Class

This episode is an attempt to make the first part of the Communist Manifesto, the part called “Bourgeois and Proletarians” intelligible for some one knew to socialism. This text is a part of the DSA NPEC “What is Capitalism?” curriculum. Written in 1848 by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, this is one of the foundational texts of the socialist movement. The first chapter covers the expansion of capital and the consolidation of the bourgeoisie as a class, as well as their relationship to the proletariat (the working class) and their role in history.Crucial to Marx and Engels’ understanding of socialism is their appreciation of the power of capitalism, not simply to dominate and exploit, but to create vast amounts of wealth. Prior to capitalism, no society existed that produced enough for every person to not only be fed, clothed and housed, but to enjoy luxuries and meaningful free time. While capitalism is incapable of providing a just distribution of this wealth, it has ushered in an era of unprecedented wealth. Because the working class produces this wealth, it is the unique agent of change that can upend this status quo.The Manifesto not only shows capitalism to be a historical phase, and not something that has existed forever, but it also points towards the potential, even the inevitability, that something else will replace it.Elton L.K. will be returning to his personal podcast The Working Class Intelligentsia. In The Working Class Intelligentsia he follows serially the writings and biography of Italian Communist Antonio Gramsci, and the lessons we can learn today from them. Gramsci is famous for participating in a socialist movement that collapsed under Mussolini’s fascism. Mussolini put a few socialists in prison, including Gramsci. While in prison Gramsci was for some reason allowed to theorize how the Italian revolution failed, and analyze how power worked through Italian history. Season 2 is going to cover the Russian Revolution and the simultaneous socialist movement building in Italy in the year 1917.Become a member of Democratic Socialists of America.

Achieving the liberation of the queer community requires realizing the intersecting nature of all U.S. cultural oppressions — including class oppression — ties the liberation of all to the end of capitalism. Today, queer oppression is being used not only to sustain capitalism but to help grow fascism. When so many people’s personal hierarchy of needs requires them to spend their limited resources struggling simply to survive an onslaught of existential attacks, how does a socialist movement grow and build class consciousness? How has capitalism infected liberal social analysis of so-called “identity politics” and activism in those realms? How can socialism provide a better analysis and reinvent activism in those realms? What can socialism, in general, learn from queer analysis and activism?Genevieve R is the co-chair of DSA Trans Rights and Bodily Autonomy. She's also a founding member of the Ithaca Tenants Union and the Ithaca Solidarity Slate, which has elected four organized socialists to the City Council.Rashad X (he/him) is a proud member of Lakefront DSA in NE Illinois and a member of DSA's National Political Committee. Most of his work is focused on ensuring that DSA is fighting the imperial police state through political independence and ensuring DSA is a leader in winning the battle for Democracy. Both of these themes inspire his involvement in the Trans Rights and Bodily Autonomy Campaign, where DSA is fighting the unpopular far-right agenda implemented through the US's undemocratic political system.Emma P is a published researcher in both neuroscience and engineering. Her love has always been philosophy, hence she has been a lifelong member of the working class. She has organized outside of socialist spaces, from multi-city protests to state-level building and leading, as well as collaborating with national organizations. She has contributed nationally behind the scenes for about 15 years. But several years ago, she lucked into an opportunity to join the socialist struggle, join DSA, and find comrades who mean the world to her. She has held a few local offices, is a member of NPEC’s committee, and is now on the TRBA steering committee. She likes to call this work applied philosophy, but no one else finds it funny. Reclaiming queer liberation as an inherently socialist struggle has been a dream of hers.Get involved! Queer Socialists Working Group.Also check out DSA’s recent Kickoff of the Trans Rights & Bodily Autonomy Mass Campaign Commission.   This commission will act as an organizing and resource hub for our over 150 chapters in 48 states. It will struggle on different fronts including for legislative reform, defense of queer community spaces, protection of queer people in the workplace, distribution of trans and abortion resources, and a national Day of Action on March 31, Trans Day of Visibility.Become a member of Democratic Socialists of America.

In the Communist Manifesto, Marx and Engels wrote that “the first step in the revolution by the working class is to raise the proletariat to the position of ruling class, to win the battle of democracy.” Almost two centuries later, the battle for democracy continues. Today, economic precarity and social upheavals have led many to question our present political system. In these times, DSA’s position that the United States is “no democracy at all” is a rousing and powerful assertion against mainstream narratives. At this event, DSA members Jerry Harris and Luke Pickrell will discuss their understanding of democracy, whether the Constitution supports or frustrates democracy, and to what extent socialists should "fight for" or "defend" democracy going into the 2024 Presidential elections.Jerry Harris is the national secretary of the Global Studies Association and on the international board of the Network for Critical Studies of Global Capitalism. He is a retired union activist with over 120 published articles on political economy, globalization, democracy and other topics. His work has been translated into Spanish, Portuguese, Czech, German and Chinese. His last book was "Global Capitalism and the Crisis of Democracy."Luke Pickrell is a member of East Bay DSA and Marxist Unity Group. He's written in Cosmonaut and The Democratic Constitution Blog, and contributed to various discussions in the Why Marx? project. He's also interviewed or co-interviewed several people about democracy and the U.S. Constitution for Cosmopod, including Robert Ovetz, Douglas Egerton, Gil Shaeffer, and Bruno Leipold.The video version of this episode can be found on YouTube here.Become a member of Democratic Socialists of America.

Local DSA chapters have been conducting what is called Socialist Night School. Socialist  Night School is a democratic space for people to participate in the education process. In today’s episode we talk with Guy Brown, Molly Culhane and Evan Moravansky. They are members of the National Political Education Committee. Evan is the chair. They will explain more about what the National Political Education Committee is, and they’ll explain much more about Socialist Night School.Guy Brown (he/him) is currently a member of DSA's National Political Education Committee and the father of a two-year-old. After leaving the Ozarks, he worked as an early childhood and elementary teacher before joining Charlotte Metro DSA in 2016 . He enjoys playing soccer with his toddler, cuddling with his two pitbulls, and watching Bravo with his wife.Molly Culhane is a member of East Bay DSA and the National Political Education Committee. She is also a graduate student in Jurisprudence and Social Policy at UC Berkeley, with research interests that center on the criminalization of informal economic activity. Hailing from Denver, Colorado, Molly is enthusiastic about running, public transportation, and building a more inclusive, more robust socialist movement through political education.Evan Moravansky is a member of mid-Hudson Valley DSA and is the Chair of the National Political Education Committee. ResourcesNPEC Mentorship program sign-up formNPEC Socialist Night School Curriculum websiteNPEC-created old curriculum for basic SNS modulesSocialist Night School modules shared from other chaptersSocialist Night School "What is Capitalism?" and Backwards Planning Training Socialist Night School "What is Socialism?" and Facilitation TrainingBecome a member of Democratic Socialists of America.

Today we are talking with members of the Chicago Teachers Union, Ayesha Qazi, David Stieber and Hadeil Abdelfattah. As you may remember from our episode on the victory Chicago’s mayor, a former CTU member, Chicago’s students and educators have lived through a neoliberal hell. From 2003 to 2013 Chicago closed 50 schools, only making conditions for students worse. These closures moved the members of the teachers union to become militant. Their militancy changed the direction of Chicago’s education politics and reignited a labor movement in America that starting to reverse decades of decline of US union membership. Chicago educators recently joined 146 other unions, locals and caucuses, including United Auto Workers, United Electrical Radio and Machine Workers of America and Association of Flight Attendants, signing a letter calling for basics rights to be restored in Gaza, hostages to be released, and for Biden to call for a ceasefire. Ayesha Qazi-Lampert is an AP Environmental Science Teacher at Chicago Public Schools. She is a member of the Chicago Teacher Union Climate Justice committee and is the Chair of the American Federation of Teachers Climate and Environmental Justice Caucus Dave Stieber is a 17 year Chicago Public Schools high school social studies and poetry teacher. He is National Board Certified and hold his Masters in Urban Education Policy. His partner is also a CPS teacher and together they have two children that both attend CPS.Hadeil M. Abdelfattah, Ed.D. is a Palestinian-American born and raised on the northside of the city of Chicago. She is an educator of nearly 28 years and is currently a Lead Instructional Coach at Chicago Public Schools. She holds a doctorate in Educational Leadership and wrote an Autoethnographic study of her experiences as the child of immigrants in a large urban school district. Our Union Called for a Cease-Fire. It's About Our Students. (In These Times)Become a member of Democratic Socialists of America.

DSA is becoming a true working class organization. Today we are continuing our conversation with three past and present members of DSA’s National Labor Commission, also known as the NLC. The National Labor Commission has several campaigns underway. We have talked about the Emergency Workplace Organizing Committee or EWOC on this podcast a number of times.Ayesha Mughal was an NLC Steering Committee member from 2022-2023 and is currently a staff organizer on the Starbucks Workers United campaign in Pennsylvania.Sean Orr is a UPS package-car driver and elected shop steward in Teamsters Local 705 in Chicago.Sarah Hurd is one of the co-chairs of DSA's National Labor Commission which works to build rank and file militancy and solidarity within the labor movement. The NLC launched a campaign called "Strike Ready" which served as a major force in organizing community support for the Teamster's contract fight against UPS.The 2024 Labor Notes Conference will be held April 19-21 in Chicago. Register by March 1 for a big discount. Labor Notes is both a media project and a network of rank-and-file members, local union leaders, and labor activists who know the labor movement is worth fighting for. They encourage connections between workers in different unions, worker centers, communities, industries, and countries to strengthen the movement—from the bottom up.Become a member of Democratic Socialists of America.

This has been an important year for the labor movement and for DSA. Workers are seeing the value in forming a union and using the credible threat of a strike to win better pay, working conditions and political power. Today we are speaking with three past and present members of DSA’s National Labor Commission, also known as the NLC. The National Labor Commission has several campaigns underway. We have talked about the Emergency Workplace Organizing Committee or EWOC on this podcast a number of times.Ayesha Mughal was an NLC Steering Committee member from 2022-2023 and is currently a staff organizer on the Starbucks Workers United campaign in Pennsylvania.Sean Orr is a UPS package-car driver and elected shop steward in Teamsters Local 705 in Chicago.Sarah Hurd is one of the co-chairs of DSA's National Labor Commission which works to build rank and file militancy and solidarity within the labor movement. The NLC launched a campaign called "Strike Ready" which served as a major force in organizing community support for the Teamster's contract fight against UPS.The 2024 Labor Notes Conference will be held April 19-21 in Chicago. Register by March 1 for a big discount. Labor Notes is both a media project and a network of rank-and-file members, local union leaders, and labor activists who know the labor movement is worth fighting for. They encourage connections between workers in different unions, worker centers, communities, industries, and countries to strengthen the movement—from the bottom up.Become a member of Democratic Socialists of America.

NPEC Presents: "Understanding the Israeli–Palestinian Colonial Conflict,” with featured speakers: Moshé Machover and Sumaya Awad.How should we understand what is taking place in Gaza and across occupied Palestine? What history do we need to know to understand and interpret the present? What can we do in the present to shape the future? Moshé Machover and Sumaya Awad will help us answer these questions.Moshé Machover, born in Tel Aviv in 1936, is a mathematician and socialist activist who has been active in and written extensively on Middle-Eastern politics. A collection of his essays on the Middle East, Israelis and Palestinians – Conflict and Resolution (Haymarket Books).Sumaya Awad is Adalah Justice Project's director of strategy and communications, and coeditor of Palestine: A Socialist Introduction (Haymarket Books). She has written a series of essays with Daphna Thier in Jacobin, including In Israel, Zionism Prevents Working Class Solidarity .Become a member of Democratic Socialists of America.

This episode is going to be different from prior episodes. Today we’re going to be talking about psychoanalysis. Marx esteemed scientific rationality. Many, including many socialists, reject psychoanalysis as a pseudoscience. I have my own questions, honestly. Nonetheless, there is a significant branch of Marxism grounded in Freudian psychoanalysis, including controversial yet influential thinkers like Louis Althusser and Slavoj Žižek.On Today’s episode I asked Michael Downs to talk about his essay “Wage Labor and Jouissance, Why the Left Needs Žižek to Understand Workers”. Michael Downs is most famous for his theory blog The Dangerous Maybe. The Dangerous Maybe makes philosophers such as Žizek, Lacan, Marx and Heidegger intelligible to people with little to no background in theory. Michael Downs himself does not have a college degree, but his blog posts have been so respected that professors are assigning his them in their classrooms. In his essay “Wage Labor and Jouissance” he talks about some insights he has gotten from reading Žižek, insights that he believes socialists organizers should be aware of: we must meet workers where they are at. We will fail to bring about socialism if we force our values on the rest of the working class. Our job as organizers is to present them with the tools to take their own liberation into their own hands. This aligns with the socialist organizers from EWOC and the DSA National Labor Committee and other places that you have heard on this podcast.Michael Downs' theory blog The Dangerous Maybe.Michael Downs' essay “Wage Labor and Jouissance, Why the Left Needs Žižek to Understand Workers” in Underground Theory (2023).Downs’ courses on Žižek’s “For They Know Not What They Do”, and an Intro to Nick Land. Note: Downs' class on Nick Land is interesting because Land offers a critique of socialism, and yet he influenced some of today’s most important socialist thinkers, including Mark Fisher and Nick Srnicek.Become a member of Democratic Socialists of America.

October 7, 2023 Hamas executed a surprise attack on military and civilian Israeli targets, killing over 1200 people and taking around 200 hostages. Israel’s response to Hamas’s horrific actions has once again been disproportionate and genocidal. We demand a ceasefire and condemn any attacks on civilians. In recent years DSA has made solidarity with Palestine a priority. We already had plans to do an episode on Palestine soon, but due to recent events we wanted to provide historical context as soon as possible, context that is rarely provided by the mainstream media in America.We will have more on this topic in the future. The DSA National Political Education Committee is working on additional educational materials, including training material on how to talk to non-socialistists on Palestine. This material will be available to everyone, but will be especially designed for local DSA chapters to facilitate their own trainings.In this episode we interview Sumaya Awad and Daphna Thier. Sumaya Awad is the Adalah Justice Project's director of strategy and communications, and coeditor of Palestine: A Socialist Introduction (Haymarket Books). You’ll recognize Daphna from a number of our previous episodes. She was previously the chair of the DSA National Political Education Committee, and is now the Labor Education Coordinator for Emergency Workplace Organizing Committee (EWOC). Sumaya and Daphna have published multiple articles together in Jacobin on Palestine (see below).Articles by Sumaya Awad and Daphna Thier:The Tide Is Turning Against Israeli Apartheid (Jacobin)Why You Should Support Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions Against Israel  (Jacobin)The One-State Solution  (Jacobin)In Israel, Zionism Prevents Working-Class Solidarity  (Jacobin)Sorry, Anti-Zionism Still Doesn’t Equal Antisemitism  (Jacobin)Note that Sumaya and Daphna both make reference to the number of Palestinian children that have died in the current conflict. According to the Washington Post as of yesterday, October 22,  1,873 children have died. Volunteer with DSA’s No Money for Massacres Phone-banks.DSA Members and U.S. Representatives Cori Bush and Rashida Tlaib submitted a resolution to Congress titled “Ceasefire NOW”.  The NPC Steering Committee officially endorsed the resolution and is calling for all DSA members to send an email to their elected representatives demanding they sign on as co-sponsors of this resolution and end the genocide.DSA put together a Palestine Solidarity Toolkit that all members can use to stay informed, take action, and Become a member of Democratic Socialists of America.

Sara Nelson took office as the International President of the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA, AFL-CIO on June 1, 2014, and she is currently serving her second four-year term.Sara became a United Airlines Flight Attendant in 1996 and has been a union activist since nearly the beginning of her career, including serving as strike chair and leading communications for nearly 10 years at AFA’s United chapter. In the summer of 2019, she addressed DSA’s largest ever Convention, which occurred during a surprising wave of strikes by teachers, hotel workers, and others. Much of the convention revolved around the power of the working class when we organize -- which is what Nelson spoke about.Nelson draws on diverse stories throughout the U.S.’s history to show how organizing at work not only improves people’s lives, individually and as a group but that rather than being just another form of activism, labor organizing is our most powerful weapon. NPEC Curriculum - Sara Nelson’s “Solidarity is a Force Stronger than Gravity" YouTube video of Sara Nelson’s “Solidarity is a Force Stronger than Gravity" Become a member of Democratic Socialists of America.

Vivek Chibber is the guest on today’s episode, discussing his essay “Why the Working Class?” which maybe not so coincidentally is the name of our series. In this episode Vivek not only answers the question he proposes to answer, but he talks some about what socialism could look like, and DSA’s role to getting there.Vivek Chibber is a professor of sociology at New York University. He is the editor of Catalyst: a Journal of Theory and Strategy.NPEC Curriculum - Vivek Chibber’s “Why the Working Class?” NPEC Presents: Imperialism: the US and Mexico The relationship between the United States and Mexico, both today and historically, constitutes a significant feature of U.S. imperialism. Speakers at this panel event will discuss concepts of imperialism; the long drive by U.S. capital and the U.S. government to dominate Mexico and seize economic benefits at the expense of Mexico and the working class of both countries; and Mexican/Chicano labor in the U.S. including the ways in which the U.S. imperialist relation to Mexico has tended to divide the working class and responses to those divisions. This unequal relationship continues today, affecting workers on both sides of the border.Become a member of Democratic Socialists of America.

Early forms of socialism envisioned a better world for everyone, and before socialist theory workers fought for autonomy and respect from their bosses, but Marx and Engels played an important role uniting the workers movement and socialist movement. Marx’s pamphlet “Wage Labor and Capital” is a concise text for articulating how capitalism functions, and how it exploits the workers. Marx had not yet fully developed his concept of labor power, which he explored in far greater detail in Das Kapital, or Capital in English.David Kotz is Professor Emeritus of Economics at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and Senior Research Fellow in the Political Economy Research Institute. He is the author of the book Socialism for Today: Escaping the Cruelties of Capitalism, Polity Press, forthcoming 2024. He also wrote The Rise and Fall of Neoliberal Capitalism, Harvard University Press, 2015 and 2017. He is a member of DSA’s National Political Education Committee.NPEC “Why the Working Class?” Curriculum, including Marx’s ‘Wage Labor and Capital’https://dsa-education.pubpub.org/pub/why-the-working-class/release/6Foundational Political Education Series: SocialismSeptember  17, 2023https://actionnetwork.org/events/foundational-political-education-series-socialism?source=direct_link&link_id=4&can_id=6e32bd9fc928173c7c4f64fb3a5b58ab&email_referrer=email_2027248&email_subject=red-letter-your-npec-newsletterFoundational Political Education Series: ClassSeptember  24, 2023https://actionnetwork.org/events/foundational-political-education-series-class?source=direct_link&link_id=5&can_id=6e32bd9fc928173c7c4f64fb3a5b58ab&email_referrer=email_2027248&email_subject=red-letter-your-npec-newsletterVolunteer Wanted: Podcast Audio EditorClass is looking for an Audio Editor to help with podcast production. We want to expand our team. Duties include: editing and processing recorded interview audio for clarity, sound quality, and flow; mastering to podcast loudness specifications; editing theme music for intro/outro; providing remote audio tech support for recording sessions when necessary; communicating with team to coordinate file exchanges, content, and release dates. Must be proficient in a DAW like Pro Tools, Reaper, or equivalent. Previous podcast experience is preferred. If you're interested, please contact politicaleducation@dsacommittees.org.Become a member of Democratic Socialists of America.

If you’ve been listening to this podcast for very long you probably already know the answer to the question “why the working class?” In some ways this question is the reason for existence for the podcast. We want to raise class consciousness. As members of the working class we have interests that do not align with the large business owners and investors. Only by coming together can we serve our interests: to live and flourish on this planet with each other sustainably. This episode will be the first in a series answering the question why the working class? Subsequent episodes will be covering each of the texts in the NPEC “Why the Working Class?” curriculum (link below). This episode is edited down from multiple episodes recorded back in June 2022. We tried to get them out a long time ago, but we had a variety of technical and audio issues. We’ve decided to record new episodes, but there were some pieces so good that we wanted to release them out of context. Today’s episode is hosted by Daphna Thier, who was the chair of DSA’s national political education committee at the time. She is now the Labor Education Coordinator for Emergency Workplace Organizing Committee (EWOC). It also includes Kari Thompson (UE Director of Education, Director of International Strategies, Member of UE Local 896) and Justin Freeman (an NYC-DSA member, father, CUNY graduate, and Director of Community Affairs for the New York State Assembly).NPEC Curriculum “Why the Working Class?”Credits:Producer: Elton LKLogo by Michaela BranganSound Engineer & Opening Music by Casey StikkerAdditional Assistance, including content by Palmer ConradBecome a member of Democratic Socialists of America.

Today’s episode part 2 of a 2 episode series on the National Convention, one of the primary democratic mechanisms within the structure of DSA. To discuss the national convention Justin Charles from the NPC will return. We’ll also be joined by Renée Paradis. Both are members of the Platform and Resolutions Subcommittee.Links:2023 DSA Convention2023 DSA Convention Compendium (Resolutions)Register for NPEC's Comradely Disagreement and Debate Training: July 27th Join the National Political Education Committee on Thursday, July 27th, from 5:30-7pm PT/8:30-10pm ET for our pre-convention Comradely Disagreement and Debate Training! New NPEC Curriculum Module: Labor HistoryWe're proud to announce our latest out-of-the-box curriculum module: The US Labor Movement and the Socialist Role. This introductory and ready-to-use module traces the role socialists have historically played in labor organizing, focusing on the 1934 West Coast Longshore Strike as an example of a multiracial, cross-industry, and community-based working-class alliance, characterized by democratic decision making, creative and powerful tactics, refusal to concede to union/government “mediation,” and a general strike.Credits:Producer: Elton LKLogo by Michaela BranganSound Engineer & Opening Music by Casey StikkerAdditional Assistance, including content by Palmer ConradBecome a member of Democratic Socialists of America.

Today’s episode will be the first of a 2 episode series on the National Convention, one of the primary democratic mechanisms within the structure of DSA. To discuss the national convention Justin Charles from the NPC will return. We’ll also be joined by Renée Paradis. Both are members of the Platform and Resolutions Subcommittee.Justin Charles is a member of North Brooklyn DSA, and has been a member of the DSA National Political Committee since July 2020.Renée Paradis is a member of East Bay DSA, and has served on the Resolutions and Platform convention committee for the last two conventions. She’s also a member of the CA-DSA State Committee and a past chair of DSA's National Electoral Committee.2023 DSA Conventionhttps://convention2023.dsausa.org2023 DSA Convention Compendium (Resolutions)https://s3.amazonaws.com/actionkit-dsausa/dsa/2023_DSA_Convention_Compendium.pdfNot be confused with the 2023 Socialism Conference https://socialismconference.orgBecome a member of Democratic Socialists of America.

Something big has been happening in Chicago. If you have not heard, Chicago recently elected the most progressive mayor in the country. Brandon Johnson was endorsed by a variety of unions, especially the Chicago Teachers’ Union, of which he was previously a member and an organizer. He was also endorsed by Bernie Sanders. In this episode we have Miles Kampf-Lassin, a journalist from In These Times that followed the Brandon Johnson campaign, to talk about something we have talked about a number of times on this podcast: when workers come together they can fight back against the capitalist class. Miles Kampf-Lassin is a writer and editor at In These Times magazine. Follow him on Twitter @MilesKLassinBrandon Johnson Defeated Paul Vallas’s Austerity Agenda Last Nighthttps://jacobin.com/2023/04/brandon-johnson-mayoral-election-paul-vallas-austerity-agenda-left-victoryWhy Chicago’s Mayoral Election Is One of the Most Important Races of 2023https://perfectunion.us/why-chicagos-mayoral-election-is-one-of-the-most-important-races-of-2023/Chicago’s Political Revolutionhttps://inthesetimes.com/article/chicagos-political-revolutionCredits:Producer: Elton LKLogo by Michaela BranganSound Engineer & Opening Music by Casey StikkerAdditional Assistance, including content by Palmer ConradBecome a member of Democratic Socialists of America.

What would a socialist economy look like? Sam Gindin stresses the importance of establishing the feasibility of an alternative socialist society for the development of a strong socialist movement. He presents a vision of a future socialism, and poses important questions that a socialist society will have to figure out.In this episode members of DSA’s National Political Committee (NPC) discuss Sam Gindin's essay.José La Luz is a lifelong labor organizer and campaigner with roots in the New Left in the late 60’s and early 70’s. He was a founding member of DSA after joining DSOC prior to the merger with NAM in the mid 80’s. He is the most senior member of the NPC (in age) adding a multigenerational presence to the national leadership.Sofia Cutler is a member of North New Jersey DSA, and has been a member of the DSA National Political Committee since 2021 as part of the Bread and Roses Slate. She is a rank-and-file member of Unite Here Local 33.Justin Charles is a member of North Brooklyn DSA, and has been a member of the DSA National Political Committee since July 2020.DSA NPEC Curriculumhttps://dsa-education.pubpub.org/modulesDSA’s Leadership and Structurehttps://www.dsausa.org/about-us/structure/NPEC Curriculum on Sam Gindin’s "Socialism for Realists"https://dsa-education.pubpub.org/pub/what-is-socialism/release/6#reading-c-socialism-for-realists-abridged-by-sam-gindinCredits:Producer: Elton LKLogo by Michaela BranganSound Engineer & Opening Music by Casey StikkerAdditional Assistance, including content by Palmer ConradBecome a member of Democratic Socialists of America.

Responding to the swelling socialist movement, Tarnoff builds on the work of Nicos Poulantzas and “Eurocommunism” to illustrate how growing a socialist movement requires both competing within the institutions of the state (for example through elections) and developing an autonomous layer of “people power” to act on the state. His essay blends an analysis of tactics and strategy for the socialist movement with a vision of the ultimate goal of a democratic socialism that will have both a transformed state and transformed civil society.In this episode members of DSA’s National Political Committee (NPC) discuss Ben Tarnoff’s essay.José La Luz is a lifelong labor organizer and campaigner with roots in the New Left in the late 60’s and early 70’s. He was a founding member of DSA after joining DSOC prior to the merger with NAM in the mid 80’s. He is the most senior member of the NPC (in age) adding a multigenerational presence to the national leadership.Sofia Cutler is a member of North New Jersey DSA, and has been a member of the DSA National Political Committee since 2021 as part of the Bread and Roses Slate. She is a rank-and-file member of Unite Here Local 33.Justin Charles is a member of North Brooklyn DSA, and has been a member of the DSA National Political Committee since July 2020.DSA NPEC Curriculumhttps://dsa-education.pubpub.org/modulesDSA’s Leadership and Structurehttps://www.dsausa.org/about-us/structure/Ben Tarnoff’s “Building Socialism from Below: Popular Power and the State”https://drive.google.com/file/d/1731oHoNsQJLzoXU6yO_ZXjAT9MT4BQnr/viewCredits:Producer: Elton LKLogo by Michaela BranganSound Engineer & Opening Music by Casey StikkerAdditional Assistance, including content by Palmer ConradBecome a member of Democratic Socialists of America.

Meagan Day, a DSA member and staff writer for Jacobin, wrote an essay in Vox to explain the goals of democratic socialism and respond to common misconceptions about democratic socialists. Since 2016, the mass support for self-declared democratic socialist Bernie Sanders for president and the election of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to Congress brought democratic socialism into the limelight of mainstream political commentary. However, there are many misconceptions about the goals of rapidly growing organizations like DSA.Day distinguishes between socialists and those who just want to reform capitalism. She points out limits to reform within capitalism, noting that the capitalist class will try to take back any advances won through the struggle of workers. The article gives examples of contemporary institutions that embody socialist principles such as Britain’s National Health Service. She considers how the struggle for reforms can contribute to the ultimate goal of replacing capitalism with socialism. She calls for ending “society’s subservience to the market.”Speakers:Daphna Thier: is the Labor Education Coordinator at Emergency Workplace Organizing Committee, and was the former chair of the National Political Education Committee.José La Luz is a lifelong labor organizer and campaigner with roots in the New Left in the late 60’s and early 70’s. He was a founding member of DSA after joining DSOC prior to the merger with NAM in the mid 80’s. He is the most senior member of the NPC (in age) adding a multigenerational presence to the national leadership.Sofia Cutler is a member of North New Jersey DSA, and has been a member of the DSA National Political Committee since 2021 as part of the Bread and Roses Slate. She is a rank-and-file member of Unite Here Local 33.Justin Charles is a member of North Brooklyn DSA, and has been a member of the DSA National Political Committee since July 2020.Links:Meagan Day’s “Democratic Socialism, Explained by a Democratic Socialist”https://www.vox.com/first-person/2018/8/1/17637028/bernie-sanders-alexandria-ocasio-cortez-cynthia-nixon-democratic-socialism-jacobin-dsaDSA NPEC Curriculumhttps://dsa-education.pubpub.org/modulesDSA’s Leadership and Structurehttps://www.dsausa.org/about-us/structure/Credits:Producer: Elton LKLogo by Michaela BranganSound Engineer & Opening Music by Casey StickerAdditional Assistance, including content by Palmer ConradBecome a member of Democratic Socialists of America.