Democratic Socialists of America
The Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) is a broad tent, democratic socialist political organization in the United States.[10] After the Socialist Party of America (SPA) transformed into Social Democrats, USA, Michael Harrington formed the Democratic Socialist Organizing Committee (DSOC).[11] The DSOC later merged with the New American Movement (NAM) to form the DSA.[12] The organization is headquartered in New York City and has about 80,000 members. It leads organizing and protest campaigns, and has members in the House of Representatives, state legislatures, and other local offices.
Democratic Socialists of America
DSA
National Political Committee
Megan Romer
Ashik Siddique
Vacant
March 20, 1982
New York, New York
78,000[1]
- Democratic socialism[2]
- Multi-tendency (See below)
São Paulo Forum[6][7]
(associate member)
- Progressive International (2023–present)[8]
- Socialist International (1982–2017)[9]
143
Upon the organization's founding, Harrington and the socialist feminist author Barbara Ehrenreich were elected co-chairs. After the merger, the DSA became the largest socialist organization in the United States, with a membership of approximately 5,000 ex-DSOC members and 1,000 ex-NAM members.[13]
From 2015 to 2021, DSA membership increased 15-fold from 6,200 after Bernie Sanders's 2016 presidential campaign, the surprise presidential victory of Donald Trump, the 2018 election of DSA member Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and the COVID-19 pandemic.[14][15][16] Membership peaked at 95,000 in 2021, when the organization had 239 local chapters,[13][17] before declining to 77,575 members by August 2023.[18] The organization has gained at least 2,400 new dues-paying members since October due to its pro-Palestinian stance during the Israel-Hamas war.[1] Between 2013 and 2017, the median age of its membership decreased from 68 to 33,[19] leading some, such as Holly Otterbein of Philadelphia, to credit the organization for the rise of millennial socialism.[20]
The DSA's stated goal is to participate in "fights for reforms today that will weaken the power of corporations and increase the power of working people", with a long-term aim of social ownership of production as state-owned enterprises, worker cooperatives, or a planned economy.[15][21][22] To this end, it has endorsed candidates for political office and led various organizing campaigns for labor organizing,[23][24][4] public electricity,[25][4] public housing,[26] tenants unions,[27][28] abortion rights,[29][30][31] and support for Palestinian statehood,[32][33] among others.[15][34]
The DSA is a decentralized organization with local chapters and dues-paying memberships. Some of its members have run in elections and been elected. Some of its members in Congress have initiated various pieces of legislation central to the modern progressive movement in the United States, including the Medicare for All Act in 2003 by John Conyers[35] and the Green New Deal in 2019 by Ocasio-Cortez.[36] Former longtime members of the United States House of Representatives, including Conyers,[37] Ron Dellums,[37] House Whip David Bonior[38] and Major Owens,[39] have been affiliated with the DSA. As of 2024, four endorsed members of the DSA serving in Congress are Ocasio-Cortez, Rashida Tlaib,[40] Cori Bush, and Jamaal Bowman,[41][42] with Greg Casar serving as an unendorsed member. As of December 2023, 55 state lawmakers and 136 local officials were affiliated with the DSA.
Publications[edit]
The DSA publishes Democratic Left and Socialist Forum, quarterly magazines of news, analysis, and internal debate.[57][58] Democratic Left continues in an uninterrupted run from the original Newsletter of the Democratic Left published by the Democratic Socialist Organizing Committee, a DSA predecessor, since its establishment in 1973. Left-wing quarterly magazine Jacobin is often aligned with DSA, although they are not affiliated.[59] In 2014, Jacobin's founder and then-editor Bhaskar Sunkara, a DSA member, praised DSA founder Michael Harrington, calling him "very underrated as a popularizer of Marxist thought".[60]
