SOCIALISTS ON THE BIG SCREEN TRADE POLICY CHAPTER ROUNDUP PUERTO RICAN RESISTANCE STUDENT PROTESTS From the National Director It’s About Power By Maria Svart

hen I was a union or- your pay low, raise your rent, and deny you cover- ganizer, we periodically age. It’s time to get into politics.” Wdid something called a November 7, 2017, was a test, as was May 15, structure test. For example, we 2018, and every other election this year. These were might circulate a survey in the and will be real-world tests to fi nd out whether DSA workplace about conditions. The has the power to elect democratic socialists in lo- data from the survey were useful cal races. So far, we can be proud of our record, as, in telling us what problems were most recently, when nationally endorsed Sara In- widely and deeply felt, but so was namorato and Summer Lee joined locally endorsed the response rate and pattern, because it told us Elizabeth Fiedler and Kristin Seale in winning who was not participating. their Democratic primary races for the Pennsylva- Later in a campaign, a higher level, riskier test nia State House in May. Innamorato and Lee blew might be a “march on the boss.” Would everyone their conservative Democratic incumbent oppo- in the workplace sign a public petition, and would nents, both members of a well-entrenched political all those on a shift leave their posts and barge, to- dynasty, out of the water by huge margins. gether, into the bosses’ offi ce to confront them with A few lessons from our work so far: a demand? 1. When we win, we grow; and when we grow, With the union, bosses either felt intimidated by we win, because winning gives us hope in dark the workers united and met our demands or they times. Our state governments in many cases have did not. Workers would not plan a march on the boss been making austerity budget cuts or ratcheting up unless they believed that their co-workers were overt violence against our communities for years. In ready and that the workers could come out of the this environment, every time we feel that we have march more powerful. In other words, the march on gained some power moves more people into collec- the boss was simultaneously a test and a tactic as tive action. part of our larger strategy. 2. We aren’t going it alone. Unions, single is- Because we are in this fi ght to win, it matters sue, voter engagement, and newer ally organiza- whether we are unifi ed or not and whether our tions like Our Revolution are often with us in the strategies and tactics actually build power in mea- trenches. For example, the United Electrical Work- surable ways. It is not enough to simply feel radical. ers union was the fi rst to break ranks with labor DSA’s theory of change is that we must build and endorse Innamorato and Lee; Reclaim Philadel- power not just in the economy through workplaces, phia knocked on 50,000 doors for Fiedler; and the but also in the formal political realm. We know that Sierra Club, other environmental, and reproductive who holds state power has a profound impact on our rights organizations gave signifi cant contributions everyday lives and on the terrain of our war with to several candicates—and did the same for Lee capital. A recent popular tweet captures the essence Carter in 2017. DSA is the democratic socialist cur- of the issue: “You’re ‘just not that into politics?’ Your rent in a broader movement, and if we’re to build a boss is. Your landlord is. Your insurance company is. mass movement, we need to be where the masses And every day they use their political power to keep are. This is one reason that power mapping and co- alition work are topics in our Regional Leadership Trainings. 3. Finally, while we savor these victories and Contents build toward the next ones, let’s keep in mind that Building Electoral Power ...... 3 electoral work as practiced by DSA is an extension DSAers in OfÀ ce ...... 5 of other movement work, something we do year DSA Chapters Go for Victories ...... 7 round and in between elections. DSA’s three fi eld From Canvass to Campaign ...... 10 Kitchen Table Socialism: Trade Policy ...... 11 organizers are traveling throughout the country Student Protests: the East LA Walkouts ...... 12 this summer to help chapters think through how to Puerto Rican Resistance Grows ...... 13 build a powerful grassroots base through various Marx and Debs on the Big Screen ...... 14 campaigns confronting local targets. Elections are Art by Andrea Guinn, Aneesh Bhoopathy, and Hallie Jay Pope continued on page 9 page 2 • Democratic Left • Summer 2018 Building Electoral Power By Amelia Dornbush and Sam Lewis

f working people are going to create a new demo- cialist movement that can take on the far right with cratic socialist society that works for everyone, a more inspiring vision for the future than what the Iwe need to take political power. This means tak- Democratic Party mainstream has to offer. ing electoral politics seriously—both in terms of A case in point is the New York City DSA, which winning specifi c elections and in terms of winning endorsed two candidates in 2017. In both of those democratic socialist political majorities that can campaigns, DSA members trained and managed create a new set of social and economic rules. their own canvasses, printed their own literature, Unfortunately, people may vote once or twice campaigned openly as members of DSA, kept copies a year, but capitalists vote every day through the of all data from the fi eldwork, wrote their own press stock market and the labor releases, and insisted on market. They have the pow- canvassing in the areas tar- er to threaten their oppo- geted as strategic not just nents’ livelihoods or reward for the campaign but also those who protect their priv- for DSA’s own expansion. ileges. That is why elections When DSA members joined alone are not enough. Social- the staff of campaigns, they ists must also play a role in stepped down from their organizing the working class decision-making DSA roles, through labor unions, com- to ensure that the campaign munity organizations, and would always be account- social movements. Our po- able to the organization litical candidates and cam- instead of the other way paigns must be used to in- around. spire confi dence in and build NYC-DSA’s candidates’ all forms of working-class campaigns gave members political action. a chance to work alongside But even though it isn’t working-class groups on suffi cient by itself, winning issues of concern to their elections is key. We cannot members. DSA member Aneesh Bhoopathy claim to speak for the major- Jabari Brisport’s city coun- ity and act in their interests cil campaign focused on a if we cannot win individual crucial affordable housing elections, and if we cannot win individual elections, fi ght in rapidly gentrifying Crown Heights, Brook- we certainly can’t win a majority of people to our lyn. He didn’t win the election, but he did win the vision for a new society. endorsement of New York Communities for Change, At DSA’s 2017 national convention, delegates a major tenant organization, in its fi rst-ever en- voted to make electoral work a top priority. The dorsement of an openly socialist candidate. NYC- National Electoral Strategy passed by the National DSA is taking a similar approach in 2018, as it can- Political Committee fl eshes out that mandate by vasses for Julia Salazar’s State Senate campaign in focusing on how DSA chapters can use this work the Democratic primary while organizing to form to expand their own capacities, electoral and oth- tenant associations to fi ght for universal rent con- erwise. Now is the time for every DSA chapter to trol in her district. start recruiting candidates for local offi ce. Already, When DSA-backed candidates do win elections, DSA has elected candidates across the country, they can make big changes in people’s lives. Gregorio from Montana to Virginia. These victories don’t give Cesar won a city council race in Austin, Texas, and us a governing majority anywhere, but they do help joined DSA a year later. Cesar led a huge mobiliza- us develop the skills necessary to win. By building tion to make Austin the fi rst Southern city to pass up an independent campaign apparatus capable of paid sick leave—an immediate benefi t to 200,000 putting candidates in offi ce (or removing them from workers. Alderman Carlos Ramirez-Rosa, a DSA it), we establish a fi ghting political arm of the so- member who holds elected offi ce in Chicago, Illinois,

Democratic Left • Summer 2018 • page 3 uses his position to counter Immigration and Cus- In most of this country, unions and community toms Enforcement offi cials by notifying community groups do not operate within self-consciously work- members when immigration raids are happening. ing-class electoral coalitions like the RPA, which Recently, he was voted off the Chicago City Council means DSA members should have an eye to build- Latino Caucus after he used a parliamentary proce- ing such coalitions. A single victorious candidate dure to delay approval of Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s expressing our values can be the catalyst for many $95 million police training academy. organizations to join a more ambitious political Having members in offi ce gives DSA opportu- project, as long as we remain committed to advanc- nities for coalition ing the material needs building and for imple- of their members. menting policies that The deck is stacked strengthen the ca- against working-class pacity of the working Building a working- politics due to unfair class to fi ght. Elected ballot access rules, a offi cials have access to class“ socialist movement growing wave of voter- resources in terms of suppression laws, and staff and funding that means we must reach the fl ood of corporate are otherwise out of cash that the billion- reach for many com- well beyond our own aire class can unleash munity organizations. into the electoral pro- As more DSA members membership. cess whenever its in- are elected, the orga- terests are threatened. nization will have to Building a democratic navigate the tensions ” socialist movement re- of being in power and developing the accountable, quires understanding these challenges and over- democratic structures we want to see in the future. coming them. Every DSA chapter can advance our Building a working-class socialist movement ca- national priority by taking the steps to develop an pable of taking power means we must reach well independent electoral apparatus capable of putting beyond our own membership. Across the United our own candidates in offi ce and holding them ac- States, there are working-class majoritarian politi- countable to our beliefs. cal projects developing, especially at the municipal But we shouldn’t stop there. DSA chapters should level. DSA members and candidates should learn begin to assess the balance of power in their area at from groups such as the Richmond Progressive the local, state, and national level. We should plan Alliance in California, New Haven Rising in Con- not just for the next city council elections, but to necticut, and Cooperation Jackson in Mississippi. build an enduring socialist majority in the years In Richmond, the RPA majority has been able to and decades to come. ™ lead the state in pushing wage increases, rent con- Amelia Dorn- trol, and even using the threat of eminent domain bush was co- to fi ght bank foreclosures. That majority has been communications maintained for more than a decade, even as candi- coordinator for dates backed by Chevron oil consistently outspend the NYC-DSA them ten to one. DSA locals in California have now Brooklyn Elec- endorsed former Richmond mayor Gayle McLaugh- toral Working lin in her run for lieutenant governor. Group before These coalitions force DSA to consider its role in moving to Lansing, Michigan. the broader progressive movement. For instance, Sam Lewis is a union organizer in Brooklyn, New Chokwe Antar Lumumba has pledged to make York, and co-coordinator of the NYC-DSA Brooklyn Jackson, Mississippi, the “most radical city in the Electoral Working Group. world.” His organization is deeply rooted in the black radical tradition, but he doesn’t identify as a socialist. As we continue to interpret and further Check out DSA Weekly develop a national electoral strategy, DSA chapters (formerly the DL Blog) and, eventually, our national organization will have Go to dsausa.org and click on a weekly dose of to decide how much weight to place on campaigning diverse analyses and reports. There are links for for self-identifi ed socialists and how we see our role pitching an article or writing a letter to the editor. in a broader working-class movement. page 4 • Democratic Left • Summer 2018 DSAers in Offi ce By Tom Gallagher

re socialist candidates and offi ce holders part the fact that he mentioned unions. of the new normal? Well, maybe not just yet, khalid kamau grabs your attention from the fi rst Abut the experiences of fi ve successful DSA letter of his name, written in lower case, in keeping candidates suggest that point may not be too far off. with Yoruban African tradition. Now an attorney, Seema Singh Perez, born in Varanasi, India, be- kamau has driven a bus for the Metropolitan At- came a naturalized U.S. citizen at age 13. Knoxville, lanta Rapid Transit Authority and was drawn into Tennessee, has been home off and on for 40 years, labor and political organizing in opposition to the for the last 20 of which she has worked to improve agency’s outsourcing of public employee jobs. He be- healthcare access for women, people with HIV/ lieves he is the fi rst Black Lives Matter organizer AIDS, and those experiencing homelessness. She elected to public offi ce. A Sanders national conven- runs a jail alternative program for domestic violence tion delegate, he also cites the central importance of offenders. Although a long-time progressive, Singh that campaign, telling the Progressive.org, “I don’t Perez did not consider herself think any of us yet recognize a socialist before the Bernie how monumental [Bernie’s] Sanders presidential campaign. campaign was….Every presi- “He spoke the truth in ways dential race brings into the po- that I just hadn’t heard...hon- litical process a new generation estly... I cried,” she says. “It sud- of volunteers, but Bernie galva- denly struck me, I could/should nized a group of highly educat- be [in] government.” So she ran ed, highly skilled activists, folks for city council and became one pretty much already politically of its fi rst two women of color. involved. Then, he charged us to Just four months into a four- run for local offi ce, specifi cally, year term, she counts among as a way of both infi ltrating and her early priorities housing transforming the Democratic and income inequality and in- Party, and working our way up creased training in the trades, the political ladder.” particularly for women. In kamau’s case that ladder First-term Maine State Rep- started with his election to the resentative Mike Sylvester, a city council of South Fulton, DSA member since 2014, who Georgia, a brand new munici- has been involved with several It suddenly pality of 100,000, nearly 90% socialist groups over the years, of whose population is African also says he was “excited by struck“ me, I could/ American. His immediate prior- Bernie Sanders’s campaign. ities include developing the new Bernie said everyone should should be in city’s infrastructure; a $15-per- run,” and with his district rep- hour minimum wage for city resentative term-limited out, government. employees, with paid family he decided to do just that. Leav- leave and health benefi ts; and ing little doubt as to where he ” political education. He’d like stood, his campaign signs pro- some of that political education claimed, “Elect a democratic socialist.” Involved in to occur on the election day holiday he has proposed union organizing for 20 years, with SEIU, UFCW, for the city. Of DSA, he says, “I received more sup- CWA, AFT, and Justice for Janitors, Sylvester ex- port fi nancially and time support from the DSA plains, “I came out of an organizing culture where than from the Democratic Party of Georgia. I will you say what you think.” Few would argue with the work for them forever because their principles are results: his 83% fi nal election vote was the highest my principles.” in the state. He acknowledges that he did get hissed As Lee J. Carter told American University’s during his fi rst House speech, but what actually WAMU, he met with deep skepticism when he an- raised hackles among a few of his colleagues was nounced his challenge to the Republican majority

Democratic Left • Summer 2018 • page 5 whip of the Virginia House of Delegates: “The con- proceeds of which would go to Chicago schools; cre- ventional wisdom was he can’t be beat. That was ating a Civilian Police Accountability Council; pub- sort of unanimous. Everyone said that the entire 21 lic election fi nancing; and divesting city funds from months I was running.” Carter won by nine points, companies involved in the Dakota Access Pipeline. one of fi fteen General Assembly seats Democrats “I was very explicit that I would be an organizing al- took from Republicans that day. The diffi culty the derman,” Ramirez-Rosa told the Nation magazine, fi ve-year Marine veteran experienced in securing “that I would work to build a base of people in my workers’ compensation benefi ts following an on-the- community who will hold me accountable and fi ght job injury was what moved him to action. for progressive change—and who, when I pick fi ghts As he said, “I’ve always been interested in poli- with Rahm Emanuel, will have my back.” tics. I’ve followed it as a spectator sport, mostly yell- Ramirez-Rosa, who was reading Noam Chomsky ing at people on Facebook. I never saw myself as be- in high school, told Jacobin magazine that “Demo- ing a candidate for offi ce. I always thought that was cratic socialism means that the people govern ev- something for doctors and lawyers and retirees. But ery facet of their lives, whether it be the economic I saw fi rsthand how leaving working-class issues up structure or the government that’s determining the to entirely doctors, lawyers and retirees meant that policies that impact their lives.” the working class of America was being left behind, Sylvester of Maine had concluded simply, “Social- so I decided to step forward and fi x some things.” ism makes common sense. You’ve just got to talk Ultimately, he would be the target of a classic, about specifi cs and when you’re in offi ce you have old-fashioned red-scare mailer featuring carica- to have the facts and do the things you say you’re tures of him and “Comrade Joseph Stalin,” among going to do.” He believes that a person wants to feel others, and he realized that “if you’re to the left of that “my government is actually doing something; it Barry Goldwater, Republicans are going to call you makes my life better; and I have a say in that.” a socialist regardless of whether or not you actu- For now, Singh Perez, who cites Seattle socialist ally are, so you may as well draw some knowledge city councilor Kshama Sawant as an additional in- from that political tradition.” It’s a tradition he did fl uence (“She and Bernie made me think this can be not come to until Sanders, of whom he says, “He done—I can do it.”) fi nds her greatest challenge may went out there and said, ‘I’m a democratic social- be that she is by nature a quiet person in a “job that ist. Here’s what that means: It means I believe in seems to be for extroverts.” ™ strong unions, healthcare for everybody, and an end Tom Gallagher is a DSA to discrimination.’ Well, that’s what I believe in, too. member living in San I dug a little more into it, and I realized a lot of the Francisco. He is a former chair problems we have in today’s society refl ected in elec- of Boston DSA and a past toral politics are symptoms of economic problems.” member of the Massachusetts He’s now trying to use that knowledge to reform House of Representatives. He workers’ compensation, limit campaign contribu- has served as a convention tions from corporations, and create a state-level delegate for Bernie Sanders and single-payer healthcare plan. George McGovern. Although also a Sanders delegate, Carlos Ramirez-Rosa got his start earlier, in 2015, when he defeated a three-term incumbent backed by Chi- cago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, becoming the young- est alderman on the 50-member city council and Call for Articles the fi rst openly gay Latino ever elected to offi ce in The Winter 2018 edition of Democratic Left Chicago. Seeing himself as “a movement-elected of- will be devoted to socialist feminism, focusing fi cial,” Ramirez-Rosa’s broad agenda includes rein- on the ways that gender intersects with other stating a corporate “head tax” on fi rms with more socialist concerns and approaches. We are than 50 employees—abolished by Emanuel—the seeking submissions on a range of topics as well as information from socialist feminist groups detailing practices at work in your RENEW YOUR MEMBERSHIP NOW group: how your group operates, your main DSA doesn’t get big grants or any government projects, and approaches that other chap- funding. We need you and your membership ters can emulate. For more information or dues. Renew now and keep the political revolu- to submit, please email Laura Colaneri at tion going! [email protected] page 6 • Democratic Left • Summer 2018 DSA Chapters Go for Victories By Meagan Day

emocratic Left asked chapters to tell us what anne Vander they’re working on in the electoral arena. Werf for Ameri- DThis list isn’t complete, but it’s a window into can River Flood the inspiring hard work that DSA chapters are doing Control District; around the country to shift the political terrain. and Phillip Kim The National Electoral Committee is assist- for State Sen- ing chapters in building the capacity to run their ate District 4. own campaign operations, independent of any par- Brown, Vander ticular candidate. Since the beginning of the year, Werf, and Kim the NEC has been conducting chapter outreach, are Sacramento researching candidates for endorsement, hosting DSA members, trainings, and educating chapters about campaign and chapter fi nance law issues. members are ex- Philly DSA canvassed for Elizabeth Fiedler and cited to move on Kristin Seale in their winning primary races for their campaigns. the Pennsylvania State House. Using DSA’s inde- Brown’s cam- pendent canvassing operation that interfaced with paign offers a Jovanka Beckles, East Bay DSA member and candidate for state assembly, at the Fiedler’s and Seale’s campaigns, DSAers talked to very compelling UC workers’ strike in May, showing off her voters about issues important to the working class opportunity for DSA Medicare for All swag. in advance of the May 15 Pennsylvania Democratic the chapter. Sac- primary elections. As with Medicare for All canvass- ramento is an early adopter of the Voters’ Choice ing efforts, members stressed the importance of de- Act, which gives every voter a ballot a month be- commodifying healthcare. Unlike with general M4A fore the election, extends the time when polling canvassing, they were able to argue that electing places are open to 11 days, and more. The chapter two fi erce, left-wing women would go a long way will identify low-propensity registered voters and toward enacting better healthcare policies. Fiedler canvass their homes with the intention of boosting won her race by a dozen points, with unusually high turnout in what are often low-participation mid- turnout at the polls. She ran on a platform of uni- terms. Voter turnout in Brown’s district could be versal free healthcare and education, criminal jus- from 6,000 to 8,000 voters, and if the race is close, a tice and environmental reform, and democracy both few hundred votes could determine it. Canvassing in the workplace and in the political process. could make the difference. Pittsburgh DSA went all out for Summer Lee East Bay DSA is working on three electoral cam- and Sara Innamorato, both members of DSA, who paigns this season: National DSA endorsee Gayle won primaries for House Districts 34 and 21, re- McLaughlin, running as an independent for lieuten- spectively. Lee and Innamorato beat two cousins, ant governor; Jovanka Beckles, an East Bay DSA Paul and Dom Costa, who are members of an es- member running for state assembly; and a ballot tablished Democratic Party political family in Pitts- initiative to repeal state-imposed limits on local rent burgh. Both women ran on platforms of economic control. The three campaigns fi t together nicely: When equality, criminal justice reform, Medicare for All, McLaughlin and Beckles served together on the Rich- tuition-free public education, and other popular mond City Council, they helped pass the state’s fi rst DSA positions. Headlines around the country pro- new rent control measure in 30 years, inspiring hous- claimed victory for democratic socialists, such as, ing activists in other cities around the state to follow “A Democratic Socialist Landslide in Pennsylvania” suit. More info at https://ebdsapac.org/. and “Socialist-Backed Candidates Sweep Pennsyl- New York City DSA has endorsed Alexandria vania State House Primaries.” Neither woman has Ocasio-Cortez in her campaign to be the Democratic a Republican opponent in the November election. candidate to the U.S. House of Representatives in Sacramento DSA held an eight-hour Candidate New York’s 14th congressional district. Ocasio-Cor- Forum in April and endorsed four candidates: Gayle tez is a working-class, Latina democratic socialist McLaughlin for lieutenant governor; Tristan Brown running on a platform of Medicare for All, a univer- for Sacramento City Council District 7; Rachel- sal jobs guarantee, tuition-free public college, and

Democratic Left • Summer 2018 • page 7 abolishing the Immigration and Customs Enforce- migrants for returning to the United States after ment agency. Her opponent in the Democratic pri- deportation, and for the recent bank deregulation mary, the incumbent, Joe Crowley, takes Wall Street bill. She has also consistently refused to support and real estate money and uses his position as chair single-payer healthcare. of the Queens Democratic Party to suppress candi- Harris is a local activist who has worked on a dates who challenge the vaunted Queens political wide array of issues and has stood up for workers, machine. Queens branch members are very excited LGBT folks, and communities of color. The district about the campaign and drew 34 canvassers to the she aims to represent includes economically op- kickoff event on April 28. With citywide endorse- pressed and historically neglected communities of ment, other DSAers should join the campaign. color in West Orlando. She is challenging the incum- New York City has also endorsed DSA member bent county commissioner, who has supported zon- Julia Salazar in her bid for the New York State ing changes that have paved the way for harmful Senate. She is running in Brooklyn’s 18th district, gentrifi cation in the area. The race is nonpartisan, which includes Bushwick, Williamsburg, and other but Harris has been active in the local Green Party. neighborhoods in North Brooklyn, against a devel- Metro DC DSA has endorsed six candidates for oper-backed incumbent. “We don’t operate with a county- and state-level offi ces in Montgomery County, vision of scarcity,” said Salazar in a speech asking Maryland. All candidates are running in the Demo- for the endorsement of NYC-DSA. “We operate with cratic primary, which takes place on June 26. Chap- a vision of abundance.” NYC-DSA delegates voted ter members have knocked on thousands of doors and overwhelmingly in favor of her campaign, and the helped build a strong regional coalition to support the chapter held a kickoff event on May 19. candidates. For more information about these candi- Chicago DSA has avoided running or support- dates (or about Metro DC DSA’s electoral work in gen- ing candidates in larger races in favor of ballot eral), you can visit the Metro DC DSA Solidarity PAC measures that correspond to its wider campaigns, website at http://dsasolidaritypac.org. while supporting candidates in hyper-local races DSA San Francisco is hard at work on two for administrative offi ces. In the March election the critical local ballot measure campaigns: Yes on F ballot referendum in support of lifting the ban on and No on H. Proposition F, which has been spear- rent control received wide support, and the chap- headed by DSA and a host of tenants’ rights organi- ter’s effort secured it a voice on the steering com- zations, would guarantee a right to counsel for any mittee of the coalition organizing for rent control San Francisco resident who has been served with in Chicago. Other big electoral wins came in April an eviction notice. In 90% of eviction cases that go in the races for local school councils, where eleven to court, landlords have a lawyer and tenants don’t. DSA members ran and ten secured seats. Some ran As a result, the vast majority of cases are decided unopposed, but in fi ve of the six contested races, in favor of the landlords simply because tenants do DSA members won, in some cases receiving nearly not have the resources to defend themselves. Prop twice as many votes as the opposition. F would help to protect vulnerable tenants from Orlando DSA is supporting Chardo Richardson eviction and displacement, prevent homelessness, for U.S. Congress in Florida’s 7th district and Robin and win vital power for the working class in San Harris for Orange County Commissioner. Francisco in the fi ght against the capitalist-manu- Richardson is an Air Force veteran and lawyer factured housing crisis. who has served as president of the Central Florida Proposition H is a measure written by the San ACLU while working for a local teachers’ union. Francisco Police Offi cers Association that would Richardson supports single-payer healthcare, free allow the POA to create its own use-of-force policy public college, a $15 minimum wage, an end to U.S. involving tasers, which would bypass the oversight involvement in regime-change wars, and a complete of the Police Commission and dispense with the (al- restructuring of the criminal justice system lead- ready watered-down) de-escalation training they’re ing to the end of the War on Drugs. Richardson is supposed to be implementing. DSA SF opposed the challenging incumbent congressional representa- use of tasers from the beginning. Prop H would al- tive Stephanie Murphy in a Democratic primary. low police offi cers to use tasers on anyone, including Murphy, a “blue dog” conservative Democrat, voted people wh o pose absolutely no threat. for Kate’s Law, which punishes undocumented im- DSA-LA is gearing up for a campaign in partner- ship with a coalition of grassroots organizations in support of a statewide ballot measure to repeal Costa- For more information about DSA’s Hawkins, a 1995 law that puts severe limits on local electoral strategy and endorsed cam- rent control measures. If this ballot measure is suc- paigns, go to http://electoral.dsausa.org/ cessful, the chapter will pressure the City of Los Ange- page 8 • Democratic Left • Summer 2018 les and nearby municipalities to expand rent control IT’S ABOUT POWER/continued from page 2 and tenant protections to every tenant in the city. concrete tests. Election cycles are predictable and In the June 5 primaries, DSA-LA is also support- thus a useful scorecard of our effectiveness at build- ing Gayle McLaughlin for lieutenant governor and ing a multi-racial, working-class base that is self- Steve Dunwoody for State Assembly. Dunwoody is conscious, strategic, and powerful. a DSA member and 2016 Bernie delegate running Elections are also real fi ghts in the class war, against the local political machine on LA’s west side. battles that we need to win because they have real DSA-LA is also a part of the Public Bank LA co- consequences. alition to pressure city lawmakers to create a public In this issue of Democratic Left, Amelia Dorn- bank, which would save millions in fees and pave bush and Sam Lewis’s piece explores how and why the way for more democratic control of local fi nance. DSA electoral campaigns can be powerful engines And along with comrades across the state and coun- for building independent working-class power and try, the chapter is canvassing regularly for Medi- a base that is broader than DSA’s existing mem- care for All in the form of the California SB-562. ™ bership. Tom Gallagher profi les some of our elected Meagan Day is a staff writer at offi cials, and Meagan Day looks at the work of a Jacobin magazine whose work has number of DSA chapters carrying out our national also appeared in the Baffl er, In electoral strategy of using campaigns to build ca- These Times, Mother Jones, The pacity in our chapters rather than simply providing Week, n+1, and elsewhere. ground troops for candidates. Puya Gerami’s piece is a case study of Central Connecticut DSA’s elec- toral work from power analysis to strategic plan. Paid political advertisement paid for by Dem- And rounding out the issue, Laurence Peterson, ocratic Socialists of America, Inc., 75 Maiden Jack Suria-Linares, Maurice Isserman, Nicole Díaz Lane, Ste 702, New York, NY 10038, indepen- González, and Michael Hirsch look to current and dently of any candidate or committee. No historical situations and struggles that offer lessons candidate has approved this advertisement. that should inform our electoral work.

Dozens of DSA leaders attended the Texas Leadership Training in Houston, Texas, in February. This was the second of ten trainings for elected chapter and organizing committee leaders scheduled for 2018. National staff and experienced local organizers led sessions on strategic campaign design, power mapping and coalition building, one-on-one organizing conversations, leadership development, our three national priorities, our core political beliefs and theory of how to build power and make change, and more. Photo by Kristian Hernandez.

Democratic Left • Summer 2018 • page 9 From Canvass to Campaign By Puya Gerami

ince the Great Recession erupted, the Repub- representatives to vote against a pay equity bill lican Party has wrested trifecta control over and the lone opponent to a bill reversing the police Sthe majority of state governments in the coun- procedure that mandated the arrest of victims in try. This rightward power shift is not limited to domestic violence incidents along with their aggres- the heartland. In Connecticut, the Democratic su- sors. permajorities that used to dominate both legislative As a result of our positive discussions with resi- chambers have been reduced to a razor-thin mar- dents in the district, we decided to challenge Fish- gin in the House and an even tie with the GOP in bein. Two of our members, Charles Decker and the Senate, while popular support for the outgoing Justin Farmer, had just been elected to municipal Democratic governor has hit rock bottom. This dra- council positions in the region. Now we aim for state matic political change has occurred during a long offi ce. In February, DSAer Dan Fontaine, who re- budgetary crisis. While Republicans seek to elimi- sides with his family in Fishbein’s district, launched nate public-sector union rights, many Democrats his campaign. remain in thrall to austerity and refuse to confront Fontaine’s campaign for the 90th House District the real crisis affl icting Connecti- expects to receive Democratic and cut: Our state consistently ranks WFP endorsements and has al- not only among the most affl uent ready generated remarkable ener- in the country but also among the gy. We have continued to refi ne our most unequal. agenda by asking for support from What can democratic socialists do voters using a survey to discuss core to change this situation? Like many issues, including progressive tax re- budding chapters, Central Connect- form, paid family and medical leave, icut DSA was born during the mem- Andrea Guinn a $15-per-hour minimum wage, and bership surge after the 2016 presi- tuition-free state college. Fontaine dential election. Early on, we recognized the need to has received hundreds of small donations from resi- articulate an alternative vision that challenged the dents on their own doorsteps, thereby qualifying prevailing neoliberal consensus. This means advo- handily for public fi nancing. We are also construct- cacy for robust unionism, public investment, wealth ing a labor committee composed of numerous activ- redistribution, and racial and gender equity. ist unions in an effort to involve a diversity of rank- One of our fi rst major efforts was an issue-based and-fi le members from across the area. canvassing project through the Working Families Although our short-term goal for this effort re- Party. (Connecticut is one of the few states with fu- mains the defeat of an incumbent with a shameful sion voting, which allows candidates to receive cross- record, we hope to create a local political organiza- endorsement from multiple parties.) DSA members tion that is built to last. With a candidate and core and our allies collected 500 signatures on a petition campaign team consisting almost entirely of DSA demanding that state legislators reject spending members, this project offers the opportunity to cuts and public worker layoffs and instead tax the vastly improve individual skills and chapter capac- rich. Although politicians and the media typically ity—not to mention a chance to recruit new mem- dismissed or denounced this agenda, local residents bers. We are developing and honing relations with endorsed it overwhelmingly. unions and community organizations for the fi rst Support for our agenda was especially strong in time. Most important, we are strategically mobiliz- Wallingford, a working-class town with high union ing thousands of residents to advance a program for density that voted for Barack Obama in two presi- equality and justice. ™ dential elections before giving the edge to Don- Puya Gerami is education ald Trump and Republican State Representative director at District 1199 New Craig Fishbein. In his fi rst term, Fishbein has dis- England, the largest healthcare tinguished himself as one of the most reactionary union in Connecticut, and a lawmakers in Connecticut. He has sponsored leg- graduate student in history at islation undermining unions and restricting abor- Yale. He is a member of Central tion access. This past spring he was one of just four CT DSA. page 10 • Democratic Left • Summer 2018 Kitchen Table Socialism Trade Policy By Laurence Peterson

ow should we socialists understand trade— Don’t be fooled by—or afraid of—populism. and how can we act on that understanding? Much populist rhetoric, especially when regurgitat- HOur forebears have at times opposed free ed by the mainstream media, is idiotic or repulsive. trade, and one of Donald Trump’s appeals to work- But there’s no denying that the dramatic collapse ers was a promise a return to a mythical past. We in living standards that we see around us affects know that our current trade system is tainted with working people primarily and turns some of us into the usual capitalist miseries, wastefulness, and ex- bigots or discourages thought, and even hope. It is ploitation. But in an age of globalization, it’s hard to our mission to engage with our fellow workers so we know how to fi ght so all workers get the full return can fi ght together effectively to improve conditions. for their labor when they toil under vastly differ- Donald Trump is an unmitigated disaster. ent conditions. They’re subject to vastly different Trump’s trade policies offer two things: vapid op- governmental systems and levels of fi nancial sup- portunities for self-serving publicity that accom- port and are situated within pany his introduction of tar- super-complex supply chains, iffs and tearing up of trade while at the mercy of the con- deals and the much more sequences of unpredictable damaging and extensive currency movements. blows to all workers that Simplistic calls for either result from the deregula- free trade or tariffs no long- tory policies concocted and er fi t our complex economies. overseen by his gazillionaire How can we begin to under- cronies and the Republican- stand the issues, much less led Congress. Capitalism is formulate socialist policies? the ultimate enemy, but we Here are a few suggestions should never forget who is for beginning this challeng- pushing its take-no-prison- ing but essential process: ers agenda. Let the success of the Be smart: keep learn- past inspire you to develop Hallie Jay Pope ing. There is nothing simple new solutions for the fu- about trade and the interna- ture. The familiar trade system of exploitation has tional system, as Marx himself would emphasize. perhaps been surpassed by “super-exploitation” (the Challenge yourself to read and keep up with rapid- forcing of wages below subsistence level) at essen- ly changing conditions so your activism will become tial points in the supply chain. We must orient our more effective. activism to the basic condition of all workers. How- Get involved with local labor struggles and ever, the policies developed after the Second World read the business press. Labor organizations are War in the industrialized world that supported stra- a great source of information on trade issues. And tegic tariffs and currency policies and allowed for good newspapers like the Financial Times, as Noam a jump in living standards and working conditions Chomsky never tires of pointing out, are not solely won’t work today. Today’s global capitalist economy propaganda outlets. Business leaders and bourgeois features incomparably freer fl ows of fi nance, and, politicians rely on them for accurate information enabled by much more advanced technology, will al- they can act upon. Reading the business press in most certainly provoke a trade war among partners tandem with trade-savvy radicals is a sure way to who have become dangerously dependent on trade embark on more effective trade activism. ™ outcomes. Such a trade war could lead to another Laurence Peterson is a member of great recession. Our activism must be powerfully DSA/Boston chapter and serves and strategically oriented to avoid this, as well as on the Democratic Left editorial to improve the condition of workers, both here and committee. abroad.

Democratic Left • Summer 2018 • page 11 Changing the Conversation Too Young to Vote; Old Enough to Protest—the East LA Walkouts By Jack Suria-Linares and Maurice Isserman

hen tens of thousands of high school stu- munity could control its own destiny.” dents walked out of their schools to pro- The 1968 blowouts took place with at least the Wtest gun violence this March, whether they tacit support of some teachers, another fact worth knew or not, they were following in the footsteps of noting after a springtime of teacher protests for bet- teenagers 50 years ago who sparked a movement ter pay and working conditions. Sal Castro, a histo- for better schools and Chicano pride in immigrant ry teacher at Lincoln High School, openly supported neighborhoods in East Los Angeles. the walkouts, which cost him his job, although he On Tuesday March 5, 1968, Garfi eld High School eventually gained reinstatement. When he and students in East LA walked out to demand funds his students walked out, he told historian Mario T. for their run-down cam- García, “I didn’t think of puses, creation of col- the historical importance lege prep courses, better of this day. I just knew it trained teachers, and an I didn’t think of the had to be done…. I loved end to police brutality. being a teacher and didn’t (Garfi eld, like a number of historical“ importance of want to be anything else, schools in the area, had a but I guess because I was dropout rate of more than this day. I just knew it had a teacher I had to do what 50% prior to graduation.) I had to do…” Their decision sparked to be done . . . Many of the students walkouts across the city who participated in the and solidarity throughout blowouts went on to the country, leading more than 22,000 students to campaign” against police brutality, to support the join the “blowouts,” as they were called. Their list of United Farm Workers, and to protest the Vietnam demands included protection for the arts, for teach- War. (The 1970 Chicano Moratorium, for example, ers for their political beliefs, and for education that brought 20,000 antiwar protesters onto Los Angeles highlighted the strength of the Chicano community. streets.) This was a political awakening sparked by The East LA walkouts provided a catalyst for people not old enough to vote, the effects of which what became the Chicano movement throughout can be felt in Los Angeles—and, indeed, throughout the Southwest. It proved that young students of the Southwest—down to the present day. And just color can, in fact, infl uence the political terrain and, like the students of East Los Angeles, their succes- more important, that politics need not remain in- sors in the Movement for Black Lives and in the side an imposed, racially based spectrum of issues. fi ght to end gun violence have already changed the Instead, the students focused on the impact their political climate of our time. ™ terrible education had on material conditions in Jack Suria Linares was born and their communities. grew up in Los Angeles, where David Sanchez, a founder of the Chicano rights he currently resides. He received group the Brown Berets who played a key role in his master’s degree in Labor the original protest, told the Los Angeles Times on Studies at the CUNY-Murphy the 50th anniversary of the blowouts, “We caught Institute in New the entire nation by surprise. Before the walkouts, York City and is no one cared that substandard schools made it all now working on but impossible for Chicano youth to fi nd strength education policy. Maurice Isserman and pride in their culture, language and history.… is a professor of history at Hamilton After the walkouts, no one could deny that we were College and the author, among other ready to go to prison if necessary for what we be- books, of The Other American: The lieved….With better education, the Chicano com- Life of Michael Harrington. page 12 • Democratic Left • Summer 2018 Puerto Rican Resistance Grows By Nicole Díaz González

ay Day 2018 was one for Puerto Rican his- the hands of the Congressional Natural Resources tory books, again. As last year, thousands Committee, right there next to national parks and Mgathered in San Juan’s “Golden Mile” fi - mining ventures. nancial district to protest austerity measures or- The “reforms” ordered by the board eliminate dered by the congressionally imposed, unelected protection against unfair dismissals and further fi scal control board and implemented by a puppet reduce private-sector workers’ sick days. How this government. And, as in 2017, all hell broke loose will help the economy is unclear. A paltry raise of $1 when a militarized police force attacked and pur- per hour would not even apply to workers under 25. sued protesters for two miles with tear gas, pepper On the other hand, mismanagement of the public spray, batons, and rubber bullets. Electric Power Authority has led to repeated calls Such a crackdown in the fi nancial district is no for its privatization, which have increased after longer a rare sight. This two-block area in San Juan the almost complete destruction infl icted by Hur- is home to UBS, Banco Popular, Banco Santander, ricane Maria. Still, two examples of privatization and other fi nancial institutions, as well as large law give reason for caution: First, there’s the telephone fi rms that profi ted from Puerto Rico’s crisis, wheth- company, owned today by the hated Claro, and then er by speculating with retirement funds, abusing we have the tolls managed by Autoexpreso and its debtors, intervening in a highly questionable bond rage-inducing and malfunctioning system of auto- issuance, or promoting anti-worker legislation that matic fi nes for passing through with insuffi cient benefi ted “job-creators.” So, when people, undaunted funds on the account. by last year’s tear gas, came back to the same spot, Every day more Puerto Ricans are opting for re- local and federal authorities were not amused. The sistance. Those in power are striking back. fact that thousands are putting some of the blame Starting last year, local and federal authorities on banks and the board is a great breakthrough. began a campaign against activists, even describing Things were changing even before two intense some as criminal organizations or terrorists. Some back-to-back hurricanes struck the island and both of those arrested by local police in protests are ac- the federal and local governments failed miserably cused of felonies, even though the alleged crime to address the people’s needs. The natural phenom- barely amounts to a misdemeanor. Others are re- ena only further accelerated the human disaster leased without charges but told they are under in- of centuries of colonialism, neoliberal policies, and vestigation. Facebook posts and videos are used as widespread corruption. After a decade of recession, evidence, and activists are threatened with prosecu- austerity measures, including a sales tax, budget tion for speech critical of the board, the government, cuts, the biggest bond issuance in history, massive or the police. Even the FBI intervened recently public employee layoffs, tax exemptions for foreign when agents confi scated the mobile phone of activ- millionaires and multinational companies, and ist Scott Barbés. privatization masked as public-private partner- Retaliation seems to be fueling more support ships have brought Puerto Rico to its knees. for resistance. Maybe too many feel that they have In 2016, the Puerto Rican government lost ac- nothing to lose. Discontent is growing in Puerto cess to the markets and could no longer supple- Rico, and that is our best bet for redemption and ment insuffi cient income with loans. In response reconstruction. ™ to the (creditors’) emergency, the U.S. Congress ap- Nicole Díaz González is an proved the PROMESA bill. There was no “bailout.” activist and attorney based in Instead, the bipartisan legislation granted power San Juan, Puerto Rico. She over any decision related to public spending and is a member of the Partido economic policies to the so-called Fiscal Oversight del Pueblo Trabajador and Board. In exchange, supporters explained, the bill a partner of Brigada Legal provided for a legal mechanism to manage creditor Solidaria, which provides free claims that would temporarily protect the govern- legal advice and representation ment, similar to a stay in a bankruptcy procedure. to activists. During the debate around the bill, many Puerto Ri- cans learned that our island’s destiny is actually in

Democratic Left • Summer 2018 • page 13 Marx and Debs on the Big Screen By Michael Hirsch

ith the possible exceptions of Sergei Eisen- The fi lm’s treatment of factory worker Mary stein’s early odes to the Russian revolu- Burns, Engels’ longtime lover and part of the group Wtions and Herbert Biberman’s 1954 strike that helped him investigate conditions among Man- anthem Salt of the Earth, the last time U.S. audi- chester’s poor, is a pleasant surprise. Although it ences saw a big-screen testament to socialism may posits Burns as a dissident worker at Engels’ fa- have been Reds, in 1981. But with the appearance ther’s factory—for which there is no known evi- of two new fi lms—one a taut melodrama on Karl dence—it presents her as a self-directed militant at Marx’s formative years and the other a blistering a time when women in the workforce were invisible documentary on the life of Eugene V. Debs—the to scholars and journalists. It also counters the usu- drought may be ending. al treatment of Burns, whom historians often either Raoul Peck’s The Young Karl Marx brings to ignore or mention in a snarky aside, given that she a mass audience not and Engels never married. just the revolutionary Peck, who also directed the feature fi lm Lu- ideas of Marx and his mumba and the documentary I Am Not Your Negro, friend and collaborator which profi led James Baldwin, has said, “From the Frederick Engels, but outset, I decided to make a fi lm that would speak an approach to politics to the widest audience, without distorting historical and history that still truth.” He keeps his word. has no peer. Charting Homegrown Socialist the world as he saw it, Marx wrote, “Accu- Another fi lm with no distortion is documen- mulation of wealth at tary fi lm director Yale one pole is at the same Strom’s American So- time accumulation of cialist: The Life and misery, agony of toil, Times of Eugene Victor slavery, ignorance, bru- Debs. It is a faithful and tality, mental degrada- much-needed appraisal tion, at the opposite pole.” Has anything changed? of the militant labor The fi lm, taking up its story in 1844, follows two leader, fi ve-time Social- young men who challenged not only leading think- ist Party presidential ers of the academy but also radicals removed from candidate, and class- real struggles. It ends with the publication of “The war prisoner jailed for Communist Manifesto” in 1848, when neither of the opposing U.S. entry into authors was yet 30 years old. the First World War. Heavily infl uenced by the German philosophers Debs was a fi ery, moral Georg W.F. Hegel and Ludwig Feuerbach, the duo force in a corrupted era, created not just a philosophy but a politics. They and his legacy is well took from Hegel the idea of the dialectic as a clash served by the new production. In examining Debs’s of opposites leading to a synthesis and applied it to biography, the fi lm joins the highly praised but less- institutions and movements as a framework for ac- well-distributed 1979 Debs documentary by then tion through understanding power and powerless- little-known Bernie Sanders. ness. From Feuerbach, they adopted the idea of re- Debs was among the greatest orators this nation ality as materially based, though reliant on human ever produced, yet no recording of his voice sur- will and activity. vives. Even foreign-language speakers were won Unlike the era’s utopian socialists, Marx and En- over, with many testifying that Debs’s mannerisms gels based their politics on a reading of economic alone were magnetic, his fi st smacking his palm as relations in which the dominant culture does not he offered such injunctions as, “Progress is born out determine economic facts on the ground; rather it of agitation. It is agitation or stagnation.” is the relations of production that shape the state The fi lm makes clear that Debs, a strong railroad and its politics. worker-unionist, didn’t start out as a socialist; that page 14 • Democratic Left • Summer 2018 transformation came after Grover Cleveland broke seek adulation. As he put it in 1906 to an audience the 1894 American Railway Union strike using the of workers in Detroit: “I would not be a Moses to mendacious claim that strikers were sabotaging lead you into the Promised Land, because if I could mail delivery. Debs, the union president, went to lead you into it, someone else could lead you out of prison a militant trade unionist and, courtesy of a it. You must use your heads as well as your hands, prison-cell reading of Marx’s Capital, came out six and get yourself out of your present condition.” months later a committed revolutionary, though of His was a U.S. variant of Marx’s insistence on a discernibly homegrown type. He would, for exam- working-class self-activity, that the emancipation of ple, defi ne socialism as “Christianity in action.” For working people was not the prerogative of elites no Debs’s religiously inclined listeners, greed and the matter how well-intentioned, but a task largely of pursuit of personal wealth were presented as sin. the workers alone. Debs’s often quoted statement to It was the Socialist Party’s principled opposi- his trial judge makes much the same point: tion to the First World War as an imperialist war “Years ago, I recognized my kinship with all liv- and a thinly disguised land grab that led to its un- ing beings, and I made up my mind that I was not doing and to a fi ve-year prison sentence for Debs one bit better than the meanest on earth. I said under the administration of the ostensibly liberal then, and I say now, that while there is a lower class Woodrow Wilson. Debs’s crime: violating a 1917 Es- I am in it; while there is a criminal class I am of it; pionage Act provision against urging young men to while there is a soul in prison I am not free.” evade the draft. Debs’s heroes were not the great and good, but On July 16, 1918, Debs was in Canton, Ohio, to the ordinary people who showed uncommon brav- address the Ohio Socialist Party’s state convention ery and solidarity with one another, often under ex- and visit comrades jailed for speaking out against traordinary and intolerable conditions. the war. “I must be exceedingly careful,” he told the Marx and Debs may not yet be household names convention delegates, “prudent as to what I say…. for the majority in this country, but these fi lms but I am not going to say anything that I do not serve as vivid introductions. View them and talk think. I would rather a thousand times be a free them up. ™ soul in prison than to be a sycophant and coward in Michael Hirsch is a New York-based politics and the streets.” labor writer and an editorial board member of New Government stenographers in the crowd noted Politics. Far fuller versions of his Marx and Debs his comments selectively. Prison followed, due to the reviews appeared in The Indypendent. alleged danger that his remarks, those of a known “agitator,” posed to troop recruitment—and this just months before the Treaty of Versailles was signed. A red scare followed the war. Foreign radicals were Send Greetings to rounded up and deported. Native-born leftists of any stripe were imprisoned. Democratic Left on Labor Day Running for president on the Socialist ticket in Wish us well, pay tribute to a comrade or com- 1920 while incarcerated, Debs garnered just under rades, advertise your book or company (and a million votes. Even as late as 1921, on the eve of perhaps take a tax deduction), or show off your leaving offi ce, Woodrow Wilson refused to pardon chapter logo and web address. This magazine is Debs. It was the GOP’s Warren Harding who grant- the public face of our organization. We’re big- ger than ever, so let’s make this the biggest Labor ed Debs and 23 others a Christmas commutation. Day issue ever. Send a check or donate online, Although he was a hero to many, Debs did not specify that it is for Democratic Left, and you’ll see your name in the Labor Day issue. Don’t delay. Deadline is July 10, 2018. Arrange a showing of NAME ONLY ADS Reader: $20 __ One-eighth page: $125 __ American Radical Supporter: $40 __ Quarter-page: $250 __ DSA has arranged with the fi lm’s distribu- Sustainer: $60 __ Half-page: $500 __ tor for a special screening fee that will be Booster: $80 __ Full page: $1,000 __ Cadre: $100 __ Inside front/back cover: $1,200 __ good prior to November 2018 and to purchase DVDs at a greatly reduced cost. Your chapter Email your copy to [email protected] and mail your check to Editor, Democratic Left, Suite 702, can arrange an evening of socialist education 75 Maiden Lane, New York, NY 10038. If you are adver- and camaraderie in your community. For more tising a service or product, the cost may be tax deduct- information, write to fi [email protected] ible to you as a business expense.

Democratic Left • Summer 2018 • page 15 Moving? Let us know: [email protected]. The Post Offi ce charges for every returned copy of Democratic Left. Save time and money and email us now with your old address and the new one.

MY INTERESTS ARE Change the USA! Join the DSA! Labor Religion Yes, I want to join the Democratic Socialists of America. Enclosed are my dues (includes a subscription to Youth Democratic Left ) of: Anti-Racism $175 Sustainer $110 $110 Family Family $45 $45 Introductory Introductory Student $20 Student $27 Low-Income $27 Low-Income Feminism Yes, I want to renew my membership in DSA. Enclosed are my renewal dues of: LGBTQI Rights $175 Sustainer $110 Family $60 Regular $20 Student $27 Low-Income International Enclosed is an extra contribution of $50 $100 $25 to help DSA in its work Environmental Justice Other Name Year of Birth Address Return to: City / State / Zip DEMOCRATIC SOCIALISTS Telephone E-Mail OF AMERICA Union Affiliation School 75 Maiden Lane, Suite 702 New York, NY 10038 BILL MY CREDIT CARD Circle one: MC Visa No. 212-727-8610 Expiration Date Signature [email protected] Security Code www.dsausa.org

DEMOCRATIC LEFT

(ISSN 1643207) isis publishedpublished quarterlyquarterly atat 75 75 Maiden Maiden Lane, Lane, Suite Suite 702, 702, New New York, York, NY NY 10038. 10038. Periodicals Periodicals postage postage paid paid at at New New York, York, N NY Y (Publication(Publication No. 701-960). Subscriptions:Subscriptions: $10$10 regular,regular, $15 $15 institutional. institutional. Postmaster: Postmaster: Send Send address address changes changes to to 75 75 Maiden Maiden Lane, Lane, S uiteSuite 702, 702, New York, NY 10038. Democratic Left isis publishedpublished byby the the Democratic Democratic Socialists Socialists of of America, America, 75 75 maiden Maiden Lane, Lane, Suite Suite 702, 702, New New York, York, NY 10038. (212) 726-8610. SignedSigned articlesarticles expressexpress the the opinions opinions of of the the authors authors and and not not necessarily necessarily the the organization. organization.

Editorial Team: ZinziEecutive Clemmons, Editor: Laura Maria Colaneri, Svart Editor: Meagan Maxine Day, Maurice Phillips EditorialExecutive Team: Editor: Zinzi Maria Clemmons, Svart Editor:Laura Colaneri, Maxine MeaganPhillips Day, Maurice Isserman, BarbaraBlog Joye, Editors: Christine R.L. Lombardi, Stephens, Stephen Editor; Magro, Christine Jessie Lombardi Mannisto, and Isserman,DSA Weekly: Barbara R.L. Joye, Stephens, Christine Editor-in-Chief; Lombardi, Stephen Christine Magro, Lombardi Jessie Mannisto, and TylerDon Curtis, McIntosh, Managing Laurence Editors; Peterson, Miranda Joseph Alsknis; Schwartz, Bonnie Boaz Bailey; Vilallonga Anne DonTyler McIntosh, Curtis, Managing Laurence Peterson,Editors; Miranda Joseph Schwartz, Alsknis; BoazBonnie Vilallonga Bailey; Anne Clark; ; JarekFounding Ervin; Daniel Editor: Gutiérrez; Michael EvanHarrington Heitkamp-Boucher; (1928–1989) FoundingClark; Jarek Editor: Ervin; Michael Daniel Harrington Gutiérrez; (1928–1989) Evan Heitkamp-Boucher; Marian Art Director:Lisa Newcomb; Andrea Guinn Jorge Tamames;Production: Joshua Ed Hedemann Whitaker Jones; Jorge AndreaTamames; Guinn Joshua Production: Whitaker Ed Hedemen

Democratic Socialists of America share a vision of humane international social order based on equitable distribution of resources, meaningful work, a healthy environment, sustainable growth, gender and racial equality, and non-oppressive relationships. Equality, solidarity, and democracy can only be achieved through international political and social cooperation aimed at ensuring that economic institutions benefit people. We are dedicated to building truly international social movements—of unions, environmentalists, feminists, and people of color—which together can elevate global justice over brutalizing global competition. page 16 • Democratic Left • Summer 2018