Democratic Socialists of America
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Democratic Socialists of America - DSA - |
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| Party leader | Maria Svart (National Director) |
| founding | 1982 |
| Headquarters | 75 Maiden Lane, Ste 702 New York , NY 10038 |
| Youth organization | Young Democratic Socialists |
| Alignment |
Democratic socialism , social democracy |
| Colours) | red |
| International connections | Socialist International 1982-2017 |
| Website | dsausa.org |
The Democratic Socialists of America (DSA, German: Democratic Socialists of America) are a social democratic to left-wing socialist organization in the United States . The current chairperson is Maria Svart . The youth organization of the DSA are the Young Democratic Socialists .
history
The Socialist Party of America (SPA) had strong ideological disputes from the 1960s to 1970s. The post-Trotskyist group around Max Shachtman , which supported the Vietnam War and the Democratic presidential candidate Henry M. Jackson , gained the upper hand. She renamed the party in 1973 in Social Democrats USA (Social Democrats United States of America / SDUSA).
The Democratic Socialist Organizing Committee
Two groups split off: the Socialist Party USA (SPUSA) and the Democratic Socialist Organizing Committee (Democratic Socialist Organizing Committee / DSOC). Co-founders of the DSOC were Michael Harrington , Irving Howe and Bogdan Denitch . They saw themselves as a socialist interest group within the Democratic Party and put some congressmen like Ron Dellums and some union leaders like the chairman of the mechanical engineering union, William W. Winpisinger . The DSOC had around 5,000 members in the early 1980s.
The New American Movement
In 1971 the New American Movement was formed, an opposition group made up of intellectuals from the new and traditional left. She advocated pacifist , neo-olinist and communist theses, but rejected any claim to leadership for the working class . In the early 1980s, the New American Movement slowly transformed into a democratic-socialist group. It had around 1,000 members.
The merger
In 1982 the Democratic Socialist Organizing Committee merged with the New American Movement to form the Democratic Socialists of America Party . The new party elected Michael Harrington and Barbara Ehrenreich as chairperson .
Development since 2016
Maria Svart has been the National Director since 2011 . The DSA, which has grown to 35,000 members, is currently (since mid-2017) the largest socialist organization in the USA. Officially, it is not a party and it is not entered in the federal electoral register.
In mid-2019, around 55,000 people were members of the DSA. There are local clubs in more than 200 locations in the United States. There are also 80 local groups of the Youth DSA. 94 DSA members are represented nationwide in city and state parliaments.
Politics today
The Democratic Socialists of America advocate socialist politics. They reject the capitalist economic order and advocate a democratically organized economic and social order. They advocate social property and a strong public education and health sector. They are closely associated with numerous trade unions, civil and women's rights organizations.
At the same time, the Democratic Socialists of America have long exerted political pressure within the Democratic Party. You stood in opposition to Bill Clinton's policies. In 2000 they voted for no candidate, but many DSA members favored the Green Ralph Nader . In 2004, however, the DSA again supported the Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry . In 2008, the DSA accompanied Barack Obama's election campaign with critical solidarity. They supported Bernie Sanders in the 2016 primary campaign .
Purpose of the organization
According to the constitution (" Constitution ") of the DSA, the organization serves the purpose of developing a concrete strategy in order to establish a social order based on the general control of resources and production, economic planning, fair distribution, feminism , racial equality and non-oppressive ones Realize relationships. Such a strategy must recognize that American society is structured in classes and that this entails that there is a basic conflict of interest between the social area with enormous economic power on the one hand and the broad majority of the population on the other other side give.
International Relations
From 1982 to 2017 the DSA was the American organization in the Socialist International , an international association of socialist and social democratic parties. In August 2017, a DSA congress decided to withdraw from the Socialist International because of its " neoliberal " policy.
The Young Democratic Socialists are members of the Socialist Youth International IUSY .
literature
- Pfahl-Traughber, Armin: The Democratic Socialism of the Democratic Socialists of America. Views and developments of the largest socialist organization in the USA , in: perspektiven ds, 36th year, 2019, issue 2, pp. 118–129.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ Staff information. Retrieved February 27, 2019.
- ↑ Farah Stockman: 'Yes, I'm Running as a Socialist.' Why Candidates Are Embracing the Label in 2018 , April 20, 2018.
- ↑ Dorothea Hahn: The millennials are here. In: taz.de. August 6, 2017. Retrieved August 7, 2017 .
- ↑ Moritz Wichmann: The Activist Machine , August 5, 2019.
- ↑ What is Democratic Socialism? on dsausa.org.
- ↑ Article II. Purpose. In: DSA Constitution. 2017, accessed on July 20, 2019 .
- ↑ Resignation resolution of August 5, 2017 - accessed on August 15, 2017.
- ↑ Juan Cruz Ferre: DSA Votes for BDS, Reparations, and Out of the Socialist International , August 5, 2017, LeftVoice .