The last month has been a “weeks where decades happen” kind of time for all of us. DSA members came together to demand democracy as the General Election was drawn out and cries of “count every vote” rang clear. Although establishment Democrats belittle our movement for socialism, we know that the vision we have for this world is popular. WE ARE WINNING!

Thanks to the tireless work of comrades all across the country, we ended up with a 73% win rate with our endorsed candidates and ballot measures. We now have 155 elected officials representing our vision in 32 states! There will be a $15 minimum wage in Florida, free pre-K in Portland, no evictions without representation in Boulder, and a $15 minimum wage, tenant protections, ban on facial surveillance, and a local Green New Deal initiative in Southern Maine! There will be 4 DSA members in Congress and multiple state legislators in Massachusetts, Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire, New York, Delaware, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Maryland, Minnesota, Hawaii, Montana, and Michigan. We won in spite of, not because of the system. It’s okay to celebrate! We celebrate, too, the wins in other parts of the world, especially Bolivia, a shining example of victory through the exercise of collective power and a joyful reminder that our struggle is international.

We also mourn all we’ve lost. The hundreds of thousands who’ve died due to the cruelty of a Congress that refuses to prioritize a stimulus check to all of us as we deal with unemployment, eviction, or working with little to no protection against COVID. We mourn the lives lost at the hands of the police and in the clutches of ICE. For them and for ourselves, we fight for Medicare for All, to defund and abolish ICE and the police, for a Green New Deal, and so much more.

All we have is each other. Organization is our most effective weapon against the capitalist class. We must continue our work to build up organizations, like DSA, that can and will hold us together as we push through the long fight ahead. Our road to 100K is just the start of building a robust mass organization! The Recruitment Drive ended this past weekend, and we now have more than 85,000 DSA members!! We are proud to welcome every single one of the 12,942 new members that joined since October 1st, and welcome back the 2,015 lapsed members who renewed their dues. Congratulations to every chapter who met their goal and to the members who killed it on the leaderboard! A special shoutout to Janet H for bringing in the equivalent of a small chapter in new DSA members (122!!) and to our chapters in the South: New Orleans, Charleston, and Southwest Louisiana, for showing us how it’s done. It’s beautiful what we can accomplish when we work together toward a common goal.

We have the power to move past the narrow-mindedness of the greedy few and embrace the vast imagination of our movement. While we’re glad Trump lost and we celebrate our wins, we are also not welcoming Biden — we’re warning his administration: a better world is coming, and it’s time we put those who stand in our way on notice.

Solidarity forever,

Your National Political Committee

Other Announcements from Around DSA:

• TONIGHT, Thursday 11/19 — The Spirit of Black Radical Traditions
• Signup by Saturday 11/21 for “Fight for our Lives:” a Day of Green New Deal Actions 12/12
• Tuesday 12/8 — Join our DSA Medicare for All National Campaign Kickoff!
• Saturday 11/21 — Socialist Feminist Working Group General Meeting with Cinzia Arruzza
• Wednesday, 12/2 — Them and Us Unionism Call
• Socialist Forum Call for Submissions — Deadline Friday 12/4

TONIGHT, THURSDAY 11/19 — THE SPIRIT OF BLACK RADICAL TRADITIONS

Join our Religion and Socialism Working Group TONIGHT Thursday, 11/19 at 7:30pm ET/6:30pm CT/5:30pm PT for The Spirit of Black Radical Traditions! The spirit of Black radical traditions, at their best, can turn the world upside down and help usher in a political economy of dignity, voice, and decision-making power for working-class communities. Liberationist streams of Black radical spirituality are as contemporary as Alice Walker’s call for democratic socialist womanism, as old as Reverend George Washington Woodbey’s Black Baptist socialism and beyond.

The call will feature Rev. Andrew Wilkes and Rev. Sekou, artist, author, and public theologian, in conversation about the ethical and religious streams of the Black radical tradition. The conversation will cover the origins of the tradition and its implications for our present moment.

SIGNUP BY SATURDAY 11/21 FOR “FIGHT FOR OUR LIVES:” A DAY OF GREEN NEW DEAL ACTIONS 12/12

The planet is on fire, people are dying, and the Democrats are selling out their constituents in order to curry favor with Republicans and Capitalists. We are in the midst of an unprecedented emergency with real human costs. The DSA for a Green New Deal campaign has been building for this moment. We are ready to fight for our lives and win a people-centered public recovery response. To get involved, fill out this form by Saturday, 11/21, and join chapters around the country to launch the decade of the Green New Deal!

TUESDAY 12/8 — JOIN OUR DSA MEDICARE FOR ALL NATIONAL CAMPAIGN KICKOFF!

Join us Tuesday, 12/8  at 8pm ET/7pm CT/6pm MT/5pm PT for our DSA Medicare for All National Campaign Kickoff! As a result of COVID, millions of workers are losing their jobs and their insurance. Even those with insurance struggle to afford the cost of hospital treatment (in some cases tens of thousands of dollars). Communities hit hardest by the coronavirus, such as undocumented people, largely don’t have health insurance at all. To save lives and beat COVID, we must put patients and healthcare workers over the profits of insurance and drug companies. Our government must ensure that everyone, regardless of employment, immigration, or insurance status, has access to the healthcare they need — including free testing and treatment.

To get politicians to buck their donors and side with the majority they are supposed to represent, we must threaten them with a mass, popularly-based political movement. The movement of the kind we need to achieve Medicare for All will only be built through connecting with millions of people across the country, in their neighborhoods, town halls and workplaces.

Join us as we launch the next round of our campaign to win Medicare for All on Tuesday 12/8. Hear from healthcare workers, essential workers, and legislators on why this fight is so important and how we’re going to win it. Connect with other DSA organizers to build strategic campaigns in your chapters and coordinate throughout your region. Learn what resources are available to get your campaigns off the ground. Build the working-class movement to win a piece of real democratic socialism!

SATURDAY 11/21 — SOCIALIST FEMINIST WORKING GROUP GENERAL MEETING WITH CINZIA ARRUZZA

The Socialist Feminist Working Group has a new Steering Committee! Join us Saturday, 11/21 at 3pm ET/2pm CT/1pm MT/12pm PT to discuss DSA’s socialist feminist priorities for 2021, what other socialist feminist locals are working on, and how we should organize under a Biden administration with a conservative Supreme Court. Cinzia Arruzza, coauthor of Feminism for the 99%: A Manifesto, will join us for the conversation.

WEDNESDAY, 12/2 — THEM AND US UNIONISM CALL

Militant, activist, democratic unions — that’s what DSA supports, but what do such unions really look like? Join the DSLC for a panel discussion on the United Electrical Workers’ (UE) new pamphlet on “Them and Us Unionism” with UE organizer Kari Thompson, labor historian and author of The Long Deep Grudge Toni Gilpin, and International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) member Zack Pattin as we talk about class-struggle unionism past and present. The call is Wednesday, 12/2 at 8pm ET/7pm CT/6pm MT/5pm PT. RSVP today!

SOCIALIST FORUM CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS — DEADLINE FRIDAY 12/4

The Socialist Forum editorial committee is now accepting pitches for the upcoming Winter 2021 issue. All DSA members are encouraged to submit a pitch. If you would like to contribute, please use this form to submit a short pitch describing your idea for an article. We are particularly interested in analysis of the 2020 elections and their implications for US and world politics, but submissions may also address any topic of interest. If your pitch is accepted, the full article should be roughly 3500-4000 words in length.

If you have any questions, please contact [email protected]. Please note that submissions are not officially accepted until after editors review the first draft of a full article.

Pitches must be submitted by 11:59pm on Friday, 12/4 in order to be considered.

Socialist Forum editors will blind-review pitches and notify you about the status of your submission by Monday 12/14. If your pitch is chosen, Socialist Forum will expect a full first draft by Monday 12/28.