As a former member of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), the following excerpt from The Economist piqued my curiosity:
…in America, the word socialism is remarkably malleable. In Miami, it means something like “authoritarian”, but is an all-purpose pejorative. Among Republicans, it is a synonym for out-of-touch and extreme (Senator Ted Cruz, a Republican from Texas, recently labelled the opposing party a bunch of “transgender, wacko socialists”). Among generic Democrats, it denotes the aspiration for something Scandinavian in style—welfare-statism without actually seizing the means of production—like the democratic socialism practised in Europe by most self-described socialist parties.
Confusingly though, the actual Democratic Socialists of America, an influential pressure group whose rose logo can be spotted in hipster-ish corners of Brooklyn and Washington DC, aspire for a future of “popular control of resources and production, economic planning [and] equitable distribution”. It is not a message tailored to win in Miami. - The Economist, “Florida Democrats have taken to Calling Republicans Socialist”, October 20, 2022.
Whoa – that’s a lot more hardcore than the DSA I used to know! So, what else does the DSA want? Luckily, the DSA Political Platform is available online and it lays out their aspirations for the future in great detail. Here are some excerpts from the Preamble:
The Democratic Socialists of America are fighting to win a world organized and governed by and for the vast majority, the working class. We are socialist because we share a vision of a humane social order based on popular control of resources and production, economic planning, equitable distribution, feminism, racial equality and non-oppressive relationships. We are democratic because we know that this transformation cannot be won from the top down, by a small group of elites who claim to have all the answers, or by even well-meaning politicians. This transformation can only come from the bottom up, when millions of working-class people stand together. DSA organizes to realize our working-class collective power, which stems from the reliance of the capitalist economy on our labor. Democracy is necessary to win a socialist society. Socialism is the complete realization of democracy.
Our fight to end capitalist exploitation is inextricably tied to our fight to end oppression. A democratic socialist society must end all systemic domination, whether it’s based on race, religion, ethnic origin, sexual orientation, disability, or gender. The historical development of U.S. capitalism was heavily reliant on the theft of people’s lives and land, through the enslavement of Black people and genocide of Indigenous people. Our legal, economic, and social institutions continue to perpetuate racialized oppression. We will never be able to unify a multi-racial working class without confronting structural racism.
In 2021, the U.S. socialist movement is on the rise for the first time in most of our members’ lifetimes…In the four years of the Trump administration, DSA membership exploded and is currently approaching our goal of 100,000 members.
But this growth of the socialist movement is not nearly enough to overcome the devastating impact of four decades of neoliberal capitalism, let alone bring about a transition to socialism. Neoliberalism is the political project of lowering taxes for the rich and corporations, eviscerating democratic decision-making both in the workplace and at the ballot box, slashing spending on essential social services such as education and social security, deregulating industries across the economy, and opening up flows of capital across national borders. The success of neoliberalism has enforced a culture of hyper-individualism and alienation from the kinds of collective, democratic organizations necessary to challenge the power of the capitalist class.
This challenge highlights the insufficiency of “progressivism” as well as the critical task of DSA. Transformational change in society does not come from moral righteousness or a checklist of policy positions, but from growing and wielding power. It is therefore imperative that we organize the largest possible number of people to join DSA and work together with broader coalitions united around common goals. It is to these ends that we are setting out the platform that follows. We have a world to win.
After the preamble, comes “Our Platform”, which covers: Deepening and Strengthening Democracy, Abolition of the Carceral State, Abolition of White Supremacy, A Powerful Labor Movement, Economic Justice, Gender and Sexuality Justice, Green New Deal, Health Justice, Housing for All, and International Solidarity and Immigration Justice. Here are a few excerpts from ‘Abolition of the Carceral State’ and ‘Economic Justice’:
Abolition of the Carceral State
Incarceration, detention and policing are active instruments of class war which guarantee the domination of the working class and reproduce racial inequalities. The origins of policing and prisons and their present-day effects demonstrate that they are white supremacist institutions… We are committed to the horizon of abolition and the path leading us there. Our demands:
Defund the police by rejecting any expansion to police budgets or scope of enforcement while cutting budgets annually towards zero…
End the criminalization of working-class survival…
End all misdemeanor offenses, accounting for 80% of total court dockets...
Freedom for all incarcerated people…
Free all people from involuntary confinement…
Stop all funding of prison expansion, stop funding of new buildings, and close local jails
End pre-trial detention, civil commitment, and imprisonment for parole violations.
Reject “alternatives to incarceration” that are carceral in nature, including problem-solving courts and electronic monitoring and coercive restorative justice programs
Demilitarize the police and end colonial policing of our cities and neighborhoods
Economic Justice
We propose a program of transformative regulation, nationalization, social ownership, and internationalism that builds the solidarity and democratic power necessary for us to succeed. We call for the nationalization of businesses like utilities and critical manufacturing and technology companies, alongside regulation of corporate, communications, data, and financial sectors. We seek to ensure social and worker control over these businesses. We support an expansion of worker cooperatives, mutual aid institutions, cooperative media, physical infrastructure, care work, and collective land ownership.
You get the picture.
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References:
DSA Political Platform. Link: https://www.dsausa.org/dsa-political-platform-from-2021-convention/#economic-justice Accessed November 5, 2022
The Economist, “Florida Democrats have taken to Calling Republicans Socialist”, October 20, 2022.