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Demand the Impossible — Your National Political Committee newsletter

enero 26, 2023

Enjoy your January National Political Committee (NPC) newsletter! Our NPC is an elected 18-person body (including two YDSA members who share a vote) which functions as the board of directors of DSA. This month, Convention updates, multiracial organizing, new electoral endorsements, and more!

And to make sure you get our newsletters in your inbox, sign up here! Each one features action alerts, upcoming events, political education, and more.

From the National Political Committee — Demanding the Impossible

We want to share some updates on work we mentioned in our last newsletter, as well as what the rest of the year has in store for DSA. Our End of Year report is still being finalized, and we plan to share that with members in the next couple of weeks. This compilation will include highlights of organizational victories, an overview of the work carried out from our 2021 Convention resolutions, and what’s to come in the new year. One of these upcoming events is our Convention. As we previously announced, the 2023 National Convention will take place in Chicago, Illinois on August 4th-6th! This Convention will be structured a little differently, and we are looking forward to sharing what we have planned TONIGHT! “The Future of DSA” will feature NPC members debating and discussing important political questions facing our organization and what the terrain looks like for DSA and for the left broadly. This call will also include an orientation on the format and structure of the Convention and Pre-Convention. (It’s not too late to register for the call here. We also encourage you to submit any questions you may have during or after the call.)

We’ll also be discussing our February Membership Drive during the call! The size of your chapter determines how many voting delegates you can send in a process called apportionment. The Growth and Development Committee (GDC) will be supporting chapters in boosting their membership before the apportionment deadline with training opportunities, guides, toolkits, and more! This is a great way to maximize your voice at our 2023 convention and, of course, to continue to build our organization!

Growing our organization and movement requires real connections with people. We must ask people to join DSA. We must ask them to stay involved. We must work to establish a culture of solidarity at every possible turn. The new year has already shown us the lengths the police will go to expand the police state, as well as the courage and perseverance of everyday people to demand another world in the face of such violence. While there is much to grieve, there’s also so many reasons to continue to fight. This spring will bring a joint conference with YDSA, with tracks to learn and build on our labor and electoral work, as well as other Convention-related events moving into the summer to tackle the big questions DSA faces and how we go about making our organization one that can wage the necessary fights, organize the working class, and win the world.

Here’s to demanding the impossible.

Courage and care, comrades,

Your National Political Committee

P.S. We are still accepting submissions for our second Convention theme contest. Make your submissions using this form before Friday 1/27! 

Tonight, Thursday 1/26 National Convention Call — Plus Convention Questionnaire

There will be changes to the 2023 Convention in August. To hear more about these and the Convention timeline, don’t miss our mass membership event “The Future of DSA” tonight, Thursday, 1/26 at 8pm ET/7pm CT/6pm MT/5pm PT. You’ll hear NPC members on important political questions facing DSA, and what the terrain looks like for us and for the left broadly. This call will also include an orientation on the format and structure of the Convention and Pre-Convention.

And you can ask all your 2023 Convention-related questions here by 11:59 pm PST on Friday 1/27. Questions will be answered in an FAQ sent out to members on Monday, 1/30.

Multiracial Organizing Committee  Survey Deadline Sunday 2/12

DSA is committed to building a multiracial socialist organization based on mutual respect, trust, solidarity, and militant anti-racism (Resolution 31, passed at the 2021 DSA National Convention). Growing DSA and winning power for working people depends on a multiracial working class leading our campaigns and organization.

To address structural challenges within DSA, the Multiracial Organizing Committee would like to hear about your experiences with multiracial organizing within DSA or through other organizations. Please fill out our multiracial organizing survey today! The survey deadline is Sunday, 2/12. We plan to translate the survey findings and subsequent one-on-one conversations into a program of trainings, best practices and other tools to be made available to chapters struggling with doing multiracial organizing.

Best of the Midwest and Portland — Support Early 2023 DSA Electoral Campaigns!

It’s a new year, which means it’s time to grow our socialist city caucuses in cities like Chicago and win yet another Right to Counsel ballot measure, this time in Portland, OR. Both are proven ways to defend tenants, and both have elections coming up very soon! Support them today.

Join Our Religion and Socialism Working Group Call Wednesday 2/1

In times of rising pressures and catastrophes, people yearn for alternatives. So does the planet. Protests are often a start, but rebellion is not revolution, nor does it always lead to transformation.

Without solidarities that match the complexities of our world, the best we can hope for is inclusion in the dominant system, but that’s hardly the systemic change and liberation we so desperately need. How does theology help us work towards the solidarity we so desperately need? Join Joerg Rieger Wednesday 2/1 at 8pm ET/7pm CT/6pm MT/5pm PT to discuss “Theology in the Capitalocene: Ecology, Identity, Class and Solidarity.” There will be plenty of time for questions and discussion. This call is sponsored by the DSA Religion and Socialism Working Group.

RSVP for DSA Budget Report Call Thursday 2/9

DSA is a membership-led and membership-funded organization, with the vast majority of our funding coming from membership dues. This guarantees that our resources come from our source of power: organized people. Our funding and our power are inextricably linked. Dues allow our organization to be accountable to our members and our members alone. As DSA members, we have a responsibility to make strategic decisions about where, when, and how we use our resources. How we raise and spend our money has political consequences for our work. That work includes grassroots fundraising: it’s part of building solidarity and power. We can’t build an independent working class organization without the financial support of working class people.

Thursday 2/9 at 8pm ET/7pm CT/6pm MT/5pm PT, join members of DSA’s Budget and Finance Committee and national staff for an annual report on DSA’s 2022 budget. The call will include a breakdown of 2022 income and spending, and ways we are planning for sustainable funding that can support our collective work for the long haul.

Saturday, 2/18 — Join Disability Working Group General Meeting

The DSA Disability Working Group has some exciting updates! All are welcome to join us on Saturday 2/18 at 4 pm ET/3 pm CT/2 pm MT/1 pm PT for our General Meeting on Zoom. Don’t miss out on updates and ways you can get involved. The meeting will include a five-minute break and closed captions.

Do you, your chapter, or your group have a request for the Disability Working Group? Check out our new request form to gain support for any request you have to organize within an intersectional disability lens!

Socialist Forum Call for Submissions — Deadline Tonight, Thursday 1/26

The Socialist Forum editorial committee is accepting pitches for article ideas for the upcoming Winter 2023 issue. Pitches must be submitted by 11:59 pm on Thursday, 1/26 to be considered. If your pitch is accepted, the full article should be roughly 3500-4000 words in length. Please note that submissions are not officially accepted until after editors review the first draft of a full article. If you have any questions, please contact us at [email protected].