Logo for InfluenceWatch InfluenceWatch

Donate
Non-profit

Democratic Socialists of America (DSA)

Official logo of the DSA. (link)
Website:

www.dsausa.org
Location:

NEW YORK, NY
Tax ID:

13-3109557
Tax-Exempt Status:

501(c)(4)

Budget (2021):

Revenue: $6,854,135
Expenses: $5,632,072
Assets: $4,898,729
Formation:

1982
Type:

Socialist Political Faction
National Director:

Maria Svart
Membership:

Over 92,000 (April 2023)

Contact InfluenceWatch with suggested edits or tips for additional profiles.

The Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) is a far-left political activist group in the United States, and the largest socialist organization in the country with approximately 78,000 members as of August 2023. 1 2 It is organized as a social-welfare nonprofit and is primarily funded through membership dues. 3

Originally founded in 1982 through the merger of two existing left-wing groups, the DSA was closely associated with socialist activist Michael Harrington during its early years. It initially had approximately 6,000 members, which reached as high as 10,000 in the early 1990s before dropping to about 6,500 in late 2014. 4

The combination of self-described democratic socialist U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders’ 2016 presidential campaign and the election of Republican Donald Trump as president later that year drove significant membership growth at the DSA, which continued after Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez won the 2018 Democratic primary in New York’s 14th congressional district as an open DSA member. 5 Membership grew to 32,000 in 2017 and 55,000 in 2018, before peaking at 95,000 in 2021. 6

The DSA espouses numerous far-left political positions that include the abolition of police and prisons and the release of all people “from involuntary confinement”; the total elimination of conventional energy sources such as coal, petroleum, and natural gas; the abolition of the U.S. Senate; and enfranchising non-citizens in U.S. elections. It advocates for the replacement of capitalism with a planned economy in which most sectors are government-run and in which wealth is compulsorily redistributed through high levels of taxation, government distribution of goods and services, and reparations. 7

The DSA is hostile toward Israel, to the point where the organization has been accused of antisemitism. 8 9 Anti-Israel activism became a core part of the DSA’s work after the group voted to officially support the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement in 2017. The DSA was strongly criticized for its response to the October 2023 Hamas terrorist attacks against Israel, which was widely seen as an attempt to justify the violence against Israeli civilians. 10 Several prominent DSA members, including U.S. Rep. Shri Thanedar (D-MI), publicly resigned from the organization over its response to the attacks. 11

The DSA is governed by a 16-member national political committee, elected every two years. In 2023, a majority of those elected to the national political committee came from the DSA’s left wing, and at least five represented internal DSA ideological caucuses that are explicitly revolutionary Marxist and/or communist. 12

As of August 2023, the DSA claimed that more than 200 of its members held elected office nationwide. 13 As of November 2023 there were four members of the U.S. House of Representatives who belonged to the DSA: Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), Cori Bush (D-MO), and Greg Casar (D-TX). 14

History

The Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) was founded in 1982 through the merger of two existing organizations: the New American Movement and the Democratic Socialist Organizing Committee. Influential socialist Michael Harrington was the single most important individual involved in both establishing the DSA and leading it during its early years. 15

The Origins of the DSA

The New American Movement had been founded in 1971 as a successor to Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), which had imploded amid internal factional strife in 1969. Considered an outgrowth of the New Left movement, the New American Movement emphasized the importance of socialism to the future of the United States and the need to integrate feminism into all aspects of this activism. At its height, it had fewer than 1,500 members nationwide. 16

The Democratic Socialist Organizing Committee was created in 1973, out of a faction from the recently dissolved Socialist Party of America that had been led by Michael Harrington. A socialist activist since the early 1950s, Harrington had been involved with Dorothy Day’s Catholic Worker Movement and also was an organizer for the Workers Defense League. He joined the Independent Socialist League of Max Shachtman, a former Trotskyist whose politics had since drifted toward democratic socialism, and Harrington was put in charge of the group’s youth wing. The Independent Socialist League dissolved in the late 1950s, and many of its former members joined the Socialist Party of America. Harrington was elected to the Socialist Party’s national executive committee in 1960 and edited the party’s official newspaper. 17

Harrington was also involved in the League for Industrial Democracy, whose youth wing reformed itself into SDS in 1960, and in that capacity he attended SDS’s founding convention at Port Huron, Michigan in 1962. Harrington was reported to have been deeply troubled by the resulting Port Huron Statement because he believed the manifesto’s language was not sufficiently anti-communist. Harrington, who was older than the other SDS convention attendees, later explained that his experience as a socialist activist during the 1950s had made his personal anticommunism “not simply a theory, but an emotion as well.” The younger activists could not understand this, and Harrington wrote that “my notion of a progressive, Leftist anti-Communist made as much existential sense to them as a purple cow.” 18

Also in 1962, Harrington published an examination of poverty in the United States called The Other America, which was reportedly influential on the anti-poverty efforts of the Kennedy administration. In 1964 he began working with the Johnson administration’s task force on poverty led by Sargent Shriver. He remained active as a leader within the Socialist Party of America throughout the 1960s and early 1970s, until the party split apart in 1972. 19

Harrington believed that socialists should work within the Democratic Party and attempt to realign its politics to the left. His approach to socialist activism has been characterized as “anti-Communist, friendly to liberals, sympathetic to religion, willing to work within the system, [and] nose turned up at the extremism of SDS.” 20

Harrington supported Democrat George McGovern for president in the 1972 election, and envisioned one day forming a winning political coalition through uniting the constituencies of the “three Georges”—McGovern’s liberals, AFL-CIO president George Meany’s northern blue-collar union workers, and Alabama governor George Wallace’s southern blue-collar populists. He formed the Democratic Socialist Organizing Committee in 1973, which counted among its early members both labor union leaders and Democratic Party activists. 21

In 1982 the Democratic Socialist Organizing Committee merged with the New American Movement to form the DSA, 22 and the new group held its first national convention in October 1983. Harrington and Barbara Ehrenreich were elected as co-chairs, while the DSA’s vice chairs included then-U.S. Representative Ron Dellums (D-CA), former Communist Party USA activist Dorothy Ray Healey, then-D.C. council member Hilda Mason, and International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers president William Winpisinger. 23 Among those elected to the DSA’s national executive committee at its second convention in 1985 were Harrington, Ehrenreich, socialist academic Frances Fox Piven, and Cornel West. 24

During the 1984 Democratic presidential primaries, DSA members were divided over whether to support Jesse Jackson or eventual nominee Walter Mondale. However, the DSA was an early endorser of Jackson’s second campaign in 1988, which it considered to be “the first truly multiracial, (implicitly) social democratic one in U.S. history.” 25

Cold War Anti-Communism and Kurt Stand

In his 1988 book Far Left of Center: The American Radical Left Today, historian Harvey Klehr wrote that the DSA had “continuously denounced Marxism-Leninism and those regimes founded on its principles,” and that it was “committed to democratic values and democratic society.” 26 After the collapse of communism in Europe in the late 1980s and early 1990s, many DSA members were disappointed that the formerly communist countries in Eastern Europe that had been under the influence of the Soviet Union gravitated toward Western-style free market capitalism rather than embracing what the DSA called “socialism with a human face.” 27

Michael Harrington died in 1989, and the DSA has speculated that the organization might have grown more substantially after the collapse of communism if he had lived “to articulate, in accessible language, why the collapse of an authoritarian system that democratic socialists had always opposed did not refute the socialist project.” 28

Nevertheless, there were those within the DSA who actively supported the Eastern Bloc. Kurt Stand, an activist with the Metro DC chapter of the DSA, was convicted in October 1998 of multiple espionage-related offenses for having spied on behalf of the Soviet Union, East Germany, Russia, and South Africa. He was sentenced to 17 years in prison. Stand was described in media reports as a “devoted” Marxist-Leninist who had begun spying in the 1970s and continued until 1997. 29 30 He was released from federal prison in 2012. 31

Stand was a longtime member of the DSA and held high-ranking leadership positions within the organization. In an open letter written from prison, he explained that he had joined the DSA soon after it was founded in 1982, and felt that the group “was taking steps on the right path toward finding a way to make an open socialist presence meaningful in contemporary U.S. society.” 32 He was listed as an elected member of the DSA’s national political committee for the 1994-1995 term, 33 and again for the 1996-1997 term. 34 After he was released from prison, Stand continued his affiliation with the DSA’s Metro DC Democratic Socialists of America chapter. He has appeared at conferences on behalf of the chapter, and authored articles for its Washington Socialist publication. 35 36

Bernie Sanders Campaign and Membership Growth

At the time of its founding in 1982 the DSA had about 6,000 members, of whom 5,000 had come from the Democratic Socialist Organizing Committee and 1,000 from the New American Movement. By the early to mid-1990s, it had approximately 10,000 members, though this dropped to 6,500 by late 2014. As of 2012, the DSA had approximately ten “moderately strong” local chapters and about the same number of college or university groups. At that time, most DSA members were reportedly either younger than 25 or older than 60. 37

Maurice Isserman, a founding member of the DSA, explained that “the 1980s were not the most promising decade to launch a new venture on the left. Nor were the 1990s, or the first decade of the 21st century much better. DSA, which fluctuated between 5,000 and 6,000 members over those years, was much larger than the purist sects further to its left who generally counted memberships in the hundreds. But DSA was still small. And aging.” 38

Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT), who considered himself a democratic socialist but was not a member of the DSA, 39 formally announced his candidacy in the 2016 Democratic presidential nomination in April 2015. 40 Though the DSA did not consider Sanders’ platform to be sufficient to “fulfill the socialist aim of establishing worker and social ownership of the economy,” it still saw him as “sufficiently radical and inspiring” and made the decision to support his forthcoming campaign in late 2014. The unexpected success of Sanders’ 2016 presidential campaign drove significant growth at the DSA. Individuals who searched for information about “democratic socialism” on the internet often found the DSA’s website. 41

The DSA declined to endorse the eventual 2016 Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton. 42 Approximately 1,000 people reportedly joined the organization on the day after Donald Trump was elected president, and over 13,000 total joined between November 9, 2016 and July 1, 2017. 43 The combination of Sanders’ campaign and Trump’s election has been described as the “one-two punch” that drove exponential growth at the DSA. 44 In 2018, DSA member Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez defeated then-Representative Joseph Crowley (D-NY) in the Democratic primary election for New York’s 14th congressional district. Her victory was widely credited with further raising the DSA’s public profile, 45 and reportedly led to the largest single-day membership gain in the organization’s history. 46

The DSA again supported Sen. Sanders when he ran for president a second time in 2020. The group organized and paid for a campaign called Democratic Socialists for Bernie, though it also clarified that much of what Sanders was proposing was not actually what the DSA considered true socialism. 47 Still, the DSA highlighted ten core issues upon which it based its support for his presidential campaign: 48

  • Medicare for All
  • A Green New Deal for All
  • Good Jobs for All
  • Education for All
  • Housing for All
  • Equality for All
  • End Mass Incarceration
  • End Wall Street Greed
  • End the Wars
  • End Anti-Worker Trade Deals

After Sanders suspended his second presidential campaign in the spring of 2020, the DSA released a statement explaining that it would not be endorsing Joe Biden as the Democratic nominee because “his differences with Sanders and the broader left could not be starker.” 49 Nevertheless, numerous DSA members organized against the re-election of then-President Donald Trump, reasoning that his defeat “would be unequivocally better for the working class and for our movement.” 50

In 2015 the DSA had approximately 6,200 members. By 2017 membership had grown to 32,000, and by 2020 it had reached 87,000. Membership peaked in 2021 at 95,000, after which it dropped to 83,000 in 2022 and 78,000 in 2023. 51

Political Positions

The Democratic Socialists of America is the largest socialist organization in the United States, and generally promotes a far-left political ideology. 52 It describes its vision of socialism as one “based on popular control of resources and production, economic planning, equitable distribution, feminism, racial equality and non-oppressive relationships.” 53 Individual DSA members hold a variety of political views that range from reform socialism to revolutionary communism. 54

In 2018, DSA national director Maria Svart explained socialism in the following way during an interview with National Public Radio (NPR): “Let’s say you were negotiating at a bargaining table with workers in a bakery, and the workers said, ‘Look, we want more than a quarter of the bread; we want half of the bread, or we want two-thirds of the bread,’ the socialist would say, ‘Actually, we want the bakery. We want to control it all, for all of our benefit.’” 55

2021 Political Platform

In 2021 the DSA officially adopted a detailed political platform, organized into ten topical categories. The preamble states that “in overcoming the old, barbaric order of capitalism, the working class will not only liberate itself from its own shackles, but all of humanity from the parasitic death-drive of capitalism.” 56

The “Deepening and Strengthening Democracy” category includes a call for a second constitutional convention to establish “a new socialist democracy,” and specifically proposes abolishing the U.S. Senate and Electoral College, adding additional seats to the U.S. Supreme Court “to break the countermajoritarian conservative majority,” allowing noncitizens and convicted criminals to vote, and transitioning to a parliamentary electoral system. 57

The “Abolition of the Carceral State” category asserts that “the tools of our opposition, enforcing our exploitation and oppression under capitalism, are the repressive forces of the state.” It calls for the total abolition of police and prisons and the release of “all people from involuntary confinement.” It also demands the abolition of misdemeanor offenses and all fines and fees associated with the criminal justice system, the decertification of police unions and their expulsion from labor federations, the repeal of all truancy laws, and a prohibition against schools suspending or expelling troublesome students. 58

The “Abolition of White Supremacy” category links “the fictions of whiteness” to the development of capitalism in the Western Hemisphere, and argues that “we cannot meaningfully combat capitalism without combating white supremacy and vice versa.” It includes specific demands for race-based reparations to be paid at the federal, state, and local government levels, as well as for the establishment of “community based response systems” to replace the current criminal justice system. 59

The “A Powerful Labor Movement” category states that “the importance of a vibrant, fighting labor movement to building socialist power cannot be overstated.” It includes specific demands for the “social ownership of all major industry and infrastructure,” the implementation of a 32 hour workweek, repeal of the Taft-Hartley Act, abolishing at-will employment and right-to-work laws, and using government-guaranteed jobs to ensure “work for all who want it.” 60

The “Economic Justice” category proposes “a program of transformative regulation, nationalization, social ownership, and internationalism.” It demands the socialization and/or nationalization of vast sectors of the economy, including utilities, manufacturing, technology, telecommunications, media, insurance, real estate, and finance, while also limiting “the size and power of businesses not susceptible to nationalization or social control.” It also includes proposals to forgive all medical and student loan debt, make public higher education free to students, and for “minimizing testing at all levels of education.” The DSA believes that such programs could be largely paid for “through public development and retail banks, socialized government finance, and taxing the rich and corporations.” 61

The “Gender and Sexuality Justice” category declares that the DSA is a “socialist feminist organization” that fights against “patriarchy, capitalism, and white supremacy.” Specific demands include free elective abortion, free “gender affirming care” to minors without parental consent, and an end to “state recognition of the gender binary and enforcement of heteronormativity.” 62

The “Green New Deal” category asserts that the DSA “is fighting for a social order that works for people and our planet, not profit.” It includes a specific demand to “decarbonize the economy” within ten years via solar, wind, and geothermal energy sources, as well as through nationalizing and decommissioning coal, oil, and natural gas producers. The DSA also wants to “socialize the agricultural system,” guarantee “a job with union wages and benefits” alongside free “water, energy, transit, food, and other necessities” to everyone, disincentivize the use of personal automobiles and air travel, and pay various forms of environmental reparations. 63

The “Health Justice” category demands a government-controlled health-care system in which medical facilities are publicly owned and funded and health insurance is administered by the federal government. 64

The “Housing for All” category calls for “further decommodifying housing and land” through policies designed to force private landlords out of the real estate market alongside the use of “state action to acquire private property and transform [it] into public democratically controlled housing.” 65

The “International Solidarity, Anti-Imperialism, and Anti-Militarism” category declares that the “DSA operates in the heart of a global capitalist empire that has wrought untold suffering on billions of people and the environment,” and lists various supposed “atrocities that make up the legacy of US actions in service of capital.” Specific demands include the immediate withdrawal of the United States from NATO, the forgiveness of foreign debt and the payment of reparations to the survivors of colonization and their descendants, and an end to all sanctions against countries such as Cuba, Venezuela, and Iran. Other sections call for an end to illegal immigrant detention and the abolition of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the renunciation and abolition of nuclear weapons, the “full sovereignty” of Hawaii, Puerto Rico and all other “indigenous nations whose ancestral lands are within current US borders,” and the creation of “a new global monetary order” to replace global reliance on the U.S. dollar. 66

Abortion

In 2019, the DSA released a statement attacking a new law in Georgia that prohibited abortion after approximately six weeks of pregnancy. It called the law “draconian” and explained that socialists support access to abortion because “capitalism depends on a male and female couple producing babies, and on selfless, unpaid care in the home to nurture those babies into workers and take care of them later in life when they can no longer produce profit for a capitalist.” It noted that DSA chapters had raised over $127,000 for the National Network of Abortion Funds that year. 67

International Alignment

The DSA was affiliated with the Socialist International, a global association of left-wing political parties and related organizations since its founding in 1982. In 2017, the DSA withdrew from the Socialist International due to its perception that some of the association’s member parties had been complicit in or actively supported the furtherance of capitalist economic policies in their respective countries. The implementing DSA resolution stated that “our affiliation with the Socialist International hinders our ability to develop stronger relationships with parties and social movements that share our values and which, in many cases, are bitterly opposed to their country’s [Socialist International] affiliate(s).” 68

At its 2021 national convention the DSA voted to apply for membership in the Sao Paulo Forum (in Portuguese, Foro de Sao Paulo), an international association of left-wing and far-left political parties from countries located in the Western Hemisphere. 69 Prominent members of the Sao Paulo Forum include the Communist Party of Cuba, the United Socialist Party of Venezuela, and the Sandinista National Liberation Front of Nicaragua. 70

In October 2023 it was announced that the DSA had officially joined the Progressive International, a global association of far-left political parties and other organizations that had originated from an open call by the Democracy in Europe Movement and the Sanders Institute in 2018 “for progressives of the world to unite.” 71 72 The Progressive International’s 25-point founding declaration includes statements aspiring “to eradicate capitalism everywhere,” for “full reparations for past crimes and the immediate restoration of land, resources, and sovereignty to all the dispossessed peoples of the world,” and for revolutionary “popular movements to transform society and reclaim the state” because “winning elections is not enough.” The association paraphrases Karl Marx to explain the obligations of its members: “from each, according to ability; and to each, according to need.” 73

Other political parties, activist groups, and similar organizations that are members of the Progressive International include Brandworkers, the Palestinian Youth Movement, the Sunrise Movement, and Code Pink of the United States; the Peace and Justice Project and Momentum in the United Kingdom; the Left Block in Russia; the Coalition for Revolution in Nigeria; and the National Alliance of People’s Movements in India. 74 Current or former members of the organization’s advisory council include activist, academic, and political candidate Cornel West, Rage Against the Machine guitarist Tom Morello, Communist Party of India leader Annie Raja, actor John Cusack, left-wing academic Noam Chomsky, journalist Naomi Klein, former U.K. Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn, and former Amnesty International and UNESCO executive Pierre Sané. 75

Alliance with Teachers’ Unions

The DSA has developed close relations with teachers’ unions. In 2023, the Colorado Education Association passed an anti-capitalism resolution that had been introduced by a DSA member. At least two DSA members have been elected to board of the Los Angeles Unified School District since 2019, according to the Washington Free Beacon. 76 Then-vice president (later president) of United Teachers Los Angeles, Cecily Myart-Cruz, was a featured speaker at the DSA’s 2019 national convention, alongside Association of Flight Attendants-CWA international president Sara Nelson. 77

In 2018, the DSA’s National Labor Commission and the Young Democratic Socialists of America jointly published a pamphlet written by West Virginia public school teachers who were also DSA members, entitled “Why Socialists Should Become Teachers.” The authors argued that “while teachers don’t make a product that is sold on the market, we are necessary in the reproduction of a capitalist economy and the perpetuation of classes. It is teachers who train, both socially and technically, the workers of the future.” They cited the relatively high union density among teachers and the national power of the American Federation of Teachers and the National Education Association as additional reasons for why teaching should be considered a “viable way for socialists to get into the labor movement and wage class struggle in a key industry that is under attack by capital.” 78

In January 2022, the DSA’s Chicago chapter released a statement supporting the Chicago Teachers Union’s refusal to return to in-person teaching unless the city’s school district implemented strict COVID-19 measures. The chapter praised teachers who refused to teach their students in-person for having thrown “themselves into the fight against the capitalist class and their failure to act against this nightmarish virus.” 79 The Young Democratic Socialists of America subsequently held its 2023 winter conference at the Chicago Teachers Union headquarters. 80

Support for Authoritarian Regimes

The DSA has expressed favorable views toward authoritarian governments in foreign countries, and has been described as part of the “Anti-American Left.” 81

The DSA is supportive of the communist Cuban regime, and argues that the United States functions as “the primary detriment to quality of life for Cubans, and the primary force of instability on the island.” 82 It has declared its commitment “to solidarity with the Cuban socialist struggle, and to an independent, socialist Cuba.” 83  In 2021, amidst large popular protests against the Cuban government, the DSA’s international committee released a statement saying that “DSA stands with the Cuban people and their Revolution in this moment of unrest. End the blockade.” Observers noted that the capitalized word “Revolution” indicated that this was likely a message of support for the Cuban government rather than the protesters, who were designated “counter-revolutionaries” by the authorities. 84

Through its “Venezuela Solidarity” campaign, the DSA supports “self-determination and socialism in the country, free of continued US interference and sanctions.” 85 In 2021, a delegation of DSA representatives traveled to Venezuela and met with its authoritarian leader Nicolas Maduro. The meeting was broadcast on official state television and social media networks, and was characterized as “something of a public-relations triumph for Maduro.” DSA delegates expressed their admiration for Maduro after the meeting, with one saying that “who I met is not a dictator. I met a humble man who cares deeply about his people.” Politico noted that the poverty rate in Venezuela had jumped from 29.4 percent to 94.5 percent during Maduro’s presidency, and that the DSA delegates had stayed at a private five-star hotel where rooms cost approximately 100 times the average Venezuelan monthly salary during their trip. 86

The DSA also operates a “Korea Solidarity” campaign, which blames the United States for waging “a continuous war against the people of Korea,” for “artificially splitting the [Korean] peninsula in half,” and for “directly waging a catastrophic war and a myriad of war crimes and large scale massacres.” The DSA has called for the elimination of all sanctions against North Korea, which it characterizes as American “attacks” on the country, and for “peace, self-determination, and reconciliation without the US economically and militarily imposing its geopolitical interests in Korea’s affairs anymore.” 87

In January 2020, the United States assassinated Iranian General Qasem Soleimani in a targeted drone strike near Baghdad International Airport in Iraq. 88 Soleimani was the commander of the Quds Force within Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, a United States-designated terrorist organization that the U.S. Department of Defense claimed had been responsible for the deaths of hundreds of American and coalition military service members. 89 After the assassination, the DSA released a statement entitled “Urgent Call for Action Against a U.S. War on Iran” that accused the United States of committing “an act of war” in furtherance of its “imperialism and militarism.” 90

After Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, the DSA released a statement which condemned the invasion but also blamed the United States and NATO for having undertaken “imperialist expansionism that set the stage for this conflict.” 91 The group later released additional statements opposing Western military aid to Ukraine and economic sanctions against Russia, and argued that NATO was not a defensive alliance, but rather “a violent military structure dominated by the US and its main European partners, often at the expense of member states’ sovereignty.” 92 Prior to the invasion, the DSA had blamed “US brinkmanship” and “a sensationalist Western media blitz” for increasing tensions in the region. 93

Anti-Israel Activism

The Democratic Socialists of America is deeply hostile toward Israel, to the point where the group has been accused of antisemitism. 94 95

Historical Positions

DSA founder Michael Harrington was a supporter of Israel, having written in 1975 that “the basic fact is that Zionism—which I take to mean the philosophy of support for and identification with a Jewish homeland in Israel—is the national liberation movement of a Jewish people asserting their right to self-determination.” He organized support for Israel among American socialists during both the Six-Day War in 1967 and the Yom Kippur War in 1973. The Democratic Socialist Organizing Committee—one of the DSA’s two direct predecessor organizations—also supported Israel in its platform. 96

Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions

The DSA’s rapid growth during the mid-2010s coincided with the similarly rapid growth of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement among young left-wing activists, meaning that many of the DSA’s new members believed that support for the BDS movement was “a badge of progressive authenticity.” Anti-Israel activism soon became a core component of the DSA’s ideology. 97

In 2017 the DSA voted to formally support the BDS movement, and two years later it established an official BDS and Palestine Solidarity Working Group. The working group’s purpose was to organize DSA members to support the BDS movement, and to educate them “about the Palestinian struggle for liberation, Zionism’s settler-colonialist and imperialist roots, Israeli apartheid, and Palestine’s interconnections with a myriad of anti-capitalist and anti-imperialist struggles in America and elsewhere.” It specifically demanded “a free Palestine, from the river to the sea.” 98

According to the American Jewish Committee, the phrase “from the river to the sea” is widely understood as a rejection of Israel’s right to exist by implying “that the entire land of Israel should be freed from Jews,” and is considered antisemitic. 99

Statements released by the BDS and Palestine Solidarity Working Group on the DSA’s behalf have accused Israel of engaging in “premeditated ethnic cleansing” ever since the country’s establishment in 1948. 100 The working group has declared that “Zionism is Racism and Israel is an Apartheid State,” and alleged that Israel is pursuing “Jewish supremacy” through the “dispossession and elimination” of the “indigenous” Palestinians. It has said that “fascist mobs are the true face of Zionism and the representatives of the Israeli State’s objectives.” 101

Controversial Palestinian-American activist Linda Sarsour is a DSA member, and was a featured speaker at the group’s 2019 national convention. 102

Iron Dome

In late 2021, U.S. Representative Jamaal Bowman (D-NY), who was then a member of the DSA, was nearly expelled from the organization over having voted to fund Israel’s Iron Dome missile defense system, having traveled to the country alongside the left-of-center pro-Israel advocacy group J Street, and having met with Israel’s then-prime minister, Naftali Bennett. Though the DSA’s national political committee ultimately decided not to expel him, it said there was “no excuse” for Rep. Bowman’s actions in helping “to legitimize an apartheid state.” 103

Many DSA members were upset with the decision not to expel Rep. Bowman, and after persistent agitation the national committee voted to dissolve the BDS and Palestine Solidarity Working Group in March 2022, though that decision was soon reversed. 104 The working group was later absorbed into the DSA’s international committee at the group’s 2023 national convention, though the implementing resolution was amended to include language labeling Israel “a racist apartheid state” and committing the DSA to “Palestinian liberation and political and social equality between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea.” 105

Response to the 2023 Hamas Terrorist Attacks

On October 7, 2023, Palestinian militants primarily affiliated with the U.S.-designated terrorist group Hamas attacked Israel from the Gaza Strip and began indiscriminately killing and kidnapping Israeli civilians and military personnel. More than 1,400 Israelis—including many women and children—were reportedly killed in the initial attack and in subsequent fighting, which was unprecedented in its scope and characterized by widespread atrocities. Israel responded by declaring war on Hamas. 106

That same day—while Hamas militants were still operating within Israel—the DSA released a statement saying that it was “steadfast in expressing our solidarity with Palestine” and that the terrorist attacks were “a direct result of Israel’s apartheid regime.” 107 Another statement released by the DSA’s international committee read “long live the resistance!” and urged all DSA members to attend Palestinian solidarity demonstrations. 108

The DSA’s New York City chapter promoted an “All Out for Palestine” rally that was to be held in Times Square on October 8, with an accompanying statement explaining that it was “in solidarity with the Palestinian people and their right to resist 75 years of occupation and apartheid.” 109 At the rally, protesters reportedly burned an Israeli flag and chanted pro-Palestinian slogans, and at least one protester held up a picture of a swastika. 110

The DSA was heavily criticized for its response to the terrorist attacks. U.S. Representative Shri Thanedar (D-MI) renounced his membership, saying that he could “no longer associate with an organization unwilling to call out terrorism in all its forms.” 111 U.S. Representative Ritchie Torres (D-NY) wrote that the DSA’s New York City chapter had revealed “itself for what it truly is: an antisemitic stain on the soul of America’s largest city.” 112 He later elaborated that “the DSA, despite the name, is not democratic. It’s despicable, detestable, disgraceful, and disgraced. The same can be said of anyone who enables them.” 113 The New York State Democratic Party released a statement “strongly condemn[ing]” the DSA’s New York City chapter for having supported “a rally that sought to justify the wholly unjustifiable acts of wanton violence, terrorism, kidnapping and murder that was perpetrated on the people of Israel this weekend.” 114

Several prominent DSA members resigned from the organization in the aftermath of the attacks. Comedian Sarah Silverman wrote that “the DSA of which I was a proud lifetime member, has lost me forever.” Maurice Isserman, a founding member of the organization who had also briefly been a member of Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) in the late 1960s, resigned over what he called “the DSA leadership’s politically and morally bankrupt response to the horrific Hamas October 7 anti-Jewish pogrom,” writing that it had “forfeited the right to call itself democratic socialist.” 115 Harold Meyerson, another longtime DSA member, wrote in the American Prospect that he and many of his “geezer comrades” had come to the conclusion that resigning from the DSA was the option that best comported with their “strategic and moral beliefs.” 116

One week after the Hamas terrorist attacks, the DSA announced a “No Money for Massacres” campaign, which claimed that Israel was using “the language of genocide” against Palestinians in Gaza and accused the Biden administration of “actively supporting the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians.” The campaign demanded an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and an end to United States military aid to Israel. 117 Official messaging guidance from the DSA called Israel’s military response against Hamas “a historic atrocity,” and accused the Israeli government of exploiting the terrorist attacks as “a reason to annihilate Gaza.” 118

The DSA also released a Palestine Solidarity National Toolkit, in which it promised to coordinate efforts among its members to “present a united front for Palestine.” It strongly discouraged local chapters from publishing “original statements” about the war so that the group could “maintain a united nationwide message.” The DSA also identified several other activists groups that it considered to be aligned with its own views on the conflict, including the BDS Movement, If Not Now, Jewish Voice for Peace, and Students for Justice in Palestine. It listed the Adalah Justice Project and the U.S. Campaign for Palestinian Rights as other “trusted organizations.” 119

After the U.S. House of Representatives voted to formally censure DSA member Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) in November 2023 over her comments about Israel, the DSA called it “a shameful bipartisan attack” and praised Rep. Tlaib for “exposing the truth about Israel’s ongoing genocide of Palestinians.” 120

Support for Houthis

In January 2024, the United States and the United Kingdom began conducting strikes against the Houthis, an Iran-backed rebel militant group that opposes the internationally-recognized Yemeni government. Following the outbreak of the 2023 war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, the Houthis began launching attacks on commercial shipping passing through the Red Sea. Though the group claimed to be targeting ships which had connections to Israel, many of the ships that were attacked had no links to the country. The Houthis also launched missile and drone attacks against Israel directly.121

According to a statement from the White House on January 11, “crews from more than 20 countries have been threatened or taken hostage in acts of piracy” perpetrated by the Houthis, and more than 2,000 ships had been forced to change course in order to avoid the Red Sea.122

The official slogan of the Houthis is “Death to America, Death to Israel, curse the Jews, and victory to Islam.”123

On January 13, 2024, the DSA released a statement condemning the retaliatory strikes against the Houthis. Referring to the rebel militant group as “Yemeni forces” and to the missile and drone sites targeted as “civilian infrastructure,” the DSA falsely claimed that the Houthis had only “blocked” ships associated with Israel as part their “humanitarian blockade of Israel’s genocide in Gaza.” It asserted that “socialist internationalism obligates us to act in solidarity with the Palestinian and Yemeni people who have bravely resisted imperial aggression by the US and its partners for decades.”124

Associated Elected Officials

Though it is not a political party, the DSA supports ballot measures and candidates for local, state, and federal offices. It considers its electoral work to be “a vital part of our larger struggle for political and economic democracy.” 125

Some candidates and ballot measures receive an official endorsement from the national DSA, which is approved by the group’s national political committee after having been vetted for proper alignment “with DSA’s political platform and theory of power.” Official endorsement “signals [the DSA’s] highest level of commitment to a specific campaign.” 126 Endorsements may also be made separately at the local chapter level. 127

In materials released in conjunction with its August 2023 national convention, the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) claimed that there were 207 DSA members, of whom 52 had been endorsed by the national DSA, who held elected office in the United States. 128 In 2021, the national DSA endorsed 41 candidates and ballot measures, 27 of which won. In 2022, the national DSA endorsed 49 candidates and ballot measures, 28 of which won. As of July 2023, the national DSA had endorsed 36 candidates and ballot measures, 19 of which had won at that time. 129

The national DSA endorsed 10 candidates in the 2023 Chicago aldermanic election, 6 of whom were elected. 130 As of November 2023 at least five members of the Chicago City Council were members of the DSA, and were organized into a democratic socialist caucus. 131 Other cities in which DSA-endorsed candidates won election to city councils or similar municipal bodies in 2021 or 2022 include Hamden, Connecticut; St. Petersburg, Florida; Cambridge, Massachusetts; Boston, Massachusetts; Somerville, Massachusetts; Minneapolis, Minnesota; Ithaca, New York; New York City; Rochester, New York; Los Angeles, California; and St. Louis, Missouri. 132

At least twelve members of the U.S. House of Representatives have been publicly identified as DSA members, either before or during their time serving in elected office. All were elected on the Democratic Party ticket. Those either out of office or no longer identified with the DSA include:

As of November 2023, four incumbent U.S. Representatives are reportedly members of the DSA:

In 2018, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez defeated then-Rep. Joseph Crowley (D-NY) in the Democratic primary election for New York’s 14th congressional district. 145 Shortly thereafter, Rashida Tlaib won the Democratic primary election for Michigan’s 13th congressional district. Both were subsequently elected as the only two DSA members to serve in the 116th Congress. In 2020, two additional DSA members—Reps. Cori Bush and Jamaal Bowman—were elected to serve alongside Reps. Ocasio-Cortez and Tlaib in the 117th Congress. 146 Reps. Greg Casar and Shri Thanedar were elected in 2022 to serve in the 118th Congress, 147 alongside Rep. Summer Lee, who had reportedly resigned her membership in the DSA prior to being elected. 148

According to the New York Times, Rep. Bowman allowed his DSA membership to lapse in 2022. 149 Rep. Thanedar publicly renounced his membership after the DSA’s response to the October 2023 Hamas terrorist attacks on Israel. 150 As of November 2023, Reps. Ocasio-Cortez, Bush, Casar, and Tlaib appeared to be current members of the DSA. 151

Despite self-identifying as a democratic socialist, U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) is not a DSA member. 152

Structure and Leadership

The Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) is organized as a 501(c)(4) “social welfare” advocacy nonprofit. It also has an affiliated 501(c)(3) charitable arm called the Democratic Socialists of America Fund (DSA Fund). 153 In 2023, the DSA reported having approximately 78,000 members, down from a high of 95,000 in 2021 but significantly more than the 6,200 it reported having in 2015. 154

As of November 2023, the DSA’s website listed 209 local chapters and organizing committees, 155 while a report released in conjunction with its national convention in August of that year claimed that there were 244 chapters and organizing committees, 197 of which were active. According to that report, approximately 50 percent of DSA chapters had between 1 and 100 members, 38 percent had between 101 and 500 members, and 12 percent had over 500 members. 156 The New York City chapter has been described as the “DSA’s center of gravity,” and reportedly accounts for roughly 10 percent of the national organization’s entire membership. 157

The DSA has a youth and student section called Young Democratic Socialists of America, which is active in high schools, colleges, and universities. 158 A report prepared for the DSA’s 2023 national convention claimed that there were 126 Young Democratic Socialists of America chapters nationwide. 159

The DSA is governed by a sixteen-member National Political Committee, which is elected every two years at the group’s national convention. The DSA’s constitution stipulates that at least five members of the National Political Committee must be “people of color,” while no more than eight members may be men. 160 Candidates for National Political Committee elections typically run as members of one of the DSA’s internal ideological caucuses, and the political makeup of the committee is generally evaluated based upon the number of committee members who are affiliated with each caucus. 161

The DSA also maintains a full-time staff, which as of August 2023 consisted of 32 people. 162 Maria Svart is the national director of the DSA. In 2021, she was paid $94,137 in reportable compensation plus an additional $26,431 in other compensation. 163

Cornel West was formerly an honorary DSA chair. 164

Internal Caucuses

The DSA’s national political committee is de facto divided amongst members of any of several internal “caucuses,” or factional groups within the DSA. The caucuses each endorse a differing form of socialism, Marxism, Communism, or other left-wing ideology. 165

Groundwork is a caucus that is committed to “the fight for socialism [in] the long haul,” and seeks to grow and develop the DSA’s membership and chapter network while picking “winning fights with the boss.” It sees labor and electoral work as “the twin engines of our power as workers.” 166 Groundwork is considered a part of the DSA’s moderate wing. 167

Socialist Majority is a caucus that believes the DSA should focus on organizing around immediate and specific demands, in conjunction with other left-wing movements. 168 It is focused on winning elections and enacting favorable legislation, and until 2023 was considered the most powerful DSA caucus at the national level. It is considered a part of the DSA’s moderate wing. 169 170

Bread & Roses is “a national caucus of Marxist organizers” within the DSA. It seeks to establish “a real democratic socialist alternative to the Republican and Democratic Parties” that is built around a “militant” labor movement. 171 It is considered either a part of the DSA’s radical-left wing or a “swing” caucus, 172 and has been criticized by some of the DSA’s more revolutionary Marxist caucuses for being too willing to accommodate reform-oriented socialists. 173

Red Star is a revolutionary Marxist caucus within the DSA. It believes that capitalism cannot be reformed into socialism, and that “a complete upheaval of the present economic system” is necessary to produce a new socialist workers’ state with a centrally planned economy. 174 It is considered a part of the DSA’s left wing. 175

Marxist Unity Group is a revolutionary communist caucus within the DSA. Its objective is “nothing less than a working-class, socialist revolution” in which the “legitimacy of the U.S. Constitution” is eroded “through combative political agitation.” It believes that the working class has the right “to take power by any means necessary,” and after doing so must establish a “revolutionary Popular Assembly” in which only political parties “that accept the laws of the new revolutionary order will be free to operate.” Eventually, the Marxist Unity Group envisions global communism as heralding “the true beginning of human history.” 176 It is considered a part of the DSA’s left wing. 177

At the DSA’s 2023 national convention, delegates elected a new 16-member national political committee. Four members were elected from the Groundwork slate, three members from the Bread & Roses caucus, three members from the Red Star caucus, two members from the Socialist Majority Caucus, two members from the Marxist Unity Group, one member from an Anti-Zionist slate, and one member as an unaffiliated independent. 178

DSA national secretary Amy Wilhelm, a member of the Marxist Unity Group, wrote that the 2023 national political committee elections “represented a major shift in the balance of power within the [national political committee],” in that the incoming members would constitute a clear radical-left majority. 179 At least five of the sixteen members of the committee were elected from caucuses that are explicitly revolutionary Marxist and/or communist. 180

Resignation of National Director Maria Svart

In January 2024, DSA national director Maria Svart announced that she had tendered her resignation to the National Political Committee. Svart had served as the DSA’s national director since 2011, and wrote that she had made the decision to resign in late 2023 but had postponed announcing it due to the outbreak of war between Hamas and Israel and a fear that doing so could “disrupt our critical Palestine solidarity work.”181

In her farewell note, Svart identified what she believed to be both strengths and weaknesses of the DSA. She noted that while “claims of DSA’s demise are premature” and that there were “trends to make me cautiously optimistic,” the organization itself was “not in a major upswing” and more members were resigning or lapsing than were joining. She explained that the DSA was currently “in a period of membership shrinkage and increasing financial stress.”182

Specifically, Svart faulted delegates at the DSA’s 2023 national convention for being unable to “fully realize the realities of the budget or debate the real tradeoffs inherent in the resolutions considered.” She wrote that “on our present course, we will be unable to pay all our bills in a few months without a change in direction. Funding all 2023 convention decisions would add more than $2 million to the budget which we simply don’t have. As a nonprofit organization, we cannot print money like the government or take loans like a large corporation.” Svart noted that as the DSA’s National Political Committee was finalizing its 2024 budget, it would “require very hard choices, and longer term, a reckoning with our structure and our definition of democracy.”183

Financials

The Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) is primarily funded through membership dues. 184

In its 2021 tax return, the DSA reported total revenue of $6,854,135, total expenses of $5,632,072, and net assets of $4,732,097. Of its revenue, $6,083,487 came from membership dues. 185

In its 2019 tax return, the DSA reported total revenue of $3,018,438, total expenses of $3,568,241, and net assets of $1,694,062. Of its revenue, $2,302,488 came from membership dues. 186

In its 2016 tax return, the DSA reported total revenue of $861,265, total expenses of $479,962, and net assets of $557,596. Of its revenue, $376,946 came from membership dues. It reported spending $77,839 on “political work (Sanders support).” 187

In its 2014 tax return, the DSA reported total revenue of $299,947, total expenses of $305,918, and net assets of $100,696. 188

References

  1. Democratic Socialists of America official website. Accessed November 6, 2023. Available at: https://www.dsausa.org/
  2. Kristian Hernandez and Beth Huang. “Growth and Development Committee 2023 Report to the DSA National Convention.” Democratic Socialists of America. 2023. Page 19. Available at: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Zll3BCBpr4ZwruT_ctugQUMCODRcZv7T/view
  3. Return of Organization Exempt From Income Tax (Form 990). Democratic Socialists of America Inc. 2021.
  4. “History.” Democratic Socialists of America. Accessed October 24, 2023. Available at: https://www.dsausa.org/about-us/history/
  5. Robert Stilson. “The Left of the Left: What is the DSA?” Capital Research Center. October 25, 2023. Available at: https://capitalresearch.org/article/the-left-of-the-left-part-1/
  6. Kristian Hernandez and Beth Huang. “Growth and Development Committee 2023 Report to the DSA National Convention.” Democratic Socialists of America. 2023. Page 19. Available at: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Zll3BCBpr4ZwruT_ctugQUMCODRcZv7T/view
  7. Robert Stilson “The Left of the Left: A Radical Agenda.” Capital Research Center. October 25, 2023. Available at: https://capitalresearch.org/article/the-left-of-the-left-part-2/
  8. Ritchie Torres @RitchieTorres. X. October 7, 2023. 7:13 PM. Available at: https://twitter.com/RitchieTorres/status/1710795520334090458
  9. Emily Ngo and Nick Reisman. “’Unacceptably devoid of empathy’: DSA is facing an internal reckoning on Israel.” Politico. October 11, 2023. Available at: https://www.politico.com/news/2023/10/11/dsa-rally-aoc-israel-00121060
  10. Robert Stilson: “The Left of the Left: A Twisted Worldview.” Capital Research Center. October 25, 2023. Available at: https://capitalresearch.org/article/the-left-of-the-left-part-3/
  11. Robert Stilson. “The Left of the Left: The Democratic Party.” Capital Research Center. October 25, 2023. Available at: https://capitalresearch.org/article/the-left-of-the-left-part-4/
  12. Robert Stilson “The Left of the Left: A Radical Agenda.” Capital Research Center. October 25, 2023. Available at: https://capitalresearch.org/article/the-left-of-the-left-part-2/.
  13. Kristian Hernandez and Beth Huang. “Growth and Development Committee 2023 Report to the DSA National Convention.” Democratic Socialists of America. 2023. Pages 19-20. Available at: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Zll3BCBpr4ZwruT_ctugQUMCODRcZv7T/view
  14. Robert Stilson. “The Left of the Left: The Democratic Party.” Capital Research Center. October 25, 2023. Available at: https://capitalresearch.org/article/the-left-of-the-left-part-4/
  15. “History.” Democratic Socialists of America. Accessed October 24, 2023. Available at: https://www.dsausa.org/about-us/history/
  16. Mari Jo Buhle, Paul Buhle, and Dan Georgakas, eds. Encyclopedia of the American Left. St. James Press. Chicago and London. 1990. Page 515.
  17. Bernard K. Johnpoll and Harvey Klehr, eds. Biographical Dictionary of the American Left. Greenwood Press. New York, Westport, London. 1986. Page 180-181.
  18. Guenter Lewy. The Cause that Failed: Communism in American Political Life. Oxford University Press. New York. 1990. Pages 250-252.
  19. Bernard K. Johnpoll and Harvey Klehr, eds. Biographical Dictionary of the American Left. Greenwood Press. New York, Westport, London. 1986. Pages 180-181.
  20.  Kim Phillips-Fein. “On Michael Harrington’s Democratic Socialism.” In These Times. July 31, 2018. Available at: https://inthesetimes.com/article/michael-harrington-democratic-socialism-left-america-maurice-isserman
  21. David Walls. The Activist’s Almanac. Simon & Schuster. New York. 1993. Page 334.
  22. “History.” Democratic Socialists of America. Accessed October 24, 2023. Available at: https://www.dsausa.org/about-us/history/
  23. Democratic Left. Vol. XI, Nos. 9-10. November-December 1983. Pages 5-9. Available at: https://democraticleft.dsausa.org/files/sites/6/2019/01/DL_1983_V011_09-10_final.pdf
  24. Democratic Left. Vol. XIV, No. 1. January-February 1986. Page 11. Available at: https://democraticleft.dsausa.org/files/sites/6/2019/01/DL_1986_V014_01_final.pdf
  25. “History.” Democratic Socialists of America. Accessed October 24, 2023. Available at: https://www.dsausa.org/about-us/history/
  26. Harvey Klehr. Far Left of Center: The American Radical Left Today. Transaction Publishers. New Brunswick and London. 1988. Page xii.
  27. “History.” Democratic Socialists of America. Accessed October 24, 2023. Available at: https://www.dsausa.org/about-us/history/
  28. “History” Democratic Socialists of America. Accessed October 30, 2023. Available at: https://www.dsausa.org/about-us/history/
  29. David Grann. “The Stasi and the Swan.” The New Republic. April 19, 1999. Available at: https://newrepublic.com/article/76168/the-stasi-and-the-swan
  30. “Couple Found Guilty of Spying.” CBS News. October 23, 1998. Available at: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/couple-found-guilty-of-spying/
  31. “Kurt Stand.” Portside. Accessed November 1, 2023. Available at: https://portside.org/kurt-stand
  32. Kurt Stand. “An Open Letter to Friends.” December 1999 (rev. 2/06). Available at: https://web.archive.org/web/20091024172354/http://www.klstand.net/KurtStatementRev06.pdf
  33. Democratic Left. Vol. XXII, No. 1. January/February 1994. Page 18. Available at: https://www.dsausa.org/files/2019/07/DL-1993-Convention-Coverage.pdf
  34. Democratic Left. Vol. XXIV, No. 1. January/February 1996. Page 14. Available at: https://democraticleft.dsausa.org/files/sites/6/2018/12/DL_1996_V024_01_final.pdf
  35. Left Forum 2017: The Resistance. June 2017. Page 68.
  36. “Kurt Stand.” Washington Socialist. Accessed November 1, 2023. Available at: https://washingtonsocialist.mdcdsa.org/ws-authors/kurt-stand-2
  37. “History” Democratic Socialists of America. Accessed October 30, 2023. Available at: https://www.dsausa.org/about-us/history/
  38. Maurice Isserman. “Why I Just Quit DSA.” The Nation. October 23, 2023. Available at: https://www.thenation.com/article/activism/quit-dsa-gaza-israel/
  39. Bhaskar Sunkara. “Which Way Forward, Socialist?” Jacobin. August 3, 2023. Available at: https://jacobin.com/2023/08/democratic-socialists-of-america-convention-labor-movement
  40.  Dan Merica. “Bernie Sanders is Running for President.” CNN. April 30, 2015. Available at: https://www.cnn.com/2015/04/29/politics/bernie-sanders-announces-presidential-run/index.html
  41. “History” Democratic Socialists of America. Accessed October 25, 2023. Available at: https://www.dsausa.org/about-us/history/
  42.  “Dump the Racist Trump; Continue the Political Revolution Down-Ballot; Build Multiracial Coalitions and Socialist Organization for Long-term Change.” DSA National Political Committee. August 16, 2016. Available at: https://www.dsausa.org/statements/election2016/
  43. “History” Democratic Socialists of America. Accessed October 25, 2023. Available at: https://www.dsausa.org/about-us/history/
  44. Bhaskar Sunkara. “Which Way Forward, Socialist?” Jacobin. August 3, 2023. Available at: https://jacobin.com/2023/08/democratic-socialists-of-america-convention-labor-movement
  45. Danielle Kurtzleben and Kenny Malone. “What You Ned to Know About the Democratic Socialists of America.” NPR. July 26, 2018. Available at: https://www.npr.org/2018/07/26/630960719/what-you-need-to-know-about-the-democratic-socialists-of-america
  46. Bhaskar Sunkara. “Which Way Forward, Socialist?” Jacobin. August 3, 2023. Available at: https://jacobin.com/2023/08/democratic-socialists-of-america-convention-labor-movement
  47. “About Our Campaign.” Democratic Socialists for Bernie. December 16, 2019. Available at: https://web.archive.org/web/20191216135552/https://bernie.dsausa.org/about
  48. “Issues.” Democratic Socialists for Bernie. December 17, 2019. Available at: https://web.archive.org/web/20191217035823/https://bernie.dsausa.org/issues
  49. “Beyond Bernie: a Statement from the DSA National Political Committee.” Democratic Socialists of America. May 12, 2020. Available at: https://www.dsausa.org/statements/beyond-bernie-a-statement-from-the-dsa-national-political-committee/
  50. “DSA Members Organizing Against Trump.” Accessed October 25, 2023. Available at: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeLowxXwuJhiRNznw057xOiRpY05AeY1-WeKWkDxj9DrfyVxg/viewform?fbclid=IwAR1UPcZuAOMOsfGqNnvk0tBjdUm9j1M1PHya1PQ63oHTz8C7UyCTkX4RkAg
  51. Kristian Hernandez and Beth Huang. “Growth and Development Committee 2023 Report to the DSA National Convention.” Democratic Socialists of America. 2023. Page 19. Available at: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Zll3BCBpr4ZwruT_ctugQUMCODRcZv7T/view
  52. Democratic Socialists of America official website. Accessed November 6, 2023. Available at: https://www.dsausa.org/
  53. “DSA Political Platform.” Democratic Socialists of America. Accessed October 20, 2023. Available at: https://www.dsausa.org/dsa-political-platform-from-2021-convention/
  54. Ruy Martinez and Philip Locker. “Who’s Who in DSA: A Guide to DSA Caucuses.” Reform and Revolution. July 21, 2023. Available at: https://reformandrevolution.org/2023/07/21/whos-who-in-dsa-a-guide-to-dsa-caucuses-2/
  55. Danielle Kurtzleben and Kenny Malone. “What You Need to Know About the Democratic Socialists of America.” NPR. July 26, 2018. Available at: https://www.npr.org/2018/07/26/630960719/what-you-need-to-know-about-the-democratic-socialists-of-america
  56. DSA Political Platform.” Democratic Socialists of America. Accessed October 23, 2023. Available at: https://www.dsausa.org/dsa-political-platform-from-2021-convention/
  57. “DSA Political Platform.” Democratic Socialists of America. Accessed October 23, 2023. Available at: https://www.dsausa.org/dsa-political-platform-from-2021-convention/#deepening
  58. “DSA Political Platform.” Democratic Socialists of America. Accessed October 23, 2023. Available at: https://www.dsausa.org/dsa-political-platform-from-2021-convention/#abolition-carceral
  59. “DSA Political Platform.” Democratic Socialists of America. Accessed October 23, 2023. Available at: https://www.dsausa.org/dsa-political-platform-from-2021-convention/#abolition-white-supremacy
  60. “DSA Political Platform.” Democratic Socialists of America. Accessed October 23, 2023. Available at: https://www.dsausa.org/dsa-political-platform-from-2021-convention/#labor-movement
  61. “DSA Political Platform.” Democratic Socialists of America. Accessed October 23, 2023. Available at: https://www.dsausa.org/dsa-political-platform-from-2021-convention/#economic-justice
  62. “DSA Political Platform.” Democratic Socialists of America. Accessed October 23, 2023. Available at: https://www.dsausa.org/dsa-political-platform-from-2021-convention/#gender-sexuality-justice
  63. “DSA Political Platform.” Democratic Socialists of America. Accessed October 23, 2023. Available at: https://www.dsausa.org/dsa-political-platform-from-2021-convention/#gnd
  64. “DSA Political Platform.” Democratic Socialists of America. Accessed October 23, 2023. Available at: https://www.dsausa.org/dsa-political-platform-from-2021-convention/#health
  65. “DSA Political Platform.” Democratic Socialists of America. Accessed October 23, 2023. Available at: https://www.dsausa.org/dsa-political-platform-from-2021-convention/#housing
  66. “DSA Political Platform.” Democratic Socialists of America. Accessed October 23, 2023. Available at: https://www.dsausa.org/dsa-political-platform-from-2021-convention/#international
  67. “DSA Statement on Georgia Abortion Law.” Democratic Socialists of America. May 10, 2019. Available at: https://www.dsausa.org/statements/dsa-statement-on-georgia-abortion-law/
  68. Juan C. “DSA Votes for BDS, Reparations, and Out of the Socialist International.” Left Voice. August 5, 2017. Available at: https://www.leftvoice.org/dsa-votes-for-bds-reparations-and-out-of-the-socialist-international/
  69. Tatiana Cozzarelli and Enid Brain. “The DSA’s 2021 Convention Consolidates its Rightward Turn.” Left Voice. August 18, 2021. Available at: https://www.leftvoice.org/the-dsas-2021-convention-consolidates-its-rightward-turn/
  70. “Partidos.” Foro de Sao Paulo. Accessed October 30, 2023. Available at: https://forodesaopaulo.org/partidos/
  71. “Announcing: 13 Parties, Unions and Movements Join the Membership of the Progressive International.” Progressive International. October 4, 2023. Available at: https://progressive.international/wire/2023-10-04-13-parties-unions-and-movements-join-the-membership-of-the-progressive-international/en
  72. “Who We Are.” Progressive International. Accessed November 6, 2023. Available at: https://progressive.international/about/en
  73. “Declaration.” Progressive International. Accessed November 6, 2023. Available at: https://progressive.international/declaration/en
  74. “Members.” Progressive International. Accessed November 6, 2023. Available at: https://progressive.international/members
  75. “Council.” Progressive International. Accessed November 6, 2023. Available at: https://progressive.international/council
  76. Susannah Luthi. “The Emerging Alliance Between America’s Leading Socialist Organization and Teachers’ Unions.” The Washington Free Beacon. June 29, 2023. Available at: https://freebeacon.com/campus/the-emerging-alliance-between-americas-leading-socialist-organization-and-teachers-unions/
  77. “2019 Convention: A World to Win.” Democratic Socialists of America. Accessed November 2, 2023. Available at: https://www.dsausa.org/2019-convention-a-world-to-win/
  78. DSA Teachers of West Virginia. “Why Socialists Should Become Teachers.” Democratic Socialist Labor Commission and Young Democratic Socialists of America. 2018. Available at: https://teachers.dsausa.org/index.html
  79. Chicago DSA. “Statement in Solidarity with the Chicago Teachers and Staff.” Midwest Socialist. January 5, 2022. Available at: https://midwestsocialist.com/2022/01/05/statement-in-solidarity-with-the-chicago-teachers-and-staff/
  80. Zurie Pope. “’Socialism is the Future’: Inside the 2023 YDSA Conference.” The Nation. May 19, 2023. Available at: https://www.thenation.com/article/activism/young-democratic-socialists-ydsa-2023-winter-conference/
  81. Robert Stilson. “The Anti-American Left: Democratic Socialists of America.” Capital Research Center. April 12, 2023. Available at: https://capitalresearch.org/article/the-anti-american-left-part-3/
  82. “DSA IC Demands an End to the US Embargo on Cuba and Calls on President Biden to Immediately Lift the Blockade on COVID Aid to Cuba.” DSA International Committee. November 14, 2021. Available at: https://international.dsausa.org/statements/dsa-ic-demands-an-end-to-the-us-embargo-on-cuba-and-calls-on-president-biden-to-immediately-lift-the-blockade-on-covid-aid-to-cuba/
  83. DSA Condemns All Acts of Aggression Against the Republic of Cuba by the United States.” DSA International Committee. November 3, 2020. Available at: https://international.dsausa.org/statements/dsa-condemns-all-acts-of-aggression-against-the-republic-of-cuba-by-the-united-states/
  84. Andrew Stuttaford. “Cuba and the ‘Democratic’ Socialists of America.” National Review. July 12, 2021. Available at: https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/cuba-and-the-democratic-socialists-of-america/
  85. “DSA Venezuela Solidarity.” DSA International Committee. Accessed October 23, 2023. Available at: https://international.dsausa.org/venezuela-solidarity/
  86. Tony Frangie Mawad. “Nicolas Maduro Tries a New PR Campaign: Going Woke.” Politico. May 8, 2022. Available at: https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2022/05/08/maduro-venezuela-wokewashing-left-00030698
  87. “DSA Korea Solidarity.” DSA International Committee. Accessed October 23, 2023. Available at: https://international.dsausa.org/korea/
  88. Zachary Cohen, Hamdi Alkhshali, Kareem Khadder and Angela Dewan. “US Drone Strike Ordered by Trump Kills Top Iranian Commander in Baghdad.” CNN. January 4, 2020. Available at: https://www.cnn.com/2020/01/02/middleeast/baghdad-airport-rockets/index.html
  89. ‘Statement by the Department of Defense.” January 2, 2020. U.S. Department of Defense. Available at: https://www.defense.gov/News/Releases/release/article/2049534/statement-by-the-department-of-defense/
  90. “Urgent Call for Action Against a U.S. War on Iran.” Democratic Socialists of America. January 3, 2020. Available at: https://www.dsausa.org/statements/urgent-call-for-action-against-a-u-s-war-on-iran/
  91. On Russia’s Invasion of Ukraine.” Democratic Socialists of America. February 26, 2022. Available at: https://www.dsausa.org/statements/on-russias-invasion-of-ukraine/
  92.  “DSA: Peace in Ukraine.” DSA International Committee. Accessed October 23, 2023. Available at: https://international.dsausa.org/ukraine/
  93. “DSA IC Opposes US Militarization and Interventionism in Ukraine and Eastern Europe and Calls for an End to NATO Expansionism.” DSA International Committee. January 31, 2022. Available at: https://international.dsausa.org/statements/no-war-with-russia/
  94. Ritchie Torres @RitchieTorres. X. October 7, 2023. 7:13 PM. Available at: https://twitter.com/RitchieTorres/status/1710795520334090458
  95. Emily Ngo and Nick Reisman. “’Unacceptably devoid of empathy’: DSA is facing an internal reckoning on Israel.” Politico. October 11, 2023. Available at: https://www.politico.com/news/2023/10/11/dsa-rally-aoc-israel-00121060
  96. Michael Bernick. “America’s Democratic Socialists Loved Israel.” Tablet. October 24, 2023. Available at: https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/history/articles/when-americas-democratic-socialists-proudly-supported-israel
  97. Michael Bernick. “America’s Democratic Socialists Loved Israel.” Tablet. October 24, 2023. Available at: https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/history/articles/when-americas-democratic-socialists-proudly-supported-israel
  98. Democratic Socialists of America BDS and Palestine Solidarity Working Group. July 13, 2023 (accessed via WayBack Machine). Available at: https://web.archive.org/web/20230713034552/https://palestine.dsausa.org/
  99. “7 Ways Some Anti-Israel Protests Have Spread Antisemitism.” American Jewish Committee. October 20, 2023. Available at: https://www.ajc.org/news/7-ways-some-anti-israel-protests-have-spread-antisemitism
  100. “DSA Stands with Palestinians: From Sheikh Jarrah to Gaza and Beyond.” Democratic Socialists of America BDS and Palestine Solidarity Working Group. July 15, 2023 (accessed via WayBack Machine). Available at: https://web.archive.org/web/20230715024734/https://palestine.dsausa.org/dsa-stands-with-palestinians-from-sheikh-jarrah-to-gaza-and-beyond/
  101. “Anti-Palestinian Pogroms.” Democratic Socialists of America BDS and Palestine Solidarity Working Group. April 26, 2021. Available at: https://web.archive.org/web/20230715024717/https://palestine.dsausa.org/anti-palestinian-pogroms/
  102. “2019 Convention: A World To Win.” Democratic Socialists of America. Accessed November 2, 2023. Available at: https://www.dsausa.org/2019-convention-a-world-to-win/
  103. “On the Question of Expelling Congressman Bowman.” Democratic Socialists of America. December 2, 2021. Available at: https://www.dsausa.org/statements/on-the-question-of-expelling-rep-bowman/
  104. Hanna Phifer and Omar Zahzah. “The DSA is at a Crossroads Over Palestine.” The Nation. July 28, 2023. Available at: https://www.thenation.com/article/activism/dsa-palestine-bds-conflict/
  105. 2023 DSA Convention Results. Democratic Socialists of America. Pages 154-155. Accessed October 26, 2023. Available at: https://s3.amazonaws.com/actionkit-dsausa/images/2023_DSA_Convention_Results.pdf
  106. Bill Hutchinson. “Israel-Hamas Conflict: Timeline and Key Developments.” ABC News. October 30, 2023. Available at: https://abcnews.go.com/International/timeline-surprise-rocket-attack-hamas-israel/story?id=103816006
  107. DSA @DemSocialists. X. October 7, 2023. 11:19 PM. Available at: https://twitter.com/DemSocialists/status/1710857364604412350?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Etweet
  108.  DSA International Committee @dsa_intl_comm. X. October 7, 2023. 7:09 PM. Available at: https://twitter.com/dsa_intl_comm/status/1710794431694295423
  109. NYC-DSA @nycDSA. X. October 7, 2023. 10:05 PM. Available at: https://web.archive.org/web/20231010161839/https:/twitter.com/nycDSA/status/1710778425303081288?s=20
  110. Jared Downing and Jorge Fitz-Gibbon. “Pro-Palestinian Rally Met by Israel Supporters in Midtown as Hochul Slams ‘Abhorrent’ Demonstration After Hamas Attack.” New York Post. October 8, 2023. Available at: https://nypost.com/2023/10/08/nyc-pro-palestinian-rally-slammed-as-abhorrent-as-hamas-attacks-israel/
  111. Congressman Shri Thanedar @RepShriThanedar. X. October 11, 2023. 3:02 PM. Available at: https://twitter.com/RepShriThanedar/status/1712181950176186851
  112. Ritchie Torres @RitchieTorres. X. October 7, 2023. 7:13 PM. Available at: https://twitter.com/RitchieTorres/status/1710795520334090458
  113.  Ritchie Torres @RitchieTorres. X. October 11, 2023. 8:59 PM. Available at: https://twitter.com/RitchieTorres/status/1712090631504310282
  114. “Statement from Chairman Jay S. Jacobs Condemning the NYC-DSA Rally in Support of Yesterday’s Attack on Israel.” New York State Democratic Party. October 8, 2023. Available at: https://www.nydems.org/press/statement-chairman-jay-s-jacobs-condemning-nyc-dsa-rally-support-yesterdays-attack-israel
  115. Maurice Isserman. “Why I Just Quit DSA.” The Nation. October 23, 2023. Available at: https://www.thenation.com/article/activism/quit-dsa-gaza-israel/
  116. Harold Meyerson. “The Divisions in DSA.” The American Prospect. October 17, 2023. Available at: https://prospect.org/blogs-and-newsletters/tap/2023-10-17-divisions-in-dsa-israel-gaza/
  117. “No Money for Massacres.” Democratic Socialists of America. October 14, 2023. Available at: https://www.dsausa.org/statements/no-money-for-massacres/
  118. “No Money for Massacres: DSA Messaging.” Democratic Socialists of America. Accessed November 2, 2023. Available at: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Sn5oXJ_gHpIbho8f4aUj4PtM59FPltB3NVDf24zzX1U/edit
  119. [1] “Democratic Socialists of America Palestine Solidarity National Toolkit #NoMoneyForMassacres.” Democratic Socialists of America. Accessed November 2, 2023. Available at: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1tT13FBYr_TObdbeKf8OTViIo9Y8BVKGOl2Opvz9t3G4/preview
  120. “Democratic Socialists of America Condemn the Censure of Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib.” Democratic Socialists of America. November 8, 2023. Available at: https://www.dsausa.org/statements/democratic-socialists-of-america-condemn-the-censure-of-congresswoman-rashida-tlaib/
  121. “Who are the Houthis and why are they attacking Red Sea ships?” BBC. January 15, 2024. Available at: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-67614911
  122. “Statement from President Joe Biden on Coalition Strikes in Houthi-Controlled Areas in Yemen.” The White House. January 11, 2024. Available at: https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2024/01/11/statement-from-president-joe-biden-on-coalition-strikes-in-houthi-controlled-areas-in-yemen/
  123. Maha El Dahan. “Who are Yemen’s Houthis and why are they under attack?.” Reuters. January 12, 2024. Available at: https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/who-are-yemens-houthis-why-are-they-under-attack-2024-01-12/
  124. “DSA Condemns U.S. and Israeli Hostilities in Palestine and West Asia.” Democratic Socialists of America. January 13, 2024. Available at: https://www.dsausa.org/statements/dsa-condemns-u-s-and-israeli-hostilities-in-palestine-and-west-asia/
  125. “DSA’s National Electoral Commission.” Accessed November 10, 2023. Available at: https://electoral.dsausa.org/
  126. “About.” DSA National Electoral Commission. Accessed November 10, 2023. Available at: https://electoral.dsausa.org/about/
  127. “Our Campaigns.” DSA National Electoral Commission. Accessed November 10, 2023. Available at: https://electoral.dsausa.org/our-campaigns/
  128. Kristian Hernandez and Beth Huang. “Growth and Development Committee 2023 Report to the DSA National Convention.” Democratic Socialists of America. 2023. Pages 19-20. Available at: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Zll3BCBpr4ZwruT_ctugQUMCODRcZv7T/view
  129. “National Electoral Committee Report to the 2023 National Convention.” DSA National Electoral Commission. August 2023. Available at: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1o6zcjD6HPlBU-LBn2MG-r-othpVCn6Cx/view?usp=drive_link
  130. “National Electoral Committee Report to the 2023 National Convention.” DSA National Electoral Commission. August 2023. Available at: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1o6zcjD6HPlBU-LBn2MG-r-othpVCn6Cx/view?usp=drive_link
  131. “Who We Are.” Chicago Democratic Socialist Caucus. Accessed October 31, 2023. Available at: https://chicagosocialistcaucus.org/who-we-are
  132. “National Electoral Committee Report to the 2023 National Convention.” DSA National Electoral Commission. August 2023. Available at: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1o6zcjD6HPlBU-LBn2MG-r-othpVCn6Cx/view?usp=drive_link
  133. Maurice Isserman. “Congress Now Has More Socialists Than Ever Before in U.S. History.” In These Times. January 11, 2021. Available at: https://inthesetimes.com/article/democratic-socialism-dsa-aoc-bernie-sanders-congress
  134. Maurice Isserman. “Congress Now Has More Socialists Than Ever Before in U.S. History.” In These Times. January 11, 2021. Available at: https://inthesetimes.com/article/democratic-socialism-dsa-aoc-bernie-sanders-congress
  135. Kevin Robillard. “Democratic Rep. Danny Davis Survives Progressive Primary Challenge in Chicago.” HuffPost. June 29, 2022. Available at: https://www.huffpost.com/entry/chicago-rep-danny-davis-survives-progressive-primary-challenge_n_62bb7f9be4b0187add19542d
  136. David Green. “DSA Hosts Book Signing Event for Bonior Memoir.” Democratic Socialists of America Greater Detroit Newsletter. March 2015. Page 1. Available at: https://www.metrodetroitdsa.com/march_2015
  137. Jon Margolis. “Bernie of Burlington.” The New Republic. March 14, 1983. Available at: https://newrepublic.com/article/122285/bernie-burlington
  138. Mitchell Stewart. “Summer Lee’s Plan to Bring Democratic Socialism to Pennsylvania.” In These Times. June 5, 2018. Available at: https://inthesetimes.com/article/summer-lee-democratic-socialist-pennsylvania-primary
  139. Maurice Isserman. “Congress Now Has More Socialists Than Ever Before in U.S. History.” In These Times. January 11, 2021. Available at: https://inthesetimes.com/article/democratic-socialism-dsa-aoc-bernie-sanders-congress
  140. Brittany Lewis. “Rep. Shri Thanedar on Quitting ‘Hate-Filled’ Democratic Socialists of America.” Forbes. October 12, 2023. Available at: https://www.forbes.com/sites/brittanylewis/2023/10/12/rep-shri-thanedar-on-quitting-hate-filled-democratic-socialists-of-america/?sh=2cd8e237bf0f
  141. Maurice Isserman. “Congress Now Has More Socialists Than Ever Before in U.S. History.” In These Times. January 11, 2021. Available at: https://inthesetimes.com/article/democratic-socialism-dsa-aoc-bernie-sanders-congress
  142. Maurice Isserman. “Congress Now Has More Socialists Than Ever Before in U.S. History.” In These Times. January 11, 2021. Available at: https://inthesetimes.com/article/democratic-socialism-dsa-aoc-bernie-sanders-congress
  143. Maurice Isserman. “Congress Now Has More Socialists Than Ever Before in U.S. History.” In These Times. January 11, 2021. Available at: https://inthesetimes.com/article/democratic-socialism-dsa-aoc-bernie-sanders-congress
  144. Ben Burgis. “Democratic Socialist Politicians are Leading the Charge for a Cease-Fire in Gaza.” Jacobin. October 21, 2023. Available at: https://jacobin.com/2023/10/dsa-aoc-cori-bush-tlaib-cease-fire-de-escalation-gaza
  145. Danielle Kurtzleben and Kenny Malone. “What You Ned to Know About the Democratic Socialists of America.” NPR. July 26, 2018. Available at: https://www.npr.org/2018/07/26/630960719/what-you-need-to-know-about-the-democratic-socialists-of-america
  146. Maurice Isserman. “Congress Now Has More Socialists Than Ever Before in U.S. History.” In These Times. January 11, 2021. Available at: https://inthesetimes.com/article/democratic-socialism-dsa-aoc-bernie-sanders-congress
  147. Katrina Vanden Heuvel. “The Congressional Progressive Caucus Expands.” The Nation. January 6, 2023. Available at: https://www.thenation.com/article/politics/congressional-progressive-caucus-house/
  148. Ross Barkan. “Purge at DSA: Why are Activists Trying to Expel Representative Bowman?” The Nation. November 22, 2021. Available at: https://www.thenation.com/article/politics/jamaal-bowman-dsa-israel/
  149.  Nicholas Fandos and Jonah E. Bromwich. “After Attack on Israel, Politicians are Asked, ‘Which Side Are You On?’ The New York Times. October 10, 2023. Available at: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/10/nyregion/palestinian-rally-times-square-israel.html
  150. Lauren Sforza. “Michigan Rep. Quits Democratic Socialists of America Over NYC Rally.” The Hill. October 11, 2023. Available at: https://thehill.com/homenews/house/4250685-michigan-rep-quits-democratic-socialists-of-america-over-nyc-rally/
  151. Robert Stilson. “The Left of the Left: The Democratic Party.” Capital Research Center. October 25, 2023. Available at: https://capitalresearch.org/article/the-left-of-the-left-part-4/
  152. Bhaskar Sunkara. “Which Way Forward, Socialist?” Jacobin. August 3, 2023. Available at: https://jacobin.com/2023/08/democratic-socialists-of-america-convention-labor-movement
  153.   “Donate.” Democratic Socialists of America. Accessed October 20, 2023. Available at: https://act.dsausa.org/donate/donation
  154. Kristian Hernandez and Beth Huang. “Growth and Development Committee 2023 Report to the DSA National Convention.” Democratic Socialists of America. 2023. Page 19. Available at: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Zll3BCBpr4ZwruT_ctugQUMCODRcZv7T/view
  155. “Chapters.” Democratic Socialists of America. Accessed November 3, 2023. Available at: https://www.dsausa.org/chapters/
  156. Kristian Hernandez and Beth Huang. “Growth and Development Committee 2023 Report to the DSA National Convention.” Democratic Socialists of America. 2023. Pages 18-19. Available at: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Zll3BCBpr4ZwruT_ctugQUMCODRcZv7T/view
  157. Chis Maisano. “Reflections on NYC-DSA Convention, and Beyond.” Socialist Forum. Fall 2022. Available at: https://socialistforum.dsausa.org/issues/fall-2022/reflections-on-the-nyc-dsa-convention-and-beyond/
  158. “About YDSA.” Young Democratic Socialists of America. Accessed Octobe 23, 2023. Available at: https://y.dsausa.org/about/
  159. [1] Kristian Hernandez and Beth Huang. “Growth and Development Committee 2023 Report to the DSA National Convention.” Democratic Socialists of America. 2023. Page 19. Available at: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Zll3BCBpr4ZwruT_ctugQUMCODRcZv7T/view
  160. “Leadership and Structure.” Democratic Socialists of America. Accessed October 20, 2023. Available at: https://www.dsausa.org/about-us/structure/
  161. Philip Locker and Ruy Martinez. “Who’s Who in DSA: A Guide to DSA Caucuses.” Reform & Revolution. July 21, 2023. Available at: https://web.archive.org/web/20230810232140/https://reformandrevolution.org/2023/07/21/whos-who-in-dsa-a-guide-to-dsa-caucuses-2/
  162. Kristian Hernandez and Beth Huang. “Growth and Development Committee 2023 Report to the DSA National Convention.” Democratic Socialists of America. 2023. Page 20. Available at: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Zll3BCBpr4ZwruT_ctugQUMCODRcZv7T/view
  163. Return of Organization Exempt From Income Tax (Form 990). Democratic Socialists of America, Inc. 2021. Parts VII.
  164. “Cornel West, DSA Honorary Chair.” Democratic Socialists of America. April 19, 2018 (accessed via WayBack Machine). Available at: https://web.archive.org/web/20180419052144/http:/www.dsausa.org/cornel_west
  165. Philip Locker and Ruy Martinez. “Who’s Who in DSA: A Guide to DSA Caucuses.” Reform & Revolution. July 21, 2023. Available at: https://web.archive.org/web/20230810232140/https://reformandrevolution.org/2023/07/21/whos-who-in-dsa-a-guide-to-dsa-caucuses-2/
  166. Groundwork official website. Accessed November 7, 2023. Available at: https://www.groundworkdsa.com/
  167. Philip Locker and Ruy Martinez. “Who’s Who in DSA: A Guide to DSA Caucuses.” Reform & Revolution. July 21, 2023. Available at: https://web.archive.org/web/20230810232140/https://reformandrevolution.org/2023/07/21/whos-who-in-dsa-a-guide-to-dsa-caucuses-2/
  168.  “Our Shared Principles.” Socialist Majority. Accessed October 26, 2023. Available at: https://www.socialistmajority.com/oursharedprinciples
  169. Philip Locker and Ruy Martinez. “Who’s Who in DSA: A Guide to DSA Caucuses.” Reform & Revolution. July 21, 2023. Available at: https://web.archive.org/web/20230810232140/https://reformandrevolution.org/2023/07/21/whos-who-in-dsa-a-guide-to-dsa-caucuses-2/
  170. Griffin Mahon. “A 2023 Guide to Caucuses in DSA.” The Call. July 27, 2023. Available at: https://socialistcall.com/2023/07/27/dsa-caucuses-guide-2023/
  171. Bread & Roses official website. Accessed October 24, 2023. Available at: https://breadandrosesdsa.org/
  172. Irene K. and Ben D. “2023 DSA National Convention Retrospective: ‘The Point, However, is to Change It.’” Washington Socialist. September 2023. Available at: https://washingtonsocialist.mdcdsa.org/ws-articles/23-09-convention-retrospective
  173. Philip Locker and Ruy Martinez. “Who’s Who in DSA: A Guide to DSA Caucuses.” Reform & Revolution. July 21, 2023. Available at: https://web.archive.org/web/20230810232140/https://reformandrevolution.org/2023/07/21/whos-who-in-dsa-a-guide-to-dsa-caucuses-2/
  174. “Points of Unity.” Red Star Caucus. February 7, 2019. Available at: https://redstarcaucus.org/points-of-unity/
  175. Philip Locker and Ruy Martinez. “Who’s Who in DSA: A Guide to DSA Caucuses.” Reform & Revolution. July 21, 2023. Available at: https://web.archive.org/web/20230810232140/https://reformandrevolution.org/2023/07/21/whos-who-in-dsa-a-guide-to-dsa-caucuses-2/
  176. Marxist Unity Group. Accessed October 25, 2023. Available at: https://www.marxistunity.com/
  177. Philip Locker and Ruy Martinez. “Who’s Who in DSA: A Guide to DSA Caucuses.” Reform & Revolution. July 21, 2023. Available at: https://web.archive.org/web/20230810232140/https://reformandrevolution.org/2023/07/21/whos-who-in-dsa-a-guide-to-dsa-caucuses-2/
  178. Irene K. and Ben D. “2023 DSA National Convention Retrospective: ‘The Point, However, is to Change It.’” Washington Socialist. September 2023. Available at: https://washingtonsocialist.mdcdsa.org/ws-articles/23-09-convention-retrospective
  179. Amy Wilhelm. “DSA Convention 2023: A Jump to the Left.” Seattle Democratic Socialists of America. August 22, 2023. Available at: https://seattledsa.org/2023/08/__trashed/
  180. Robert Stilson. “The Left of the Left: A Radical Agenda.” Capital Research Center. October 25, 2023. Available at: https://capitalresearch.org/article/the-left-of-the-left-part-2/
  181. Maria Svart. “A Farewell from the National Director.” Democratic Socialists of America. January 16, 2024. Available at: https://www.dsausa.org/news/a-farewell-from-the-national-director/
  182. Maria Svart. “A Farewell from the National Director.” Democratic Socialists of America. January 16, 2024. Available at: https://www.dsausa.org/news/a-farewell-from-the-national-director/
  183. Maria Svart. “A Farewell from the National Director.” Democratic Socialists of America. January 16, 2024. Available at: https://www.dsausa.org/news/a-farewell-from-the-national-director/
  184. Robert Stilson. “The Left of the Left: What is the DSA?” Capital Research Center. October 25, 2023. Available at: https://capitalresearch.org/article/the-left-of-the-left-part-1/
  185. Return of Organization Exempt From Income Tax (Form 990). Democratic Socialists of America, Inc. 2021. Parts I and VIII.
  186. Return of Organization Exempt From Income Tax (Form 990). Democratic Socialists of America, Inc. 2019. Parts I and VIII.
  187. Return of Organization Exempt From Income Tax (Form 990). Democratic Socialists of America, Inc. 2016. Parts I, III, and VIII.
  188. Return of Organization Exempt From Income Tax (Form 990). Democratic Socialists of America, Inc. 2014. Parts I and VIII.

Directors, Employees & Supporters

  1. Cornel West
    Honorary Chair
  2. John Sweeney
    Member
  3. Matt Christman
    Former Member and Cincinnati, OH Chapter Founder
  4. Gerry Hudson
    Member
  5. Lee Halprin
    Award Benefactor
  6. Ed Asner
  See an error? Let us know!

Nonprofit Information

  • Accounting Period: December - November
  • Tax Exemption Received: July 1, 1988

    • Available Filings

    Period Form Type Total revenue Total functional expenses Total assets (EOY) Total liabilities (EOY) Unrelated business income? Total contributions Program service revenue Investment income Comp. of current officers, directors, etc. Form 990
    2021 Dec Form 990 $6,854,135 $5,632,072 $4,898,729 $166,632 N $6,698,449 $86,888 $8 $0
    2020 Dec Form 990 $5,992,021 $4,239,218 $3,591,860 $130,997 N $5,964,507 $12,180 $0 $89,087
    2019 Dec Form 990 $3,018,438 $3,568,241 $1,808,274 $114,212 N $2,841,177 $165,757 $0 $76,175
    2018 Dec Form 990 $2,818,642 $1,731,085 $2,353,810 $123,231 N $2,812,920 $0 $0 $74,075 PDF
    2017 Dec Form 990 $2,139,325 $1,559,197 $1,190,525 $47,501 N $2,139,325 $0 $0 $72,641 PDF
    2016 Dec Form 990 $861,265 $479,962 $585,877 $28,281 N $852,781 $0 $2 $0 PDF
    2015 Dec Form 990 $490,928 $415,331 $201,160 $24,867 N $479,398 $0 $5 $0 PDF
    2014 Dec Form 990 $299,947 $305,918 $120,000 $19,304 N $293,334 $0 $0 $53,861 PDF
    2013 Dec Form 990 $292,233 $319,215 $114,784 $15,754 N $271,848 $0 $0 $57,414 PDF
    2012 Dec Form 990 $269,123 $291,863 $141,938 $15,926 N $250,453 $0 $0 $55,047 PDF
    2011 Dec Form 990 $262,353 $287,305 $172,466 $23,714 N $228,859 $0 $13 $0 PDF
    2010 Dec Form 990 $341,719 $224,129 $182,717 $9,013 N $325,770 $0 $32 $45,203 PDF

    Additional Filings (PDFs)

    Democratic Socialists of America (DSA)

    75 MAIDEN LN STE 702
    NEW YORK, NY 10038-4667