David Duhalde is a democratic socialist organizer who has held positions in both the Democratic Socialists of America and its sister nonprofit, the DSA Fund.
Members of the Communist Party USA in its heyday were much more complicated than the stereotypes of them, shaped so strongly by rabid anti-communism, in our country’s imagination. Today’s socialists should closely examine their track record.
With his two unabashedly left-populist campaigns for president in 1984 and 1988, Jesse Jackson opened the door to Bernie Sanders’s presidential runs — and a reborn American socialist movement.
The rapid growth of DSA in recent decades is part of a global phenomenon of voters and activists from the Left and Right who distrust the political establishment and traditional parties, and have formed what scholar Fabian Holt calls “movement parties.”
The moment that Salvador Allende was violently deposed on September 11, 1973, democratic socialists in the US knew it was a crime. They joined others around the world organizing solidarity efforts and supporting political refugees.
Everyone on the Left wants a more coherent, effective movement. But we’ll get there by devising creative new strategies for building our working-class base, not by launching yet another national progressive organization.
If socialist Gabriel Boric can consolidate the left-wing votes among those committed to the constitutional process and those fearful of a return to Pinochet-era dictatorship and repression, he can win a majority of Chilean voters in today’s election.
Whatever his failings, the late New York mayor David Dinkins's historic stature and contributions to the common good gave him a unique place in the democratic socialist movement.
The rules are rigged against third parties in the United States, but that doesn’t mean successful third-party activism is impossible everywhere. David Zuckerman, the lieutenant governor of Vermont and current gubernatorial nominee for both the Democratic and Progressive parties, tells Jacobin how the Progressive Party has figured out how to push left-wing politics in the state.
Both Chile and the United States have seen massive social upheavals over the past year. The two countries have much to teach each other about how such unrest can translate into substantive political change.
The past four years have seen a political sea change in New York, with progressives and socialists remaking the state’s politics and establishing themselves as a force to be reckoned with. We spoke with Luke Hayes, campaign manager for three recent electoral insurgencies and member of the Democratic Socialists of America, on the recent political upheavals in New York.
Socialists need to understand the class antagonisms and nuances of campaign finance law.
A few weeks ago, we had a democratic-socialist presidential campaign with several million donors and over a thousand-person staff. Today, we have no mass organization to carry on the struggle. We can change that — but only with Bernie’s help.
After continuous mass protests in Chile, left forces in the country may be able to build a governing majority. But whether they can or not, it’s clear that huge swaths of the country are desperate for an alternative to the neoliberal order that has reigned in the country for decades.
Why socialists should ignore presidential politics.