Democratic Socialists of America (
DSA) is a
social-democraticSocial democracy is a political ideology of the center-left on the political spectrum. Social democracy is officially a form of evolutionary reformist socialism. It supports class collaboration as the course to achieve socialism...
organization in the
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
and the U.S. affiliate of the
Socialist InternationalThe Socialist International is a worldwide organization of democratic socialist, social democratic and labour political parties. It was formed in 1951.- History :...
, an international federation of social-democratic,democratic socialist and
laborThe term labour movement or labor movement is a broad term for the development of a collective organization of working people, to campaign in their own interest for better treatment from their employers and governments, in particular through the implementation of specific laws governing labour...
political parties and organizations.
DSA was formed in 1982 by a merger of the
Democratic Socialist Organizing CommitteeThe Democratic Socialist Organizing Committee was founded in 1973 by Michael Harrington, who led a minority caucus in the Socialist Party. Harrington's caucus supported George McGovern's his call for a cease-fire and immediate withdrawal of U.S. forces from Vietnam...
(DSOC) and the
New American MovementThe New American Movement was founded in 1971 by a group of leaders of opposition to the Vietnam War to serve as a forum for discussing where and how to redirect their activities. The call to convene was issued by Michael Lerner...
(NAM). Under the leadership of
Michael HarringtonEdward Michael "Mike" Harrington was an American democratic socialist, writer, political activist, professor of political science, radio commentator and founder of the Democratic Socialists of America.-Personal life:...
, DSOC had become America's largest democratic socialist organization, despite having started, in Harrington's words, as "the remnant of a remnant"—with Harrington having been the leader of a minority caucus of the
Socialist Party of AmericaThe Socialist Party of America was a multi-tendency democratic-socialist political party in the United States, formed in 1901 by a merger between the three-year-old Social Democratic Party of America and disaffected elements of the Socialist Labor Party which had split from the main organization...
in 1972 when it changed its name to Social Democrats, USA. NAM was a coalition of writers and intellectuals with roots in both the
New LeftThe New Left was a term used mainly in the United Kingdom and United States in reference to activists, educators, agitators and others in the 1960s and 1970s who sought to implement a broad range of reforms, in contrast to earlier leftist or Marxist movements that had taken a more vanguardist...
movements of the 1960s and the former members of socialist and communist parties of the Old Left.
Initially the DSA consisted of approximately 5,000 ex-DSOC members and 1,000 ex-NAM members. Upon the DSA's founding,
Michael HarringtonEdward Michael "Mike" Harrington was an American democratic socialist, writer, political activist, professor of political science, radio commentator and founder of the Democratic Socialists of America.-Personal life:...
and
socialist-feministSocialist feminism is a branch of feminism that focuses upon both the public and private spheres of a woman's life and argues that liberation can only be achieved by working to end both the economic and cultural sources of women's oppression...
author
Barbara Ehrenreich-Early life:Ehrenreich was born Barbara Alexander to Isabelle Oxley and Ben Howes Alexander in Butte, Montana, which she describes as then being "a bustling, brawling, blue collar mining town."...
were elected as co-chairs of the organization.
Organizational history
The DSA was formed in 1982 after a merger between the
Democratic Socialist Organizing CommitteeThe Democratic Socialist Organizing Committee was founded in 1973 by Michael Harrington, who led a minority caucus in the Socialist Party. Harrington's caucus supported George McGovern's his call for a cease-fire and immediate withdrawal of U.S. forces from Vietnam...
(DSOC) and the
New American MovementThe New American Movement was founded in 1971 by a group of leaders of opposition to the Vietnam War to serve as a forum for discussing where and how to redirect their activities. The call to convene was issued by Michael Lerner...
(NAM). At the time of the merger of these two organizations, the DSA was said to consist of approximately 5,000 former members of DSOC, along with 1,000 from NAM.
At its start, DSOC had 840 members, of which 2 percent served on its national board; approximately 200 had previously had membership in Social Democrats, USA or its predecessors in 1973 when SDUSA stated its membership at 1,800, according to a 1973 profile of Harrington.
In electoral politics, DSA, like DSOC before it, was very strongly associated with
Michael HarringtonEdward Michael "Mike" Harrington was an American democratic socialist, writer, political activist, professor of political science, radio commentator and founder of the Democratic Socialists of America.-Personal life:...
's position that "the left wing of realism is found today in the Democratic Party." In its early years DSA opposed
RepublicanThe Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
presidential candidates by giving criticial support to Democratic Party nominees like
Walter MondaleWalter Frederick "Fritz" Mondale is an American Democratic Party politician, who served as the 42nd Vice President of the United States , under President Jimmy Carter, and as a United States Senator for Minnesota...
in 1984. In 1988, DSA enthusiastically supported Jackson's second presidential campaign. DSA's position on US electoral politics states that "democratic socialists reject an either–or approach to electoral coalition building, focused solely on [either] a new party or on realignment within the Democratic Party."
During the 1990s, DSA gave the
Clinton administrationThe United States Presidency of Bill Clinton, also known as the Clinton Administration, was the executive branch of the federal government of the United States from January 20, 1993 to January 20, 2001. Clinton was the first Democratic president since Franklin D. Roosevelt to win a second full term...
an overall rating of C-, "less than satisfactory."
The DSA's leadership believes working within the
Democratic PartyThe Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...
is necessary because of the nature of the American political system, which rarely gives
third partiesThe term third party is used in the United States for any and all political parties in the United States other than one of the two major parties . The term can also refer to independent politicians not affiliated with any party at all and to write-in candidates.The United States has had a...
a chance politically. That said, DSA is very critical of the corporate-funded Democratic Party leadership. The organization believes that
"Much of progressive, independent political action will continue to occur in Democratic Party primaries in support of candidates who represent a broad progressive coalition. In such instances, democratic socialists will support coalitional campaigns based on labor, women, people of color and other potentially anti-corporate elements... Electoral tactics are only a means for democratic socialists; the building of a powerful anti-corporate coalition is the end..."
Electoral positions
In 2000, DSA took no official position on the
presidential electionThe United States presidential election of 2000 was a contest between Republican candidate George W. Bush, then-governor of Texas and son of former president George H. W. Bush , and Democratic candidate Al Gore, then-Vice President....
, with several prominent DSA members backing
Green PartyThe Green Party of the United States is a nationally recognized political party which officially formed in 1991. It is a voluntary association of state green parties. Prior to national formation, many state affiliates had already formed and were recognized by other state parties...
presidential candidate
Ralph NaderRalph Nader is an American political activist, as well as an author, lecturer, and attorney. Areas of particular concern to Nader include consumer protection, humanitarianism, environmentalism, and democratic government....
.
In 2004, the organization backed
John KerryJohn Forbes Kerry is the senior United States Senator from Massachusetts, the 10th most senior U.S. Senator and chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. He was the presidential nominee of the Democratic Party in the 2004 presidential election, but lost to former President George W...
after he won the Democratic nomination. In its official magazine the DSA's
Political Action CommitteeIn the United States, a political action committee, or PAC, is the name commonly given to a private group, regardless of size, organized to elect political candidates or to advance the outcome of a political issue or legislation. Legally, what constitutes a "PAC" for purposes of regulation is a...
declared:
"While we have no illusions about how a Kerry administration would govern — absent mass pressure from below — and are not impressed with his delayed criticism of the war and his earlier commitments in favor of 'free trade,' we also realize that the Bush administration is as reactionary as Reagan’s. A Kerry defeat would be taken not as a defeat of the US political center, which Kerry represents, but of the mainstream Left. As a result, it would embolden the Right and demoralize the Left (as well as trade unionists and people of color) as much as Reagan’sRonald Wilson Reagan was the 40th President of the United States , the 33rd Governor of California and, prior to that, a radio, film and television actor....
1984 defeat of MondaleWalter Frederick "Fritz" Mondale is an American Democratic Party politician, who served as the 42nd Vice President of the United States , under President Jimmy Carter, and as a United States Senator for Minnesota...
did. On the other hand, a Kerry victory will let us press onward, with progressives aggressively pressuring an administration that owed its victory to democratic mobilization from below."
The only resolution on upcoming elections at the DSA's 2005 convention focused on
Bernie SandersBernard "Bernie" Sanders is the junior United States Senator from Vermont. He previously represented Vermont's at-large district in the United States House of Representatives...
' independent campaign for the U.S. Senate. The organization's 2007 convention in Atlanta, Georgia featured record-breaking attendance and more participation by the organization's youth wing. The convention was highlighted by a keynote address from Senator Sanders.
In 2008, the DSA supported Democratic presidential candidate
Barack ObamaBarack Hussein Obama II is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. Obama previously served as a United States Senator from Illinois, from January 2005 until he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.Born in...
in his race against Republican candidate
John McCainJohn Sidney McCain III is the senior United States Senator from Arizona. He was the Republican nominee for president in the 2008 United States election....
. Following Obama's election, many on the right, began to allege that the policies of his administration may be "socialistic," a claim rejected by DSA and the Obama administration alike. The widespread use of the word "socialism" as a political
epithetAn epithet or byname is a descriptive term accompanying or occurring in place of a name and having entered common usage. It has various shades of meaning when applied to seemingly real or fictitious people, divinities, objects, and binomial nomenclature. It is also a descriptive title...
against the Obama government by its opponents caused National Director
Frank LlewellynFrank Llewellyn is the former National Director of the Democratic Socialists of America , which is the largest U.S. organization advocating democratic socialism...
to declare that "over the past 12 months, the Democratic Socialists of America has received more media attention than it has over the past 12 years."
Membership size
Membership in DSA is obtained through the payment of annual dues, which in 2010 range from a "low income and student" rate of $20 to a "sustainer" rate of $130, with a basic rate of $45. Every member receives a paid subscription to the organization's quarterly newsletter,
Democratic Left (commonly known as
DL). The organization also offers "family memberships" at the rate of $80, which include only one subscription to
DL, and sells subscriptions to the publication to non-members for $10 per year.
When formed, the estimated membership was 5,000, after the merger with the
Democratic Socialist Organizing CommitteeThe Democratic Socialist Organizing Committee was founded in 1973 by Michael Harrington, who led a minority caucus in the Socialist Party. Harrington's caucus supported George McGovern's his call for a cease-fire and immediate withdrawal of U.S. forces from Vietnam...
(DSOC), the membership had grown to an estimate 7,000 in 1987. In 2002, Fox News claimed there were 8,000 members in the organization, and three years later the DSA announced on its website that its membership had increased by some 13% since July 2003 as the result of a recent direct mail campaign.
DSA does not release annual membership numbers, nor do officials of the organization state them with precision in the press. It does, however, publish annually its sworn declaration of "Statement of Ownership, Management, and Circulation" in its official magazine so as to qualify for subsidized postage rates from the
United States Postal ServiceThe United States Postal Service is an independent agency of the United States government responsible for providing postal service in the United States...
. In the 12 months previous to its 2009 declaration, the group indicates that
Democratic Left had an average "Total Paid Distribution" of 5707 copies.
The "Total Paid Distribution" numbers of
Democratic Left over recent years are as follows:
-
- {| class="wikitable"
|-
! Year
! Average Total Paid Circulation
! Issue Where Statement Appears
|-
! align="center" | 2009
| align="center" | 5,707
| align="center" |
vol. 37, no. 3, pg. 3
|-
! align="center" | 2008
| align="center" | 5,710
| align="center" |
vol. 36, no. 3, pg. 3
|-
! align="center" | 2007
| align="center" | 5,443
| align="center" |
vol. 35, no. 3, pg. 3
|-
! align="center" | 2006
| align="center" | 4,883
| align="center" |
vol. 34, no. 3, pg. 3
|-
! align="center" | 2005
| align="center" | 4,622
| align="center" |
vol. 33, no. 3, pg. 15
|-
! align="center" | 2004
| align="center" | 4,535
| align="center" |
vol. 32, no. 3, pg. 2
|-
! align="center" | 2003
| align="center" | 4,890
| align="center" |
vol. 31, no. 3, pg. 2
|-
! align="center" | 2002
| align="center" |
not published
| align="center" |
|-
! align="center" | 2001
| align="center" | 5,846
| align="center" |
vol. 29, no. 3, pg. 15
|-
|}
Structure
DSA is organized at the local level, and works with
labor unionA trade union, trades union or labor union is an organization of workers that have banded together to achieve common goals such as better working conditions. The trade union, through its leadership, bargains with the employer on behalf of union members and negotiates labour contracts with...
s, community organizations, and campus activists on issues of common interest. Nationwide campaigns are coordinated by the organization's national office in
New York CityNew York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
. the DSA website lists 24 chartered locals.
Governance of the DSA is by the group's National Political Committee, which since 2001 has been a 16-person body. The organization's constitution states that at least 8 of the NPC's members shall be women and at least 4 members of "racial or national" minority groups. A 17th vote is cast by the representative of the DSA's youth affiliate, the Young Democratic Socialists, who elect 1 male and 1 female delegate who split the vote. The NPC meets four times a year.
The NPC elects an inner committee of 6, including 5 of its own members and 1 representative of the youth section, called the "Steering Committee." At least two of these are constitutionally required to be women and at least 1 a "person of color," with the National Director and the Youth Section Organizer also participating as ex-officio members. This Steering Committee meets bimonthly, either in person or by conference call. The DSA has a
Religion and Socialism CommissionReligious socialism is a term used to describe forms of socialism that are based on religious values.Religious Socialism is also the title of a journal published by the Religion and Socialism Commission of the Democratic Socialists of America, a member of the Socialist International.Several major...
, in which
Cornel WestCornel Ronald West is an American philosopher, author, critic, actor, civil rights activist and prominent member of the Democratic Socialists of America....
has played a leading role.
John CortJohn C. Cort , was a longtime Christian socialist writer and activist. He was the co-chair of the Religion and Socialism Commission of the Democratic Socialists of America.He was based in metropolitan Boston, Massachusetts...
was a founding editor of the Commission's magazine,
Religious Socialism.
DSA publishes
Democratic Left, a quarterly newsletter of news and analysis. This publication continues in an uninterrupted run from the original
Newsletter of the Democratic Left published by DSA forerunner the Democratic Socialist Organizing Committee since its establishment in 1973. In 2008, DSA members active in the U.S. labor movement founded
Talking Union, a blog that focuses on labor politics, working class struggles and strategies.
Young Democratic SocialistsYoung Democratic Socialists is a democratic socialist youth organization in the United States. It is the youth section of the Democratic Socialists of America, whose political outlook it shares, and the American affiliate of the International Union of Socialist Youth...
(YDS) is the official youth section of Democratic Socialists of America. The YDS publishes a quarterly newsletter called
The Red Letter and maintains an online
blogA blog is a type of website or part of a website supposed to be updated with new content from time to time. Blogs are usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video. Entries are commonly displayed in...
called "The Activist".
National conventions
The highest decision-making authority of the organization is the organization's national conventions, which are held biannually. These gatherings of the organization are as follows:
-
- {| class="wikitable" border="3" style="Background:#ffd5dd"
|-
! Year
! Dates of Convention
! Location
|-
! align="center" | 2011
| align="center" | November 11–13
| align="center" | Vienna, VA
|-
! align="center" | 2009
| align="center" | November 13–15
| align="center" | Evanston, IL
|-
! align="center" | 2007
| align="center" | November 9–11
| align="center" | Atlanta, GA
|-
! align="center" | 2005
| align="center" | November 11–13
| align="center" | Los Angeles, CA
|-
! align="center" | 2003
| align="center" | November 14–16
| align="center" | Detroit, MI
|-
! align="center" | 2001
| align="center" | November 9–11
| align="center" | Philadelphia, PA
|-
! align="center" | 1999
| align="center" | November 12–14
| align="center" | San Diego, CA
|-
|}
Ideology
The DSA's ideas are greatly influenced by those of writer
Michael HarringtonEdward Michael "Mike" Harrington was an American democratic socialist, writer, political activist, professor of political science, radio commentator and founder of the Democratic Socialists of America.-Personal life:...
, the chairman of the
League for Industrial DemocracyThe League for Industrial Democracy , from 1960-1965 known as the Students for a Democratic Society , was founded in 1905 by a group of notable socialists including Harry W. Laidler, Jack London, Norman Thomas, Upton Sinclair, and J.G. Phelps Stokes...
in 1964 and a member of the national executive board of the
Socialist Party of AmericaThe Socialist Party of America was a multi-tendency democratic-socialist political party in the United States, formed in 1901 by a merger between the three-year-old Social Democratic Party of America and disaffected elements of the Socialist Labor Party which had split from the main organization...
from 1960 through 1968. Opposed to
capitalismCapitalism is an economic system that became dominant in the Western world following the demise of feudalism. There is no consensus on the precise definition nor on how the term should be used as a historical category...
and
communismCommunism is a social, political and economic ideology that aims at the establishment of a classless, moneyless, revolutionary and stateless socialist society structured upon common ownership of the means of production...
alike as cruel and anti-libertarian social systems, Harrington advocated working for a realignment of the US
Democratic PartyThe Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...
away from an amorphous amalgam of often contradictory ideas towards making it a principled party of the
leftIn politics, Left, left-wing and leftist generally refer to support for social change to create a more egalitarian society...
.
Throughout his life, Harrington simultaneously embraced the thinking of
Karl MarxKarl Heinrich Marx was a German philosopher, economist, sociologist, historian, journalist, and revolutionary socialist. His ideas played a significant role in the development of social science and the socialist political movement...
while at the same time rejecting the "actually existing" Communist systems of the
Soviet UnionThe Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
,
ChinaChinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
, and
Eastern EuropeEastern Europe is the eastern part of Europe. The term has widely disparate geopolitical, geographical, cultural and socioeconomic readings, which makes it highly context-dependent and even volatile, and there are "almost as many definitions of Eastern Europe as there are scholars of the region"...
. Harrington said:
"Put it this way. Marx was a democrat with a small d. The Democratic Socialists envision a humane social order based on popular control of resources and production, economic planning...and racial equality. I share an immediate program with liberals in this country because the best liberalism leads toward socialism.... I want to be on the left wing of the possible."
Harrington made it clear that even if the traditional
MarxistMarxism is an economic and sociopolitical worldview and method of socioeconomic inquiry that centers upon a materialist interpretation of history, a dialectical view of social change, and an analysis and critique of the development of capitalism. Marxism was pioneered in the early to mid 19th...
vision of a marketless, stateless society was not possible, he did not understand why this needed to "result in the social consequence of some people eating while others starve."
Before the collapse of the USSR, the DSA voiced opposition to that nation's bureaucratically managed economy and control exerted over its
satellite stateA satellite state is a political term that refers to a country that is formally independent, but under heavy political and economic influence or control by another country...
s. The DSA welcomed
Mikhail GorbachevMikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev is a former Soviet statesman, having served as General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1985 until 1991, and as the last head of state of the USSR, having served from 1988 until its dissolution in 1991...
's reforms in the
Soviet UnionThe Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
. Sociologist
Bogdan DenitchBogdan Denitch is an American sociologist of Yugoslav origin who is an emeritus professor at the City University of New York . He is a leading authority on the political sociology of the former Yugoslavia...
wrote in DSA's
Democratic Left:
"The aim of democrats and socialists should be...to help the chances of successful reform in the Soviet bloc... While supporting liberalization and economic reforms from above, socialists should be particularly active in contacting and encouraging the tender shoots of democracy from below".
Today the organization issues few statements about overriding principles while frequently commenting on matters of public policy. One primary leaflet detailing the group's official ideas, "What is Democratic Socialism? Questions and Answers from the Democratic Socialists of America," states that while "no country has fully instituted democratic socialism," nonetheless there are lessons to be learned from "the comprehensive welfare state maintained by the Swedes, from Canada’s national health care system, France’s nationwide childcare program, and Nicaragua’s literacy programs". The "tremendous prosperity and relative economic equality" established by the Social Democratic Parties of the countries of
ScandinaviaScandinavia is a cultural, historical and ethno-linguistic region in northern Europe that includes the three kingdoms of Denmark, Norway and Sweden, characterized by their common ethno-cultural heritage and language. Modern Norway and Sweden proper are situated on the Scandinavian Peninsula,...
and
Western EuropeWestern Europe is a loose term for the collection of countries in the western most region of the European continents, though this definition is context-dependent and carries cultural and political connotations. One definition describes Western Europe as a geographic entity—the region lying in the...
is lauded.
Further reading
- Joel Freedman, "No Enemies on the Left as DSOC and NAM Merge," New America [New York], vol. 18, no. 6 (Nov.-Dec. 1981), pg. 5.
External links
See also
- Socialist Party USA
The Socialist Party USA is a multi-tendency democratic-socialist party in the United States. The party states that it is the rightful continuation and successor to the tradition of the Socialist Party of America, which had lasted from 1901 to 1972.The party is officially committed to left-wing...
- Social Democrats, USA