The recent growth and electoral success of DSA has thrust the organization into the media spotlight, as the mainstream U.S. political system has come under increasing strain and more and more Americans look for collective solutions to the crises of capitalism and imperialism. As a maturing organization that has seen multiple waves of political unrest come and go in the past decade, DSA has also made strides in recent years turning the aims of myriad working class movements into a coherent program that unites our organization and membership behind a shared vision of socialist transformation. This program, Workers Deserve More, has been the subject of a media campaign that seeks to discredit and undermine DSA – both institutional Democratic party powerbrokers and the right-wing media have attempted to smear us for fighting for a society free of the dictatorship of capital, of imperialist plunder and bloodshed, of the tyranny of police and prisons, and of the U.S. Senate.

This media blitz has caught many of us in DSA flat-footed, and caused a stir within the US left. Gone are the days when DSA was a curiosity, and the most pressing questions facing the left was whether President Obama was a socialist. As DSA continues to represent a meaningful departure from the political consensus preferred by the ruling class and their political parties, we will be forced to confront the media’s role in manufacturing consent for the status quo. DSA is a force to be reckoned with now, and this media scrutiny is an attempt to shatter that force.

Some public figures on the left, including DSA-endorsed elected officials and candidates as well as influential writers, have used this moment to criticize DSA’s program. Much of this criticism from the broader left centers on its commitments to police and prison abolition – calling these positions impractical and unwieldy, or wedded to unpopular ideas. It is disappointing that under this scrutiny, the instinct of many of our comrades is to retreat. However, this moment has also revealed Workers Deserve More to be the socialist heart of DSA’s sprawling and at times contradictory aggregate aims. We are encouraged that this moment has drawn out the program’s defenders as well as its critics, and we believe that this conflict will make DSA stronger as the consequences of our political debates become more substantial.

[In Defense of Abolition

Hazel W. makes the Marxist case for abolition against the left’s growing accommodation to policing and prisons.

Red StarHazel W

](https://redstarcaucus.org/in-defense-of-abolition/)

This is not to say that our program is perfect, nor that we have solved the problem of how we translate these principles into a unified strategy for political action. But as we apply our program in the day-to-day of our organizing, instead of retreating from it, we will learn how best to further our politics and achieve the liberation of the working class alongside each other. When we refuse to defend and execute upon the program we have passed, we make this process of scientific socialism impossible – all in order to placate people who would never support it in the first place.

In the eyes of the bipartisan commentariat, the leaders of the largest mass socialist organization in American history are simply not supposed to stand behind their politics. They offer us a seat at the table, on their news programs, with the expectation that we will downplay our politics and by doing so, moderate them. But now is the time to stand strong and defend our program! More than just words on a page, Workers Deserve More is the living, breathing summation of our collective dreams, ambitions, analysis, and wisdom. DSA members should expect our leaders to shout it from the rooftops and defend it to the best of their abilities.

[Megan Romer for Co-Chair

As DSA’s National Convention rapidly approaches and the 2023-2025 NPC term draws to a close, Red Star would like to shine some light on the stakes of the co-chair race and make the case for Megan Romer’s re-election. We have offered our own accounting of

Red StarRed Star

](https://redstarcaucus.org/megan-romer-for-co-chair/)

The left is not converging on our organization in record numbers for us to simply retreat into articulating the left wing of the possible. Let us take the discontented masses into our fold – and together, build a new future, liberated from the chains of capitalism once and for all.

From Red Star via This RSS Feed.