Enjoy your July 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, multiracial organizing, abortion access training, Starbucks worker solidarity, 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 — Only Organizing Will Save Us
• Apply to the Multiracial Organizing Institute! Deadline Monday 8/1
• Wednesday 7/27 — RSVP for Reproductive Justice: An Abolitionist Framework for Abortion Access and Beyond
• Tuesday 8/2 — Join Us for Protect Abortion Training Session II
• Sign Up for DSA Labor Solidarity is Brewing Call Monday 8/1!
• RSVP for Thursday 7/28 AfroSoc Executive Committee meeting
• Socialism 2022 Early Bird Deadline Extended to Friday 7/22
• DSA is Hiring! Apply Today

FROM THE NATIONAL POLITICAL COMMITTEE — ONLY ORGANIZING WILL SAVE US

We’re closing in on the first half of our NPC term, a fitting time to reflect on the challenges and obstacles we’ve faced, as well as the opportunities still to come. This reflection must happen while we also endure and respond to the ongoing crisis of capitalism manifesting in every pocket of the world. Right now, we are seeing the long game of the Republican Party: an all-out assault on our rights as the Supreme Court shows itself to be an undemocratic tool meant to revoke our fundamental rights from us. While our right to bodily autonomy is being attacked, it’s clear from the comments of Justices like Clarence Thomas that it won’t end there; civil rights like marriage equality are in their crosshairs. This institutional violence shows up too in ongoing police violence, the bloated military budget, educational cuts, defunding of public health… all the ways capitalism messes us up.

This assault on democracy is coupled with the feckless “opposition” of the Democratic Party establishment, thrown back at us with the condition that we must donate, vote, or die. The Democratic Party refused to dispense with the racist filibuster — even to fight Republican minoritarian rule. In truth, we can’t wait to be saved. Only organization will save us.

We know one of our biggest obstacles is disorganization. But we also know what we need and have the chance to act decisively in the struggle for democracy and against authoritarianism by building a mass, working-class, multiracial socialist organization. We have the opportunity to think and act big. As internationalists we should draw inspiration from the militancy of Latin American and European comrades who have successfully fought back.

Some of this work happened within our Recommitment Drive, an effort that met and surpassed our goals of recommitting 5k members (members got almost 6,000 people to recommit) and of raising $50k (we raised 4 times that)! This Drive grew capacity for chapters, helped develop new leaders, and most importantly, gave members the opportunity to answer the question “Why DSA?” And that’s because this work is necessary to building an organization that can get us through these difficult moments, when hope is hard and rage needs direction. Recently, over half of our NPC members participated in Labor Notes, along with hundreds of DSA members and dozens of chapters. We left that conference feeling renewed in our knowledge that labor is the hope of the world.

We are also continuing to build electoral power across the country! We saw the socialist victories of Sarahana Shrestha of our Mid-Hudson Valley Chapter, Elisabeth Epps and Javier Mabrey of Denver DSA, Tiffany Chen Kumar of Ithaca DSA, Rachel F. Ventura of West Suburban Illinois DSA, and Hugo Soto Martinez and Eunisses Hernandez of DSA Los Angeles. That makes 8 legislative bodies that now have socialist caucuses: Chicago City Council, Ithaca Common Council, Los Angeles City Council, New York State Assembly, New York State Senate, New York City Council, Hamden City Council, and Colorado State House! And the fights are not over yet! We still have candidates running in upcoming primaries!

Part of building organization also requires acknowledging where we come up short. The question of transforming DSA into a multiracial organization is one we’ll cover during our Fireside Chat this Sunday, 7/24 at 6pm ET/5pm CT/4pm MT/3pm PT. This call is open to all DSA members, but you must register for the call by Saturday 7/23. We’ll be giving updates on the progress we’ve made with the Multiracial Organizing Committee (MROC) and what this means for both chapters and members. We hope you’ll join us as we tackle this question together. 

We are also preparing for our first in-person NPC meeting of the year. We’ll be gathering in NYC (COVID precautions and all) and hope the in-person element will be useful in our capacity to take on the last year of our term with the hope, vision, and discipline needed to meet the moment within DSA and beyond.

Courage and care, comrades,

Your National Political Committee

APPLY TO THE MULTIRACIAL ORGANIZING INSTITUTE! DEADLINE MONDAY 8/1

Apply to the Multiracial Organizing Institute! DSA’s power hinges on whether we can build mass political will in the entirety of the working class. Therefore we must show active, specific commitment to communities and workers of color.

This fall, DSA will host the inaugural Multiracial Organizing Institute focused on developing multiracial leadership and organizing strategy. The agenda includes training and dialogue around building a mass org, strategic campaigns, intentional recruitment and organizing, identity politics, and more. Starting with a virtual session the weekend of September 24, followed by an in-person convening October 7-9, and then online follow up, participants in the institute will dig into some of the biggest questions facing our organization. While some leadership experience within DSA is recommended and priority will be given to organizers of color, all are welcome to apply.

Applications are open now! The deadline to apply is Monday 8/1 at 11:59pm PST.

WEDNESDAY 7/27 — RSVP FOR REPRODUCTIVE JUSTICE: AN ABOLITIONIST FRAMEWORK FOR ABORTION ACCESS AND BEYOND

Join comrades and outside speakers for a conversation on why we need to situate our analysis of the fall of Roe within the framework of reproductive justice. This justice-based framing moves beyond a choice-based framing that assumes that all people have the same levels of control over their bodily autonomy or access to resources and services. Alexandra Walling will moderate a conversation between abolitionists Marian Jones (editor of Lux Magazine), Andrea James (Executive Director of the National Council For Incarcerated and Formerly Incarcerated Women and Girls) and Moira Meltzer-Cohen (an attorney and educator). Join us Wednesday 7/27 at 8pm ET/7pm CT/6pm MT/5pm PT for this interactive mass call hosted by the DSA Abolition Working Group. Hope to see you there!

TUESDAY 8/2 — JOIN US FOR PROTECT ABORTION TRAINING SESSION II

Join us Tuesday 8/2 at 8:30pm ET/7:30pm CT/6:30pm MT/5:30pm PT for the second session of the Protect Abortion organizing training series! This call will be an interactive workshop to help you develop a long-term organizing strategy and campaign tailored to your chapter’s unique conditions and therefore more likely to succeed. Our bodies, our lives, our rights, and our democracy are on the line as the ruling class seeks to control our reproductive labor and outlaws abortion. Come get trained to fight back!

SIGN UP FOR DSA LABOR SOLIDARITY IS BREWING CALL MONDAY 8/1!

Join DSA Labor Monday 8/1 at 8pm ET/7pm CT/6pm MT/5pm PT for a Solidarity is Brewing campaign update and celebration! All are welcome to hear about what’s been happening on the national campaign so far, local Starbucks Workers United (SBWU) and DSA wins throughout the country, and how we can all be ready to support the workers through the rest of Hot Labor Summer and into Contract Fight Fall!

RSVP FOR THURSDAY 7/28 AFROSOC EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE MEETING 

Join the DSA AfroSocialists and Socialists of Color Executive Committee’s General Body Meeting Thursday 7/28 at 8pm ET/7pm CT/6pm MT/5pm PT! The Executive Committee will give updates regarding the Caucus’s recent growth, membership, working groups, and local chapters. Register for the meeting here.

And June was cool, but July is going to be even better with all the AfroSoC events we have planned. You can find information and registration links here. We hope to see you there! — the AfroSoC Executive Committee (Aleta, Aton, John, Abel, Cerissa, Natalie, and Doreen)

SOCIALISM 2022 EARLY BIRD DEADLINE EXTENDED TO FRIDAY 7/22

The deadline for Socialism 2022 early bird registration has been extended to Friday 7/22, and we’re excited for DSA to sponsor! The largest socialist conference in North America returns this September 2-5 in Chicago, and registration is now live.

Featured Speakers at Socialism 2022 will include: Ruth Wilson Gilmore, Robin D.G. Kelley, David Harvey, Harsha Walia, Barbara Ransby, Derecka Purnell, Olúfẹmi O. Táíwò, Kim Kelly, Mohammed El-Kurd, Anand Gopal, Daniel Denvir, Hadas Thier, Carlos Ramirez-Rosa, Rossana Rodriguez Sanchez, Justin Akers Chacón, Sophie Lewis, Joe Burns, Kali Akuno, Donna Murch, Ash-Lee Woodard Henderson, Ben Davis, Robyn Maynard, Leanne Betasamosake Simpson, and more.

The Socialism conference is brought to you by Haymarket Books and a range of left-wing organizations and publications. Learn more here, and register by Friday 7/22 for the early bird discounted rate!

DSA IS HIRING! APPLY TODAY

We are hiring! We have two new Field Organizer positions open, as well as YDSA Organizer, a YDSA internship (paid), and People Services Coordinator (must live in NYC metro area). Please see our careers page for updated listings.