In response to Trump’s recent victory, DSA must seize upon existing demands for real democracy by creating a “People’s Petition.” This petition would call for a constitutional convention and form a democratically elected constituent assembly to draft a new democratic constitution with features such as deciding presidential elections by popular vote, providing public financing for all elections, and abolishing the Electoral College.

How do you build socialism in the heart of empire? What unique conditions have been socialism’s primary barriers in the United States? Samuel Withers points to the current electoral system, which relies on a two-party system, which makes it impossible for socialists to achieve electoral victory. To build power, he writes, we must build coalitions among the left and participate in electoral work, propaganda campaigns, direct actions, outreach programs, and direct service work. The fundamental inability of ordinary citizens to enact change under the status quo must be the core focus of socialist propaganda.

The transition from workshop production to heavy industry depicted in Marx’s Capital mirrors the governing logic of modern computation. This has led to the alienation of the working class as technologies like artificial intelligence are used to replace workers—even though many of those technologies rely heavily on exploiting human labor. Applying Marx’s critique of capital’s inner logic to our contemporary systems of production can reveal that the alienation of software and the alienation of capitalism are the same, reinforcing how Marx’s theories remain relevant to understanding our contemporary capitalist systems.

An interview with director for UAW Region 9 Brandon Mancilla, vice president of the Chicago Teachers Union Jackson Potter, and Sarah Hurd, a co-chair of DSA’s National Labor Committee and an organizer with the Illinois Nurses Association, at the Socialism 2024 Conference in Chicago. They discussed UAW president Shawn Fain’s call for a general strike on May Day 2028, and how the Illinois Nurses Association and the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) in Chicago are working on organizing to address their own labor issues and redistribute resources through their specific unions.

International solidarity delegations need a clearly defined mission, and delegates should be flexible about meeting with a wide spectrum of people to gather information essential for meeting the intended objective. The experiences Paul Garver has drawn from global labor solidarity organizing emphasize the need for democratic socialism to include the ability of the working class to organize autonomously and function democratically without interference from any regime. We learn from broad left movements in other countries that have demonstrated success in winning mass electoral support from the working class and other subordinate classes.

The left’s economic messaging should focus on a holistic account of the working class’s economic woes while also challenging corporate price gouging, empowering workers, increasing taxes on the wealthy, and strengthening unions. Doing so presents a more nuanced and distinct explanation of what is causing inflation and economic anxiety over the rising cost of food and sets ourselves apart from the mainstream liberal media, which has tried to convince workers that things are better than they actually are.

This new book by Jon Michaels and David Noll examines how right wing political forces exploit the legal system to promote fascist politics. Reviewer Josue Cisneros praises the authors for their meticulous research but see their prescriptions to combat these efforts with more manuevering within legal institutions to be lacking and indicative of the primary distinction between liberal and socialist opposition to fascism. He emphasizes DSA’s own organizing and its 2024 political program, Workers Deserve More, as a more fruitful alternative.