Translated into French below / Traduit en français ci-dessous

The DSA International Committee condemns France, the United States, and their compradors in the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) for interfering in the internal affairs of Niger via the imposition of sanctions, the suspension of humanitarian aid, and the threat of military action. These interventions obstruct the path to independent development for Niger and for the whole of Africa, more broadly.

Although Niger won formal independence from France in 1960 and possesses immense wealth in natural resources, it remains one of the poorest countries in the world. Bound to France through dependence on the export of raw materials to French capitalists, the occupation of its land by French and American troops, and the monetary colonialism of the CFA franc zone, Niger has been unable to develop a self-sufficient national economy and advance the interests of its people. We wholeheartedly support the Nigerien masses in their struggle against imperialism, which is a struggle for true political and economic sovereignty in their country.

On July 26, 2023, the newly-formed National Council for the Safeguard of the Homeland placed President Mohamed Bazoum under house arrest and named General Abdourahamane Tchiani the leader of the transitional government. Following several other military coups in West Africa, condemnation from France, the United States, and the European Union was immediate. Superficial characterizations of the coup in Niger as “illiberal” fail to recognize the undemocratic nature of the prevailing social order in West Africa, which is characterized by economic exploitation and political domination designed to benefit foreign capital at the expense of the people.

The relationship between France and its “former” colonies in West Africa has been marked by continual interference and exploitation. Since 1960, France has repeatedly deposed or assassinated leaders who have attempted to upend the colonial relations of production responsible for Africa’s underdevelopment. Today, France continues to utilize a variety of tools to maintain domination over Niger and other West African countries. As a colonial power, France organized the Nigerien economy to be unindustrialized and dependent on the uranium trade. This relationship persists as Nigerien uranium mines are predominantly owned by French capitalists, who import Nigerien uranium to sustain France’s massive nuclear energy industry. A third of the light bulbs in France are powered by Nigerien uranium, while 90% of the people in Niger are robbed of access to electricity.

France has around 1,500 soldiers stationed in Niger, helping to serve as a base for expanding French militarism across West Africa. Though counter-terrorism is the banner under which France and the United States justify their military presence across West Africa, the 2011 NATO-led intervention in Libya sparked a massive insurgency across the continent, providing a pretext for expanded militarization while exacerbating insecurity and instability. A 2019 report published by the Africa Center for Strategic Studies found that terrorist activity on the continent doubled from 2012 to 2018. The number of countries experiencing attacks increased by 960% during that time period. Across the region, the need to resolve the terrorism issue through development, rather than illegal and ineffective foreign military intervention, lies at the heart of the popular struggle to expel French and American forces from African soil.

Additionally, the continuation of the CFA franc as the official currency of Niger ensures that Niger remains subservient to imperialism. The CFA franc is a product of French colonialism, which sets the Nigerien currency at a fixed exchange rate with the Euro (previously the Franc), making it incredibly expensive for Niger to trade with other countries and thus allowing Europe to exploit Niger’s natural resources for next to nothing. Moreover, half of Nigerien currency reserves are held by the French treasury under the CFA franc system, making it impossible for Niger to use monetary policy to develop heavy industry and move away from mineral extraction. The CFA franc serves to guarantee France’s monetary hegemony over Niger and several other West and Central African countries.

This long and ongoing history of French imperialism in Niger is essential for contextualizing the recent coup. Both liberals and conservatives are attempting to mischaracterize the new Nigerien government as a dictatorial military regime imposed on the people of Niger by a Russian conspiracy. Rather, the coup is supported by a mass movement of Nigeriens determined to put an end to the economic exploitation and political domination of their country by France, the United States, and foreign capital, more broadly. The new Nigerien government’s support was particularly evident at the demonstration at Seyni Kountche Stadium on August 8, where 30,000 Nigeriens came out in support of the National Council for the Safeguard of the Homeland. 

The DSA International Committee stands in solidarity with Niger in its struggle for sovereignty and against capitalist imperialism. As the United States and Europe seek to vilify the new Nigerien Government and expand domination across West Africa, we call for the removal of sanctions against the transitional government and the Nigerien people; the removal of all French, American, and other foreign military forces from the African continent, including NATO and AFRICOM; and the abolition of all tools of colonial domination that inhibit the development of Niger.

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DSA IC est solidaire du peuple nigérien contre l’impérialisme Américain et Français

Le Comité international des socialistes démocrates d’Amérique (DSA) condamne la France, les États-Unis, et leurs compradors dans la Communauté économique des États de l’Afrique de l’Ouest (CEDEAO) pour ingérence dans les affaires intérieures du Niger par l’imposition de sanctions, la suspension de l’aide humanitaire, et la menace d’une action militaire. Ces interventions font obstacle au développement indépendant du Niger et de l’ensemble de l’Afrique, plus largement.

Bien que le Niger ait gagné son indépendance formelle de la France en 1960 et possède une immense richesse en ressources naturelles, il reste l’un des pays les plus pauvres du monde. Lié à la France par la dépendance à l’exportation de matières premières aux capitalistes français, l’occupation de ses terres par les troupes françaises et américaines, et le colonialisme monétaire de la zone franc CFA, le Niger a été incapable de développer unune économie nationale suffisante et la promotion des intérêts de sa population. Nous soutenons sans réserve les masses nigériennes dans leur lutte contre l’impérialisme, qui est une lutte pour la vraie souveraineté politique et économique dans leur pays.

Le 26 juillet 2023, le nouveau Conseil national pour la sauvegarde de la patrie a placé le président Mohamed Bazoum en résidence surveillée et a nommé le général Abdourahamane Tchiani chef du gouvernement de transition. Après plusieurs autres coups d’État militaires en Afrique de l’Ouest, la condamnation de la France, des États-Unis, et de l’Union européenne a été immédiate. Les caractérisations superficiels du coup d’État au Niger d’ “illibéral” ne reconnaissent pas la nature antidémocratique de l’ordre social dominant en Afrique de l’Ouest, qui se caractérise par une exploitation économique et une domination politique au profit du capital étranger aux dépens du peuple.

Le relation entre la France et ses “anciennes” colonies en Afrique de l’Ouest ont été marquées par une ingérence et une exploitation continuelles. Depuis 1960, la France a déposé ou assassiné à plusieurs reprises des dirigeants qui ont tenté de bouleverser les relations coloniales de production responsables du sous-développement de l’Afrique. Depuis 1960, la France a déposé ou assassiné à plusieurs reprises des dirigeants qui ont tenté de bouleverser les rapports coloniales de production responsables du sous-développement de l’Afrique. Aujourd’hui, la France continue d’utiliser une variété d’outils pour maintenir sa domination sur le Niger et d’autres pays d’Afrique de l’Ouest. En tant que puissance coloniale, la France a organisé l’économie nigérienne pour être non industrialisée et dépendante du commerce de l’uranium. Cette relation persiste comme les mines d’uranium nigériennes sont majoritairement détenues par des capitalistes français, qui importent de l’uranium nigérien pour soutenir l’énorme industrie nucléaire française. Un tiers des ampoules en France sont alimentées par de l’uranium nigérien, alors que 90% des Nigériens sont privés d’accès à l’électricité.

La France a environ 1,500 soldats stationnés au Niger, aidant à servir de base pour l’expansion du militarisme français en Afrique de l’Ouest. Bien que le contre-terrorisme soit la bannière sous laquelle la France et les États-Unis justifient leur présence militaire en Afrique de l’Ouest, l’intervention menée par l’OTAN en Libye en 2011 a déclenché une insurrection massive sur le continent, fournissant un prétexte pour une militarisation accrue tout en exacerbant l’insécurité et l’instabilité. Un rapport de 2019 publié par le Centre africain d’études stratégiques a révélé que les activités terroristes sur le continent ont doublé de 2012 à 2018. Le nombre de pays victimes d’attaques a augmenté de 960% pendant cette période. Dans toute la région, la nécessité de résoudre le problème du terrorisme par le développement, plutôt que par une intervention militaire étrangère illégale et inefficace, est au coeur de la lutte populaire pour expulser les forces françaises et américaines du sol africain.

En outre, le maintien du franc CFA comme monnaie officielle du Niger garantit que le Niger reste soumis à l’impérialisme. Le franc CFA est un produit du colonialisme français, qui fixe la monnaie nigérienne à un taux de change fixe avec l’euro (auparavant le franc), faisant en sorte qu’il soit incroyablement coûteux pour le Niger de commercer avec d’autres pays et permettant ainsi à l’Europe d’exploiter les ressources naturelles du Niger pour presque rien. De plus, la moitié des réserves de devises nigériennes sont détenues par le trésor français sous le système du franc CFA, ce qui rend impossible pour le Niger d’utiliser la politique monétaire pour développer l’industrie lourde et s’éloigner de l’extraction minière. Le franc CFA sert à garantir l’hégémonie monétaire de la France sur le Niger et plusieurs autres pays d’Afrique de l’Ouest et du Centre.

Cette longue histoire de l’impérialisme français au Niger est essentielle pour contextualiser le récent coup d’État. Les libéraux et les conservateurs tentent de présenter le nouveau gouvernement nigérien comme un régime militaire dictatorial imposé au peuple nigérien par une conspiration russe. Au contraire, le coup d’État est soutenu par un mouvement de masse nigérien déterminé à mettre fin à l’exploitation économique et à la domination politique de leur pays par la France, les États-Unis, et les capitaux étrangers, plus largement. Le soutien du nouveau gouvernement nigérien a été particulièrement évident lors de la manifestation du 8 août au stade Seyni Kountche, où 30,000 Nigériens ont apporté leur soutien au Conseil national pour la sauvegarde de la patrie.

Le Comité international de la DSA est solidaire du Niger dans sa lutte pour la souveraineté et contre l’impérialisme capitaliste. Alors que les États-Unis et l’Europe cherchent à vilipender le nouveau gouvernement nigérien et à étendre leur domination sur l’Afrique de l’Ouest, nous appelons à la suppression des sanctions contre le gouvernement de transition et le peuple nigérien; à la suppression de toutes les forces militaires françaises, des forces militaires américaines, et d’autres forces militaires étrangères du continent africain, y compris l’OTAN et le Commandement des États-Unis pour l’Afrique (AFRICOM); et l’abolition de tous les outils de domination coloniale qui entravent le développement du Niger.

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George Floyd may have been murdered in Minneapolis, but he came from Houston, Texas, and his hometown has returned to the streets as Houstonians agitate for justice after another racist police murder. On July 26, 2023, the family of 29-year-old Jalen Randle, joined by Black Lives Matter HTX, Black Lives Matter Grassroots FL, Restaurant Workers United, Texas State Employees Union Local 6186, the Office of Ben Crump, Community Voices for Public Education, the Houston Tenants Union, and the Houston DSA gathered for a press conference demanding justice for their son. The day marked the latest action of the family’s campaign since Randle’s murder by Houston police on April 27, 2022, in the historically Black neighborhood of Pleasantville. Organized by local DSA members, this event may have marked the first time since 1946 that labor unions in Houston have stood with grassroots struggles against racist violence and murder. 

Since Randle’s murder, the fight for justice in Houston has not been led by established activists or organizations but by Randle’s family. His father, Warren Randle, is a full-time physical athletic trainer. Tiffany Bouyette Rachal, his mother, works as a touring singer and artist. Few others carrying these commitments would have maintained the capacity and passion for a regular schedule of monthly protests and actions for well over a year. The family’s tenacious determination inspired the Rice Women’s Basketball Team to feature Jalen’s name on uniforms in February 2023 and directly challenge the leaders of Houston’s political class two months later. The Randle family has united with the family of George Floyd and developed contacts with abolitionist intellectuals such as Ruth Wilson Gilmore and Robin D.G. Kelley. 

In an interview published on the first anniversary of his son’s murder, Warren Randle told The Real News Network, that Jalen had made him “a better person even in his death.” Rachal, similarly, has made her activism airborne, supporting the movement demanding justice for Andrew Joseph III in Florida, as well as in Atlanta where she sang at Tyre Nichols’s funeral, and as far away as Ohio and Washington D.C. where she traveled to march in solidarity with the family of Jayland Walker.

After a year of organizing, the Randle family in April of this year finally forced Harris County DA Kim Ogg to place the officer who shot Jalen, Shane Privette, before a grand jury. On April 26, the grand jury returned a “no action” decision, leaving the task of ruling up to a second grand jury. The date of its convening is still unknown. Despite the criminal legal system’s cruel maneuvers, the Randle family and their supporters have not backed down. They have instead upped the ante by organizing broader alliances involving teachers and unions and raised public questions about the real agenda of the DA’s office. If the resources of DSA nationally can be marshaled together with local ones, the Randle family could make DA Kim Ogg’s life even more difficult in the coming months.

But the primary challenge facing the Justice for Jalen campaign is one currently shared by every fight waged by our side right now, whether in Houston, Cop City, Ron DeSantis’s Florida, or far beyond. In a strong statement of solidarity to the Randle campaign, the Southern Workers Assembly in South Carolina warns that “there is a rising right wing assault on every aspect of our lives.” Queer and trans communities, communities of color, reproductive rights, librarians and libraries, public schools, unions, and everyone else and thing we hold dear are all in grave danger. There is no path forward for resisting this broad offensive if our struggles are not connected. And there is no reason they shouldn’t be. 

Each struggle puts us on the front lines of fighting for a different kind of society, for those we do not know and in the memory of those no longer here. Socialists today must build a new Left grounded in the same commitments that brought millions to the radical streets of 2020. Their example could not have been more dramatically pre-figurative of the world that could be ours, where “an injury to one is an injury to all.”

A World Where Injuries to One Matter to All

We have seen the legacy of the 2020 uprising play out in industrial action and workplace rebellion this summer. For socialists, the writers’ and actors’ strikes aren’t only about residuals, dystopian technological agendas, or even the status of art as we know it. Yes, they are about these, but they are also about another, much wider world made possible when workers stand together against injustice. Any and every locked arm against scabs and cops calls into question the false common sense of an undemocratic society built on profit over need, where ordinary people take orders from above rather than run society collectively from below. 

Bernie Sanders gestured toward these kinds of prefigurative commitments when he posed the question to his supporters, “Are you willing to fight for someone you don’t know?”

The transformation of ordinary people through struggle into some of the best leaders, organizers and tacticians also takes place on the streets against the cops and the courts. The same radical needs as well as capacities for collectivity and solidarity that emerge during fights with employers also arise independently among the oppressed, including in struggles against systemic racism and state violence. A socialism truly democratic can only thrive where these needs and capacities are developed on a mass scale through the passionate cultivation and care of activists. It is perhaps another way of describing the molecular infrastructures of abolition.

Seth Uzman is Co-Chair of the Houston DSA’s Abolition Working Group. For more information or to become involved with DSA’s abolition work, visit the site of the National DSA Abolition Working Group.

Tiffany Bouyette Rachal, flanked by Warren Randle and Martin Rachal, leads with an opening statement at a solidarity press conference on July 26th, 2023, outside the Harris County Criminal and Civil Courts.

HDSA Banners at the head of the family’s one year anniversary march for justice on April 22nd, 2023 at City Hall

Warren Randle shows solidarity at Houston DSA’s Teamsters BBQ Fundraiser on July 22nd, 2023 at the Texas Gulf Coast Area Labor Federation

Stenciled banner donated by  Houston DSA to the Randle family and subsequently painted and embellished by community members on display during a Pleasantville town hall on July 28th, 2022.

The post Justice and Democratic Socialism in George Floyd’s Hometown: Houston DSA Aids Coalition Work appeared first on Democratic Socialists of America (DSA).

Join us as we celebrate our 200th episode! We’ve been broadcasting on WBAI and online for almost five years and in that time, have featured the stories of hundreds of workers, tenants, and organizers fighting for socialism in New York City, in the United States, and around the globe. It’s a true honor and privilege to bring these stories to you, and we’re looking forward to what the future has in store!

 

For this week's show, we’re joined live by Honda Wang of DSA Labor. As a New York City delegate to the recent national DSA convention in Chicago, Honda will be sharing his analysis of the present and future of DSA and what’s next in the struggle for socialism. We also hear from Mac, Smitha, and Adam, three  NYC-DSA members who were inspired by their work in DSA to start organizing for tenants’ rights in their own buildings and neighborhoods.

 

Take the DSA Labor Strike Ready pledge to support workers at the UAW Big 3: dsausa.us/UAWPledge

 

Donate to the DSA Labor Solidarity Fund: donate.laborsolidarity.com.

The post NNJ-DSA Condemns Killing of Andrew Jerome Washington by the Jersey City Police Department first appeared on North NJ DSA.

CHICAGO — From August 3 to 6, roughly 1,000 elected delegates and alternates, as well as observers, from across the country gathered in Chicago for the 2023 National Convention of the Democratic Socialists of America. After the virtual one in 2021, this was the first in-person DSA Convention since 2019 in Atlanta.

Based on membership size, chapters and at-large DSA members are apportioned and elect a certain number of delegates to DSA Convention, which meets every two years as the organization’s highest decision-making body. They debate and vote on constitutional and bylaws amendments that change DSA’s structure and internal rules, platform amendments that update our beliefs and goals on key issues, resolutions that inform the work of the national organization and chapters, and our top leadership between conventions on the National Political Committee (NPC), the members of which make sense of and direct the implementation of convention decisions.

The NPC includes 16 members, with one vote each, elected by delegates at DSA Convention, plus the two co-chairs of the Young Democratic Socialists of America (YDSA), who share one vote. The annual YDSA Convention, which elects its co-chairs and YDSA’s National Coordinating Committee (NCC), also met in the city in the days immediately prior to DSA Convention.

DSA is a multi-tendency socialist organization, which means there is a range of different socialist politics across the membership. Caucuses and other similar member formations are the organized expression of these political tendencies and form when like-minded members choose to join together to organize internally for their political vision for the organization and its work. That can consist of running candidates for chapter leadership, convention delegate, and NPC, and also submitting proposals that may be debated at Convention. Candidates may also organize themselves into slates without the backing of a formalized caucus, and any DSA member in good standing can draft and submit proposals for Convention provided they gather signatures from other members and support from delegates.

While most DSA members and delegates are uncaucused — being no member of any formation — DSA has no ban on factions. These organized political tendencies help present politically distinct paths for the future of DSA for us to consider and debate and are a vehicle to advocate for them too.

Below, Working Mass presents 10 statements reflecting on this year’s DSA and YDSA Conventions. Collected from a selection of attendees across most chapters in Massachusetts and the range of tendencies represented in their delegations, they lay out a variety of perspectives and highlights that we hope gives an impression of these conventions and their outcomes.

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Michaela and Desmond, Bread & Roses

Bread & Roses had about 90 members at DSA Convention as delegates.

As proud Bread & Roses members, we see the 2023 DSA Convention as a massive step forward. Nearly a thousand delegates recommitted to the rank-and-file strategy in labor, endorsed a more independent, oppositional electoral strategy, and approved paid political leadership. Combined, these decisions could lay the foundation for a more democratic, powerful, party-like DSA in the coming years.

To start, Convention made important interventions on electoral strategy. The base Electoral Consensus Resolution included important structural reforms to the National Electoral Commission (NEC). B&R’s “Act Like an Independent Party” amendment, which calls for DSA to develop organizational, strategic, visible independence from the Democratic Party, passed with almost 80% support. By passing another B&R-authored proposal, “Defend Democracy through Political Independence,” Convention also rejected a strategy of fighting the authoritarian right by tailing the Democrats. Instead, we committed the organization to defending democracy by running independent campaigns to build working-class organization and consciousness. These votes amount to an overwhelming endorsement of political independence for DSA, an important choice as the 2024 elections loom.

On labor, delegates voted down two amendments to the Labor Consensus Resolution. One would have weakened DSA’s commitment to the rank-and-file strategy, hinting that we would privilege working with union leadership over rank-and-file workers and even stripping language about building and collaborating with Labor Notes. The other would have scuttled the base language about paying our two National Labor Commission (NLC) co-chairs as elected full-time organizers, kneecapping our national labor work at a crucial moment of revival in the labor movement. Delegates rejected the former 69-31 and the latter 54-46.

Finally, this Convention made big gains for DSA as a democratic mass organization. In the consent agenda alone, we passed B&R-endorsed resolutions to revive the National Activist Conference (NAC), which can become an important learning hub for our activist layer, and to establish a DSA Editorial Board that can build out Democratic Left and Socialist Forum into a lively, serious party press. We passed a strong YDSA Consensus Resolution that will empower our youth wing with the resources and autonomy to keep growing. The newly approved Democracy Commission will research and plan for a more democratic internal structure for DSA. Most significantly, the Convention rejected austerity arguments and passed B&R’s proposal to elect two full-time paid co-chairs of DSA. Soon, we will have elected national spokespeople whose full-time job is to build DSA!

We didn’t celebrate every convention decision. B&R’s amendment to the International Consensus Resolution, “Class Struggle Internationalism,” was defeated, and we weren’t able to stop the stripping of language around accountability for electeds from the “Defend Democracy” resolution. Still, we’re excited to engage with DSA’s international work going forward, and the bulk of the defend democracy strategy – including the core commitment to political independence – passed overwhelmingly.

We have our work cut out for us, but this Convention was a huge win for all who want DSA to become a real mass socialist organization that can organize the working class to fight for its own liberation.

Michaela B (she/her), a delegate from River Valley DSA, is the chair of the Matching Funds subcommittee of the Growth and Development Committee and is a past co-chair of River Valley DSA. She joined DSA in 2017, and this was her second consecutive DSA Convention as a delegate.

Desmond O (he/him), a delegate from Boston DSA, is the rank-and-file organizing chair in Boston DSA’s Labor Working Group and organizes with the DSA Logistics Committee. He also serves on the Bread & Roses National Coordinating Committee. Desmond joined DSA in 2021, and this was his first DSA Convention as a delegate. He is a member of UNITE HERE Local 26 in Boston.

Russell, Socialist Majority Caucus

Socialist Majority Caucus had about 55 members at DSA Convention as delegates.

This Convention found a DSA energized and mobilized, politically matured, and financially stretched. Where we are by 2025 and by 2033 and beyond will depend on the choices comrades make now and in months to come.

I joined Socialist Majority Caucus when it formed in 2019 because it was made up of comrades I saw do good organizing across DSA in the 2-3 years before united by a belief in a strong, well-funded, politically coherent national organization; running socialists for office using whatever ballot line is easiest for them to win on; campaigns to build the organization; and the centrality of race and racial justice in the fight for socialism.

In 2019 and 2021, delegates consistently voted for SMC’s ideas, passing resolutions for multi-racial organizing, pragmatic electoral strategies, and a version of the rank-and-file strategy in labor that emphasizes organizing the unorganized; defeating resolutions to weaken the national organization by decentralizing or financially undermining it; and electing our candidates to a plurality on the National Political Committee.

At the 2023 Convention, it was gratifying to see many of our ideas have become consensus positions in DSA, underlying many consensus resolutions that passed, especially labor, electoral, multi-racial, growth and development, internationalism, and the Green New Deal. There are no longer debates about decentralizing or defunding national or against organizing through power-building campaigns. Delegates defeated resolutions committing DSA to self-marginalizing electoral strategies. Most excitingly, our top political priority — a national campaign for DSA to fight the right through work to defend abortion and trans rights — passed overwhelmingly!

That said, while our allies on the Groundwork slate won four seats, SMC’s NPC candidates mostly lost and won’t hold a plurality for the first time since 2019. Most tragically, SMC fought hard for a necessary reform to democratize DSA by expanding our structurally dysfunctional elected leadership from 18 members to 31. It won support from 61% of delegates, but not the 67% supermajority needed to pass. However, a “Democracy Commission” to study NPC reform did pass, so hopefully we can win some kind of reform in 2025.

The Convention heard reports from national staff and elected leaders that we spend more than we take in, and we’re depleting savings built up over many years. Convention then created numerous new paid positions and committed to expensive projects and campaigns. The new NPC faces a hard job deciding priorities, and all DSA members need to recruit more comrades and increase dues.

However, after nine years in DSA, I have more hope than ever for our ability to meet this moment of rising worker militancy and the rising fascist right. This Convention showed an organization of tens of thousands of members who are already organizing — investing time, energy, and money in the socialist movement — and ready to do much more. We must!

If you agree with the Socialist Majority vision I’ve laid out, join us: socialistmajority.com!

Whether you do or not, sign up for income-based dues to support DSA’s fight for socialism at dsausa.org/join!

Russell W (he/him), a delegate from Boston DSA, is a solidarity co-chair in Boston DSA’s Labor Working Group, a past co-chair of Central New Jersey DSA, and a past NPC member. He joined DSA in 2014, and this was his fifth consecutive DSA Convention as a delegate. He is a member of the Boston Teachers Union (AFT Local 66).

Connell, Marxist Unity Group

Marxist Unity Group had about 30 members at DSA Convention as delegates.

One of our priorities is electoral work that moves toward independence from the Democratic Party and has standards for DSA electeds decided democratically by membership. For me, this Convention was an extremely positive step for DSA’s direction.

Compared to the results from 2021, there is a definite shift toward political independence. The electoral amendment “Act Like an Independent Party” establishes that we must present a democratic socialist alternative for the working class that is independent of the Democratic Party and that we should develop our own party identity while we work toward our organizational independence. This amendment passed with about 80% of delegates voting in favor, whereas a similar amendment failed last Convention.

There were also failed amendments that nevertheless show growing support for change to the DSA electoral status quo. The amendment “Towards a Party-Like Strategy” that MUG wrote with Reform & Revolution would have established DSA electeds should fight for our platform, and among other things set out a few red lines in advance. These red lines would set an expectation of people we endorse to oppose increases to police budgets, refuse to vote to restrict the right to strike, oppose all forms of oppression and discrimination, and oppose military budgets and aid. It got 40% of delegates voting in favor so it failed, but compare this to a similar resolution from 2021 that got around 30% in the pre-convention delegate survey and did not make the agenda. Because of a procedural motion with the resolution “Defend Democracy through Political Independence,” we also got to take an unexpected poll on one aspect of our political orientation. While the vote on it failed, 49% of delegates supported the idea the National Political Committee should publicly disapprove of DSA candidates and electeds supporting or endorsing centrist Democrats. Between these three votes, we see a trend toward political independence that we can continue building on.

The NPC election was another sign of positive change for DSA. As a relatively small and new caucus, MUG members are very excited to have elected both of the NPC candidates we ran, Rashad and Amy. They are experienced chapter leaders with a commitment to transforming DSA into a mass socialist party. Many DSA members have been dissatisfied with the level of transparency and member input into DSA, and the NPC elected this Convention has good prospects of putting membership in control.

Other positive convention outcomes are the defeat of the Groundwork labor amendments that would have weakened DSA’s commitment to rank-and-file workers, a national campaign for trans rights and bodily autonomy, and paid full-time co-chairs both for the National Labor Commission and the NPC. The opportunities from these new member leadership positions are exciting, but only if we can pay for them. Since Convention closed there has already been a surge in DSA members with renewed commitment signing up for income-based dues. Whether or not you agree with my assessment of Convention, if you’re financially able, sign up for your 1% for the 99%!

Connell Heady (they/them), a delegate from River Valley DSA, is a co-chair of that chapter. They joined DSA in 2020, and this was their second consecutive DSA Convention as a delegate.

Eve, Reform & Revolution

Reform & Revolution had about 25 members at DSA Convention as delegates.

The 2023 DSA Convention was a big step forward for our organization. Delegates amended the agenda to take on some of the key debates for DSA today, like whether and how to run fighting national campaigns, the question of party-like socialist electoral work, and the lessons learned from the conflict between the outgoing NPC and the BDS working group and our approach to anti-Zionism. In the end, despite substantive debate and a sense of seriousness and maturity compared to 2019 and 2021, many important issues were left unresolved or untouched. The Convention was silent on U.S. support for Ukraine and how socialists should relate to the 2024 presidential election and Joe Biden. But with an energized left wing of the organization emboldened by gains on the NPC and a strong plan for a national campaign on trans and reproductive rights, Reform & Revolution delegates came out of Convention excited to build DSA in 2024 and beyond!

Eve Seitchik (they/she), a delegate from Boston DSA, is a past co-chair of that chapter. They joined DSA in 2018, and this was her third consecutive DSA Convention as a delegate.

Shane, Red Line

Red Line had about 15 members at DSA Convention as delegates.

Three DSA members in Congress voting to ban a strike prompted Red Line’s formation, and our delegates were pleased by leftward movement toward more principled electoral work, even when we lost, as we voted as a bloc for:

• Yes on Amendment I, “Act Like an Independent Party,” which with 79% support amended the electoral consensus resolution, for a DSA “organizationally, strategically, and visibly independent of the Democratic Party.”
• Yes on Amendment P, “Towards a Party-Like Electoral Strategy,” which failed with 41% support and would’ve formalized expectations that DSA electeds oppose strengthening the police, restricting the right to strike, oppressing vulnerable groups, or funding the military or U.S. client states like Israel.
• Yes on retaining, within “Defend Democracy through Political Independence,” lines 41-46, which failed with 49% support and would’ve directed the NPC to “publicly communicate disapproval” of DSA electeds “explicitly or tacitly support[ing] centrist leaders of the Democratic Party.”
• No on the Green New Deal Campaign Commission resolution, which passed with 37% opposed and commits significant funding and staff to their electoral strategy, expands redundancies with the National Electoral Committee and National Labor Commission, and lacks substantive reflection on the Pass the PRO Act and GND for Public Schools campaigns.
• No on the NPC recommendation moving the BDS Working Group to the International Committee, which passed with 48% opposed and disciplines the BDS WG for strident opposition to unprincipled votes by Congressman Bowman.

While more active under new leadership, the NLC’s relationship with chapter labor committees remains unclear, it lacks a socialist labor publication, and its work often defaults to cheerleading workers from the sidelines while many DSA members’ union work is uncoordinated and individual. On labor, Red Line voted:

• No on Amendment H, “We are Workers,” to the labor consensus resolution, which failed with 69% opposed, because we reject prioritizing relations with leadership at the expense of standing with the rank and file — whether it’s tying ourselves wholesale to leadership’s bargaining goals and strategy or opportunistically pursuing endorsements for our electoral and legislative work.
• Mostly Yes on Amendment F, which passed with 97% support, to build out EWOC locally, but believing that it cannot be a way to sidestep confrontation with union leadership or hard choices while “boring from within” existing major unions — as reorienting them to the class struggle is necessary to organize the unorganized on a mass scale.

Competitive elections, a vibrant political culture, and left organization produced a more representative and more left NPC, and we’ll now see how it actually lands on the issues. DSA’s internal democracy is strong, but we hope for staff and structural reforms, a better agenda-setting process, proportional election of all delegations going forward, and that the successful resolution revitalizing DSA’s publications further empowers members.

In sum, Convention affirmed the value of socialist regroupment within DSA and the error of abstention from the center of the socialist movement in this country and from the ideological struggle over its character and future. Join Red Line in the fight for it!

Shane Levett (he/him), a delegate from Worcester DSA, is a member of the board of Working Mass, the National Labor Commission’s Solidarity Fund Committee, and in his third term on his chapter’s steering committee. He is also a past member of the Organizing Committee of the Boston DSA Electoral Working Group. Shane serves on the Red Line provisional steering committee. He joined DSA in 2020, and this was his second consecutive DSA Convention as a delegate. He is on the organizing committee in his workplace with IBEW 2222.

Paul, North Star

North Star had about 10 members at DSA Convention as delegates.

I came home from Convention with a great deal of hope and enthusiasm for the future of the democratic socialist movement in the United States.

DSA is finally metamorphosing into the powerful organization we dreamed of in the early 1980s when we merged the Democratic Socialist Organizing Committee (DSOC) and the New American Movement (NAM) to form DSA.

Some of the few surviving veterans of that effort attended the 2023 Convention as delegates associated with the North Star Caucus. I think most of them would agree with my positive assessment that this was the most hopeful and inspiring Convention held in the four decades since we helped launch DSA.

I personally feel pride and gratification in the vitality and converging sense of unity and commitment demonstrated in Chicago. This does not mean that I agree with the outcome of every contested vote or voted for every successful NPC candidate. That is not important.

What matters is that DSA LIVES! Ten years ago, we were barely surviving, with an aging membership loyally soldiering on. I served six years on the NPC from 2009 to 2015, when we had four to six functioning chapters and a few campus organizations. Beyond maintaining a modest office and paying a minimal staff through membership dues, we depended on legacy bequests to support any national programming.

We made some seminal decisions that eventually paid off in 2016-17: hiring Maria Svart as National Director in 2011 and David Duhalde as Youth Organizer and later Deputy Director, putting office procedures and financial reporting into good order, and putting most of our scarce resources into campus organizing, which became the core of YDSA. Above all, we helped encourage Bernie Sanders to run for President as a self-identified democratic socialist in the Democratic primary.

I want to share two anecdotes from Convention. During the comradely but heated debate on amendments to the labor consensus resolution, I went outside to refill my water. When I went to reenter, I ran into Sean Orr, National Labor Commission co-chair and a UPS Teamster key to our Strike Ready campaign, and known to me as the resolution’s primary drafter. Sean was not a delegate but a volunteer freed up from his intensive union work by the tentative agreement. We had a great discussion on the spot, agreeing that the outcome of the amendments would not much affect our ongoing work.

One meal time I happened to sit with Jane Slaughter, now a member of Detroit DSA. I first met Jane in the 1980s, when we were in NAM and she and her comrades in the International Socialists respectfully left because they thought we were insufficiently committed to a strategy of concentrating on heavy industry. Now together in DSA, we celebrated our growing convergence with Labor Notes on a pragmatic rank-and-file strategy.

Without multiplying instances, I was inspired by encounters with comrades of all generations from all over the USA. I would do it over again, and not even complain about frivolous points of order.

Paul Garver (he/him), a delegate from Boston DSA, is a steering committee member on the International Committee, its liaison to the National Labor Commission, and a past National Political Committee member. Paul was a member of the New American Movement from its beginning and was a founding member of DSA. This was his tenth DSA Convention as a delegate after 1982, 1984, 1986, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2013, 2015, and 2017.

Bryan, uncaucused

Walking into the Convention, I was a mix of excitement and a little uncertainty. It was a bunch of firsts all rolled into one — traveling to a new state (not just another East Coast trip), hopping on the train with fellow delegates from different parts of New England, and hanging out with fellow delegates from chapters all over the place. I’ll admit, I was a bit nervous at first about facing so many new faces, but meeting all these comrades from different walks of life was really cool and informative, and they made me feel right at home. Getting the lowdown on how other chapters are dealing with things was pretty eye-opening, and even on the train ride, as well as before and during, I was talking with fellow delegates and chapter leaders about ways we could work together to make our chapters thrive.

When we got to the voting part, I’ve got to say, I was genuinely impressed. The whole process went smoother than I thought given what I had heard from previous years, and a lot of those votes went the way I was really hoping for. I’m pretty excited that we’re giving reproductive and trans liberation some major attention in DSA. Those issues really need all the support they can get, especially with the challenges they’re facing from almost all fronts. And the decision to start the process of stepping away from the major political parties to have our own? I’m totally on board. It’s about time we carve out our own political path for the working class!

Let’s chat about those breakout sessions and panels — they were awesome. I not only learned a lot, but the people leading them were really spot on. They made sure everyone’s questions got answered, whether they had the answers or they pointed us toward more info. I’m even happy to say I will be working with some members on ways we can grow our local chapter and do more in our community. I’m really excited about the newly elected National Political Committee (NPC). The fact that this group consists of people with diverse backgrounds and a range of ideologies is a great sign in making sure folks are represented as well as ensuring that all comrades’ voices are heard. It’s clear that every member of the NPC is dedicated to helping the organization thrive and grow. This gives me a lot of confidence that our movement is in good hands, ready to move forward with inclusivity and a shared goal of progress.

As the curtain falls on this transformative event, I’m totally amped about the possibilities that lie ahead. Memories of the good times made with comrades and the insights and experiences I’ve got from this Convention will keep driving me to make things happen in my chapter and beyond. The Convention was a reminder that stepping into the unknown with a mix of excitement and those butterflies in your stomach can lead to some seriously awesome growth and empowerment.

Bryan Sylvestre (he/him), the alternate from Cape Cod DSA, is a co-chair of that chapter and a past media coordinator on its executive committee. He joined DSA in 2019, and this was his first DSA Convention as a delegate.

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Vivian, Constellation

Constellation had about 20 members at YDSA Convention as delegates.

When I speak to DSA members about YDSA, many are surprised by the extent of the differences between our main political debates. Because YDSA does not conduct its own independent electoral campaigns, formations like Socialist Majority and Groundwork are not represented. Instead, our main debates center labor and internationalism and are generally preoccupied with the following questions:

1. Should we run a large national campaign? What issue should that campaign center, and what tactics or strategies should we use in that campaign?
2. What sort of labor work should we do? Should we prioritize salting in strategic industries, such as healthcare, labor, and logistics? Should we prioritize campus labor organizing? Or can we do both?
3. How much should we integrate into DSA? Should our committees remain relatively independent with a liaison going between them, or should we operate as subcommittees that work on YDSA priorities within larger DSA committees?

The 2023 YDSA Convention was the first where my caucus, Constellation, had an official presence. Last year, several of our founding members formed a slate known as TRAIN, an acronym summing up several of our major priorities, including big tent internationalism, grievance reform, building up YDSA’s national organization, and others. This year, Constellation advanced many of the same priorities as TRAIN, but with a larger focus on diversity. We were the only caucus to run exclusively people of color for the National Coordinating Committee, one being Aron Ali-McClory, one of YDSA’s new co-chairs, and the other myself.

Our status as a caucus allowed us to meet regularly before Convention and plan out a more developed strategy. Four of our nine proposals this year were placed on the consent agenda, and eight were adopted by the Convention. Additionally, Aron came in first in the YDSA co-chair election by a 45-point margin, demonstrating once again that our politics have gained significant popularity. This was a big improvement from TRAIN, which elected none of its NCC candidates and only passed two of its proposals.

We are particularly pleased that the Convention voted down R23, “Class-Struggle Internationalism,” 49–85. Internationalism is one of Constellation’s biggest priorities, and our founding members have served both on the International Committee’s Youth Leadership Committee and on IC Steering. Those of us with extensive experience doing international work felt that R23 would unnecessarily separate YDSA’s international work from DSA’s, greatly decreasing YDSA members’ ability to rely on the DSA IC to help us form and maintain relationships with other youth formations.

We are also pleased with the results of the NCC election this year, particularly the election of Callynn Johnson and Hailey Sowa, two Constellation-recommended candidates, since Aron and I were guaranteed at least at-large seats due to the POC quota. The past year’s NCC had a Bread & Roses majority at the time of its election, though one B&R member resigned in the middle of the term. This year’s NCC has a little more caucus diversity, with B&R, Marxist Unity Group, and Constellation members all being elected. 

Vivian Dai (she/they), a delegate from Boston University YDSA and Boston DSA, is a co-chair of BU YDSA and a past Silicon Valley DSA steering committee member. She joined DSA in 2020, and this was their third consecutive YDSA Convention as a delegate and first DSA Convention as a delegate.

Ruy, Reform & Revolution

Reform & Revolution had about 10 members at YDSA Convention as delegates.

YDSA’s 2023 Convention was a marked shift to a more boldly socialist and fighting organization. Delegates affirmed not only a national campaign for bodily autonomy and trans rights, but also committed the organization to become the youth wing of a socialist party (as opposed to the campus wing), argued that we are against the Constitution and need to build a new one, and generally fixed many organizational issues that we’ve been dealing with. Our delegates from Reform & Revolution YDSA are amped and ready to get to work over the next year!

Ruy M (he/him), a delegate from Harvard College YDSA, is the co-chair of that YDSA chapter and a past co-chair of the Austin DSA Electoral Working Group. He joined DSA in 2016, and this was his third YDSA Convention as a delegate after 2020 and 2021.

Hunter, uncaucused

The UMass Amherst YDSA chapter was represented by William O’Dwyer as a delegate, Benjamin Campanella as an alternate, and me as an observer. All three of us in attendance are uncaucused but on most issues are sympathetic to Bread & Roses’ policy agenda and their candidates for elected positions in the organization.

In terms of resolutions passed, while UMass YDSA is sympathetic to the sentiment of R21, “Winning the Battle for Democracy,” we opposed its passage. We believe that encouraging DSA to advocate for sedition against the Constitution serves only to marginalize our organization and alienate sympathetic working people from our cause without accomplishing anything substantive toward further democratizing the U.S. government.

UMass YDSA was pleased with the passage, unamended, of R12, “Recommitting YDSA to the Rank-and-File Strategy,” and by the election of Winnie Marion of B&R to the National Coordinating Committee.

Overall, UMass YDSA is excited to continue our chapter’s participation in the national organization, and we remain a committed partner in the fight to build socialism in our time in the United States.

Hunter Cohen (he/him), an observer from UMass Amherst YDSA, is a past president of that chapter. He joined DSA in 2021, and this was the first YDSA Convention he has attended. He is a past member of Teamsters Local 170.

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Featured image credit: Overlayed on a photo by Claire B of delegates singing “Solidarity Forever” at the close of DSA Convention are headshots of the members of DSA’s new National Political Committee, appearing in circles colored according to their caucus or slate, if any, with the diameter of each circle based on the number of first preferences they received in the NPC election (or total votes received in the case of the two YDSA co-chairs, who were not elected by single transferable vote). Graphic by Shane Levett/Working Mass

In response to the recent decision by the South Carolina Supreme Court to uphold a six-week abortion ban we urge you to give to the Palmetto State Abortion Fund, an organization dedicated to ensuring that financial barriers do not impede access to essential reproductive healthcare services. Your contributions will directly aid those affected by this ban, reaffirming their freedom over their bodies and lives.

We also urge you to join DSA! If you are mad as hell. If you refuse to accept the erosion of our rights. If you are worried, or scared, or unsure of the future, then now is the time to come together. Only together can we resist the march of tyranny. Together we are strong enough to demand change. Together are strong enough to support those in need, and work tirelessly until reproductive rights are once again secure for all. Join DSA today!

Despite decades of howling about freedom, the recent ruling to uphold the inhumane and draconian six-week abortion ban reinforces their true intentions; they want to control women. Even the women of the Republican party know it. That’s why they joined with Democrats earlier this year to oppose a bill that would ban abortion from conception.

But the GOP has been increasingly bold, and kept marching. Their talk about freedom rings even more hollow. The abortions bans are just one part. Book bans, restrictions on protests, restrictions on what to teach. They won’t even legalize cannabis. So how can they claim to be the party of freedom?

Well, it’s a snakelike rhetorical trick to call for freedom but never democracy. Republicans will say you have the freedom to leave if you don’t like it, but will never mention the democracy to change it. A recent poll by Winthrop University showed that just 37% of South Carolinians support a ban on abortions after six weeks. If they truly valued freedom, they would never do something so unpopular. If they actually supported life, as they claim, they would support adoption, social services, free contraception, and comprehensive sex education. But that is completely absent from their legislation and rhetoric.

In truth, Republicans are only against governmental tyranny but in favor of private tyranny. That is, the tyranny of the wealthy elite. They’re against a single dictator, but in favor of many little dictators. A dictatorship of the bosses. A dictatorship of the husbands. They use their wealth and privilege to impose their wants and desires on working class people. The wealthy elites already control you at work, and they want to go back to a time where they can control you at home.

We say no! We want an end to this oppression! Join DSA today!

###

Greetings Comrades, 

Twin Ports Pride celebrations kick off this week! Come join the celebrations and learn about our ongoing work. 

Events

• Monday, August 28 (today!)

  • 6:00 pm, tabling prep at Sarah's house. Come help make posters, bike decorations, button designs, and more!

  • 6:30 pm, Socialism and a Slice by the Northwoods Socialist Collective

• Pride celebrations start Thursday! See the full calendar of events.

• Saturday, September 2

  • Pride Fest at Bayfront Park

  • Come visit our table and make a button!

• Sunday, September 3

  • 12-2 pm, Pride Parade in Superior

  • Come join in! Walk, roll, or bike! Respond to this email for details.

News

• 53 years ago: Queer liberation’s roots were socialist, working class and anti-imperialist

• In a Summer of Record Heat, These Striking Workers Are Making Climate Demands

• UPS Teamsters Across the Nation Are Voting on the Tentative Agreement 

• DSA Statement : UPS Teamsters Show Us The Way

See you at Pride!
Sarah Kjorlien
TPDSA Secretary

(If you have been receiving these emails and aren't a member yet, we want you to join! Our goals are both broad and local,  and we intend to win as many as possible. Simply put – the Green New Deal, Medicare for All, Green Housing for All, a justice system that helps instead of harms, an end to poverty, socialists in office everywhere – these goals and more will not happen without mass participation. Use this link to join or renew.)

Into the Bright Sunshine, by Samuel Freedman (Oxford University Press) is subtitled ” Young Hubert Humphrey and the Struggle for Civil Rights.” You might think the book was something for a history class, a chronicle of events long ago; even for that, you might turn away, if like many DL readers you mostly think of Humphrey as the man who didn’t stand up to Lyndon Johnson on the U.S. war against Vietnam. But as Freedman, who’s also an award-winning journalist and professor at Columbia University’s School of Journalism, explores in this book, there’s a lot more to Humphrey’s story, much of it useful for today’s struggles against racism and inequality. Freedman’s previous books are Small Victories: The Real World of a Teacher, Her Students and Their High School (1990); Upon This Rock: The Miracles of a Black Church (1993); The Inheritance: How Three Families and America Moved from Roosevelt to Reagan and Beyond (1996); Jew vs. Jew: The Struggle for the Soul of American Jewry (2000); Who She Was: My Search for My Mother’s Life (2005); Letters To A Young Journalist (2006); and Breaking The Line: The Season in Black College Football That Transformed the Game and Changed the Course of Civil Rights (2013). (Ed.)

Interview conducted by email on August 22, by DL Online Editor Chris Lombardi CL). (Full disclosure: Lombardi studied with Freedman decades ago, in the book seminar he runs at Columbia Journalism School).

CL: At some points, Humphrey’s journey feels kinda Joseph Campbell-ish, with young Hubert painted as a naif hero, going forth to conquer the forces of prejudice: “It was in Louisiana that Hubert first met Jews…” It can’t have been that simple.

SF: I wouldn’t necessarily invoke Campbell, but Humphrey’s childhood was incredibly isolated. He came from a town of 500 people, almost all of them white Protestants with roots in northern Europe or Scandinavia. One Jewish family in town. A small community of Black railroad workers 40 miles away. A Catholic town ten miles away that had crosses burned on its outskirts. It was a tribute to Humphrey’s father H.H. — a freethinker, a liberal Democrat — that Hubert as a boy was infused with a broader political and social perspective. 

CL: Can you speak to his religious evolution, and where does his Quaker grandma fit in?

SF:As far as I can tell, his Quaker grandmother wasn’t such a big influence. But the Social Gospel strain of Protestant theology was. Growing up as a member of the local Methodist church, and being best friends with the minister’s son, Hubert was exposed to a theology that put much less emphasis on personal purity and making it into heaven than it did on building the Kingdom of God (the term that was used) on Earth. Doing so meant supporting organized labor, reaching out across denominational and racial lines. That sensibility informed much of Humphrey’s public life.

CL: What distinctions did he see between the Social Gospel and all-out socialism, leading him to steer the Democratic Party away from the Henry Wallace crowd?

SF: It’s pretty clear that Humphrey was in the New Deal camp of using activist government to save capitalism from itself rather than seeking state ownership of major industries, etc. But it’s also true that in the Dakotas, where he grew up, there’d been a strong tradition of farmers forming their own cooperatives in order to have leverage against the power of the railroads and the commercial grain, dairy, and livestock markets. Humphrey was a major supporter of Wallace in the mid-1940s. He even gave one of the seconding speeches to Wallace’s (failed) nomination as vice president in the 1944 convention. But the emerging Cold War totally shattered their friendship and alliance. Wallace fervently opposed the Marshall Plan, while Humphrey strongly supported it. And I think that Humphrey interpreted Wallace in light of the bitter factional fighting in Minnesota’s Democrat-Farmer-Labor Party between Popular Front and anti-Communist forces. 

CL: How, in showing us a hero, did you avoid the “white-savior” narrative?

SF: From the outset of work on this book, I vowed not to fall into the white-savior trope. So I was always looking for the Black (and Jewish) allies and influences on Humphrey. Key among them was Cecil Newman, who founded, published, and edited the Black newspaper in Minneapolis, the Spokesman, and was really Humphrey’s tutor on racism in Minneapolis. And when the book moves forward to the 1948 Democratic convention, I was very attuned to A. Philip Randolph’s campaign for mass Black draft resistance if Harry Truman didn’t desegregate the military. After Humphrey’s speech at the convention led the Democratic Party to fully embrace civil rights for the first time, Humphrey and one of Randolph’s top aides exchanged letters that expressed their understanding that you needed both inside and outside forms of pressure to achieve political change. Humphrey never perceived himself as doing things for Black people (or Jews), but rather doing things with them. 

CL: You say early on that you wanted a full portrait of Minneapolis’s struggles with racism, pinging off the 2020 George Floyd flashpoint. When did you realize how huge the scope would be? You note, “The first Black person recorded in what became Minnesota was a fur trader…” and soon locate Dred Scott at Fort Snelling! That scope covers geographic space as well as time. Did you always know it would be like that?

SF: When I started this book in 2015–with Barack Obama in his second term and marriage equality being declared a Constitutional right–I thought I was filling some important historical and biographical gaps, about both Humphrey and the proto-Civil Rights Movement of the 1940s. I was intent on researching the context of racism and anti-Semitism in Minneapolis during Humphrey’s years there. But when [Donald Trump was elected in 2016] and George Floyd was murdered in May 2020, I realized that I was writing current events. The parallels between the struggles that Humphrey was involved in—whether to reform a bigoted, abusive police force or more generally to advocate for inclusive democracy against right-wing extremists like Gerald L.K. Smith–were almost eerie to comprehend. But, as an author, I also appreciated that my book might have a lot more present-day relevance than I’d initially assumed. 

CL: You show Humphrey learning how to use political means to try to address racism/anti-Semitism. He acted as what we would today call an ally/accomplice. And you name points on the journey from South Dakota to Minneapolis to Jim Crow Louisiana and back again. What’s your story, of learning you had to be an ally/accomplice? Or did you think of yourself as neither, just a super-accurate observer?

SF: I grew up in Central Jersey in a very politically minded, leftie household. My father and his entire family had lived in an anarchist community in Stelton, NJ, and though he went on to become a successful capitalist–as a machinist, inventor of microbiology machinery, and ultimately founder of a biotech company – e was firmly a man of the Left. My mother was less overtly political but was very formed by having rejected her parents’ Orthodox Judaism. The harshest insult in my father’s lexicon would be to say to me, “You’re so bourgeois.” In any case, the dinner conversations of my youth were often about the Civil Rights Movement and the anti-Vietnam War movement. My parents were both Gene McCarthy supporters in 1968, though they were sane and practical enough to vote for Humphrey against [Richard] Nixon that November. So my entire career as a non-fiction author has been very much inspired by the political milieu of my family and by the belief that one’s work should contribute something positive to society.

CL: Speaking of which, can a writer be an ally, or even an accomplice (joining struggles outright, against our own privilege)? I’m guessing your answer is about reporting, and about listening– the latter word also used in today’s ally/accomplice discussions. What do you tell writers who ask you how to best explore these questions?

SF:I definitely believe a writer can be an ally. But the writing can only be credible if it also looks with intellectual honesty even at social and political movements a writer supports or endorses. You can’t be an author and also be writing de facto p.r. 

CL: Do you mean for Bright Sunshine to be an antidote for the helplessness we can easily feel when Silver-Shirts types resurface? What can Humphrey teach us all now?

SF: The battles that Humphrey fought against American fascists/bigots like Gerald L.K. Smith and Strom Thurmond are so instructive for our battles today against Trumpism. Humphrey’s enemies were Christian Nationalists, white supremacists, American Firsters. Sound familiar? The fact that we need to fight these battles anew every generation or two doesn’t mean that Humphrey, Randolph, et al,, failed; it means that victory doesn’t last forever and that progress always provokes backlash. But it’s vital for progressives today to be reminded that we can win, and have won, these battles in the past.

CL: In a book with 2020’s “reckoning” at its center, let’s talk Humphrey and policing.I was especially struck by that 1946 moment when goes against his own police commissioner after Dreamland Cafe. What’s the role of policing in this story? What would Humphrey think of today’s “defund the police” narrative? 

SF: Humphrey saw extremely clearly the bigotry, the abusiveness, and the inbred culture of the Minneapolis police force in the 1940s. Not only did he personally intercede in such cases, but he had the entire police force sent for training in “human relations,” as the term was back then, at the University of Minnesota. The tragedy of his rapid ascent from Minneapolis into the U.S, Senate is that he never fully implemented his police-reform plans, and over the succeeding decades, the powerful police union defied every other attempt at reform. The historian Michael Lansing at Augsburg University has written very compellingly on that point. But Humphrey, in my view, would not have had any truck with defunding the police.

CL: I’m also thinking of his role in prodding Truman to finally desegregate the military, after working with A. Philip Randolph during the 1948 Democratic National Convention. Did he think of the military families he met then, later, when anti-war activists targeted him?.

SF: Humphrey’s support for the Vietnam War was the gravest mistake of his political life, as he ultimately acknowledged. But he was like a lot of other Cold War liberals, including Randolph, Bayard Rustin, and Walter Reuther, if I remember correctly, who bought into the “domino theory,” at least initially.

CL: Why are socialists Michael Harrington and Bayard Rustin missing from the book? Harrington, the first editor of this magazine, served on the board of Americans for Democratic Action as a student in 1948 , just as Humphrey was using the anti-communist lefty group to reshape the Democratic National Committee, and he later worked with Humphrey on the War on Poverty. Humphrey thanks him in The Education of a Public Man, along with Bayard Rustin. 

SF: Purely a matter of already being about 30,000 words over my promised length for the manuscript and not being able to squeeze in everything I would have wanted to. 

The post “Into the Bright Sunshine”- Why Hubert Humphrey Speaks to Our Times appeared first on Democratic Socialists of America (DSA).

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

During our August 27th, 2023, General Meeting, the membership of CT DSA voted unanimously to endorse Abdul Osmanu and Laurie Sweet in the upcoming Democratic primary for the Legislative Council of Hamden. Both incumbents in their offices and DSA members, councilpersons Osmanu and Sweet, have spent the last two years fighting for racial, social, and economic justice for tenants and working people in Hamden and across Connecticut, and we look forward to sending them back for another term in office.

CT DSA endorsed Abdul Osmanu in 2021 as a part of our first Hamden slate of Justin Farmer and himself for Council alongside Mariam Khan for Board of Education (JAM Slate). Since winning the election as the youngest councilman in town history, Abdul has worked to make the Hamden Police accountable to the people and stood alongside tenants and labor unions fighting for fair contracts. 

Laurie Sweet supported our JAM Slate in 2021 while running for the Legislative Council herself. Although not a DSA member nor endorsed for her election, she has worked closely with us and Hamden Tenant Union, an affiliate of Connecticut Tenants Union (CTTU), in the fight to protect and expand tenants’ rights and has since become a DSA member. Laurie traveled to Hartford on several occasions to speak on behalf of her tenant constituents in public comments before legislative committees and has worked closely with Abdul and Justin to push for a town government that is accountable to and empowers the working and renting class.

We are sad to see our long-running elected comrade Justin Farmer retire from the Council this year after four years in office, but we have immense trust in his fellow DSA members in Hamden to carry his mission forward. We congratulate Justin on his long and successful tenure in office and for all his efforts to build the socialist movement in Connecticut. Board of Education member Mariam Khan will not be up for reelection until the next cycle.

We encourage our members, supporters, and allies to get involved in Abdul and Laurie’s campaigns and to vote for them in the September 12th, 2023, Democratic primary. 

Solidarity forever,

Jacey L, co-chair

Jason R, co-chair

CT DSA Steering Committee