By: Chris Brady

The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not represent the official position of Working Mass.

Around 1500 DSA members gathered in Chicago for the bi-annual national convention, joined by representatives of left-wing organizations and parties from around the domestic and international socialist movements. As keynote speaker Representative Rashida Tlaib described: “there is a revolutionary energy in the air… the working masses, y’all, they’re hungry for revolutionary change.”

The challenge of DSA is twofold: organize and politicize the American working class. Valiant efforts from worker-organizers and activated rank-and-file union members has met the current moment, yet institutional labor still remains sluggish in the face of blatant class warfare offensives from the Trump administration. DSA continues to organize against these conditions as we build greater and greater numbers. There are literally hundreds of experienced organizers in the membership and bring with them successful DSA-led campaigns; such as rank-and-file reform caucuses in the Teamsters and UAWD, nationwide Strike Ready campaigns, the Emergency Workers Organizing Committee, and the Federal Unionists Network. The unique precarity of the current moment, however, mandates political clarity on residual labor questions and strategies. 

Namely, DSA deliberated on resolutions ranging from electoralism, organized labor for Palestine, the May Day 2028 General Strike, and the partyist labor strategy. The 2025 DSA Convention was monumental, the largest socialist political organization in the country debating labor strategy openly and transparently, and it is important for engaged socialists in leading implementation of the resolutions.

Approved Motions

R20: Workers will Lead the Way: Join with Unions to Run Labor Candidates 

R20 aims to build on past successes of the left in recent elections, strategizing to deepen organizational connections with organized labor and leverage those connections to beat the far right. The right wing’s attacks on labor unions echoes Reagan’s PATCO strike-busting and Governor Scott Walker’s assault on Wisconsin labor unions, and that DSA needs to deepen the contradictions of this reality and the faux-populists right wingers falsely proclaiming themselves as working people champions by assertively uplifting the labor movement in elections. 

With an aim of mass politics, this resolution commits DSA to running a slate of ten candidates in 2026. It also delegates messaging and campaign tasks to national DSA and local DSA chapters. DSA is now charted to do significant outreach to the anchoring labor unions of the left and develop strategic plans together in an attempt at a left-labor unified political program. In addition, DSA does not mandate that the candidates run on the Democrat ballot line or our own. This resolution offers concrete and achievable steps for DSA to pursue electorally, but critics argue that this is a re-run of the already existing labor strategy cemented by previous DSA Conventions.

R33: Unite Labor & the Left to Run a Socialist for President and Build the Party

R33 shares some similarity with R20 in aiming to officially get DSA and labor in the same rooms and on the same page. However, R33 is significant because it explicitly articulates a vision for the left-labor alliance exemplified by Senator Bernie Sanders and Representative Ocasio Cortez’s recent ‘Fighting Oligarchy Tour’, injecting some juice into an otherwise largely decrepit anti-Trump “resistance” that has so far been unable to move beyond mass mobilizations. It is perhaps best characterized as a left-labor-progressive front as opposed to left-labor-Democratic one. The resolution calls for a committee of relevant groups of unions, squad members, and other left wing political parties to build a coalition for a 2028 presidential run independent of the Democratic Party.

This is a resolution about political realignment. It allows for a reshaping of the Democratic Party like the Tea Party reshaped the GOP by formalizing the progressive DSA alliance as an immovable political force. It also lays the groundwork for launching a new party, depending on future conditions, while continuing the maintenance of the left coalition. Critics point out that the resolution ignores the damage that high-profile democratic socialists like Sanders and Ocasio-Cortez have done to their credibility with the organized left due to their objective failure to mount meaningful opposition to the U.S.-Israeli genocide in Gaza. They also argue that the entire coalition itself is predicated on leftists and bureaucratic capital-friendly organizations putting aside potentially significant differences to fight Trump, a socialist-led popular front, which is not necessarily guaranteed.

R30: Fighting Back in the Class War: Preparing for May Day 2028 

UAW President Shawn Fain – whose presidency is in part due to organizing from DSA UAW rank-and-file members – has targeted May 1st 2028 for a nationwide general strike. This mandate from the face of American labor provides a timeline for organizing work that DSA is ready and able to contribute to and presents an opportunity for a fundamental shift in class relations. DSA must utilize the next three years to build class-consciousness, rank-and-file power, and propagandize. The resolution emphasizes the logistical and organizational demands necessary to make May Day successful, and where it makes the most sense for DSA to plug in. Specifically, DSA will create a May Day 2028 committee to coordinate rank-and-file strategy, salting efforts, reform caucuses, and rank-and-file coordination with union leadership when strategically necessary.

R30 is an ambitious project that provides real structure for the next three years of DSA organizing work. The opportunity for DSA to grow itself and the labor movement with it is huge, but critics will note the amount of work required to be effective in this role is equally daunting. 

Included with the resolution was an amendment – R30-A01: Tenants & Workers Together in 2028.

The amendment incorporates an additional tenant union dimension and strengthens existing labor sections. It argues that the engine of May Day 2028’s success is the rank-and-file and DSA needs to use specific strategies to organize them. DSA must build chapter infrastructures to meet this moment and utilize structure tests to identify progress and organizational needs. Rank-and-file recruitment strategies and May Day-themed trainings will connect national issues to the organizing work on the ground. Furthermore, tenant organizing emphasizes class consciousness outside of the workplace, where just 10% of American workers are unionized. This resolution charts a path where some efforts are dedicated to compounding any labor-led general strike with rank-and-file efforts within the tenants’ movement, with a particular programmatic focus on Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) properties under which tenants may wield the most strategic power during a general strike. The incorporation of tenant organizing improves the ceiling for May Day by simply involving more people and broadens the dynamics of “the working class” involved in strike efforts.

R42: Labor for an Arms Embargo

DSA’s National Labor Commission has endorsed a Labor for an Arms Embargo campaign,. Since AIPAC-funded candidates purchased primary victories over Representatives Bowman and Cori Bush, both associated with DSA, while the rest of the American political establishment has effectively have facilitated a bipartisan holocaust in Gaza, there has long been a need to escalate resistance strategy to target key nodes of the apartheid relationship between the United States and Israel. The labor campaign has coordinated rank-and-file membership to internally organize for unions to divest and disrupt for Palestine. Strategy includes targeting local ports and dockworker unions and local governments to disrupt the flow of capital that enables Israel’s savagery. Importantly, this resolution mandates that federal election endorsements should hinge on the candidate’s willingness to vote against military aid to Israel (both offensive and defensive). For local endorsements, the resolution outlines requiring the candidate to support the “War Crime Free Cities” initiative. 

This resolution cuts through some of the largest internal DSA debates about candidate endorsement and anti-Zionist organizing strategy. It establishes clear parameters of engagement with candidates and will likely prevent wishy-washy both sidesism that plagued unprincipled former endorsed candidates. Most importantly, it provides concrete steps for DSA to engage with the most important task of human beings on planet Earth right now: stopping the extermination of Palestinians.

R34: Workers Deserve More, Forever

Most of DSA advocates for some conceptualization of a consistent and cohesive platform. This resolution explicitly outlines what that platform will be and how DSA will standardize. From now till Convention changes it, the platform will remain Workers Deserve More (WDM) and play all the classic hits – Medicare For All, union power, popular vote for President, and other boilerplate DSA political goals. Also, the resolution creates a committee to iron out political details and maintain the official party program as DSA’s priorities change after each convention. While the program includes the continuation of a broad consensus held since 2023, critics argued against moving further program development to a smaller committee.

Chapters and working groups can purchase copies of the 2025-2026 Workers Deserve More program from national DSA.

Rejected Motions

R42-A01: For a Strike Ready Labor For Arms Embargo

This amendment to R42 Labor For Arms Embargo emphasized the need for workers to build a strike capacity for urgent anti-Zionist political organizing. The resolution stipulates that workers will be politically educated on anti-imperialism and the necessity to incorporate it into their organizing. International working class connections will be facilitated to contribute to workers strikes to halt the flow of capital to Israel. Additionally, the amendment removed reference to DSA electeds and the endorsements process. 

CR10-A: A Partyist Labor Strategy 

This amendment would have modified CR10’s “Building a Worker Led Labor Movement,” a proposal for the National Labor Committee’s priorities, including salting, May Day 2028, building a coalition with the labor movement, etc. as outlined above in different words. In a remarkably verbose resolution as typical for the authors, this amendment would have injected an understanding of building worker power to include agitating for socialist political directions in the unions themselves.

The amendment calls for DSA to reject the false binary of choosing sectarian or economism labor strategy into arguing for pro-socialism synthesis. It delineates that DSA must reject false populists in the Republican and Democratic parties, as well as the tribalism from many bureaucratic labor leaders. DSA’s organizing will come downstream from its politics. Additionally, given that May Day 2028 as a logistical hurdle and organizing goal requires a revolution of class consciousness, the amendment adds detail for how DSA will organize to that end. Namely, the National Labor Commission will support DSA union members and salting efforts with coordinating committees based on industry and emphasizing political education for all membership, particularly for those outside of DSA.

The amendment also emphasizes cross-union organizing training and outlines how DSA can support Labor For Arms Embargo through this paradigm. Finally, the amendment emphasizes the need for democracy in unions’ leadership and decision-making. Critics argue the amendment is not practical and understates the power of the process of struggle itself in turning workers into socialist militants. The amendment failed with just 47% of the vote. This alludes to growing appetite for partyist politics in DSA.

Referred to the National Political Committee

R04:  For a Socialist Party in Years, Not Decades

Unfortunately for Michael Harrington, DSA is no longer much of the left edge of the Democratic Party. R04 exemplifies how much DSA and the national political condition has changed; there is popular appetite for DSA to build toward becoming its own independent political party. The resolution tasks DSA with building infrastructure to launch a political party by the end of the Trump presidency, or at least to get the wheels turning to do so. DSA’s NPC is to identify targeted left-wing institutions and reform caucuses and network to build a coalition for party building. National DSA will work with locals to identify and build potential candidates and campaign infrastructure, with electoral training materials. Finally, DSA will run a slate of at least 10 candidates in 2026 elections as an independent party, and the candidates must declare themselves as democratic socialists, form socialist caucuses if elected, and uphold DSA policies and programs. 

There was not enough time at convention to vote on this resolution, which is shameful because it raises important points that DSA would benefit to seriously discuss: how to become a truly independent political force and the pursuit of that goal.

Chris Brady is a member of Boston DSA and contributing writer to Working Mass.

The post OPINION: 2025 DSA Convention – Socialists Set Sights On May Day 2028 and Left-Labor Power appeared first on Working Mass.

By: Mike Saridakis

The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not represent the official position of Working Mass.

Winners and losers is such a small and mean way to think about politics, especially in a deliberative and democratic body. Nevertheless, I’ve found it helpful for me in framing what I experienced during the 2025 DSA Convention in Chicago, especially on what worked and what fell flat.

From left to right: Springs of Revolution, Sara, Red Star, Libertarian Socialist Caucus, Marxist Unity Group, Reform & Revolution, Bread & Roses, Carnation, Groundwork, Socialist Majority Caucus. Courtesy of @adornos_soul and @reesericdotci on twitter.

Winners:

MUG, R&R, Springs of Revolution, Rashida Tlaib

Marxist Unity Group (MUG)

The Marxist Unity Group locked in. Their communications were on point, their delegates were highly visible and continually advocating, and their candidates for National Political Committee ran great campaigns, starting early and having prescient, respectful commentary online on the day’s controversies and discourses. They’re nerds, and they used their skillset to its greatest effect.

On the issue of partyism, the farthest right position spoken at convention was basically “we’re not ready yet.” This is a far departure from nearly anything people were saying even in just July this year. R07 passed with flying colors. Resolved: we are leaving the Democrats in the dust. 

R34-A01, A Fighting Socialist Program, MUG’s signature proposal and collaboration with Reform and Revolution, failed. Despite being voted down, the proposal’s sponsors were impressed with how well it fared, garnering 45% of the vote. Notably the hesitation from the delegates was not the content of the proposal per se but its implementation mechanism (with plenty of open partisanship greasing the wheels). In contrast R25: DSA and the Democratic Road to Socialism did not make it to the convention floor, and is unlikely to pass given both the NPC’s makeup and how it fared in the delegate survey: 445 support, 425 oppose, 104 unsure. That is to say, poorly.

There is an increasing awareness of what is to be done. Indeed, looking at the new NPC we see a majority of revolutionary (at least on paper) caucuses: SoR, RS, MUG, RR, BnR (I don’t have time to argue this one, they talk about it on their website), LSC, and Carnation (again, see website). Furthermore, the definition of “center” has shifted to the left with the introduction of Carnation and the shrinking of the reformist right, who themselves are confronting what a break means. Moreover, DSA proudly and enthusiastically recommitted to its support and solidarity with the people of Cuba and the revolutionary, socialist path they have chosen. Cuban deputy foreign affairs minister Carlos Fernández de Cossío Domínguez received a standing ovation during his recorded remarks. This is all to say MUG is finding itself really, truly becoming the beating heart at the center of Marxism within DSA.

Given the passage of R07: Principles for Party Building and the arguments against the Fighting Program largely being about its processes and procedures, rather than on the content or politics of it I think MUG has a real shot at passing their program in 2029. And, I think they could guarantee this by putting their politics into practice, making stronger connections in labor and tenant organizing, putting their electoral theory into practice, and using their strong NPC position to build relationships across tendencies. As the first line of their Tasks and Perspectives reads, “Our task is to merge socialism and the workers’ movement.” Time to get to it.

Springs of Revolution: Return of the Anti-Zionist Slate

Springs of Revolution’s phoenician rise (that’s ‘of, or related to a phoenix,’ not a person from Carthage) to a strong position on the NPC is a testament to their correct understanding of Israel’s genocide and serious internal organizing efforts. I don’t think there’s a group at this convention more vindicated than the anti-Zionist/Springs of Revolution slate. In 2023, they were prepared for the escalation in Israel’s genocide on Palestine where the rest of the org buckled under procedural motions, leaving it flat-footed to deal with what was to come and forcing it to tail liberal causes like the Uncommitted movement, rather than seizing the opportunity to be the center of a socialist and truly anti-imperialist Palestine solidarity movement. They were serious. They did the work. They came prepared. They worked across tendencies. They were loud and organized. I probably ended up with twice as many SoR pamphlets and cards as any other caucus. These are good organizers and we should be thankful they stuck around. Our organization should learn from this and become even more intolerant to bad faith dilatory abuses of the rules of order. Every caucus benefits when we put politics, not partisanship, first.

Anarkiddies and Tankies working together? That’s life in the DS of A, baby!

Speaking of Anarchists, it was exciting to see the Libertarian Socialist Caucus take a seat on the NPC. I think this speaks to how strong the anti-imperialist wave was at this convention and how honest and serious its coalition was about anti-Zionism, even willing to work across historically irreconcilable differences. I wish I had more to say, but my organizing experience has not given me much contact with LSC comrades, nor did I personally see much of them at the convention. 

I have similarly not had the pleasure to meet or work with many Communist Caucus-aligned comrades, nor did their agendas or mine ever seriously cross paths. Therefore, in light of my ignorance I shall not speak on them! I hope that in time I will get the chance to change this.

Reform and Revolution (RnR)

As much as R&R itself locked in, I think the real winner here is Sarah Milner. Following 2023’s rout and the intense criticism they received for their statements on the Palestinian Resistance, R&R did some soul searching and emerged a new and welcome voice on the left/center-left, in spite of facing this same issue during debate on the Palestinian proposals. Positioning themselves as the ones best able to bring left and right together, R&R got started early, running a nationwide campaign for Sarah, who travelled to chapters big and small across the country, observing and reporting on the state of DSA chapters and slowly building a caucus platform, and her own social media platform. Her synthesizing posture and eye for the positive lessons of DSA’s many tendencies cut through the often tense discourse online. And, who doesn’t love a letter carrier?

This paid off. Despite many of their key proposals ranking low or being voted down, R&R’s work with MUG on their signature platform showed that they do not have a toxic brand, and many of their proposals showed wide support, losing on votes largely due to timing, minutiae, and caucus politicking. I leave this paragraph on their ultimate assessment open-ended, with several of R&R’s major policy initiatives being referred to the NPC (though they’re looking pretty good).

R&R’s crowning achievement was Sarah Milner sailing to a smashing victory in the NPC elections. As yet another example of hers and R&R’s political instincts, Sarah recognized her mandate, and asked on social media, “I am still thinking about convention. I would like to ask for comrade’s perceptive and advice. I got the 2nd most first place votes and it looks like I will hold a very important place on the NPC. What do you think my mandate is? Why do you feel people voted for me?” 

Responses included: 

• “You are principled, thoughtful, and willing to engage with the best possible version of other tendencies’ thoughts, even when other comrades don’t express themselves well. So, uh, do more of that.”
• “You stretch to seize the moment in a way that reminds me of the first trump bump organizing. You’re principled but practical. I think your mandate is to help prevent deadlock while continuing to push the whole npc forward to be ambitious.”
• “I think that your Twitter presence has convinced many of us that you are genuinely committed to find a way through the ideological impasse that exists between the two wings of the organization. I’m glad to see that reflected in your likely position as the swing vote.”
• “I was encouraged by your earnest commitment to goals and principles and willingness to listen and adapt. i was going to rank you 4th before my caucus bound me to do so. But then you took the time to come to the small chapter meetup. That meant a lot.”
• “i ranked u bc i heard enough to think you’re quite contemplative of what this moment means for our org at all levels and actually meeting you after i submitted my ballot confirmed that. it also means a lot to me to see other working class people, other trans women in leadership.”

We would be remiss furthermore to ignore the clear support for R&R from YDSA, where they secured three seats on the NCC and a co-chair position, meaning R&R also holds two seats on the NPC. For a small caucus, they punched way above their weight, largely by heeding the lessons SMC failed to learn. (more about that later)

Rashida Tlaib

She’s got the juice.

Losers:

Red Star, Groundwork, SMC, and into the dustbin of history with Zionism

Red Star (RS)

Much like how AOC’s Iron Dome vote was bad, but her defense was worse, Red Star doubled down and argued in a way that came off as dishonest to other Democratic Socialists in group chats and across social media after they announced that they would divide the overwhelmingly popular DemCom consensus proposal against the wishes of the DemCom committee. Their motion was defeated soundly, and the proposal passed with one of the highest margins of the convention. Despite this, Megan Romer sailed to a clean first place victory in the co-chair race, and John “Budget Jesus” Lewis doubled the first round vote share of second place Sarah Milner. Nevertheless, given the overwhelming plurality of specifically John’s vote and Megan’s prominent status as incumbent co-chair, it is entirely likely that their success was not due to their caucus affiliation and organization, but their reputations as individuals. Considering how their less-prominent members fared much worse, it is possible their DemComm procedural move may have worked to prevent John and Megan from carrying the rest of their slate to office.

I can speak to this personally. Red Star’s conduct disappointed me, but John earned my respect for him personally through his work. Indeed, RS only has 3/25 NPC seats now, including Megan. This is a huge loss from a historically strong left caucus. Furthermore, their support of the MUG/R&R program failed to take it across the finish line, in one of the few places where independent delegates broke from the left. That is to say, Red Star now will likely be a junior partner in whatever coalition(s) it finds itself in, both on the NPC and in chapter work. I think their relationship to the SoR slate will be a key part of any takeaways from this convention for Red Star.

I have heard from some Red Star comrades that they’re disappointed with the results of the NPC, but they’re otherwise not dissatisfied with their performance at this convention. They do grant that my critique is fair. Appreciation to them for their feedback.

Groundwork (GW)

Despite different politics, and despite GW pulling off a huge win against Alex P of BnR, the caucus suffered a major reputational loss for their procedural motions and rhetoric, both of which delegates panned as dishonest and cynical. GW suffered some crushing blows to their signature One Member One Vote (1m1v) proposals. In both cases, near supermajorities shot down the proposals early on Friday, setting the tone for the rest of the convention. An experienced delegate at my table remarked that the caucus’ green hats combined with their vocal and visual support for speakers and resolutions served to reverse polarize many against the caucus’ increasingly toxic brand, especially following a particularly shocking speech by a GW-aligned SMC member likening 1m1v opposition to Jim Crow. Despite a comfortable margin of victory, co-chair Ashik and the largest single faction entering the NPC will not be entering his second term on stable ground, because…

Socialist Majority Caucus (SMC)

The Socialist Majority Caucus faced near total collapse, appearing totally unprepared for convention. In the leadup to the convention, SMC claimed singular (or, at least primary) credit for the truly paradigm-shifting Zohran campaign, despite the move in the rest of the organization to celebrate cross-tendency collaboration and unity. This is not to diminish the impressive and valuable organizational role of SMC, which they had every right to celebrate –indeed I had several amazing SMC comrades whose strategic and organizational advice I happily took– but, they failed to read the room and approach their comrades accordingly, culminating in a request from GW delegates that SMC stop speaking on behalf of their proposals. Their rhetoric suggested an increasing myopia on the DSA project, where they presumed everyone else held their same priors, often employing catastrophizing language to argue votes for “serious” and “pragmatic” responses on routine measures. Sorry, dear comrades, budget requirements for staffing are not the only thing standing between us and full fascism. It was clear the convention hall —including their close ally Groundwork— did not appreciate this. SMC is going to need to take a serious look inwards and ask themselves why they chose this approach and why their conduct and rhetoric fell on deaf ears. 

My recommendation is to turn to your rank and file for new thought leadership.

This myopia I think is best evidenced by the regional distribution of their vote share: nearly entirely on the coasts, and among those, mostly New York City. SMC’s Zohran message failed to take root in places where the Democratic Party is weak, unpopular, or doesn’t exist, like Indiana and Florida, places where the political and social conditions do not reflect those in NYC. As a foil, Springs of Revolution pulled off a strong performance in nearly every state.

God bless you, North Dakota’s SMC voter. Credit: @maevehove

This posture has already cost them dearly. SMC elected only four of their seven(!) NPC candidates, a shocking omen for the largest caucus in DSA. The expanded NPC, their baby, ironically seems to have hurt them in this election, further diluting their delegation significantly. Despite being the second largest delegate at convention, SMC seems to have failed in building a coalition across tendencies, as their candidates were not the ones receiving votes in the later rounds.

What’s more, with the classic GW-SMC alliance no longer able to swing their weight around on the NPC, Groundwork, in the much stronger position, may have to reevaluate who its friends are and look to the growing center-left, whose proposals fared much better on the convention floor (and certainly reputationally). A clear sign of the beginnings of this shift is GW’s friendliness to Abdullah of Carnation, who scored endorsements across the center-left and the GW-BnR joint proposal R33: Unite Labor & the Left to Run a Socialist For President and Build the Party, which cruised to victory, itself another sign of the rising partyist tide even on the DSA right.

Furthermore, GW/SMC’s labor strategy and Anti-Zionist resolutions were defeated soundly. The organization has moved decisively away from their approach to labor and internationalism.

And, of course, Zionism. 

There is a contingent online who saw the names of the proposals with their votes shares and concluded DSA still has a large (though minority) Zionist contingent. This is not true. On top of the fact it’s basically a meme how dishonest resolution titles are, the contour of the debate showed unwavering support for Palestinian liberation (though chauvinism did rear its head). It is worth noting that the contentious expulsion clause in R-22, often serving as proof of DSA’s tolerance for Zionists, is little more than a clarification. Indeed, comrades in my chapter had been preparing an expulsion hearing against a member based on his history of Zionism. Ultimately the prosecution decided to charge him for his harassment and public defamation of Black, female, queer, and anti-Zionist comrades due to the simple preponderance of evidence. He was removed by unanimous vote. That is to say, there simply are not Zionists left in DSA. Whatever cranks remain are isolated and impotent. It is simply not worth the effort to find those last few holdouts.

Despite the beliefs of outside observers, who seem to measure commitment not by the convention’s roaring refrain of “free Palestine” but the title page of a complex document, we never debated Zionism. The debates and votes only truly show that there is ongoing discussion as to how we are anti-Zionist. Alleging that 40% of delegates who voted against R22’s expulsion clause are Zionists again refuses to engage with their actual arguments or DSA’s state. Zionism already is a sufficient disagreement for expulsion. As a last matter, I think a better indicator of DSA’s positioning on the matter was R22-A01 Align with the BDS Movement, where the body chose to pass the much harder-line positioning.

While the AOC censure just barely avoided making it to the floor, the collateral damage of many dilatory motions, Rashida Tlaib’s keynote speech took huge swipes not only at  AOC’s now infamous Iron Dome vote and statement, but even DSA’s godfather, Bernie Sanders, to standing ovations. 

Between the resolution to run an independent presidential candidate (that is, not a Democrat; that is, not AOC), banners reading “Rashida 2028” and R07’s passage, it’s clear DSA has broken up with our once golden child. If anything, the way it went is probably for the best. While on one hand, the Convention adding legitimacy to the censure motion would go far to show pro-AOC hardliners in the New York City chapter that there exists a broad consensus within the organization, it really would not be necessary. Rubbing it in would be unproductive in the face of DSA’s mounting internal positioning against her personal ambitions. Making “her” leave “us” also positions us as the center and forces her to be the breaking party. A censure like this potentially signals weakness, and DSA is decidedly not weak in this regard. (Though certainly we have a long way to go).

This ends up speaking to DSA’s “style” when it comes to purges and issues of ideology: the purge tool is rendered largely unnecessary, because DSAers vote with their feet. Someone in significant ideological difference and hostile in demeanor quickly finds themself isolated and unable to organize, while those who serve and work with the majority (or minority!), even if they have ideological differences, will often find their positions advanced through increased capacity and synthesis into the majority ideological position. DSA has built an intriguing internal mechanism that largely prevents its liquidation by self-serving entities and individuals while also advancing the interests of its majority.

The point is Michael Harrington’s DSA is dead. Anyone who cannot see this has failed to investigate properly.

Bread and Roses (BnR)

I really don’t know what you call what happened to BnR. I think they definitely are licking some wounds. They lost their co-chair race pretty badly. The word in the caucus is that this is due to a lack of cross-caucus support. Despite the unexpected breaking of the Communist Caucus with Red Star to endorse Alex, the last-minute MUG endorsement of Megan Romer (likely in exchange for support of R34-A01 A Fighting Program) was the death-blow to Alex’s co-chair bid One delegate reflected, “It’s difficult to run a center candidate in a three-way race against a left and a right candidate.” It seems independent endorsements only go so far; Red Star’s reputational loss on Day 1 was not enough to cost them a chair thanks to Megan’s strong personal brand and respect among members, particularly on the left. 

Nevertheless, the rank-and-file strategy continued to be the Holy Spirit breathing into the delegates and all of the proposals on the floor, and BnR served as a crucial swing vote for nearly every resolution. New NPC member Sarah Milner joked after R&R lost an amendment vote to BnR, “my dad spent his whole life at DSA conventions divided by a B&R swing vote. My grandpappy before him. for as long as anyone can remember us milners have been losing every time b&r opposed and winning whenever they support. i’ll be damned if my kid ain’t gonna do the same.” 

All that said, BnR’s signature Workers Deserve More platform of “non-reformist reforms” passed unamended, becoming Workers Deserve More, Forever, to remain such till another Convention changes the program. MUG and R&R’s Fighting Program amendment, billed as the “next step” for our organization developmentally, failed. One must imagine Zohran’s “bread and butter” campaign fresh in the minds of delegates as they voted. Though, to state again, neither MUG nor R&R were at all disappointed by the final vote share.

BnR also suffered from the growing crowd in the center space. Carnation and Mountain (and by some estimates, MUG) have all arrived on the scene in force, likely draining centrist energy from BnR. 

Ultimately, this is the tragic heroics of Bread and Roses. Their spirit is found in basically every resolution that came forward, win or lose. They have been instrumental in DSA’s attempts to re-merge the socialist and worker movements. Their guiding principles hung like a spectre over every debate and every proposal, from Antizionism to Zohran. It’s hard not to feel a little bad for them once you see this. They’re everywhere and in everything, with very little credit.

It is clear that the consensus is that BnR has its hand on the pulse of where our organization currently stands, but, in a position like King Lothair, Charlemagne’s middle grandson, whose kingdom sat between two ambitious brothers, it’s hard not to be worried about their future. Until then, BnR serves as kingmaker. Their three elections to NPC will be key to any initiative, despite the contraction of their vote share.

As a final aside, I cannot recommend enough my comrade Robert H’s ode to meetings. I think it cuts to the heart of what makes BnR BnR.

Conclusion

I think it’s best to consider the national convention largely descriptive rather than proscriptive. We delegates did not engage in deliberation to dictate the course of DSA over the next two years. Instead we reflected on the previous two and worked together to parse and clarify the lessons of that time and praxis, evaluating both our chapter decisions and previous convention resolutions. Our final decisions were not to tell chapters what to do, but to say, “okay, it’s time to move on and move forward. Let’s let history be history.”

I think this is why the dishonest rhetoric and procedural chicanery were so poorly-received. We were, frankly, sick of discourse. We wanted resolution. We wanted to give the past its due to unburden ourselves to go home and plot the future of Socialism in our communities. We did not commit to anti-Zionism and Palestinian liberation at the convention. Rather, we recognized that we had already committed to anti-Zionism and Palestinian liberation. This is why the failure of R01: DSA for One Palestinian State was meaningless. We were not deciding that DSA is an anti-Zionist organization. It already is. We were deciding what do we do about this reality, and found the proposal’s recommendations –not its title, not a tweet, the words of the proposal itself– wanting. We did not decide to build a new party and abandon the Democrats. We have already been building a new party, and we simply acknowledged that the Democrats have largely already abandoned us. Indeed, I believe we made history, in the sense of the original Greek word ἱστορία ((h)istoría): we investigated and came to a conclusion, and now having learned its lessons, we may use it to plot our path forward.

It was an honor to join my comrades and serve my chapter in deliberation. I am more convinced than ever that the DSA project is the best hope for socialism in this country. Solidarity Forever.

Mike Saridakis is a member of Central Indiana DSA.

EDIT: A previous edition of this article featured an edit that mischaracterized the classification of a caucus. This has been corrected.

Appendix: Highlights 

• Guest spotlights
  • Many exhausted delegates skipped out on what ended up being a stirring expression of international and cross-tendency solidarity. Hopefully more delegates will attend next time. 
• Messages from Cuba and Jeremy Corbyn
  • I cried a little. It’s so inspiring that our organization stands firmly with Cuba.
• Incidental conversations and meeting all the funny people from my phone.
• Having a conversation in Latin with someone at the BnR-Commie Caucus party.
• Clicker Comrades!
• One thousand people loudly standing up to transmisogyny
• The Dunkin’ Donuts down the street
  • My God that saved my ass Saturday morning. Apologies to the comrades whom I led on a circuitous route back. 
• Trans people everywhere!! Wow!!
• Doodling a silly joke that social media adopted as the unofficial mascot of the convention 
• Convincing a comrade to vote against his caucus whip 
• The city of Chicago and her people

The post OPINION: 2025 DSA Convention – Winners, Losers, Bread and Roses appeared first on Working Mass.

By Makai Ako

Make no mistake: Artificial Intelligence is here to stay. A powerful development of the 21st century, AI has gone from a small concept to a massive, multi-billion-dollar industry that has generated massive gains for the ruling class. OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, the most popular AI chatbot, is now currently valued at $300 billion. Although there are some benefits behind the continuing development of AI, there are also numerous consequences from it, far too many to be tackled in this brief article. Therefore, we will discuss the one that has faced the working class the most: its effect on employment.

Despite being a tool that could be used to do menial labour, giving workers more time to do what they desire, AI has instead been used by the ruling class to cut costs and reign in more profit. A report by Goldman Sachs says that it could potentially replace 300 million full-time jobs, with the additional potential to generate $13 trillion for the economy (read: ruling class). 

Graph detailing future trends on how many US jobs could be lost to AI and automation. Generative-AI could, in the future, result in many jobs being automated, with resulting mass layoffs.

AI is being used to replace workers in all sorts of industries. Creative industries, such as those in acting and art, are being the most impacted. SAG-AFTRA has had to deal with the AI question in many union contracts, having to argue with companies about how an actor’s likeness may be used. AI, more specifically Generative AI, has also heavily impacted the art industry. Many are feeling the pinch as companies throw out graphic designers, creative directors, and more in favour of AI. For example, Adobe has begun to roll out generative AI in its apps, though whether they are high in quality or not is up for debate. This turn towards AI has resulted in much frustration with workers. Interviewing those in the field of art, many make their discontent known:

“Seeing our own work being stolen and sold back to us as a feature is vile.”

“It feels like it takes respect away from people who do have these creative skills”

This is not to say that all view AI negatively. Indeed, it has reduced the necessary labor in some areas:

“It’s an incredible feat of human advancement, how it’s used is up to you. I use ChatGPT for help with my work.”

“It’s carried me through some non-core classes… or caught my stupid code errors, but I dislike how it causes me to approach things.”

Many other industries outside of creative ones are experiencing the major pains of such a new technology being introduced. The most infamous, Duolingo, the app allowing people to learn a language, has pushed an “AI First” model in the company, laying off workers in favour of cheap AI labour, with resulting backlash and a noticeable drop in quality for the app. Klarna has also, whenever it can, been replacing its human labour with AI labour. 

AI has also begun to seriously impact education, not just colleges, but high schools as well. Pew Research surveys show that up to 26%—nearly a quarter of students—have admitted to using AI models like ChatGPT to help with their homework. 86% of college students have admitted to using AI in their studies. This high usage of AI has created an atmosphere of uncertainty in many academic centers across the country, where teachers and professors are unsure if their students are using AI to write their essays and do their homework, with resulting false accusations discouraging many from writing honestly. 

Even American manufacturing and engineering, industries prioritized by the current administration, are predicted to see many workers replaced by AI—as many as two million according to an MIT and Boston University report. Solidworks, a CAD (Computer Aided Design) software used in the engineering industry, has itself announced new AI features. AI has even come to affect some parts of Rochester. RIT has been caught utilizing AI once or twice in their social media posts, much to the dismay of many students.

RIT Utilizing AI to generate images for their Instagram. Interestingly, RIT has its own college dedicated to art and design. Why these students could not be hired is up for debate.

The working class, in turn, now not only are forced to compete against each other, but now with AI as well. This competition forces them to accept lower wages at a time where everything from housing to basic groceries are experiencing skyrocketing prices due to tariffs and inflation. 

While this tale of AI may seem like a 21st century problem, we have experienced similar issues historically. The Luddites were a 19th century English movement who would organize raids to destroy the rapidly developing automated machinery out of fear of their skilled labour being replaced by machines. What happened following these raids was, unfortunately, predictable: the military was sent in to suppress them, and thus make way for the power loom and other machines to take over their skilled labour. This situation now repeats itself today. While rules and regulations will help curb the more sinister uses of AI (i.e. deepfakes) in the short term, it will not be enough to stop its usage in job cuts across the market. AI will continue to be used to line the pockets of the rich, all while making the already struggling working class even more desperate. 

What is the solution then? While short term solutions are up for debate, the long-term solution is clear: Socialism. The working class must develop itself and constitute itself and its goals into a party capable of waging a class struggle against the bourgeois. Only when the working class has taken the power to establish its own goals can AI be used to reduce the working class’s necessary labour. David Riazanov, while discussing the Luddites, put it best: “The workers must be informed that the fault was not with the machines, but with the conditions under which these machines were being used.” The labour movement must reach out to these disheartened workers and lead them to the movement of the liberation of the working class.

The question is AI. The answer is socialism.

The post On the question of AI – What is the correct answer? first appeared on Rochester Red Star.

By: Jane Slaughter

Besides decision-making debates, the national DSA convention also offered educational workshops, such as how to organize your workplace, starting a local Amazon campaign, and “International Songs of Struggle.” I spoke on a panel titled “Lessons from the Lean Years.”

Almost all current DSA members have joined the socialist movement since DSA began its big surge in numbers in 2016. The idea of the workshop was to talk about how socialists had operated and survived when the organized left was much smaller, and share some lessons.

The other panelists were Chris Maisano of NYC-DSA, who’d been a DSA member back when it was small, and Todd Chretien, co-chair of Maine DSA, who’d belonged to the International Socialist Organization (ISO) for decades. I belonged to the New American Movement of the early 1970s, the International Socialists (IS) starting in 1974, and then Solidarity, before joining DSA in 2018.

The two big takeaways I got from the well-attended workshop were, on the surface, contradictory, but not really.

Todd stressed that a socialist organization has to be flexible enough to adapt when reality changes. The ISO had always had non-participation in the Democratic Party as a core principle, seeing it (correctly IMO) as a “graveyard of social movements,” leading the civil rights and feminist and other movements into mainstream dead-ends.

Then Bernie Sanders — always and still an Independent — ran for President as a Democrat in 2016. Hundreds of thousands of people were energized by Bernie’s self-described democratic socialism, and tens of thousands of them joined DSA. The Democratic Party hadn’t changed its nature, but something had decidedly changed. DSA was there to take advantage of the moment.

The ISO couldn’t handle it. The organization couldn’t deal with the idea that anything positive could come out of running in the DP. I can imagine the internal debates. At a mass conference call in March 2019, members voted to dissolve.

YES, BUT

The other takeaway from the workshop is the need to stand by your principles even when the world is changing. The example I gave comes from the labor movement.

Members of the IS had founded a newsletter called Labor Notes in early 1979, intended to bring together different rank-and-file movements in unions, from wildcatting coal miners to Teamsters and auto workers battling their own leaderships. Labor Notes was always intended to be a broad, nonsectarian publication, with participation from anyone who agreed. The politics were clear, and came from a socialist understanding of unions and class struggle: an injury to one is an injury to all; unions exist to fight the bosses; and members should own their unions to make that happen.

Then, just 10 months later, the ground shifted under the labor movement. Chrysler Corp. asked the UAW for contract givebacks — and the union leaders said yes. Today these corporate demands are commonplace, but at the time, it was a shock. Union members had assumed, correctly, that their contracts would get better each year — not that they would ever go backward. Other companies quickly took up the demand for concessions, aided by the recession brewing. It was an employers’ offensive. Movements sprung up in various unions to resist the concessions that union leaders — who considered themselves far-sighted — were pressing on members.

At the same time that companies were demanding concessions, they were also proposing “labor-management cooperation”: “We’re sorry, workers, that we didn’t value your brains in the past; now we want your ideas for how to make the company run better — it’ll be win-win.” Quality of Work Life programs and quality circles were set up everywhere, with the UAW leading the way.

The mainstream media, practically all top-level union leaders, and some sections of the left all promoted the idea that workers should give concessions on pay and working conditions in exchange for “a say” in shop floor governance. “New power for workers!,” they promised. Believe me, that “say” never amounted to anything more than getting off the assembly line occasionally to sit in a circle with supervisors and decide how to do the work of six “team members” with five.

Today, management doesn’t bother to pretend that it cares about workers (unless there’s a union drive). But in the 1980s, the ideology of labor-management cooperation and the “team concept” was everywhere.

A DISSENTING VOICE

Guided by its founders’ socialist politics, Labor Notes held firm: the working class and the employing class have nothing in common. There’s no win-win — anything we gain is a loss for the bosses, and anything we give up helps the boss’s bottom line.

Labor Notes analyzed in detail the psychological tricks the new programs used to disarm union members. We held conferences and workshops and published books about fighting concessions and cooperation; thousands of workers credit these with helping them understand the onslaught and what to do about it.

Reaffirming union and socialist principles when all around us were losing their heads put Labor Notes on the map within the labor movement. The politics was, of course, combined with practical steps to take. And this same combination of socialist labor politics with how-to has continued at Labor Notes to this day.

After the workshop, throughout the weekend, people came up to me to say how much they’d gotten out of it. Firm class principles + flexibility and intelligence to meet the moment — that’s Marxism!

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Surviving the Left’s Lean Years was originally published in The Detroit Socialist on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

We had an absolutely fantastic time with our comrades at the 2025 DSA National Convention! Many of our Steering Committee members were serving as delegates for their chapters so we were able to catch up in person – some of us meeting IRL for the first time!

And of course – we have news to share with you regarding the direction of DSA’s national electoral work as determined by Convention as well as updates from our Socialist Cash Takes Out Capitalist Trash fundraising project!

For the NEC, Convention kicked off with us hosting an electoral-themed social on Thursday night, where participants were invited to make buttons of their favorite nationally-endorsed DSA candidates and partook in a get-to-know-you BINGO as they mingled with our candidates and electeds. The activity prompted people to meet comrades from chapters running campaigns with national endorsement, socialize with people who serve on their chapter’s electoral working groups, and connect with comrades from a variety of chapter sizes. Participants received an NEC bucket hat!

Electoral Workshop Results

On Friday, we hosted an electoral workshop to an overflowing room of participants!

At the NEC workshop, we had attendees complete an Electoral Program Report Card where they graded their chapter’s programs according to a variety of pillars of our electoral work (endorsements, leadership development, SIO work, etc.). We got 96 responses, which provided the NEC with an unprecedented look into our chapters’ electoral programs across the country. 

The Steering Committee is pouring over the responses and will share a summary of our findings once we complete it.

Missed the workshop and want to grade your own electoral program? Check out our slides and then fill out your report card.

We also had great conversations at our table – leading to 38 applications being submitted by DSA members wishing to join the NEC. 

Electoral-Related Resolutions & Amendments Passed at Convention

This convention was a pivotal one for the future of our electoral work! Check out the following resolutions which will change the course of our electoral strategy both locally and nationally.

• NEC Consensus Resolution: This resolution sets a new course for our national and local electoral work, including running candidates on independent ballot lines, updating our national endorsement criteria, creating a national socialists in office network, and issuing best endorsement practices recommendations for locals.
• Towards Deliberative Federal Endorsements: This amendment to the consensus resolution updates our federal endorsement criteria, requiring Q&As with federal candidates and more deliberation prior to endorsement.
• Carnation Program Amendment to NEC Resolution: This amendment to the consensus resolution sets a goal of running 5 candidates for Congress in 2028 running on a platform of 5 priority issues, including ending U.S. militarism, Medicare for All, and more.
• Invest in Cadre Candidates and Political Independence: This amendment to the consensus resolution commits to prioritizing running more cadre candidates at the local level, expanding the NEC’s fundraising efforts, and increasing staff capacity to support NEC.

Next Steps

We’re very excited to begin implementing these mandates from convention, including our very own NEC Consensus Resolution. If you want to help out with this important work, please join the next all-member NEC call, or if you’re not a member apply to join the NEC!

Nationally-Endorsed Slate Fundraising at Convention

National Convention was the perfect opportunity to do some fundraising for our slate of candidates! Through the QR code at the table and promotion from Chanpreet during convention, we were able to get 104 donations during convention – 54 of which were first-time donors!

Since the start of convention, we have raised an additional $6,029.94 for our slate candidates (currently Denzel McCampbell, Jake Ephros, Joel Brooks, Kelsea Bond, and Willie Burnley Jr.) on top of the $61,659.32 we had already raised so far this year!

Thank you to everyone who attended the National Electoral Commission’s events! We hope to see you at our upcoming all-member meeting so we can get to work on implementing the mandates from convention.

Shout-out to Cleveland DSA and Snohomish County DSA for allowing us to borrow your button makers. And thank you to Nick W for your button production run prior to convention!

– Your National Electoral Commission Steering Committee

By: Frederick Reiber

SOMERVILLE, MA – From Hollywood writers to Boston dockworkers, labor unions are continuing to fight unethical usage of artificial intelligence. 

Now, journalists are joining the fight. Unionized workers at Politico and E&E News (PEN Guild) are currently in arbitration over the editorial board’s use of AI. After unionizing in 2021 and ratifying a first contract in 2024, workers secured protections against the use of artificial intelligence technologies, recognizing both the liberating and exploiting potential of said technologies. These included protections against workers being replaced by artificial intelligence technologies, added severance for artificial intelligence related lay offs, a focus on ethical and human checked implementation, and the ability to do impact bargaining over the implementation of workplace technologies.

The first breach of contract came in 2024 during the Democratic National Convention, with Politico publishing AI-generated summaries of the events. According to workers interviewed, Politico originally argued that these summaries “were just transcripts” further arguing that it “doesn’t impact our jobs because reporters don’t transcribe things.” The second breach came earlier this year, when Politico launched an “AI Policy Assistant” , a subscription based service to help organizations navigate policy changes, or generate white page reports on specific regulatory issues. 

Artificial Intelligence—An Arena for Collective Bargaining

Politico argued in both cases that technological tools developed through the tech and business side of the company fall out of the purview of the journalist’s union. Thus, they aren’t subject to the collective bargaining agreement.

For the union, these rollouts constitute a violation of contract. Workers were not given the opportunity for impact bargaining nor the required 60 day notice of new workplace technologies. Workers also saw the use of AI as a challenge to journalistic integrity. A recent Wired report on the arbitration preceding cites Politico’s AI using phrases like “criminal migrants” or failing to recognize the overturning of Roe v. Wade. As PEN Guild member Ariel Wittenberg put it, “it certainly was disheartening as a journalist who has worked for Politico for 10 years to hear our top editors say that sometimes the homepage doesn’t have to be printing ethical journalistic content.”

AI providing false information is nothing new with scholars and journalists providing mountains of evidence. For instance in 2022, Meta took down Galactica, a tool designed to help researchers after it became apparent it was making up publications, and Stack Overflow the go-to question and answer website for coding questions ended up needing to ban AI responses due them having an incorrect rate of hallucinations. These issues have still persisted today. For instance ChatGPT, when asked today about labor leader Big Bill Haywood, manufactures quotes and pamphlets that I have been unable to find cited or discussed anywhere else.

AI is also famously ripe with political bias in a similar manner to Politico’s “criminal migrants”. For instance Grok, Elon Musk’s chatpot, recently referred to itself as ‘MechaHitler’ and going on inaccurate rants about a South African ‘white genocide’. Other more malicious cases include Amazon’s male favored hiring tool or Northpointe’s racist criminal assessment tool.

Important for fellow unionists is recognizing that we can and should be organizing against forced technology in the workplace. When dockworkers with ILA and USMX threatened to walk off the job earlier this year, they were able to win protections against forced automation.  SAG-AFTRA is currently fighting against the use of AI to bring back the voice of the late James Earl Jones. Fighting against AI, however, is no easy battle. While workplace technology is not a mandatory subject of bargaining, workers do continue to fight and organize against harmful technology in large part because they recognize workplace technology for what it commonly is– a tool used to degrade working conditions and worker power.

AI Is the Boss’s Tool—Workers Are the Real Counterpower

As Marx famously argued, capital—and thus the exploitation of the working class—happens when value is put into motion. The forced implementation of workplace artificial intelligence is nothing new, another attempt to shift production and further extortion. As scholar Jathan Sadowski argues in his new book, The Mechanic and the Luddite: A Ruthless Criticism of Technology and Capitalism, AI is really a tool of the boss, with employers using AI as a mask for outsourcing or as a way to cheapen labor with deeper forms of extraction through workplace surveillance. 

For workers everywhere, this moment demands clarity, courage, and collective resistance. The fight over AI isn’t about resisting technology for its own sake—it’s about resisting who controls it, who benefits, and who bears the cost. Whether in a newsroom, a factory, or a film studio, AI is not neutral. It reflects the priorities of those in power—speed over accuracy, profit over people, efficiency over ethics.

As more workplaces rush to adopt AI under the guise of innovation, unions must continue to insist on democratic control over technology; how it’s introduced, how it’s used, and who it serves. That means fighting for robust contract language, building coalitions across sectors, and standing firm when employers violate those agreements.

The PEN Guild’s arbitration fight is not just about Politico—it’s about setting precedent. If workers can’t win the right to bargain over technologies that directly shape their labor, then every workplace becomes fair game for digital dispossession. But if they succeed, they send a clear message: AI may be new, but the power of collective action remains timeless.

Fellow workers can support the PEN Guilds fight by signing their petition linked here.

Frederick Reiber is a PhD student at Boston University researching collective action and technology. He is a member of SEIU 509 and Boston DSA.

The post AI in Court: Politico Workers Take the Boss to Court Over Forced Automation appeared first on Working Mass.

On August 23rd, Bernie Sanders will be hosting a “town hall” event with Rebecca Cooke, candidate in the 2026 Democratic Party 3rd Congressional District election, near Viroqua. This follows his June 19th endorsement of her. We, the Executive Committee of the Coulee Region chapter (CDSA) of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), denounce this endorsement and campaign event and urge Senator Sanders to withdraw this endorsement.

Senator Sanders has been a principled socialist for his entire life, and has been a leader and inspiration for millions of progressives and socialists for decades. This made his endorsement of Rebecca Cooke extremely shocking. Rebecca Cooke is no socialist, or even a progressive. She refuses to endorse Medicare For All. In 2024, she was “grateful” to be endorsed by the genocide-apologist organization Democratic Majority For Israel.¹ In June of this year, she was a featured speaker at “WelcomeFest”, a convention of the anti-progressive wing of the Democratic Party, sharing the billing with genocide-apologists and neoliberals.² In the struggle between progressives and reactionaries within the opposition to the current fascist regime, she has declared on which side she places herself- it’s not with us, and it shouldn’t be with Bernie Sanders.

There are two other candidates in this primary, namely Laura Benjamin and Emily Berge, who would make far more sense for Senator Sanders to endorse. Both have endorsed Medicare For All. Both have better stances on Palestine. Laura Benjamin is a member of DSA, is committed to socialist principles, and is a fiery public speaker. Emily Berge is firmly in the La Follette Progressive tradition and has years of experience in local elected office.

For these reasons, in the spirit of socialist comradeship, the Coulee Region chapter of Democratic Socialists Of America urges Bernie Sanders to withdraw his endorsement of Rebecca Cooke.

COULEE DSA EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE & CHIPPEWA VALLEY DSA OC, AUGUST 19^th, 2025

Coulee Democratic Socialists Of America can be found at https://coulee.dsawi.org/, on Facebook, on Instagram, and by emailing couleedsa@gmail.com. Chippewa Valley DSA can be reached at chippewavalleydsa@gmail.com

1“DMFI PAC announces new endorsements in Arizona, New York, & Wisconsin” https://dmfipac.org/news-updates/press-release/dmfi-pac-announces-new-endorsements-in-arizona-new-york-wisconsin/

2“I Just Got Back From the Centrist Rally. It Was Weird as Hell.” https://www.thenation.com/article/politics/welcomefest-dispatch-centrism-abundance/

The post Bernie Sanders Endorsement of Rebecca Cooke A Betrayal of Socialist Movement first appeared on Coulee DSA.

By Amanda Matyas & Lauren Trendler

The DSA national convention this month for the first time included a Cross-Organizational Political Exchange: more than 40 speakers from unions, social movements, and socialist parties across the globe came to confer with DSA. The convention website explained that the idea was “to pave the way for party-building and a May Day 2028 coalition.”

This exchange was critical to asserting DSA as a pre-party formation, as 1,300 delegates from across the country gathered in Chicago to debate the direction of the organization — six weeks after Zohran Mamdani’s victory in New York City and our subsequent membership surge. Amidst the contentious resolutions being debated, this non-voting part of the convention served not only as a space for comradely exchange but as a chance to see the enormous potential of international solidarity in building a socialist party.

Addressing the crowd and explaining the process of planning the exchange, convention co-chair Laura Wadlin said, “There [wasn’t] a spreadsheet of cool unions — but now there is.”

Now that the cool union spreadsheet exists, it can serve as a blueprint for building a real coalition that is often invoked rhetorically but rarely put into practice. We engaged with other groups and navigated how we orient towards the world. According to Wadlin, the two main goals in organizing the exchange were to make the convention less inwardly focused and to feel like it has stakes, and to create a next step for May Day 2028. “There were so many other benefits of the process,” Wadlin said, “that we ended up gaining more goals. I now see it as expanding our horizons for what’s possible in the working class.”

Delegates also had a chance to speak, interspersed with the guests, as determined by a lottery. Detroit DSA member Erin T was selected and spoke about her work in the teachers union.

The fast-paced cross-organizational exchange showcased our shared excitement for two massive projects: a new electoral formation independent from the two major parties, and UAW President Shawn Fain’s call for strikes and working-class political action on May Day 2028.

Union reform caucuses Higher Education Labor United (HELU), Build a Fighting NALC (letter carriers), Railroad Workers United (RWU), and Caucus of Rank-and-File Electrical Workers (CREW) all called for a new party (a call that RWU first made in 2012!). HELU noted they have a policy platform on higher education, a key battleground under Trump, ready for a new party to adopt.

The Palestinian Youth Movement urged DSA to commit to an anti-war strategy that could “be bold on Palestine because it is the winning thing to do.” CREW tied the call for party-building back to its roots, noting that a workers party must “…come from an organic and independent working class culture of self-activity and militancy. It stands to reason that there can be no labor party that does not have deep, organic ties to labor. Get a job in strategic industries and callous your hands alongside us.”

Organizing towards May Day 2028 gives us a concrete opportunity to build rank-and-file class consciousness, cross-union organization, popular support, and renewed ties between the socialist movement and the labor movement.

FROM ACROSS THE GLOBE

Political organizations from across the globe were moved to travel great distances to discuss May Day 2028 with DSA, and representatives from La France Insoumise and the Workers Party of Belgium (PTB-PVDA) both noted their excitement to see this activity developing in the U.S.

They were joined by members of the Workers Party (PT) and the Socialism and Liberty Party (PSOL) of Brazil, Movimiento Victoria Ciudadana of Puerto Rico, the Movement for Democratic Socialism of Japan, and the National Regeneration Movement (Morena) of Mexico, whose powerful speech ended with, “We [Mexican immigrants] will be deported if we go out on strike and you cannot allow that.”

The Amazon Labor Union urged DSA to “focus on political education to help workers connect issues in the workplace to issues outside the workplace.” The Los Angeles Tenants Union cautioned the group to “plan for before and after mass action,” and the Debt Collective, based in Washington, D.C., asked the crowd, “What would it look like if while workers withheld their labor, debtors withheld their payments?”

Not only were our guests from these unions, social movements, and socialist parties invited to speak; they also mingled with DSA members all weekend, met at the hotel bar, joined our parties, and made connections that will continue to guide DSA towards our goals.

The preliminary discussions that began at the Cross-Organizational Exchange show there is broad support for an independent working class party, but more discussion and debate are needed to determine what our next decade of organizing looks like. The Exchange gathered many key organizers for our massive May Day 2028 project, but two-minute speeches from dozens of organizations is just the beginning — much more collaboration is needed.

The resolution Fighting Back in the Class War: Preparing for May Day 2028 committed DSA to several specific next steps. Over the next two years, DSA will anchor a May Day Convention in concert with major unions and other organizations that have taken up May Day 2028 as a priority, to collectively establish a plan and a set of demands for May Day 2028. DSA will encourage members to get jobs in strategic workplaces, industries, and unions, and DSA members in unions will organize to line up their contracts to expire on or around May Day 2028. DSA chapters will develop materials for agitation and political education around the need to build class power ahead of May Day 2028, and hold political education events directed at workers broadly.

We hope that all DSA delegates returned to their chapters invigorated by this exchange and with a laser focus on our shared goals. “If we don’t recognize the obligation we have to act in the world, we could miss our potential,” Laura Wadlin remarked. “DSA is not just an online subculture. We’re a political player on an international stage, and we need to match that.”

[Amanda Matyas and Lauren Trendler were elected convention delegates from Detroit.]

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Workers of the World Unite for DSA’s First Cross-Organizational Political Exchange was originally published in The Detroit Socialist on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

The question isn't whether your workplace needs organizing — it's whether you're ready to start the conversation.

The post From coffee shop to movement: hard-won lessons from Starbucks Workers United appeared first on EWOC.