What They Get Wrong About DSA

A quick explainer

The Democratic Socialists of America are frequently misunderstood by the political class. How they operate and what they seek to do is often mischaracterized. The who is rarely explained well.

John Fetterman’s latest dig at DSA inspired me to provide a little exegesis.

Over the years, I have written a great deal about DSA because they tend to punch above their weight in politics and in the culture. I’m also, for a mainstream writer and journalist, rather well-acquainted with them. I am not a member of DSA—I pay no dues to any organization beyond UAW Local 7902, which represents the adjuncts at NYU, where I teach—but I did once run for office, trying (and failing) to win their endorsement. To this day, I have friends who are in DSA. This might color, for you, how you read me, but I’ve written plenty critically of their decision-making and I try to approach them as impartially as possible. Most of the time, I find myself writing about DSA because so many people in media and politics just don’t comprehend the reality of DSA in 2024.

DSA is confusing because it operates within and beyond the Democratic Party. Unlike the Green Party, the Party for Socialism and Liberation (PSL), and assorted Marxists, DSA cares about electing socialists in Democratic primaries. This is chiefly how DSA stays loyal to the vision of Michael Harrington, the famed author and activist who founded DSA in 1982. The ultimate goal of DSA is to establish socialism in the United States and overthrow capitalism. Flipping the House or getting Democratic control of a legislature is an aim they can work toward, but bolstering the Democratic Party is not what DSA sets out to do. Rather, the Democratic Party—a shell organization, like the GOP, compared to how parties operate in parliamentary systems—is a vehicle to be exploited. DSA, rightly, views third party bids as doomed in the U.S. It’s important to note, as a sprawling, decentralized organization with 78,000-odd members, DSA has many different kinds of members. If a large majority still favor competing in Democratic primaries, there’s a vocal minority—likely to remain a minority indefinitely—that wants to break away and form a “worker’s party” that would battle the Democrats and Republicans alike. The old Socialist Party failed, in the long run, because of the American duopoly. Most DSA members understand this.

Is DSA growing? Shrinking? Doomed? Why won’t these socialists support Joe Biden anyway?