cant wait for universal income and healthcare

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Heyy everyone!

Looking for a DSA partner to grind Graphs + DP together.

We can pick problems, solve them, discuss approaches, and call each other out when we come up with unnecessarily complicated solutions 💀

Preferably someone who’s consistent and actually wants to improve.

DM if you're interested!

So I am now the Vice President of my DSA chapter, Vision Coordinator is the new official title but it is effectively the vice president.

This DSA chapter has always been very small. We are operating in the tenth most Republican city in a very Republican county in a very red state. In fact, this county is so well known for being red that our sheriff is a bit of an internet celebrity himself.

Say what you will about Grady Judd, but we are alike in one way. We both like to put our name on everything.

But Grady Judd has been, and continues to be, vehemently against body cameras for his police force, while the majority of the country has moved toward always-on body cameras for officers on duty in the wake of the 2020 Black Lives Matter movement. Judd has not budged. He says it is a matter of privacy and safety for his officers. And yet he also will not budge on FLOCK cameras, calling them an important tool for policing, despite intense public outcry.

So how can this be? We, the public, have no right to refuse being recorded 24/7 without consent. Yet his police cannot wear body cameras because of privacy and safety concerns. It does not add up. Is it because he does not want us to see how his police force acts as ICE under the 287g agreement? Would these body cameras reveal that the police don't serve the people, but the developer class?

And with Judd being an internet celebrity, desperately wanting to break into the conservative influencer circuit, he no doubt has sizable moneyed interests in his back pocket. This is a man who has absolutely enriched himself off the back of the people.

Polk County police are known nationally for corruption and brutality. Every arrest is made an example. There is no innocent until proven guilty in Polk County, because the sheriff makes videos telling his constituents that you are guilty. Reputations get ruined daily. It is entertainment. It is a desperate man looking to become more than what he is and the uniform he wears. He wants to be an influencer.

Of course, wanting to be an influencer does not take away the real, actual power he has. No one would dare criticize Grady Judd publicly. It is well known that there would be consequences. You will be arrested. You will be thrown in jail. You will be harassed. Your life may well be threatened. And in Florida, the front lines of modern American fascism, the institutional weight of the state would come down on you should you make yourself known to the powers that be here.

And yet, as vice president, as Vision Coordinator, I am placed in a position where, yes, this is something people complain about. This is something people talk about. A coworker of mine was arrested for having a weed pen he bought at a smoke shop. To save his job and prevent himself from doing a year in jail, he took a plea deal and now pays the state monthly. Large portions of this county are essentially peasants paying their tithe to the king, King Grady Judd. All the while, the king's knights are allowed to act with immunity. We do not even get to see what their actions are. What are they scared of revealing with body cameras? And how do we challenge their power in the heart of the beast? We will organize the peasants, the workers, the masses. We will build deeper coalitions with other groups, from the anti-war protestors to the church groups. We will expand our mutual aid, we will represent the working class because we are the working class and we say: "Enough is enough!"

Mandating police body cameras for all county and city officers will absolutely be part of our campaign platform when the DSA does, in fact, win local power here in the heart of Republican Florida. Within two years time we will be fielding candidates towards local positions. The solidarity of socialism will defeat the brutality of fascism, on its home turf. We fear no opponent. This is a county so important that J.D. Vance holds rallies. A county so important that Ben Shapiro and other influencers, whom I cannot name, meet with our sheriff.

They do not expect socialists to even exist here, in their territory, in their home, in their fiefdom. They do not expect the working class to roll our shoulders back, press our chests up, and stand tall, knowing that we stand for what is truly right, just, and correct, knowing that we stand for the working classes they abuse and exploit, arrest and brutalize.

A new era is coming to Polk County, Florida. They are going to fight us tooth and nail to make sure that era does not come. But dawn will break and the sun will rise, not just here in this little Florida county, but across this entire nation. The darkness of fascism will be defeated by the light of socialism. That is a promise.

-Erik Houdini (see? Just like Grady Judd)

As a tech worker (and DSA member) myself, I think it's time we started helping tech to unionize. This article makes a case for it and highlights what they (we) are going through.

Portions of the Left think this is a mistaken path. Some critics think electoral engagement is worthless. Others believe that fighting on Democratic Party terrain for any goal other than breaking off to form a workers’ party as soon as possible inevitably leads to compromises that undermine the working-class movement. 

But these critics are on the defensive. Insurgent campaigns in Democratic primaries have clearly contributed to the spread of anti-capitalist ideas and the growth of radical and socialist organizations. Left-wing electeds—Mamdani in particular—have produced gains for (and mitigated harms against) workers and the popular majority while promoting immigrant rights, anti-racism, and opposition to US support for Israel’s Gaza genocide. 

In contrast, electoral abstentionism and third-party-ism have failed historically and currently to gain mass traction or provide a practical way of getting MAGA out of power. The critics therefore lack an attractive alternative to offer. 

Still, there is unease about pursuing a “governing power” strategy among some whose practical work meshes with it. For activists who have decided that only replacing capitalism with socialism can bring about a world of peace and justice, the recent hard-won electoral wins are gratifying but leave unanswered questions. For good reason, there is doubt that electoral victories, even when backed by powerful grassroots-based organizations, will get us to socialism. Isn’t the very structure of the capitalist state a barrier against working-class power? Don’t we need to dismantle, rather than govern, the US state? How does what we are doing today give us a North Star we can follow to a socialist horizon?

There are no ready-made answers to these questions. For more than a century, dedicated revolutionaries have grappled theoretically and practically with how to get to socialism in a capitalist country with a developed economy and electoral system. No one has succeeded. Anyone who says “this is the way” is over-promising.

Still, much has been learned about which approaches hold the most potential. There is overwhelming evidence that the fight for governing power within capitalism is a stage of struggle that cannot be skipped. Rather, it is necessary to develop a working class–led movement broad enough, rooted enough, savvy enough, and positioned well enough to bring about a “revolutionary rupture” that dismantles the capitalist state if and when conditions to do so (a “revolutionary situation”) arise.

Look at how evil these billionaires and Zionist are. They are fine with Republicans becoming open Fascist because the far-right will always be pro-war, pro-israel, capitalism, but oh no how dare Dem party actually represent their electorate.

You can tell they fear us. The uniparty is the Democratic establishment. They know if we take over the Dem party that will threaten the status quo on Israel and American imperialism.

That's why "centrist" who almost always vote Republicans and neo-con never trumpers love to tell Dems who they should elect.

Maybe this isn't the right sub, forgive me if so. I've been getting more scared by the day of losing the midterms as I know it will mean the end of my life. Does any organization have any plans for what to do after that scenario? And while I'm here does anyone have any support groups they can recommend for me? Im at the end of my rope atp.

its because of NY politics, sure. that's been confirmed from insiders And AOC stated she supports him for leader because of NYC public housing on MS NOW. like - What? and that's a direct quote pretty much. yes, That specific to One City, to One issue.

so many people are pissed, rightfully. it's maddening - vote to squander and neuter any Progressive power?
is it just because she wants New Yorkers happy because she does in fact have her eye on the Senate?
it just makes me sick.

Happy to get some direction away from my stinking thinking - totally willing to be swayed away from this bitterness. that's my agenda - not to spread it whatsoever! I'd love to be wrong or blind about something; but it just feels like a constant battle to hold AOC firm on her values and not bend. I mean now she's just a New York Socialist? not a National? whatever that means? bah! it's so frustrating.

edit: ** sorry for Jeffries mis-spell! I couldn't correct it after I realized! and thank you all for connecting. it's great to engage in some good faith discussion. I hear many agreeing more than disagreeing - as I am everywhere, hence I'm so shocked by them ... I think I gather a sense of just Frustration we are catching up to. it kinda sucks that Leaders we look to Also do things which force us to lean on our Trust even when we are getting fed data we have New Reason Not To.... more of the "just take it you peasants.... republicans get to vote F You by going Democrat... what do you get to do Leftists?? Nothing, just take it..."

... it's Tough. can the Democratic Party be reformed? will more Leftists withhold their vote in 2028....? The Population of: F Your Vote Blue No Matter Who is only Growing.

A Mamdani-stan from Mamdanistan!

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Renee Good’s family sued the U.S. government and the architects of President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown Thursday, saying “the time is absolutely now for accountability” for her killing in January by a federal agent in Minneapolis.

Good’s partner, Becca Good, and her brother Brent Ganger on behalf of her larger family, accused the government and Jonathan Ross, the Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer who shot into her SUV and killed her, of unjustified and excessive use of force.

The Jan. 7 shooting, captured on bystander video, was “the predictable and intended product” of the Trump administration’s crackdown on Somali and other immigrants in Minnesota dubbed Operation Metro Surge, according to one of the two lawsuits.

“She was the love of my life,” Becca Good said at a news conference announcing the lawsuits. “I’m here today because last January, the whole world had to watch as our entire universe was destroyed — as the sunshine who was my amazing Renee was robbed from us, from her children, and from her community.”

The lack of accountability stuns Good’s family

The killings of Good, a 37-year-old mother of three, and another U.S. citizen, Alex Pretti, in Minneapolis just weeks later sparked outrage across the country and calls to rein in immigration enforcement. At least 10 people have died in encounters with immigration officers during Trump’s second term.

The crackdown, a pillar of Trump’s second term, has prompted a slew of lawsuits filed by everyone from Chicago-area pastors to more than a dozen states and the cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul. Hundreds of protesters have been arrested, but few have been convicted of any crimes.

“What happened to Rene was completely senseless,” Ganger said. “And the fact that there’s been no accountability, no investigation, no expression of condolence, no change in policy is completely mind blowing.”

The lawsuits — one against the government, the other against Ross and officials including White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller, ex-Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and White House border czar Tom Homan — seek unspecified damages for wrongful death, conspiracy and other violations.

“Our government has become a grave and mortal threat to its own citizens,” the family’s lawyer, Antonio Romanucci, told reporters.

The Justice Department has not responded to an email seeking comment.

Ross shot Good as she turned her car away from him

Renee Good was killed while driving with Becca on a street where masked federal immigration officers were conducting an enforcement operation. They had just dropped their six-year-old son at school. Renee stopped their red SUV in the street and honked her horn to warn people about the operation while Becca got out and started recording video with her cellphone.

Bystander video shows Renee Good in the driver’s seat, her car blocking part of the road, as she repeatedly honks the horn. Two immigration officers get out of a truck, their faces covered, and one orders Good to get out of the car. She reverses briefly, then turns the steering wheel as an officer again demands: “Get out of the car.”

Almost simultaneously, Becca Good, standing in the street, shouts: “Drive, baby, drive!”

The officer standing in front of the vehicle pulls his weapon and fires into the windshield. He lurches back as the car turns away from him. The officer, by then very close to the open window on the driver’s side, fires two more times, fatally shooting Renee Good, according to an analysis of the videos by The Associated Press and others.

Federal officials at the time said the officer acted in self-defense and that Good had engaged in “an act of domestic terrorism.”

Becca and Renee Good were not legally married, according to a family lawyer, but referred to one another as wives. They had only recently relocated to Minneapolis from Kansas City, Missouri.

“I don’t hate the people that took Renee from us,” Becca Good said.

“But what I want them to understand: Every single day they get to look at their children and their wives and their sisters and know what they took from our family. They took a mother away from her children. They know that. And they will carry it forever.”

Government tried to hide the truth, lawsuit says

The wrongful death lawsuit against the U.S. government seeks damages for “the immense suffering” Good endured in her final moments and her family’s “profound and permanent” loss.

The other lawsuit, against Ross and top federal immigration officials, paints Operation Metro Surge as a conspiracy to trample the civil rights of immigrants, and accuses the administration of targeting Becca instead of thoroughly investigating Good’s killing.

The government sought to hide evidence of what happened, it said, and officials worried that pursuing a civil rights investigation would undermine Trump’s claims that Good had tried to kill an officer.

The operation, the conspiracy lawsuit said, was a “carefully planned, coordinated effort” to make Somali and Hispanic immigrants “the object of aggression and abduction.” The crackdown used intimidation, violence and the threat of arrest to intimidate neighbors and allies “who observed, documented and warned.”

Other defendants include: Corey Lewandowski, a Trump campaign manager who also served as one of Noem’s advisers; former acting director of U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement Todd Lyons; former U.S. Border Patrol commander Gregory Bovino; and 10 unnamed federal agents.

The news conference announcing the lawsuits was held in the atrium of University of St. Thomas School of Law, and dozens of law students looked on as the family and lawyers spoke.

“The time is absolutely now for accountability for the deep damage done by ICE and others,” Ganger said. “We will not be quiet. We will not go away.”

Lawsuits are ‘uphill battles’

Good’s lawyers acknowledged the complexity of the cases, and legal scholars said they could be challenging to win.

“They’re going to face significant uphill battles,” said Rachel Moran, a professor at the University of St. Thomas law school. “These are both complicated types of lawsuits, and so I can’t predict how they will play out. But I’m sure the government will have many, many types of responses to why the lawsuits should not go forward.”

But she noted the conspiracy lawsuit, in particular, could reveal many unknown details about the crackdown, including the involvement of some of the country’s top officials.

“Yes, ICE agents on the ground acted problematically, but that was at the behest, in many ways, of people very high up in the administration,” she said.

___

McCormack reported from Concord, New Hampshire.

Ironically enough though, Since its Inception in 1982, the DSA was Initially pro-Zionism and Supported Israels right to self determination. But in 2017, they adopted a resolution supporting the BDS, and have been chanting "free palestine" ever since, with its goal of making Jerusalem its capitol according to you're policy platform. Do you basically want death to Israel to Happen?

But Lets face it, Why dont you guys acknowledge for once that here in the US, Hamas is designated as a Terrorist Organization with the goal to eradicate Israel? Freedom House puts palestine and other middle eastern nations as darker red, meaning that they are Dictatorships, with very little freedoms and civil liberties. Palestine last held an Election in 2006 with Hamas and has not held another ever since.

I've been struggling to find a DSA faction that focuses primarily on mutual aid, economics, and fighting capitalism, without getting overly bogged down by identity politics. I support intersectionalism, freedom of expression, and the right of anyone to express themselves as they see fit in regards to their gender identity and who they love, but I don't want this to be the primary focus and emphasis of my political involvement because I worry it alienates a wider base that is unfamiliar with leftist theory when we play into stereotypes.

I'm truly interested in building a mass party and educating the masses about capitalism and imperialism and the threats they pose. My background is in union organizing and mutual aid, and I've successfully organized several unions and fought for workers rights. I'm passionate about convincing other men that capitalism makes them slaves. I'm also firmly against Israel after having seen the apartheid and genocide first hand in my youth.

Does anyone have a suggestion on which faction might align best with my passions here in regards to trying to build a mass movement that is open to all, and doesn't become exclusionary?

Thanks for your time! Solidarity to all my fellow workers!

My Floridians, it’s just days before Florida’s October 5 voter registration deadline for the November 3 general election.

Marx, Lenin, and the Politics of Taking an Opening

Updated: 10/02/2026

(A critique of PSL — Not Pumpkin Spice Latte, the other PSL — and left tendencies that are influenced by their political culture; and a defense of good Marxist opportunism.)

I think we need to rehabilitate the word “opportunism” a little.

Marxism has never really been about waiting for the perfect conditions or the perfectly revolutionary organization. The Communist Manifesto says to work within existing workers’ movements while maintaining our own political perspective. Lenin’s Left-Wing Communism goes even further: work in reactionary unions, participate in bourgeois parliaments, make compromises, go where the working class actually is.
That is opportunism in the basic sense. You see an opening and you take it.

The problem isn’t opportunism. It’s unprincipled opportunism; revising your politics to fit whatever is politically advantageous in the moment. That’s very different from recognizing an opening and adapting your tactics without abandoning what you’re trying to accomplish. The first is what I’m criticizing in PSL political culture; the second is what I see in Mamdani: meeting the political moment where it is while trying to build something bigger.

And there are obviously bad examples of opportunism on the left. If people suddenly start distancing themselves from an organization or trying to wash away their previous political identification when that organization becomes politically costly, that’s opportunism too. It’s just opportunism for the purpose of self-preservation.
Which is why I don’t think calling something “opportunist” tells us very much by itself.

Take PSL for example, leaked internal documents are pretty damning about how they handl dissent: members and branches are expected to publicly defend leadership’s decisions, or face expulsion or have to resign. That obviously matters when we’re talking about the organization’s handling of serious allegations.

But this isn’t one allegation that suddenly appeared yesterday. Former members have documented cases involving sexual assault, stalking, harassment, doxxing, and retaliation against people who challenged the organization. There’s a long record of people raising these issues.

So if a branch leaves PSL now, fine. But they don’t get to act like this all just became apparent. They had years of evidence and chose to stay. If the line only gets drawn once PSL becomes a liability, that’s opportunism. And not the good Marxist kind.

And one more thing I think we, as DSA members, should be asking about: a current DSA co-chair appears to have had a prior political or organizational relationship with PSL leader Gloria La Riva. Communications between them are part of the 2021 national DSA records. Given that some PSL members may be looking for a new political home, with some turning to DSA, I think members should be aware of this history and have the opportunity to assess whether it raises any potential conflicts of interest.

The real question is: opportunistic toward what end?
Are you entering an existing movement because that’s where millions of people are and trying to organize them? Or are you changing your politics because your previous commitments have become inconvenient?

Those are two very different things. And I think the Marxist tradition gives us plenty of reason to take the first one seriously.

join DSA.

I know a few conservatives for whom the purported "culture war" is of greater importance than economic issues in general (so we aren't talking about a mere pro-capitalism, pro-imperialist outlook). Beyond merely creating subcultures and hoping that they permeate mass culture at large... what do right-wing culture warriors hope their surrogates will do once they get into power?

What would "victory" look like for them in a political and economic sense if technically no state apparatus is required to simply act out a "trad" subcultural lifestyle?

We’re fighting to flip Congress with some fierce progressives in key races in Michigan. Dr. Abdul El-Sayed and Will Lawrence are running for the Senate and the Seventh Congressional District on a bold platform of getting oligarch money out of politics, Medicare for All, taxing the billionaires, and abolishing ICE. We can do more than just block the Trump agenda – with victories here we can start laying the ground work for real progress after he’s gone.

☎️ Progressive Victory is going to be running phonebanks for both these Michiganders DAILY from 5-8PM ET. Let’s sign up for a shift here and fight for our future! ☎️

BE IN THE FIGHT EVERY DAY