DIRECTOR’S REPORT | We Join DSA to Organize
In my union organizer days, I learned some sage advice from the legendary 1199 SEIU, that “the union is not a fee for services, it is the collective experience of workers in struggle. Don’t be afraid to ask workers to build their own union.”
That’s how we operate in DSA: Our power comes from our work, which can only be driven by you, our members. We are not a labor union, but we are building a rooted, long-term institution that brings you in and then pushes you to learn how to analyze the world, run the organization, and win concrete victories. Not only do we train ourselves to do the work, we fund ourselves. This means we must constantly recruit new members, which builds our power. And it means we don’t have to orient our work to please a rich donor or foundation.
Read the full article in the Winter 2021 issue of Democratic Left.