VOL. XLVIII No 3 WINTER 2020 DEMOCRATIC LEFT

DSAUSA.ORG THE MAGAZINE OF THE DEMOCRATIC SOCIALISTS OF AMERICA BUILDING OUR POWER

FOR THE CHALLENGES AHEAD FROM THE NATIONAL DIRECTOR

DEMOCRATIC LEFT

Executive Editor Maria Svart Editor BUILDING OUR POWER, Maxine Phillips Editorial Team PLAYING TO WIN Ian Hyzy Alexander Lee Christine Lombardi BY MARIA SVART Stephen Magro Don McIntosh Christine Riddiough In November 2016, DSA had fewer than 10,000 members. This year, Founding Editor 12,000 new people joined just between October 1 and November Michael Harrington (1928–1989) 11. And by the time this issue arrives in your mailbox, that num- Art Direction & Layout ber will have grown. At more than 85,000 members, we are getting closer to our goal of Brianna Harden 100,000 organized democratic socialists. Imagine our power. Imagine what we can accom- Asst. Art Director Devon Manney plish together! Book Review Editor And we will need each other. Republicans fully embraced Trumpism and massively in- Stephen Magro Online Editor creased their turnout, using the enormous disinformation system they set up to begin ex- Christine Lombardi panding their base demographically. Even as we continue to face the raging pandemic, eco- Proofreader: Pam Grant-Ryan nomic devastation, and coming austerity cuts, we must examine the lessons of the fall. Production: Ed Hedemann On the Democratic side, labor and social movements won this election: Cover Art: Val Ross boosted turnout in to deliver ; boosted turnout in De- Democratic Left (ISSN 1643207) is published troit to flip Michigan; UNITE HERE members canvassed tirelessly in Philadelphia, Las Ve- quarterly at P.O. Box 1038, NY 10272. gas, and alongside a vibrant immigrant rights movement in Phoenix; and in Atlanta, Black Periodicals postage paid at Lives Matter and Black community organizations transformed the state’s electoral terrain. New York, NY (Publication No. 701-960). Yet expectations of a blue wave did not pan out, and Democratic Party leaders were quick Subscriptions: $25 regular, to blame socialists and the uprising against police violence. $30 institutional. Postmaster: Send address Yes, the “blue wave” fizzled, but there was a true red wave—our kind of red! We won 29 changes to P.O. Box 1038, New York NY 10272. out of our 40 nationally endorsed campaigns; we now have “squads” in state legislatures in (212) 726-8610. Minnesota, Montana, North Dakota, Maine, Hawaii, Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hamp- Signed articles express the opinions of the authors shire, New York, Delaware, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Maryland, California, and Michigan; and not necessarily the and we won eight out of eleven major ballot initiatives. organization. We’re still a political organization, not a party, but contrast the visions of our endorsed Democratic Socialists of Amer- ica promotes a humane inter- candidates and our campaigns with those of a Democratic Party leadership that fails to lis- national social order based on equitable distribution of ten to working-class people and fails to invest in building grassroots power. Is it any wonder resources, meaningful work, a healthy environment, sustain- that close to 80 million eligible people still didn’t vote in this election? able growth, gender and racial equality, and non-oppressive Let’s talk about what will inspire people to vote—and to build power between elections. relationships. Equality, solidar- ity, and democracy can only be Here’s a sampling of nationally endorsed DSA victories. achieved through international Portland Maine DSA political and social cooperation passed initiatives that expanded tenant protections; man- aimed at ensuring that economic dated a $15 minimum wage and time and a half during a declared emergency; added enforce- MRWXMXYXMSRWFIRIƼXTISTPI;I are dedicated to building truly in- ment to the ban on city officials’ use of facial recognition technology; and enacted a local ternational social movements— of unions, environmentalists, with green building, pro-labor, and affordable housing provisions for cer- feminists, and people of color— which together can elevate tain developments, including city-funded projects. A fifth initiative, restricting short-term global justice over brutalizing global competition. (Continued on page 15)

2 DEMOCRATIC LEFT oppose the cuts. Portland City Council mem- bers lamented the cuts, but lacked the nerve to adopt DSA’s proposal to tax the rich. “We realized that going and yelling at the mayor, which is what we did at that point, wasn’t going to go anywhere,” says Portland DSA member and campaign co-coordinator Emily von W. Gilbert. “You have to think about an analysis of power, and try not to en- gage in the wishful thinking of advocacy, of appealing to the morals of elected officials.” DSA organizers started thinking about taking the tax-the-rich proposal directly to voters via ballot initiative, and decided HOW TO GET UNIVERSAL it would more likely succeed if paired with something the public wanted. “Other Port- PRESCHOOL: TAX THE RICH land DSA members were organizing childcare workers. What about universal preschool? Portland DSA’s big ballot win will garner $200 million “We thought it would be small enough a year to pay for free preschool and a living wage to be winnable, big enough to be meaning- ful, and something people could get really ex- cited about,” Bethencourt says. BY DON MCINTOSH Universal preschool is a fitting plank in Illustration by BLUE DELLIQUANTI the socialist policy arsenal because it’s a pub- lic solution to a demonstrated market failure. Last month, voters in Multnomah County, Oregon, approved a ballot When preschool is left to the private market, measure to offer free preschool to every child and a living wage to parents struggle to afford tuition, teachers every preschool teacher. The proposal, paid for with a tax on the rich, struggle to survive on the wages, and pro- passed by a whopping 64%. Multnomah County, population 813,000, viders struggle to stay afloat. Universal pre- includes Portland and its east-side suburbs and is Oregon’s most school is also a socialist-feminist cause, be- left-leaning and populous county. cause preschool’s low-wage workforce is Under the measure, the county will phase in tuition-free pre- overwhelmingly female, and because when school for all three- and four-year-olds, taught by preschool teachers families can’t afford preschool, it’s most of- paid $38.80 an hour and assistant teachers paid $19.91 an hour. It’s ten mothers who stay home, sacrificing earn- funded by a 1.5% to 3.8% top marginal tax on high incomes that only ings, education, and career. the top 8% of county income earners will pay. The campaign launched in mid-2019 The measure was referred to voters by the elected Multnomah as the Universal Preschool NOW! Coali- County Commission, but its most important details owe everything tion (UP Now). But almost immediately, to an extraordinary campaign spearheaded by Portland DSA that be- supporters discovered a formidable obsta- gan in early 2017 as a “tax the rich” effort. Bothered by economic in- cle. An elected county commissioner was equality, DSA member John Bethencourt and others calculated how already working on a preschool expansion much revenue different tax structures could bring into local govern- proposal. Unlike the program DSA mem- ment. When the City of Portland announced closures of community bers envisioned, the county’s “Preschool centers amid an economic boom, DSAers packed budget hearings to for All” (P4A) plan was a means-tested,

WINTER 2020 3 school-year-only program for low-income draft ballot language, they worked with one of the state’s most expe- families. It would cover just half the county’s rienced ballot initiative attorneys. children in 10 years, with an assistant teacher But lawyers for the Portland Business Alliance filed several legal wage floor of $15 an hour, barely above the challenges that delayed the start of signature gathering for months. Portland-area minimum wage. Then the pandemic hit. Even Bethencourt and von W. Gilbert, the UP Now leaders were convinced P4A’s campaign co-coordinators, doubted the campaign could gather the halfway-there program would be a grave required 22,686 valid signatures in five weeks to meet the July 6 sig- mistake. Universal programs like Social Se- nature deadline. curity and Medicare generate their own du- But the effort soon gathered momentum. On social media, sup- rable political support and become untouch- porters shared links for individuals to sign and mail petitions. Volun- able, while programs aimed at the poor limp teers canvassed parks and business districts daily and combed Port- along with miserly appropriations. Head land’s massive marches nightly. Teachers set up Start is the perfect example: The 55-year- signature tables in public spaces. Moms and kids solicited passersby old preschool program is perpetually under- from their driveways. Café owners put up signs and gathered signa- funded and serves just two in five poor chil- tures. By deadline day, more than 600 volunteers had turned in sig- dren today. nature sheets. Amid a pandemic, a grassroots campaign had gathered But instead of antagonizing the compe- 32,356 signatures—one out of every 15 registered voters in the county. tition, UP Now leaders met with P4A lead- “We were over the moon,” Bethencourt recalls. “It was a total Da- ers and tried in good faith to get the county vid and Goliath feeling.” to make its proposal more like theirs. P4A Overnight, the tone changed in talks with P4A. P4A leaders may wouldn’t budge. Von W. Gilbert, who’d left have thought the business group’s legal challenge would finish off the the DSA steering committee to focus solely rival proposal. Now they had a serious political problem: Sending two on UP Now, thinks P4A leaders sincerely proposals to the ballot could confuse voters and lead both to fail, and wanted preschool expansion, but didn’t be- the P4A proposal was unquestionably the weaker of the two. P4A and lieve something big could win. Having grown UP Now negotiated a merger, and P4A was rapidly modified to approx- up in social democratic Sweden, she was free imate UP Now. The merged measure would have a slower rollout and of those doubts. “I was raised with universal a lower tax rate, but it contained all the essentials: open to all kids, preschool,” she says. “Nobody can tell me it high wages for staff, funded by a tax on the rich. isn’t possible.” In the end, voters approved it by nearly 2-to-1, with more than a P4A aimed for the November 2020 bal- quarter of a million votes in favor. lot, too, and all it needed was a majority of called it “one of the most progressive univer- the county commission to refer it to voters. sal preschool policies in the nation” and a national model. Victory has But the UP Now coalition decided to pro- a way of raising expectations. As a beloved children’s book says, “If ceed with the more laborious signature-gath- you give a mouse a cookie, he’ll ask for a glass of milk.” ering route to the ballot. Advised by unions “We want to inspire similar efforts everywhere,” Bethencourt says. and left groups that had won initiative cam- “We think there’s a lot of potential for action at the local level.” paigns, they convened a coalition of more than 30 groups and put the teachers union Watch a 10-minute video about the president and other allies in leadership roles campaign at bit.ly/35V4KQL as chief petitioners. Though Portland DSA was the driving force from the start, the coa- lition was real. Core activists didn’t hide their DON MCINTOSH is a labor journalist in Portland and a member socialist convictions, nor did they insist that of the Democratic Left editorial team. allies adopt explicitly socialist messaging. To

4 DEMOCRATIC LEFT DSA NEW MEMBER PROFILE

PAINTING THE OC, Bouyea hopes that she can expand the project by working with activist TOWN RED groups and local nonprofits. When they bring bags to apart- ments around Augusta, Bouyea and

BY NICHOLAS her comrades meet tenants whose GREYSON WARD rent has been raised to unaffordable rates. These visits open up conversa- In March, when Kiara Bouyea walked tions about the benefits of a tenant into her first DSA meeting in Augusta, union, something that many tenants Georgia, she wasn’t sure what to sus- had never considered. “It’s about more pect. Would there be other young, than just charity,” Bouyea tells Demo- Black, queer people there? Bouyea first cratic Left. “It is about mutual aid.” learned about DSA from her partner, In another project, the Augusta but neither of them had previously at- Food Desert Relief Mutual Aid Project OC has bought newspaper and maga- tended a meeting. However, Bouyea’s an immediate priority. The program zine stands from a now-defunct news- involvement with politics and activism donates food to people living in food paper and plans to put them in various started much earlier. “I’ve been going deserts throughout Augusta. locations around the city. “We think to protests since I was about 14. When “People think that food deserts just that these stands, or racks, can help died, I remember pro- mean that there aren’t grocery stores spread the word about DSA,” she says. testing about that in downtown At- in the area, but it’s more than that,” The stands will hold issues of Demo- lanta,” Bouyea says. says Bouyea. She points out that some cratic Left alongside pamphlets focused Bouyea is one of the more than residents don't have access or time to on political education. The project 12,000 new members who have joined go to grocery stores. They might have feels right at home for Bouyea, who DSA in the past few months. “There to rely on public transportation, work had worked in the publishing industry were a lot of people there that had long shifts, or take on multiple jobs before beginning a credential program been canvassing for Bernie,” she says. to make ends meet. Just going across at the Western Governors Universi- Bouyea was happy to see that the town for a shopping trip becomes a ty’s Teachers College. OC members meeting was full of a diverse group major effort. The food donation proj- plan to paint the stands a DSA red of people. She was able to meet her ect, which began in the summer, has and spray paint a QR code on the side new comrades in person, just before increased access to food throughout of each box that, when scanned, can the COVID-19 pandemic would affect Augusta; Bouyea’s OC donates about take someone directly to some web re- how chapters and organizing commit- 60 to 70 large paper bags of food a sources about DSA. Nowadays, news- tees across the country could orga- month. Bouyea and her comrades have paper stands are mainly for free neigh- nize safely, and she became an official also packed special large paper bags borhood papers, and the OC hopes dues-paying member this September. It that, along with food, include eating that potential users will be drawn to was at this meeting that the organizing utensils, can openers, and toiletries— the bright-red containers even if they committee (OC) had the idea for the items that are often needed by those haven’t heard of DSA before. Food Desert Relief Mutual Aid Project. without permanent housing. While the As the COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic and its Food Desert Relief Mutual Aid Project changes how chapters and organizing related economic fallout made the currently only involves the Augusta (Continued on page 14)

WINTER 2020 5 table and left the bar. Outside, her breath was white A plumes in the icy night. Stabbing the cell phone with her fingers, she looked up and down the street. Where was the Uber? Socialist The Spirit of Protests Past A car turned the corner and pulled up, Ebaya got in scowl- ing. Thoughts tumbled through her head. Why am I wast- Christmas ing my time? Why don’t I leave this shithole country? The streetlights zipped by fast. Too fast. Ebaya told the driver to slow down. The car sped up; and outside, buildings shrank, got older; people on the street were dressed in gaudy eighties gold chains and red jackets and Carol carried boom boxes. Panicked, she pulled on the handle, but the door was locked. In the rear-view mirror, she saw Ella Baker. “What the…?” The car stopped, and she slammed into BY NICHOLAS POWERS the seat. Ella got out. Ebaya did, too. They stood in 1980s Illustration by DEVON MANNEY Bronx. Two children played on a heap of rubble. It was Ebaya and her brother, Emilio. “I am not voting.” Ebaya Scooge hit the table. “I am not “Why am I here?” Ebaya asked. organizing. I am done!” Around the table, anger passed “Home,” Ella replied. “You said ‘I am done.’ And I felt from face to face. Her boyfriend, Jay, palmed his eyes. Her that way, too, sometimes. It’s hard holding up your part co-organizers Celia and Feather stared at the ceiling. of the world. But maybe you need to remember why you “And you know why?” She leveled an accusing finger. began fighting.” “The Democratic Party is…” She took Ebaya by the arm and they followed the past “The graveyard of social movements,” they chanted selves of her and her sibling around the ruins. Crack vials in a sarcastic monotone. The tension drew stares from crunched underfoot. The gutted buildings loomed like gi- the bar. ant tombstones to the American Dream. It was Christmas Eve, and they met to plan a media “Remember, you wanted to change the world,” Ella push of the Biden administration to adopt a Green New said. “It seemed too big of a job until you realized you Deal. It was Ebaya’s brainchild, and her working group, didn’t have to do it alone. And you weren’t the only one but she answered fewer and fewer emails. And filled the who knew hunger. People all over know it. When you go group’s Instagram with sardonic memes of people as to the people, and ask them who they are, what they want, sheep and politics as useless. They knew why she was they’ll bring democracy.” enraged. Biden had brought corporate lobbyists into his They followed her childhood self up the stairs to an administration. apartment where their mom cooked on the one burner “We fought to get him elected,” Ebaya shouted. “Re- that worked on the stove. Her brother set the table. Ebaya member how we protested? Remember the smell of pep- leaned in to hug him, but her arms passed through him per spray? Remember how Joshua is still in the hospital? like a hologram. After all that, the idiot turns around and gives Big Busi- “I know,” Ella continued. “You feel guilty that you got ness a role? Fuck him!” into a private school on scholarship. You moved on. Your She grabbed her backpack, threw a twenty on the brother fell behind. And he’s so far gone that no political

6 DEMOCRATIC LEFT really crumbs for the labor aristoc- racy, but that means we rebuild our movement from the bottom up.” “Bottom’s up sounds like a drink,” she snarked, but noticed the bus was crossing the bridge to Rikers Island. It turned on to the road lead- ing to the prison and parked. Bernie opened the doors. They walked out. “Bernie…I can’t.” Ebaya held her elbows and shook her head. He walked past guards and barbed wire; reluctantly, she fol- lowed him into the prison. Down fix can heal the hurt. But you’re not alone. How many into the lower levels, they sank into halls heavy with de- families have been broken?” spair. A row of solitary confinement cells stretched be- Ella vanished, and Ebaya stroked the back of her fore her, and Bernie pointed to one. Ebaya squatted and brother’s head. peeked through the slit. Inside, her brother sat catatonic against the wall. He drooled on himself. His fingernails The Spirit of Protests Present were split from clawing the wall. “Let him out!” Ebaya pulled on the cell door. “Let him Ebaya left her childhood home. Downstairs, a bus turned out!” The lights dimmed. the corner. Its headlights flooded the street, and its doors opened in a hiss. She stepped in. was The Spirit of Protests to Come dressed in an MTA uniform. “You got to be kidding.” She shook her head. “Who’s A hand touched her shoulder. Ebaya looked up and saw next? Frederick Douglass?” She sat down near a window. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a touch of gray in her hair, “Welcome to the Revolution,” he laughed, and closed standing next to her. the doors. The bus heaved on to the expressway, and “My brother.” Ebaya looked again into the cell, but NYC transformed again. The ruins vanished, new stores now it was a library filled with books. “Where. . .?” shone on the sidewalks, new fashions appeared, as money Alexandria helped her stand. Ebaya saw that the hall washed through the neighborhoods. Seeing the gentrifi- was filled with books and games. They walked upstairs. cation of the city at high speed made Ebaya realize how Daycare workers played with children. Bright pastel let- quickly it shed the poor in favor of transplants with ters and numbers hung on the wall. money to burn. The police patrolled the borders between “We abolished prisons,” Alexandria said. “And re-pur- classes, stopping and frisking the boys from neighbor- posed them into schools, hospitals, daycare centers, and hoods like hers. housing.” She guided Ebaya out of the former prison. A “The masses are asses,” Ebaya shouted. “The Great black limo waited. A trio of men in black suits stood. Society died in the shopping mall. Do you see how a little “Madam President,” one said and opened the door. money made people into individual little consumer bots?” “Madam President?!” Ebaya stared in awe. “The top One Percent have always practiced divide Alexandria chuckled as they got in. The limo sped and conquer,” Bernie said. “They pit each class against over the bridge, and Ebaya sniffed the air. It was fresh, the one below. Fear of falling down a level makes soli- oddly fresh. Trees swayed everywhere. On the shoreline darity hard to achieve. So, yes, all the wealth you see is (Continued on page 11)

WINTER 2020 7 CHAPTER AND VERSE

DSA SPECIALTY: TOPPLING INCUMBENTS

At least 48 DSA members were on the ballot this November, and at least 36 won office, earning more than 3.1 million votes for socialist candidates altogether.

MINNESOTA Minnesotans are sending two so- in a blue district. Bush is best known , hous- cialists to the capitol next year. nationally as one of three insurgent ing counselor Zohran Kwame In his second run for legislature, candidates featured alongside AOC Mamdani, and tenant organizer Twin Cities DSA member Omar in the 2019 Netflix documentary will join Fateh—the son of Somali immi- Knock Down Julia Salazar in the state legisla- grants—campaigned on an explicitly the House. A ture. Albany’s new socialist squad is socialist plat- registered markedly di- form, defeated nurse, pastor, verse: Forrest a 10-year in- and formerly is the daugh- cumbent in homeless sin- ter of Haitian CORI BUSH the August pri- gle mom, she immigrants; mary, and went got active during the 2014 Ferguson Mitaynes im- OMAR FATEH PHARAH on to win the uprising. Now she’ll advocate for the migrated from SOUFFRANT FORREST state senate district where George platform she was elected on: Medi- Peru at age 5; Floyd was killed. Meanwhile, in Du- care for All, public housing, nation- Brisport will be the state’s first Black luth, Twin Ports DSA member Jen wide rent control, tuition-free pub- openly gay legislator; and Mamdani, McEwen—an attorney represent- lic college, and a Green New Deal. son of filmmaker , is an In- ing workers with disability claims— dian-Ugandan crushed an incumbent Democrat NEW YORK hiphop artist nearly 3-1 with a campaign centered This November, five more New York who performs on the climate crisis, affordable DSA members won election. Rep- as Mr. Carda- housing, and Medicare for All. resenting a district that includes mom. In each

Yonkers and the northernmost part case, most of of the Bronx, Lower Hudson Val- the drama was St. Louis DSA member Cori Bush ley DSAer Jamaal Bowman will in the June Democratic primary, is heading to Congress after defeat- join AOC in Congress after having when Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez ing corporate Democrat and 20-year defeated 32-year incumbent Demo- also clobbered a business-backed TV incumbent in the August crat Eliot Engel. And school teacher talking head by more than 4-1 and primary, and an easy November win Jabari Brisport, union nurse cleared the way to a second term.

8 DEMOCRATIC LEFT PENNSYLVANIA DSA MEMBERS WHO WON ELECTION TO PUBLIC OFFICE NOV. 3rd In heavily Democratic Philly, DSA member Nikil Saval was unop- OFFICE CANDIDATE VOTES posed in the general, so the real feat Travis County TX District Attorney Jose Garza* 393,808 was beating Clark County NV Judge, District 8 Dept. 24 Erika Ballou 390,454 a 10-year in- Pima County AZ Recorder Gabriella Cázares-Kelly 283,591 cumbent state U.S. Congress (MO-CD1) Cori Bush 245,520 senator by 14 U.S. Congress (MI-CD13) Rashida Tlaib* 220,307 points in the U.S. Congress (NY-CD16) Jamaal Bowman 161,730 June primary. California State Assembly, District 25 Alex Lee 130,718 NIKIL SAVAL Pennsylvania State Senate, District 1 Nikil Saval 121,154 Saval, for- U.S. Congress (NY-CD14) Alexandria 105,455 merly a UNITE HERE union orga- Ocasio-Cortez* nizer and editor of leftist literary New York State Senate, District 25 Jabari Brisport 90,347 magazine n+1, is cofounder of the New York State Senate, District 18 Julia Salazar* 76,068 Bernie-inspired local group Reclaim Los Angeles CA City Council, District 4 Nithya Raman 68,575 Philadelphia. Clark County NV School District, District E Lola Brooks* 65,061 (MWXVMGXSJ'SPYQFME'SYRGMP;EVH Janeese Lewis George 34,791 TEXAS Minnesota State Senate, District 62 Omar Fateh 33,103 Austin DSA member José Garza— New York State Assembly, District 57 Phara Souffrant Forrest 31,857 who proved DSA’s top vote-getter Jefferson County KY Board of Education, Chris Kolb* 31,331 nationally on Nov. 3—is the latest District 2 district attorney to be elected on a Minnesota State Senate, District 7 Jen McEwen 30,526 platform of criminal justice reform. New York State Assembly, District 36 Zohran Mamdani 27,182 Garza beat his GOP opponent more Michigan State House, 4th District Abraham Aiyash 27,107 than 2-1, but the real wins were Pennsylvania House, District 188 Rick Krajewski 24,208 a March primary and July runoff: New York State Assembly, District 51 Marcela Mitaynes 22,173 Backed by Bernie San Francisco CA Supervisor, District 5 Dean Preston* 21,389 and the DSA, he Pennsylvania State House, 184th District Elizabeth Fiedler 19,726 trounced Travis Mass. State House, 27th Middlesex District Erika Uyterhoeven 19,713 County’s incum- Alameda County Transit Board Jovanka Beckles 15,498 bent DA. A pub- Burbank CA City Council Konstantine Anthony 15,222 lic defender and Austin City Council, District 4 Greg Casar 11,629 labor and immi- JOSÉ GARVA Rhode Island State Senate, District 5 Sam Bell 7,657 grants’ rights attorney, Garza cam- Richmond CA City Council, District 5 Gayle McLaughlin 4,502 paigned on holding police account- Montana State House, District 95 Danny Tenenbaum 4,075 able for misconduct, and ending cash Rhode Island State House, District 7 David Morales 4,068 bail and low level drug possession Maine State House, District 37 Grayson Lookner 3,545 Vermont State House, Chittenden 6-4 Brian Cina* 1,858 prosecutions. Merced CA City Council, District 3 Bertha Perez 1,870 Redwood City CA City Council, District 3 Lissette Espinoza-Garnica 861 *re-elected

WINTER 2020 9 FIXING the BOOKS Publishing's exploited workforce is starting to organize

BY ALLISON NICOLE SMITH

Illustration by ERIK PEDERSEN

Book publishing is an industry memory, book workers across the and now I’m trying to drag other that capitalizes on the fear and industry are building collective people out,” says a union steward at insecurity of its workers. Being power to demand tangible and sig- HarperCollins, referring to the dif- book lovers, they accept low salaries, nificant change. In March, employ- ficulty of persuading people to join seeing it as a necessary sacrifice to ees at Hachette protested Woody Al- the union’s open shop. keep the beleaguered publishing in- len’s memoir with a walkout; the vi- One of the major roadblocks to dustry afloat. Yet this same fragile ral hashtag #PublishingPaidMe high- building power in the book industry business offered a record-breaking lighted the pay disparities between is the systemic lack of wage trans- $65 million advance for Michelle Black and non-POC authors; and on parency. Until recently, Publishers Obama’s memoir, which went on to June 8, more than Weekly’s annual job sell 10 million copies mere months 1,400 book work- “I feel like I’ve pulled my- and salary survey after it was published. Penguin ers across the in- was the only read- self out of Plato’s cave, Random House, which published dustry called out of ily available source and now I’m trying to Obama’s memoir, starts editorial as- work to protest the with this kind of raw sistants at a salary of about $40,000 murders of George drag other people out.” data—and it still and only recently announced that it Floyd, Breonna Tay- wasn’t comprehen- would boost entry-level salaries to lor, and countless other Black peo- sive enough to give a full picture. $45,000, beginning in 2021. ple by police, as well as the publish- One group circulated a grassroots Although the U.S. publishing ing industry’s own racism. spreadsheet in which workers across business faces obstacles in the digital These instances of collective the book industry anonymously era, the belief that low wages are the action won’t solve the deeply en- shared their salaries, job titles, em- industry’s only lifeline is a fallacy. Af- trenched inequities in publishing ployers, and years of experience, ter a sharp decline at the start of the overnight, but they are evidence of among other vital data that’s impos- pandemic, unit sales of print books renewed labor organizing after a sible to find elsewhere. Nearly 600 jumped nearly 6% compared to 2019, long period of resignation. workers responded, and the spread- according to NPD BookScan, which Although some publishing sheet continues to grow. measures trends in the book publish- houses have unionized, a linger- So far, book workers’ efforts to ing industry. Ebook sales increased ing stigma has undermined union organize and improve pay equity by 31% in the month of April alone. strength in the industry. “I feel like have been somewhat successful. In For the first time in recent I’ve pulled myself out of Plato’s cave, September, Beacon Press announced

10 DEMOCRATIC LEFT it had raised its entry-level salary to employees will not receive end- way to go before they realize their $44,600, a $9,000 increase. A week of-the-year raises. In 2016, Norton full organizing power, but the tools later, Macmillan announced that its prioritized an estimated $10-12 mil- and the motivation are there. The starting salary would be raised to lion office renovation over signifi- new wave of labor organizers in the $42,000, a $7,000 increase. cant salary increases for its employ- industry gives hope to those who All publishing houses, includ- ees. Norton employees, particularly want to be able to work at what they ing employee-owned ones like those from historically marginalized love and still pay the bills. W. W. Norton & Company—where groups, have reported being “asked” I worked for over two years as an to do uncompensated sensitivity ALLISON NICOLE SMITH is assistant editor—are complicit in reads of manuscripts. And while the a freelance writer and a student the industry-wide exploitation of volunteer-based but HR-led Diver- at the Craig Newmark Graduate low-income workers. In August, sity & Inclusion Committee is an School of Journalism at CUNY. Her Norton announced that the salaries important first step in diversifying writing has appeared or is forth- of its board of directors had been the office, it also creates additional coming in Grub Street, Gotham Ga- fully reinstated after a pandemic-in- unpaid labor for Norton’s BIPOC, zette, Travel + Leisure Southeast Asia, duced pay cut. But for the first time queer, and disabled employees. and more. since the 2008 recession, Norton Publishing workers have a long

A Socialist brother installing a solar panel. Sweat split the bill. Cars whooshed by, tires Christmas Carol shone on his forehead. He climbed sucked at the snow. She lifted her down the ladder, rushed up to her, hand and saw the MTA bus receipt (Continued from page 7) and they hugged. He was filled out. with Bernie’s signature on it. He had purpose in his eyes. “Okay. Okay.” She let out a long turned giant wind turbines. On the “Come say hi to Tia Ebaya,” he sigh. “It’s not about one election or roads, the hum of electric cars passed by. gestured to his children. They jumped one person or even one lifetime.” On “We’re not close to done, but we into her arms. Ebaya held them, and the glass door was her reflection and greened the major cities and the sur- as they kissed, her eyes watered. She inside her friends at the table. Be- rounding rural areas,” President Oc- was overcome with confusion and joy yond her image was a whole world, asio-Cortez said, “It turns out peo- and relief. “Thank you for helping me deep and dynamic and in need. She ple like good-paying union jobs with when I got out.” He pointed at their reached out, opened the door and meaning. And it turns out that saving old childhood building, now rebuilt called their names. the planet is meaningful.” She raised and bright with solar panels. “Mom her eyebrows and hands in mock sur- would have been proud.” NICHOLAS POWERS is a poet, prise. “Who could have guessed?” Ebaya rubbed the back of his novelist and literature professor. The presidential limo crossed head like they were kids again. The Upset Press is publishing Thirst, a into the Bronx, and Ebaya saw deer glint on a window got into her eyes political vampire novel starring a by the roadside and people on bicy- and she blinked. certain real estate mogul, in De- cles. They parked at her childhood cember 2020. His first book, The home. The row of new buildings Christmas Eve Ground Below Zero: 9/11 to Burn- gleamed in the sunlight and a lush ing Man, Darfur to New Orleans, park bloomed in the front. When she opened her eyes, Ebaya Haiti to Occupy Wall Street, came “Hey,” a man called. was in front of the bar again. Inside, out in 2014. Ebaya looked up and saw her her friends sat around the table and

WINTER 2020 11 Three September 11s, Three Who Refused to March

BY CHRIS LOMBARDI Illustration by KATIE EDWARDS

As DSA’s anti-war working groups share terror of Donald Trump’s lame-duck Iran threats and the probable militarism of a Biden pres- idency, we know that any criticism of a “strong defense” will lead neo- ready, sweating in the summer heat. Tempers were running high, and liberals to ask,“What about Septem- By nightfall, hundreds were local police were knocking on ber 11?” I’ve been hearing that ques- dead on both sides. Pennsylvania doors. The authorities knew that tion for decades; it seems to have militia units were “ordered to march 17-year-old Charles Adams had got- supplanted the ubiquitous “What forward to the charge. Our way was ten into some local scuffles of late. about Hitler?” I hear both from over the dead and dying . . . ” The When they came after him, his fa- strangers when I tell them about troops all carried muskets, and ther refused to open the door. Ad- my book, which tells the story of some of Ritter’s platoon-mates fired ams scooted. When he got to Front a dissent from war that stretches into the distance. Ritter did not fire; Street, in the older part of town, back to the American Revolution. he had already decided, without tell- the army recruiting center shone in In fact, the book actually starts on ing anyone, that to do so would be the morning light, “and right then September 11, a date that recurs wrong. and there, on September 11, 1947, I over the centuries. —CL Raised Lutheran, Ritter had enlisted.” been seized just that morning by In January 1948, his unit arrived Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania, was the un-Lutheran conviction that “it in Korea, where the United States beautiful on September 11, 1777. Its was contrary to the Divine Will for was charged with “peacekeeping” in succession of wooded hills made for a Christian to fight.” As he stood areas formerly occupied by Japan. a steep climb, both for the British still amid mortars at Chadds Ford, The sub-zero temperatures froze his and for the insurgent Continental “I supplemented [sic] the Almighty bones. Army. In between hills, level ground that if he would be pleased to deliver Adams’s unit had lost all but ten allowed for fierce fighting. Jacob me from shedding the blood of my soldiers by the time of his capture Ritter, a young member of the Penn- fellow-creatures that day, I would in December 1950. While he and sylvania militia, watched as the ac- never fight again.” His prayer was the others marched uphill in heavy tive-duty “standing troops” took answered, and the rest of Jacob Rit- snow, American bombers overhead casualties. “The bombshells and ter’s life was shaped by that moment dropped napalm on the surrounding shot fell round me like hail, cutting of conscientious objection to war. mountains and villages. “What really down my comrades on every side, sickened me was when one of their and tearing off the limbs of the trees September 11, 1947, was a lit- napalm bombs hit a Korean hut. A like a whirlwind.” Ritter’s unit stood tle hotter than usual in Memphis. woman with a baby on her back

12 DEMOCRATIC LEFT burned before my very eyes.” At this visit to China, and only left when saw the attacks on TV in his high point, Adams exchanged looks with the Cultural Revolution shuttered school, in the shadow of the town’s Richards, a fellow Black GI. “We the publisher he worked for. The army recruiting station. And ten- both were thinking the same thing: House Un-American Activities Com- year-old Texan Reality Leigh Winner If this guard shoots us, well, we de- mittee was waiting for him, as it heard about it in her hyper-patri- serve it because we should not be in considered expanded penalties for otic elementary school. And Jona- Korea.” “assistance to enemies of the U.S. in than Wesley Hutto, a staffer at Am- Adams and others survived the time of undeclared war.” Adams had nesty International, “was prepar- rest of the march, receiving horrific insisted on going home to Memphis ing a report back [from the World treatment in their first year at the with his Chinese wife and biracial Conference Against Racism, held in Pyoktong POW camp. When Chi- children. There he would remain un- Durban, South Africa] when BOOM, nese troops took over the camp, Ad- til his death in 2007, his family’s sur- the entire agenda went up in smoke, ams agreed to communicate with vival his last dissent. literally.” them on behalf of the prisoners, A lot went up in smoke that securing better food, bedding, and On September 11, 2001, veteran day, a day whose memory has been amenities that made life in camp anti-war protester Philip Berrigan, evoked in the decades since to jus- more bearable. In February 1953, he then serving a 30-month sentence tify U.S. imperialism. These twen- was among the prisoners co-signing for civil disobedience, “watched ap- ty-first-century soldier-dissenters an appeal to the U.N. General As- palled as the second tower of the emerged amid twenty-first-century sembly certifying that “we have been World Trade Center came down. warfare—as the country’s stealth kept as comfortable as possible” The guards called me out, took me empire swelled, its colonies replaced and asking for an immediate end to to the lieutenant’s office, shackled by “cooperative security locations” hostilities. and handcuffed me, and took me to sprinkled with well-trained Special After the two sides signed an solitary,” announcing “ ‘No phone, Forces personnel and long-distance armistice in December 1953, some no visitors!’ ” he told the Progressive. assassinations of people who could 23 “turncoats,” including Adams, Those additional measures were be seen, monitored, and killed half a refused repatriation to the United not for Berrigan’s own safety: The world away. This generation also felt States—not be- prison’s authori- the country’s founding injustices, cause they loved ties spied trouble from racism to misogyny, pressing communism but A lot went up in smoke in the 77-year-old on their necks. As with those who because they pre- that day, a day whose veteran of the Sec- had gone before them, carrying mus- ferred the un- ond World War, a kets or slogging through snow with memory has been evoked known of China longtime protester automatic weapons, they knew to in the decades since to or North Korea to against the war ma- say no. Jim Crow. “The justify U.S. imperialism. chine. Meanwhile, Chinese unbrain- elsewhere the next CHRIS LOMBARDI is a mem- washed me!” Ad- generation of sol- ber of the Democratic Left editorial ams told reporters. “The Negro had dier-dissenters was waking up. team. Her new book, I Ain’t Marchin’ his mind brainwashed long before Fourteen-year-old Chelsea Man- Anymore, Dissenters, Deserters, and the Korea War. If he stayed in his ning, born in Oklahoma, learned Objectors from America’s Wars, from place he was a good nigger.” about the attacks while in school in which this article is excerpted, was Adams stayed in China for 15 Wales, where her family had moved published this fall by the New Press. years, during which he met W.E.B. after leaving her army-vet dad. Bran- Du Bois on the latter’s 80th-birthday don Bryant, in Missoula, Montana,

WINTER 2020 13 Resolution to Revolution: YDSA Ready to Organize New Member Profile (Continued from page 5) BY GRIFFIN MAHON We also decided to hold national committees function, Bouyea’s The 2020 summer convention of the reading groups so that members can work shows just how much a new Young Democratic Socialists of Amer- study and strategize with each other DSA member can contribute, from ica (YDSA), held July 31–August 2, across the country, and to form a creating new projects to helping demonstrated remarkable political rank-and-file pipeline so that inter- strengthen already existing projects maturity for such a young movement. ested soon-to-be graduates can find or campaigns. She is already trying YDSA, DSA’s student section, holds union jobs in order to rebuild a mil- to recruit new members. “There’s an annual convention to elect leaders itant labor movement. Many of the one person I have discussed recruit- and set priorities as well as an annual discussions at the convention took ing with. She works with the Demo- educational and outreach conference. for granted that it is essential for the cratic Party in a nearby county, but This year, even though pandemic cir- socialist movement to “merge” it- she’s been to a lot of recent protests cumstances forced us to convene on- self with the layer of militant workers and she’s really interested in DSA,” line, YDSAers came ready: members who have taken action in recent years. Bouyea says. “She’s more interested put together slates of candidates, res- Without these organic connections, in socialism, but she thought that olutions, and articles for the 130-plus even our elected officials won’t be working with the Democratic Party delegates to debate. This was the larg- able to get much done. was the best she could do.” est delegation in YDSA’s history, and Four years ago, YDSA had no this new generation of socialists is a more than a dozen chapters. Now NICHOLAS GREYSON WARD sign that our movement is here to stay. we’re quickly passing 100, as orga- is a journalist and writer based At the 2019 YDSA convention, nizers focus especially on forming out of Modesto, CA, where he is delegates passed every resolution put chapters at high schools, community a member of the Stanislaus Orga- forward. As a result, members were colleges, and Historically Black Col- nizing Committee. You can follow stretched too thin to commit whole- leges and Universities. A key question him on @ngward94. This heartedly to YDSA’s main priority, as the organization grows is, “What article is part of a series on new which was College for All—a program should YDSA be?” Should it remain a DSA members. based on eliminating student debt and student section or aim to organize all providing free public university ed- the youth in an area regardless of en- ucation. Motivated by the economic rollment? How much should YDSA be crisis and the pandemic, alongside the integrated into DSA? These questions already-existing regime of austerity in have existed in the organization since SAVE the DATE higher education, we decided to ded- its founding. As members organize icate this year to organizing around online and in person, they continue to demands to cut tuition, housing costs, fight for themselves and the teachers, WINTER and fees; change grading standards; professors, grad students, and support CONFERENCE protect essential workers; and disem- staff at their schools. Late February 2021 power campus police. Labiba Chow- dhury and Neah Havens were elected GRIFFIN MAHON is the execu- co-chairs for a one-year term. They tive editor of YDSA’s publication, y.dsausa.org/the-activist share a vote on DSA’s National Politi- The Activist. cal Committee.

14 DEMOCRATIC LEFT From the National Director Statement of Ownership, Management, and

(Continued from page 2) Circulation 1. Publication Title, “DEMOCRATIC LEFT” rentals, was heading for a recount as this issue went to press. 2. Publication Number, 701960 ISSN, 1643207 3. Filing Date, 11/12/2020 Despite being outspent 40 to 1, DSA and the coalition it built 4. Issue Frequency, quarterly prevailed. 5. Number of Issues Published Annually, 4 6. Annual Subscription Price, $25.00 Portland Oregon DSA passed a socialist feminist ref- 7. 'SQTPIXI1EMPMRK%HHVIWWSJ/RS[R3ƾGISJ4YFPMGEXMSR, erendum that is both pro-family and pro-worker: universal (not 43&3<2);=36/2= 8. Contact Person, Ms. MARIA SVART Telephone, means-tested) pre-K with a massively increased wage for provid- (212) 727-8610 ers, all paid for by taxing the rich. (See story on p. 3.) 9. Complete Mailing Address of Headquarters or General Business 3ƾGISJ4YFPMWLIV43&3<2);=36/2= Florida DSA chapters fought for and won the $15 min- Publisher (7%43&3<2);=36/2= imum wage, and Boulder DSA won a “no eviction without Editor1EVME7ZEVX(7%43&3<2);=36/2= 1038, Managing Editor1EVME7ZEVX(7%43&3<2); representation” ballot initiative. Plus we had a slew of locally YORK NY 10272-1038. endorsed initiatives. 10. Owner, Democratic Socialists of America Inc., PO BOX 1038, 2);=36/2= Heartbreakingly, we came close but still lost Proposition 15 11. Known Bondholders, Mortgages, Other Security Holders, in California to close a tax loophole for large commercial prop- None 12. Tax Status, Has not changed during preceding 12 months. erties and capture billions for public services, but we won close 13. Publication Title, DEMOCRATIC LEFT to 75% of our campaigns by making demands to benefit the en- 14. Issue Date for Circulation Data Below, Fall 2020 Average No. of No. Copies of Copies Each Single Issue 15. Extent and Nature of Circulation Issue, During Published tire working class and doing the painstaking direct voter contact Preceding 12 Nearest to Months Filing Date to reach them and turn them out to vote. As we wrap up 2020, a.Total Number of Copies (net press run) 58233 72500 b.Paid Circulation (By Mail and Outside the Mail) (1) Mailed 54639 67443 every DSA member must be asking these key questions: Outside County Paid Subscriptions State on PS Form 3541 • How and why were we able to win, and what does it tell us b.(2) Mailed In-County Paid Subscriptions States on PS Form 3541 0 0 b.(3) Paid Distribution Outside the Mails Including Sales Through 0 0 Dealers and Carriers, Street Vendors, Counter Sales, and Other about the political moment? Paid Distribution Outside USPS • What kind of power do we need, and what is a strategy b.(4) Paid Distribution by Other Classes of Mail Through the USPS 0 0 that builds it? c.Total Paid Distribution 54639 67443 d.Free or Nominal Rate Distribution (By Mail and Outside • What are the campaigns and practices that will allow us the Mail) d.(1)Free or Nominal Rate Outside-County Copies included in PS 0 0 to talk to the 80 million people who didn’t vote this time? Form 3541 d.(2)Free or Nominal Rate In-County Copies Included in PS Form 0 0 Our chapters in every state of the country are out asking our 3541

d.(3)Free or Nominal Rate Copies Mailed at Other Classes 2733 3000 coworkers and neighbors how we resist both fascism and neo- Through the USPS (e.g. First-Class Mail) liberalism and build a better world. I hope you will look up your d.(4) Free or Nominal Rate Distribution Outside the Mail (Carriers 786 2002 or other means) local DSA or YDSA group and get involved today. There’s never e.Total Free or Nominal Rate Distribution 3519 5002 been a more critical time. f.Total Distribution 58159 72445 g.Copies Not Distributed 74 55

h.Total 58233 72500

i.Percent Paid 93.95% 93.10% READ MORE AT DL ONLINE: 16. Publication of Statement of Ownership, Publication of this dsausa.org/democratic-left/ WXEXIQIRX[MPPFITVMRXIHMRXLI;MRXIVIHMXMSRSJXLMW publication. From Fact to Muddled Fiction: 17. Signature and Title of Editor, Publisher, Business Manager, or The Trial of the Chicago 7 Owner, [email protected] (MARIA SVART) Date 11/12/2020 by Brian Siano

Interracial Alliances: Black and Gold DEMOCRATIC LEFT NEEDS SKILLED VOLUNTEERS! by Alexander Lee DSA’s all-volunteer team needs skilled writers, Time for a Catholic Spring? reporters, illustrators, photographers, and editors. by Marie Venner Apply here: bit.ly/3kRUU6e Art: Devon Manney

WINTER 2020 15 DSA BY THE NUMBERS

RECRUITMENT DRIVE: 12,923 new members 2,012 renewals Total DSA membership: 85,000+ CAMPAIGNS: 29 victories out of 40 nationally endorsed campaigns 14 state squads Moving? Let us know: [email protected]. 8LI4SWX3ƾGIGLEVKIWJSVIZIV] of 2+ state legislators VIXYVRIHGST]SJDemocratic Left;IWEZIQSRI]ERH]SYHSRƅXQMWWERMWWYI

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