5 7pm ET/6pm CT/5pm MT/4pm PT with special guest Meagan Day
• Wednesday 11/12 7pm ET/6pm CT/5pm MT/4pm PT
• Saturday 11/15 5pm ET/4pm CT/3pm MT/2pm PT
• Wednesday 11/19 7pm ET/6pm CT/5pm MT/4pm PT with special guest Adam Hochschild
• Saturday 11/22 5pm ET/4pm CT/3pm MT/2pm PT

RSVP for International Migrant Rights Working Group ICE Watch Training Tuesday 10/28

ICE agents have been escalating their presence in our communities, and that means that we need to get together with our neighbors and come up with plans to make sure we are protecting ourselves and our communities from their harassment.

People all over the country are trying different things. Many communities are coming up with ways to observe ICE and to inform neighbors of their rights, all things that every person has a right to do under the Constitution.

Join DSA’s International Migrant Rights Working Group and NDLON on Tuesday 10/28 at 8pm ET/7pm CT/6pm MT/5pm PT to hear from NDLON organizers about the Adopt a Corner program, and from DSA organizers who are actively running ICEWatch and Adopt a Corner programs in their local chapters.

AfroSocialist and Socialists of Color Collective Meetings Tuesday 10/21, Thursday 11/13

Hello comrades and cousins! Interested in joining a collective for AfroSocialists and Socialists of Color? 

Join AfroSoC for for upcoming General Body Meeting (GBM) to be in community with socialists of similar identity, culture and politics. The next GBM will be Thursday 11/13 at 7pm ET/6pm CT/5pm MT/4pm PT.

If you are new to AfroSoC, we encourage you to attend our upcoming New Member Orientation tonight, Tuesday 10/21 at 7pm ET/6pm CT/5pm MT/4pm PT. Questions? Reach out to AfroSoc@dsacommittees.org.

Convention results

The 2025 Convention Results Compendium and Minutes are officially approved by the 2025-2027 National Political Committee (NPC)! You can view these results and minutes here.

We appreciate everyone’s patience as our new NPC got onboarded and settled into their roles. As a reminder, there are Overflow Agenda items from the Convention that the NPC is still working through. These can be viewed in the final compendium. We hope to take up a majority of these items during our October 19th virtual meeting as well as our November 8th and 9th NPC in-person meeting in Denver, Colorado. 

We hope that all comrades who got sick following Convention are doing well. If you think you may have contracted COVID and have not already let us know, please email dsacon@dsausa.org with the subject line “Convention COVID Reporting” so we can continue to track and plan for future events. Please do not reply back to this email for this purpose.

Apply to Join the Democracy Commission (DemCom) 2025–2027! Deadline Extended to Friday 10/31

Apply to Join the Democracy Commission (DemCom) 2025–2027! The deadline to apply is Friday 10/31. Authorized in 2023, the Democracy Commission (DemCom) developed reforms to strengthen democracy across DSA. Its proposals were overwhelmingly adopted at the 2025 Convention, and the body has now been reauthorized to support chapters and the NPC in implementing them.

DemCom will assist with chapter rechartering and bylaws review (2025–2027), visit chapter meetings to support implementation, report regularly to members and the NPC, develop best practices in tandem with chapters, and promote democratic governance. 

There are open seats on the Commission. Please fill out the form here to apply. The application deadline is Friday 10/31. Commissioners are expected to attend regular meetings (8PM ET, Monday evenings, plus some weekends), work with chapters to implement reforms, and report on progress and challenges.

The post From the National Political Committee — Fighting For Working Class Freedom appeared first on Democratic Socialists of America (DSA).

Ask yourself: What’s so different about your workplace? Why would your boss push back on a union?

The post When the boss says “Unions are great, but not for us” appeared first on EWOC.

A budget presentation at the organization's national convention in August clarifies the budget for members.

The post DSA Finances Demystified appeared first on Democratic Left.

by Paul Allen

One thing that many liberals seem to have a hard time comprehending is the idea that your opponent may not be playing by the same rules. We’ve seen this recently with the gerrymandering fights sparked by Greg Abbot’s recent election scheme in Texas. The Democratic base, which has been calling for the past eon for our elected representatives to fight back, now boasts a significant population crying “but not like that!” Certainly there is something to be said for not bowing to your enemy’s level, but at what point do we admit that even if we don’t cheat in the same manner the fascists do, we may have to bend the rules our own way? They aren’t bound by norms, and there is no honor in agreeing to handicap yourself simply out of principle when you can maintain your morals and be politically effective at the same time. 

You’d think that a comic strip about a six-year-old and his stuffed tiger would struggle to be existential, but Calvin and Hobbes is an absolute masterpiece in commentary on humanity. A recurring storyline is about a game, Calvinball, in which you make up the rules as you go, being bound by them all while changing them. We often forget that human rules and laws are not universal; we’re making them up as we go, too. If you let your opponent write the rule book without any push-back, you’ll very quickly find yourself in a very difficult place. 

One of my favorite courses in college was a political science course on human rights. While we studied documents like the Geneva Conventions and Universal Declaration of Human Rights, we also delved into specifics like Palestine, Guantanamo Bay, and, given that I took the course in the spring of 2022, the Russian invasion of Ukraine. After news of the war broke, the professor decided to pivot a large part of the syllabus, and we instead put on a mock peace summit. Students were assigned to play the role of two-person delegations from involved countries: Russia and Ukraine, obviously, but also countries aligned to one side or the other (Belarus, Syria, Germany, the US), and nominally independent countries (Switzerland, China, India, etc.). I was one half of the Russian delegation.

The goal was to reach some sort of resolution by the end of the week (three ninety minute class sessions), and we knew that we weren’t going to be able to convince anyone to agree to a deal overtly favoring Russia. What we did plan, though, was that if we could delay, obfuscate, and deflect long enough, by the end of the week we could make the other side desperate to accept terms that would be better for us. If we were able to disguise our terms effectively, the other players might not be able to take the time to accurately analyze what we were offering. So it began: we diverted the blame, made every admission into an accusation, used doublespeak, twisted the truth, and reframed as much as possible. At one point, one of the Ukrainian delegates began to see what we were doing and accused us (Russia, Belarus, and Syria) of being there only for show. In response, I yelled back, “no, we’re here because you want to play judge, jury, and executioner, and you already have a victim picked out!” Read the irony and hypocrisy here, but everyone was so fired up by this point that no one had the presence of mind to effectively call me out before the room exploded into chaos. The session ended shortly after, and with only one left to go, we were winning without the other side realizing.

By the end of the third session we had put forward a resolution for peace, with each side giving two concessions. Russia would agree to help finance and invest in the rebuilding of Ukraine while surrendering three “rogue” generals to stand trial for war crimes. Ukraine would agree to disband the Azov Battalion, and to the establishment of a new international body to mediate the post-war proceedings. Seems fair, at least at first, right? That’s what everyone else thought, too. Russia diverts blame for any wrong-doing to three individuals, who, by definition of the agreement, were not acting in any official capacity when they broke international law, whereas Ukraine, in disbanding an official part of their military, accepts institutional blame for any alleged misconduct on their side. Not to mention that the Azov Battalion has been credibly accused of neo-Nazi sympathies, so the concession implicitly admits that part of Russia’s stated war aims (“de-Nazifying” Ukraine) are valid.

The second two are equally insidious: Russia gets to invest in rebuilding Ukraine, and thereby profit financially from the damage it caused. The proceedings of the new international mediation body will be ripe for interference, and likely toothless in any attempt to reign Russia in. All of this, combined with the fact that Russia did not agree to give up any of the territory it had taken (at this point in 2022, they held quite a bit more than they do in 2025, as I write this). We tricked them into accepting such a bad deal because we were able to make them so desperate to accept any deal at all.

Whether it’s Manchin and Sinema throwing a wrench into infrastructure bill negotiations, the right refusing to work in good faith with the left on even bipartisan populist issues, or the corporate wing of the Democratic Party declawing the progressive wing, we cannot be consumed with the assumption that everyone plays by the same rules. When you claim, “we’re in a battle for the soul of the country” and then refuse to play the politics game hard enough to actually win, either because you’re stuck in a past frame of reference, or your rich donors benefit from the status quo (the two often feed each other), you can begin to expect people to turn on you. 

We are starting to see more interest in leftist politics, in large part because people are seeing that it is the leftists actually fighting back: Zohran said he would arrest Netanyahu if he ever came to NYC while Schumer and Jeffries have been writing strongly worded letters. As a political coalition, we need to increase our direct action and remain unafraid to punch the bully in the nose. The recent mobilization to protect the roofers from the ICE thugs needs to be a model, and we can never let ourselves assume that the other side will put integrity over victory. 

The post Knowing Your Enemy: We’re Playing Chess, They’re Playing Calvinball first appeared on Rochester Red Star.

Author: Mike Z

Things aren’t the best right now. I think we can probably all agree on that. The Trump administration is seemingly speed running the dismantling of our civil liberties while nakedly attacking any opposition of any kind. He’s declared war on anyone even remotely to the left of his positions with with broad and sweeping declarations of illegality so as to target and silence dissent within society. Even the most milquetoast liberals are being attacked and silenced for their modest criticism of Trump. Endless tariff uncertainty and corporate back dealing have led to ever increasing pinch in the wallet for the average person. ICE continues to attack our neighbors in the name of unlimited deportations. Federal troops and the national guard are being deployed en masse to ccities Trump deems to be “crime infested” to normalize their use against American citizens. Israel continues its genocide of Gaza from occupied Palestinian territory while the American media landscape consolidates control in the hands of a few Zionist sympathizers.

I think many of us did not expect things to fall so fast. That there would be at least some kind of fight or pushback that would slow things down. I think many of us thought we’d have more time to prepare for a fight that we knew may be coming, but just not yet.

We do not.

The fight against fascism is here. And with this recognition there is a sense of helplessness and hopelessness that can become paralyzing or empowering depending on your outlook. I recently helped run a new member orientation and when we talked about why we all joined, those feelings of helplessness and hopelessness were at the top of the list. For these people those feelings motivated them to seek out something more, but for so many others it leads us to shut down. Even those of us who have been in this fight for any amount of time are susceptible to this as well. What we do is not easy and we are all just human at the end of the day. It is something I have fought with on hard days as I’m sure many of you have as well, but we must be wary of letting those feelings set in and stay for any significant length of time. They can lead us to doomerism – that nihilistic feeling that nothing can change, try as we might, so what’s the point? It leads us to isolate and pull away from our comrades who are in desperate need of our support and solidarity. It leads us to comply with our ideological enemies before so much as a word is even uttered.

Do not comply in advance. Kill the part of you that dooms.

Your doomerism is the final boss of overcoming your liberalism. Liberalism teaches us to be oriented towards the individual and to hold that ability to operate unfettered from the restrictions of society and our peers as the highest virtue. It would have us believe that a single person, with enough pulling of the bootstraps, could change society. But anyone who has lived in one of our so-called liberal democracies understands the powerlessness of the individual in the face of systemic oppression. I believe this is where that doom comes from. But as socialists the remedy is simple. It is the knowledge that throughout history it has always been the case that true change only happens when the average person bands together in a fight for a vision of a future that has yet to be. A future that WILL be if we do the work now to materialize it.

We must remain endlessly hopeful that these actions we are taking right now will be the ones that start the fall of the first domino. We must remain steadfast in the face of overwhelming power and adversity to keep fighting for what we know to be right and just. We must remain assured in our convictions that the emancipation of all people from the evils of capitalism is worth fighting for to see a better future for our descendants who will reap what we sow today. And this is not to say it will be easy, because it certainly will not be, but remember that by joining with our comrades we can help each other foster and maintain the spirit of unyielding optimism that our fight requires. The future we want to build must remain our lodestar to bind us together in a movement larger than any one of us single actors.

In writing this I am constantly thinking of the Palestinian people, as I do most days for the past 2 years of the ongoing genocide in Gaza. Every day there are new atrocities to learn about. Every day more innocent lives are lost in the name of genocidal irredentist conquest. But every day I am also stunned by the stories of ongoing resilience by those who remain and continue to fight for their very existence. They would have every right to despair. Nearly 80 years of occupation and systematic ethnic cleansing by Zionist forces, the majority of it patently unknown to much of the western world funding their destruction, and yet they carry on. They continue to fight for their homeland and their humanity with such grace and compassion. They remain unbroken.

Just as they dream of a world where they can live free in their land once more, we can embody this endless optimism in our fight to transform the world. We can work to build a world that will ensure that the oppressed and marginalized peoples around the world may never suffer a fate even remotely similar to those of Palestine, or Sudan, or Sri Lanka, or any of the other communities across the globe being persecuted ever again. For the sake of all people we must steel ourselves so we may respond to their cries for help both at home and abroad.

I recently finished a wonderful book, “Let This Radicalize You” by Kelly Hayes and Mariame Kaba Cover to cover it was an amazing read that I highly recommend to any organizers looking for salient real world stories of other organizers and how they’ve struggled and succeeded. But that’s not what I want to talk about. During the book Mariame quotes one of her previous works and it has become permanently emblazoned into my mind –

“Let this radicalize you rather than lead you to despair.”

And that’s really the whole thing right there to me. To me this quote really encapsulates the concept of Revolutionary Optimism in its entirety. When faced with heinous societal developments, don’t let it silence you, let it be the fuel that powers your resistance. Be it hope, anger or anything in between. And if you can’t do that, do it out of spite.
Remember that the average person does not like what is going on. They don’t like Trump and all the violence he is fomenting. They don’t like the attacks on their neighbors. They don’t like everything becoming endlessly more expensive while becoming worse every year. They don’t like the threats and restrictions on their freedoms across the board.
Remember that people want clean air and safe food. They want universal healthcare. They want affordable childcare. They want high quality infrastructure and public transit systems. They want affordable public housing. They want to feel safe with their family when they are out in the world. People want peace and prosperity, not war and destruction.

The average person is feeling all the same emotions of helplessness that we are – it’s our responsibility to help them. As those on the forefront of this struggle it is our duty to share our knowledge and strategies with the masses. To organize them and bring them into the fold of our fight. To show them a better future is possible and that they are a vital part of the equation that will free us all.

Organizing is the antidote to the despair we are all collectively feeling and working to stave off every day. In my short time in DSA I have found that surrounding myself with my comrades working together, no matter how small that work may be, has been the surest path to feeling secure in what we are doing. It’s helped me feel a little less alone in such uncertain times. It’s helped me feel reassured in the mission we are all here to fight for and the world that DSA believes in. I hope it can be that for you as well.

Kill the doomer inside you. A better world is possible for us all – let’s build it together.

Join DSA

If you’ve read this far I want to reward you with some of my current favorite videos that help me maintain my optimism for the future by reminding me why we fight. They help me lock back in. Yes, 3 of them are from Andor – don’t give me that look. Light spoilers if you haven’t seen it (go watch it).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-asb8zTiuZ4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TKB67KzjO4A 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TaKrm5txGCQ

And finally an excerpt from one Michael Parenti’s many wonderful lectures

https://youtu.be/npkeecCErQc?si=0o_HW2fb4jdUY-I4

The post Revolutionary Optimism and Why You Should Kill the Doomer Inside You appeared first on Democratic Socialists of America.

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