Category: Fall 2024

  • The People’s Petition

    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…

    Photo: Daguerreotype of the Great Chartist Meeting on Kennington Common on April 10, 1848, by William Edward Kilburn.
  • The American Road to Socialism

    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…

    Attendee sporting a Democratic Socialists of America jacket at the Bernie Sanders Rally in the LA Convention Center on March 1st, 2020 in Los Angeles, CA. Photo by Cory Doctorow.
  • On the Commodity Fetish of Computation

    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…

    The Electronic Delay Storage Automatic Calculator at the University of Cambridge Mathematical Laboratory in England, 1948. Photo copyright Computer Laboratory, University of Cambridge.
  • From 2024 to 2028

    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…

    Image: UAW Picket Line at the GM Willow Run Distribution Center in Belleville, Michigan on September 26, 2023.
  • Studying Abroad

    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…

    Photo: 1984 May Day Rally in Chinandega, Nicaragua. Photo by SLR Images
  • Why Did the Left Misunderstand the Biden Economy?

    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…

    President Biden addresses the audience on his Build Back Better Agenda on July 10, 2021. Photo by the White House.
  • Book Review: Vigilante Nation – Jon Michaels and David Noll

    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…

    Cover of book "Vigilante Nation"