Reform and Revolution

The group describes itself as a Marxist faction within the DSA that looks to historical figures such as Karl Marx, Rosa Luxemburg, Vladimir Lenin, and Leon Trotsky for inspiration.  ²

Background

Reform and Revolution is a Marxist caucus within the Democratic Socialists of America. Reform and Revolution claims that its main objective is to “build DSA into a mass socialist party that can overthrow capitalism.”  ³

Reform and Revolution is a small faction within the DSA, according to socialist publication Working Mass.  ³

The group claims that it traces “our politics to the Bolshevik Tradition, and aim to dynamically apply the analysis of Marx, Engels, Lenin, Trotsky, and Luxemburg to the conditions and challenges of the 21st Century.”  ²

After the 2025 DSA Convention, Reform and Revolution had one member on the DSA’s National Political Committee (NPC), which the DSA describes as functionally its 25-person board of directors. Additionally, Reform and Revolution had one member elected to be a co-chair of the Young Democratic Socialists of America (YDSA); the DSA includes both national co-chairs of the YDSA in its list for the NPC, although they are not counted among the NPC’s 25 members.  ⁴

Platform

Reform and Revolution advocates that large businesses should be subject to government ownership, and that the market economy should be reformed into a centrally planned economy. Particularly, the group’s platform states that the 500 largest businesses in the United States should be subject to government ownership and control.  ^{5  2}

Reform and Revolution identifies itself as a Marxist faction within the DSA, claiming to work with other Marxist elements within the DSA to further its goals. The group claims that it looks to the examples of Karl Marx, Rosa Luxemburg, Vladimir Lenin, and Leon Trotsky for its inspiration. The group claims that its name derives from a quotation by German Marxist Rosa Luxemburg, who said “Between social reforms and revolution there exists for [the Marxist movement] an inseparable connection. The struggle for reforms is its means; the social revolution, its aim.”  ^{5  2}

Reform and Revolution claims that while all workers are oppressed under capitalism, it cannot deny that “white workers receive some advantages in U.S. society because they are white in a racist society.”  ²

During October and November 2025, Reform and Revolution held education events commemorating the October Revolution, when the Bolshevik Communists overthrew the Russian Provisional Government.  ⁶

DSA

Reform and Revolution is composed of members of the far-left Democratic Socialists of America, a social-welfare and political advocacy organization that claims to have over 80,000 members nationwide.  ⁷

The DSA asserts that the “capitalist economic system is the cause of violence, unemployment, and a climate crisis that poses an existential threat to life on earth.” As part of its platform, the DSA advocates that large businesses should be subject to government ownership and control.  ⁸

The DSA also demands taxpayer-funded public higher education and the cancellation of all student loan debt, an end to the “War on Drugs,” universal government-funded single-payer health care, the abolition of mandatory minimum sentences and cash bail, an end to all economic sanctions including those imposed on Venezuela and Iran, voting rights for noncitizens and those with a criminal conviction, and a reduction of the Supreme Court’s power of judicial review.  ⁸

Furthermore, the DSA advocates increased access to abortions and increased access to sex-change procedures. The group also advocates for unrestricted migration and access to social services for all migrants.  ⁸