|
 What is the DSA? The DSA (Democratic Socialists of America) is currently the largest socialist org in the United States, boasting over 90,000 members with chapters in all 50 states. https://www.dsausa.org/about-us/history/ (For a more indepth history of the org). Basically before the election of Donald Trump the DSA was a 5,000 person org of the old guard of the New Left, after the election a lot of people found out about the org and immediately joined. This rapid expansion has led to some structural groans over the few years. Is DSA a Party? No, DSA is a non-profit activist organization How is DSA structured https://www.dsausa.org/about-us/structure/ Every 2 years there is a National Convention where delegates from every chapter congregate to bring up and make decisions for the national organization; including voting on the National Political Committee which is the 16 person board that makes decisions between conventions. For the 2021 Convention it will be an 8 day digital convention, normally it is a 3 day Convention that cycles region to region (ie 2017 was Chicago, 2019 was Atlanta). What does DSA do? Ultimately DSA is a very decentralized org in that a lot of the work chapters do is based on what the chapters decide (this probably a consequence of the Dem-Centralism Ban). A lot of chapters have working groups/committees within their chapter that handle things from Electoral stuff to Mutual Aid to Housing Rights and so on. A big thing coming up on the 2021 Convention will be adopting a national Platform. Next Post on Caucuses Admittedly a rough thread so far, but would love to just talk about the DSA and what work folks are doing in their chapters if they want.
|
#
?
Feb 8, 2021 19:26
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 9, 2024 03:59 |
|
|
Caucuses With being a big tent organization there are multiple ideologies trying to pull the org in the particular vision of the caucus  https://breadandrosesdsa.org/ The current dominant caucus of the org, holding many positions in staff, the NPC, and the National Working Groups. Heavily focused on the Rank & File Strategy when it comes to union organizing (basically strategically look at industries to have members join their unions and take them over to build a militant union movement) and the "Dirty Break" which is to elect as many DSA endorsed politicians as possible and then at critical mass, have them break off into a new socialist party. Heavily against horizontal organizing, mutual aid work, and anything that isn't canvassing Medicare 4 All or R&F union organizing. Are heavily involved with Jacobin magazine. Base of power: Chicago DSA, East Bay DSA, NYC DSA, *Philly DSA (*Philly B&R is so toxic that they split off) Collective Power Network (CPN)  https://dsaorganizer.org/who-we-are/ CPN is the big upcoming caucus in the organization, exploding in size in 2020. Their main inspiration when it comes to organizing is the 1930s CPUSA (Communist Party USA) when it comes to labor organizing. A big part of their program is also pushing for chapters to adopt a structure where chapters dedicate resources on projects as a whole instead of having multiple working committees. Base of power: Metro DC DSA, Metro Cincy DSA, Detroit DSA, New Orleans DSA Libertarian Socialists Caucus  https://dsa-lsc.org/ LSC is the big tent caucus of various strains of libertarian socialists, anarchists, anarcho-communists, etc. Being in LSC doesn't require being a DSA member as a result of the 2019 Convention disillusioning a good chunk of the chapters. Heavily involved in the National Mutual Aid Working Group and pushing for more transparency/democracy in the National Org. Boasts over 700 "co-chairs" Base of power: Everywhere Socialist Majority https://www.socialistmajority.com/ A caucus that likes the current path of the DSA, basically want to run it as a NGO and are very influenced by groups like Justice Dems. Base of power: NYC & Boston North Star  https://www.dsanorthstar.org/ The old guard, followers of Michael Harrington and pre-Trump bump DSA. Very focused on trying to push the Democrats left and get really salty when people want to get rid of the Dem Cent ban. If there is a reason people call DSA liberal 99% it's because of this caucus. Class Unity Caucus (CUC) A group of class reductionists who have been pushing a very anti-idpol ideology in the org. Basically the stupidpol caucus and should be banned from the org. Base of Power: Have taken over Buffalo DSA Build  https://dsabuild.org/ Build is pseudo dead caucus that was built on structural reform of the National Org. Big thing they pushed in 2019 was the Pass the Hat resolution which would have given every chapter 100$ a month to use for anything. After convention there was a catastrophic collapse due to personal and ideological differences that built up at the 2019 convention. (Full disclosure I'm still active in this group) Had a good zine though Communist Caucus  https://communistcaucus.com/ A caucus that is based on what it says, it sees DSA as not the mass org, but something that has the potential to build towards creating a mass org. Base of Power: San Francisco DSA There are more local caucuses but that feels too in depth achillesforever6 fucked around with this message at 20:05 on Feb 8, 2021 |
|
#
?
Feb 8, 2021 19:27
|
|
|
I still have my membership and support them and all, but they have made some recent choices that have me concerned.
|
|
#
?
Mar 19, 2021 17:59
|
|
|
punk rebel ecks posted:I still have my membership and support them and all, but they have made some recent choices that have me concerned. I'm curious. What are those choices?
|
|
#
?
Mar 19, 2021 18:02
|
|
|
Yeah I would be curious too; I joined DSA in 17 and started to get really involved in Pittsburgh right after A12 (Charlottesville); I started as kind of a newbie podcast lefty, then got into the LibSoc (I'm still a member of LSC), but after the 2019 Convention where I was a part of Build I found myself to be kind of tired of Libsoc/anarchism and have been moving up the quadrant to that weird mushy level between Lib Soc and Marxist Leninist. Coming into the 2021 Convention there seems to at least be a good coalition forming to make this org much more left and communist. The biggest thing for me is I want the stupidpol caucus Class Unity Caucus (CUC) to be pushed out of the org since class reductionism has no place in socialist organizing in 2021. Also recently had to chair the March General Meeting where we are doing endorsements and I'm glad this guy didn't show up despite RSVPing for it https://twitter.com/MtthewRubiin/status/1372627614460956672 For what it's worth one of the candidates we are endorsing is Jewish and our chapter has long been open in supporting BDS and having a good number of our core membership being Jewish
|
|
#
?
Mar 19, 2021 18:26
|
|
|
achillesforever6 posted:Coming into the 2021 Convention there seems to at least be a good coalition forming to make this org much more left and communist. The biggest thing for me is I want the stupidpol caucus Class Unity Caucus (CUC) to be pushed out of the org since class reductionism has no place in socialist organizing in 2021. i hope you keep campaigning for ossof and newsome, things that definitely do have a place in socialist organizing
|
|
#
?
Mar 19, 2021 18:53
|
|
|
Baronash posted:I'm curious. What are those choices? They really seemed to drag their feet when it came to #ForcetheVote. I've even discussed this with a notable ranking member.
|
|
#
?
Mar 19, 2021 19:40
|
|
|
My experience with DSA is that it’s so incredibly chapter dependent that it basically doesn’t matter at all what the national organization says. There are DSA chapters near that are great orgs and there are also ones I wouldn’t piss on if they were on fire unless I had the capacity to urinate kerosene. Particularly because the things where a fairly marginal organization like DSA is most able to actually matter are often hyper local, city council level stuff that it’s unlikely the national organization has a stance on.
|
|
#
?
Mar 19, 2021 20:15
|
|
|
Everyone always says that, but my question to you-- is that good? What purpose is served by being so anti-centralization that your chapters range from "social democrats" to "working against socialism"?
|
|
#
?
Mar 19, 2021 20:34
|
|
|
in my experience DSA is mostly useful as a networking tool by which you can find other, better groups that they intersect with.
|
|
#
?
Mar 19, 2021 20:36
|
|
|
WorkerThread posted:Everyone always says that, but my question to you-- is that good? What purpose is served by being so anti-centralization that your chapters range from "social democrats" to "working against socialism"? Uncle Boogeyman posted:in my experience DSA is mostly useful as a networking tool by which you can find other, better groups that they intersect with. WorkerThread posted:i hope you keep campaigning for ossof and newsome, things that definitely do have a place in socialist organizing
|
|
#
?
Mar 19, 2021 22:44
|
|
|
achillesforever6 posted:Yeah that's a thing I did It would give me pause if the socialist org I was a part of was effectively fighting against socialist goals. Not a problem for you apparently.
|
|
#
?
Mar 19, 2021 22:55
|
|
|
WorkerThread posted:It would give me pause if the socialist org I was a part of was effectively fighting against socialist goals. Not a problem for you apparently. Who gives a poo poo? If you are able to do concrete good things with the people of that organization in your own local context, why should you care at all what someone in a different city with an organization that shares the same name does? My goals are material, not spiritual, and I honestly find it incredibly difficult to give a poo poo that people in the same org might not share The True Thought or whatever if they’re helping me push for the city council to legalize SROs or whatever.
|
|
#
?
Mar 19, 2021 23:14
|
|
|
Still Dismal posted:Who gives a poo poo? If you are able to do concrete good things with the people of that organization in your own local context, why should you care at all what someone in a different city with an organization that shares the same name does? My goals are material, not spiritual, and I honestly find it incredibly difficult to give a poo poo that people in the same org might not share The True Thought or whatever if they’re helping me push for the city council to legalize SROs or whatever. DSA isn't a charity that you're doing volunteer work for.
|
|
#
?
Mar 19, 2021 23:22
|
|
|
I mean it does sound like you've confused "doing things that materially help people" and "building/preparing the way for socialism". Not that the latter is easily defined or that I have the right answer for it. Just seems like you'd want a socialist org to be on mostly the same page re: socialism. But I'm just a Garfield avatar.
|
|
#
?
Mar 19, 2021 23:26
|
|
|
achillesforever6 posted:What groups would that be? SRA is decent, SALT are fine even thought they are trots, PSL is a cult though I know some nice members in it. Various anarchist groups are good even if they occasionally have insurrectionists who end up in like Red Guard to help the Feds. I'm talking more locally, I stopped going to Boston DSA meetings a long time ago but I found some decent local mutual aid groups and stuff through people I met there.
|
|
#
?
Mar 20, 2021 14:26
|
|
|
Uncle Boogeyman posted:I'm talking more locally, I stopped going to Boston DSA meetings a long time ago but I found some decent local mutual aid groups and stuff through people I met there.
|
|
#
?
Mar 21, 2021 01:55
|
|
|
WorkerThread posted:It would give me pause if the socialist org I was a part of was effectively fighting against socialist goals. Not a problem for you apparently. Interested to hear which organization you think I should join, and also to hear what you've been working on.
|
|
#
?
Mar 21, 2021 15:36
|
|
|
I bet you would
|
|
#
?
Mar 21, 2021 22:37
|
|
|
Uncle Boogeyman posted:I'm talking more locally, I stopped going to Boston DSA meetings a long time ago but I found some decent local mutual aid groups and stuff through people I met there. I'm in that area, any chance you can recommend some?
|
|
#
?
Mar 23, 2021 01:27
|
|
|
RagnarokAngel posted:I'm in that area, any chance you can recommend some? Warm Up Boston and Bridge Kids Give Back are the two that I've got off the top of my head, I know there are more I'm drawing a blank on, I'll see if I can dig em up and edit them into this post.
|
|
#
?
Mar 24, 2021 17:51
|
|
|
https://twitter.com/bureaucatliu/status/1374806623818895365?s=21 I feel like I'm on another planet reading this stuff because this seems very poo poo that didn't happen.txt
|
|
#
?
Mar 25, 2021 03:20
|
|
|
Definitely not, and fortunately it feels like that tendency (self-conscious academics dismissing basic inclusionary language as somehow elitist or antithetical to working class solidarity) is one that's losing ground within the DSA.
|
|
#
?
Mar 26, 2021 19:23
|
|
|
achillesforever6 posted:https://twitter.com/bureaucatliu/status/1374806623818895365?s=21 The tweet is hidden for me. Can you copy/paste or something?
|
|
#
?
Mar 26, 2021 21:12
|
|
|
I can't see it either but I think it's Catherine Liu making up stories about salt-of-the-earth working class guys just leaving organizing meetings in droves because they can't make heads or tails of this "name and pronouns" business.
|
|
#
?
Mar 26, 2021 22:19
|
|
|
achillesforever6 posted:The biggest thing for me is I want the stupidpol caucus Class Unity Caucus (CUC) to be pushed out of the org since class reductionism has no place in socialist organizing in 2021.
|
|
#
?
Mar 27, 2021 18:22
|
|
|
In like 2019, as far as I know! Honestly, it's kind of heartwarming that we've got our own Change U.K.
|
|
#
?
Mar 27, 2021 18:44
|
|
|
side_burned posted:When was that caucus formed? That a acronym is loving liability.
|
|
#
?
Mar 29, 2021 04:44
|
|
|
CPN is cool CUC's name speaks for itself. I think someone needs to sit them down and explain why calling for a return to "class" without any theory of political economy or giving a rat's rear end about exploitation just turns class into another identity like race and gender which they think is such a huge problem, but at least the identitarians understand -- even if they can be incorrect in some respects, some of the time -- that these categories imposed by power really do hold, they're stamped or branded in a certain way, which is what makes these identities salient in a political sense. Then after explaining that, that someone should kick the CUCs out of the org.
|
|
#
?
Mar 29, 2021 22:39
|
|
|
I get along with most CPN folks, their DC branch can be a little too online (and they love to do that thing of having everyone in their caucus like a member's post on twitter or the DSA forums), but they aren't like Bread and Roses or SMC who just suck. Convention is going to be interesting this year, hopefully less of a toxic bloodbath this go around.
|
|
#
?
Mar 30, 2021 04:05
|
|
|
Here's an online publication a bunch of DSA's left caucuses have been putting out. Its second issue was just put up: https://partisanmag.com/
|
|
#
?
Mar 30, 2021 21:18
|
|
|
https://cfac4213.medium.com/observations-on-philly-dsas-general-meeting-25d96b490970 This wants me to put my head through the wall no wonder there are like 3 other Philly socialist groups that formed because they got sick of this poo poo; how in god's name can you meet only 4 times a year and with no internal communication.
|
|
#
?
Apr 1, 2021 03:01
|
|
|
New slate for Convention dropped and it's basically all good people https://twitter.com/CardinalDsa/status/1377714082166505477
|
|
#
?
Apr 2, 2021 19:10
|
|
|
Has DSA released anything about how the organization spends their money? If it doesn't have a line item budget I would never give money to it.
|
|
#
?
Apr 3, 2021 07:32
|
|
|
https://twitter.com/TomWojcik/status/1379251777263042561 Context a bunch of trots in Bread and Roses are working on a resolution to destroy the work that has been done to make the International Committee good because they think they are allowed to force their third camp bullshit and have control of the committee to make it a joke
|
|
#
?
Apr 6, 2021 04:33
|
|
|
Virgil Texas had a great point about the DSA on Bad Faith: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dcQt2Xymw5g&t=848s achillesforever6 posted:https://twitter.com/TomWojcik/status/1379251777263042561 Isn't Bread and Roses mostly anarchists as oppose to Something Awful (CSPAM) which is mostly communists?
|
|
#
?
Apr 6, 2021 05:59
|
|
|
punk rebel ecks posted:Virgil Texas had a great point Words seldom uttered. Why do you think it's a great point?
|
|
#
?
Apr 6, 2021 06:24
|
|
|
punk rebel ecks posted:Isn't Bread and Roses mostly anarchists as oppose to Something Awful (CSPAM) which is mostly communists? "Bread and Roses" is the name of one of the bigger national DSA caucuses. They put a high premium on organizing around Medicare For All and have many ties to Jacobin magazine.
|
|
#
?
Apr 6, 2021 06:28
|
|
|
WorkerThread posted:I bet you would I'm generally wary of political organizations like DSA -- what do you recommend?
|
|
#
?
Apr 6, 2021 06:33
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 9, 2024 03:59 |
|
|
droll posted:Words seldom uttered. Why do you think it's a great point? Like many organizations, the DSA really pushed forward electing left wing politicians into Congress. But unlike most others, they achieved it and didn't know exactly what to do once they succeeded in the objective.
|
|
#
?
Apr 6, 2021 07:03
|
|