Class: Recent Episodes
Democratic Socialists of America
Class is the official podcast of the National Political Education Committee of the Democratic Socialists of America. We believe working people should run both the economy and society democratically to meet human needs, not to make profits for a few. Class is a podcast where we ask socialists about why they are socialists, what socialism looks like, and how we, as the working class, can become the ruling class.
Sebastian and Kelly discuss the exciting rise of tenant unionization on the socialist left and how it fits into the broader scope of working-class organizing and the crucial fight for decent housing. To learn more about how you can organize with your neighbors, join the ETOC summer cohort, starting August 8th!
Join the Emergency Tenant Organizing Committee’s Summer Cohort, starting on August 8th!
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On this episode, Luke talks with Michaela about DSA’s new Workers Deserve More Program. We talk about the program’s origins, the drafting process, and all of the cool demands it contains. We also discuss some of our favorite parts, the initial media reaction, future political education opportunities revolving around Workers Deserve More, and how DSA’s elected officials can support the program. Check out a recording of the mass call announcing the program. And of course, the program itself!
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It's the summer of sports and socialism! Connell (River Valley DSA) and Jason (Connecticut DSA) join us to talk about socialist fandom, the political economy of sports in the US, and how sports can bring us together as an organization.
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Right-wingers have attacked public schools for decades as training grounds for future “woke” Marxists. Our guests Kevin, Mie, and Sudip turn that on its head with their new study, identifying what they’ve termed “social justice nationalism," a pedagogy that avoids class analysis and a real critique of power, and isolates social activism and politics from collective action.
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Check out Kevin's book, I Guess This is Activism? here
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Jalil Muntaqim and Sid C. W. discuss the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, national liberation struggles, and the Spirit of Mandela coalition's July 4 National Mobilization Against Genocide. Jalil is a member of the Spirit of Mandela coalition, and Sid is a member of DSA's National Political Committee (NPC).
Information about the mobilization can be found here. DSA is one of many organizations endorsing the mobilization, and members interested in attending or hosting a watch party can email Sid at sid@dsacommittees.org
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How should socialists position ourselves and our movement in the face of American decline and ongoing threats to democracy? Aziz Rana, DSA-endorsed candidate for Congress Oliver Larkin, and St Petersburg, FL’s socialist in office, Richie Floyd, discussed the current political terrain on a mass call recorded Weds 05/20, presented here as a podcast.
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Gabriel from Portland DSA joins Class to discuss the complex political and class struggles around unpopular hyperscaled data center construction in Oregon, and how the moratorium campaign influenced the State House primaries happening now, where a DSA candidate, Tammy Carpenter, is competing against the Democratic establishment and tech capitalists.
Read about the OR data center struggle in PDX DSA’s blog here. The two Jacobin articles mentioned in the episode include Holly Buck's “Democratic Governance of AI is the Real Solution" and Aaron Regunberg's “Stop the AI Build-out, Start the Fight."
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Cerena and Griffin, two DSA labor leaders from Houston and DC, join us to discuss the meaning and history of May Day for the socialist and labor movements and how, in this disorganizing time, we can still organize towards higher worker militancy and struggle to fight the right and capital.
This year, our May Day demands are NO WAR, ABOLISH ICE, TAX THE RICH! Now, over 150 DSA chapters are doing something for May Day — we hope your local DSA is too.
This site shows May Day actions all over the country — find yours!
Here is a chapter toolkit for May Day, including a socialist night school module on May Day and the General Strike from NPEC!
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Class is taking a spring break and will be back with our regular programming on April 20th. For now, enjoy a moment of seasonal poetry with a few comrades across time and space: Rosa Luxemburg, Bertolt Brecht, Langston Hughes, and Ada Limón. Happy early Earth Day and May Day, listeners!
Read on this episode:
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Rosa Luxemburg’s letters to Hans Diefenbach, March 30, 1917 & Sophie Liebkecht, May 2, 1917
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Bertolt Brecht, "Morning Address to a Tree Named Green" (1927) & "Spring 1938" (1938). These are casual links for convenience; official English translations for these aren’t readily available online.
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Langston Hughes, “An Earth Song” (1925)
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Ada Limón, “Instructions on Not Giving Up” (2017), republished in The Carrying(2021)
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David (Socialist Majority, NYC-DSA) and Ramsin (Bread and Roses, Chicago DSA) discuss their perspectives on party-building, political independence, and the democratic road to socialism.
Read David’s piece comparing the SPA and DSA, “The Long Reroute,” published by the Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung here.
Read Ramsin’s pieces about how and when to advance socialist political independence, here and here.
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In this episode, we talk with Lisa from Labor Notes and Scott from the IBEW reform caucus CREW about the new guide on building rank-and-file reform caucuses in existing unions. Reform caucus organizing is one of the primary strategies within DSA and the broader American labor left to support the growth of a militant, democratic workers' movement.
Find the new Labor Notes guide, “How to Build a Union Reform Caucus,” here.
Check out the classic Secrets of a Successful Organizer here, as well as Ellen David Friedman’s new book, Keep Going: A Guide to Organizing When it’s Hard.
Kim Moody’s 2000 essay, "The Rank and File Strategy,” can be found here.
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NPEC member and former chair Evan (Mid-Hudson Valley) talks about his journey into socialism and garden knowledge, and how our hopeful politics of renewal, intention, collectivity, and cooperation are made practical and material by digging around in the dirt.
Evan recommends the book Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants by Robin Wall Kimmerer for anyone interested in knowing more about his own learnings, and where he started to become interested in growing things in our world. You can find it for sale from the publisher here.
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We’re joined by Nick and Tyler from Louisville DSA to talk about being socialist poets and glimpsing beauty in a chaotic, capitalist world.
Nick and Tyler’s occasional podcast, Poetry is a Destructive Force, is here.
Oscar Wilde's "The Soul of Man Under Socialism” is here.
Oscar Wilde's “Lecture to Art Students” is here.
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We are pleased to present “Stop the Siege on Cuba,” a mass call from February 22nd by DSA’s International Committee and Cuba Solidarity Working Group, along with an interview with Claire from Boston DSA, a co-chair of the working group. Listen and learn how to get involved with democratic socialist activism in support of Cuban self-determination and freedom from imperialist violence and oppression. ¡Cuba sí, bloqueo no!
Find out how to help stop the siege on Cuba with DSA here.
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In this episode of Class, we talk to Sarah, chair of DSA’s National Grievance Panel, about the contradictions and openings of conflict within a socialist organization. We walk through some of the political and affective distinctions that must urgently be drawn to effectively struggle together as comrades and build the truly free world we want to live in.
Read a review of Jodi Dean’s Comrade: An Essay On Political Belonging by NPEC alum Mie here. Buy Comrade here.
Check out Gracie Lion's Constructive Criticism here.
Read Jo Freeman’s classic essay "Tyranny of Structurelessness" here.
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On this episode, we talk with Colin from DSA’s National Tech Committee about becoming a socialist and doing socialism on the internet. This episode will kick off what we expect will be a regular discussion on the wide topic of “digital socialism.”
NPEC/NTC Training 02/19: Socialist Archiving 201: The Digital Deep Dive
Get involved with DSA’s National Tech Committee!
- NTC website
- Apply to the committee
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On this episode, we talk to Megan, one of DSA’s national cochairs, about her political journey from early-00s girlboss feminism to Marta Harnecker’s mass-protagonist vision of a socialist future, and how collective political education was crucial to her transformation.
Find Marta Harnecker’s writings in the Monthly Review online archive HERE.
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In this episode, Luke talks with Edward about the Socialist Party of America's (SPA) 1912 Program and its role in his political development. Luke concentrates on two aspects of the platform: its programmatic character and democratic political demands, including the demand for a democratic constitution. This is the first of several conversations we hope to host with NPEC members about texts that played an important role in their political development and current orientation.
Luke mentions the SPA's Program, DSA's 2024-25 Workers Deserve More Program, Aziz Rana's The Constitutional Bind, and Rana's interviews on Class.
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In this episode, we talk to Ashik, one of DSA’s national cochairs, about how he grew into socialism over time through organizing and political education, from growing up Muslim in Bay Ridge during 9/11, to participating in the Occupy and environmental movements, to becoming a leader of the biggest socialist organization in the United States.
Ashik’s picks:
Naomi Klein's books: https://naomiklein.org/books-and-films/
Ecology as Politics by Andre Gorz on Open Library: https://openlibrary.org/works/OL1390039W/Écologie_et_politique?edition=key%3A/books/OL14718425M
Reform and Revolution (pdf): https://www.sscc.wisc.edu/soc/faculty/pages/wright/Sydney%20seminar%202016/Andre%20Gorz%20REFORM%20OR%20REVOLUTION.pdf
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On January 6th, DSA’s International Committee (IC) and National Political Committee (NPC) organized an emergency mass call to discuss the Trump administration’s provocations in Venezuela, and socialists’ role in leading the fight against imperialist aggression. Class is pleased to present Hands Off Venezuela! as a podcast episode, following up on our episode on Cuba.
Apply for DSA’s International Committee: https://actionnetwork.org/forms/dsa-international-committee-application
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DSA regularly sends large delegations of members to Cuba to distribute aid and learn about Cuban politics, government, and society. Last fall, National Political Committee (NPC) members Cliff and Daniel went on one such delegation. They join us to share their individual perspectives on the value of this trip for a socialist political education.
Note: We recorded this episode a week and a half before its release, just prior to the American invasion of Venezuela, which is why it is unmentioned here. Solidarity with the working classes resisting US imperialism in Latin America and beyond! ¡Cuba sí, bloqueo no!
Che: A Memoir by Fidel Castro. Open Library link. Buy on bookshop.org
Season Two of Blowback
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Why is the right so fixated on whoever or whatever it is they think is Marx or “Marxism”? Why do they conflate Marx with everything else they don’t like? We are starting our second semester of Capital this week, and joining Michaela is fellow NPEC comrade Ed, who shares his perspectives on a formal and political education under Reagan, and how socialist struggle has prepared him for yet another age of repression under Trump.
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Michaela speaks with Ashwin, a River Valley DSA member and current researcher in Mexico City, about the social movement running UTOPIAs: experiments in providing services, education, and pleasure in the poorest district of the city backed by MORENA, the current ruling party, which promotes “Mexican Humanism” as a core principle of governance.
“Mexico City’s UTOPIAs” by Ashwin R https://socialistforum.dsausa.org/issues/fall-winter-2025/mexico-citys-utopias/
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Edward and Michaela share their experiences as long-time readers and guides to Capital Volume One, at a time when socialism is on the rise, and curiosity about this difficult but key work is growing.
Join NPEC’s current Capital group (familiarity with Part One of the text is highly recommended, but you can get caught up): https://actionnetwork.org/events/capital-reading-group-fall-semester-2025/
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In this episode, Michaela and Darren talk about socialist perspectives on archival research. DSA's next Archives Training Project is on Wednesday, the 29th. You can register here. Whether you're a chapter chair or secretary wondering how best to approach records, a comrade with a lot of socialist swag and no idea what to do with it, or just someone curious about how archives work, you're welcome to come to this online workshop where we discuss why we care about archives as socialists, best practices for starting an archive, and how institutions take in materials for socialist, left and labor archives.
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This is a recording of NPEC's panel event with Aziz Rana and Matt McManus about the left's approach to the Constitution. Topics include how the left navigates terms like “bourgeois democracy," and how it should approach the upcoming 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, with its promises of equality and universal rights. The conversation asks us to push beyond conventional framings of constitutionalism and question what a genuinely democratic politics should look like today. A question-and-answer period follows the conversation.
Aziz Rana is a professor of law at Boston College. He is the author of The Constitutional Bind: How Americans Came to Idolize a Document That Fails Them and The Two Faces of American Freedom.
Matt McManus is an Assistant Professor at Spelman College. His books include Against Post-Liberal Courts and Justice and The Political Theory of Liberal Socialism.
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Since at least 2015 in the US, American Socialism has been growing again, and DSA is currently the largest organized socialist formation in the country, by far. But what about the vast majority of… well, everyone else, of all different inclinations? What role does political education have in bringing non-socialists into DSA to build our party — or at least, bringing them closer to us, or not in opposition?
Michaela and Guy chat about the current political moment and how it’s affecting this basic but crucial task. They also give a preview of NPEC’s upcoming training, “Talking to Non-Socialists.”
Sign up for Talking to Non-Socialists, Part 1, on October 9th. https://actionnetwork.org/events/talking-to-non-socialists-training-fall-2025/
Sign up for NPEC’s monthly newsletter, Red Letter! https://actionnetwork.org/forms/sign-up-for-red-letter/
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Libraries are quintessentially public goods and common spaces in the US, and are generally appreciated, if not beloved, by the vast majority. As a store of human knowledge and a free site of learning and literacy access supported and funded by the state, they often become ideological battlegrounds, especially in times of political strife. What role can a socialist librarian play as a worker and advocate, particularly at a moment when broad swathes of the public education infrastructure in America, including the public library, are under relentless attack by the right?
In this episode, Michaela speaks with Ella T about her socialist journey and what has led her to librarianship. Ella shares her perspective on the political and social struggles bearing upon and within libraries at this crucial time. Michaela is a member of North New Jersey DSA and is chair of DSA’s National Political Education Committee (NPEC). Ella is a member of Seattle DSA and was recently elected to DSA’s National Political Committee (NPC).
Before we dive in, a reminder that Class is available on all major podcast platforms. Please consider becoming a DSA member by following the link in the podcast description. You can also send us a message about the episode and sign up for Red Letter, NPEC’s monthly newsletter, using the provided links.
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Class is back after a break, and we're excited to share what's new. Starting today, new episodes will be released biweekly, transitioning to a weekly schedule in January. We're expanding our content to include interviews with DSA members about ongoing projects and initiatives, as well as discussions on topical articles and current events. In other words, we aim to integrate more of DSA's ongoing projects and initiatives into Class.
In this episode, I'll be speaking with Michaela B about the panel that NPEC hosted at the Socialism Conference in Chicago in July, titled "Socialist Humanism or Barbarism: On Political Education, Democratic Rights, and Where We Go Next." Michaela is a member of North New Jersey DSA and the current chair of NPEC, and teaches in the Department of Law, Jurisprudence and Social Thought at Amherst College.
Before we dive in, a reminder that Class is available on all major podcast platforms. Please consider becoming a DSA member by following the link in the podcast description. You can also send us a message about the episode and sign up for Red Letter, NPEC’s monthly newsletter, using the provided links.
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This is Class, the official podcast of the National Political Education Committee of the Democratic Socialists of America. This is the second of a two-part conversation with Alina Herrera Fuentes about the feminist movement in Mexico.
Alina is a lawyer, feminist, and Marxist. She is a member of Morena's National Institute for Political Formation. Currently, Alina is the educational content coordinator for the comprehensive gender program. In this episode, we talk about Morena´s success and challenges in the feminist struggle, the next step for the feminist movement, and some observations and advice for leftists in the U.S.
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This is Class, the official podcast of the Democratic Socialists of America’s National Political Education Committee. This is the first of a two-part conversation with Alina Herrera Fuentes about the feminist movement in Mexico.
Alina is a lawyer, feminist, and Marxist. She is a member of Morena's National Institute for Political Formation, or INFP. Currently, Alina is the educational content coordinator for the comprehensive gender program run by INFP. In this episode, we talk about the history of Morena — Movimiento de Regeneración Nacional — and Morena's and Alina's vision for a more just and gender-equal Mexico. This interview is in Spanish. An English translation can be found by clicking the “transcript” option on Buzzsprout.
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This is Class, the official podcast of the Democratic Socialists of America’s National Political Education Committee. This is part two of our conversation with Rodrigo Nunes about what Lenin can teach us about pontaneity, organization, strategic thinking, and the current moment. Part two will be released in two weeks.
Rodrigo Nunes is a senior lecturer in political theory and organisation at the University of Essex and the author of Organisation of the Organisationless: Collective Action After Networks (Mute, 2014), Neither Vertical Nor Horizontal: A Theory of Political Organisation (Verso, 2021) and The View from Brazil: Neoliberalism, the Far Right and the Grammar of Disintegration (Verso, forthcoming), as well as several articles in multiple languages, including "It Takes Organizers to Make a Revolution." As an organiser, he has been involved in several initiatives, including the first editions of the World Social Forum in Brazil and the Justice for Cleaners campaign in the UK.
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This is Class, the official podcast of the Democratic Socialists of America’s National Political Education Committee. This is part one of our conversation with Rodrigo Nunes about what Lenin can teach us about pontaneity, organization, strategic thinking, and the current moment. Part two will be released in two weeks.
Rodrigo Nunes is a senior lecturer in political theory and organisation at the University of Essex and the author of Organisation of the Organisationless: Collective Action After Networks (Mute, 2014), Neither Vertical Nor Horizontal: A Theory of Political Organisation (Verso, 2021) and The View from Brazil: Neoliberalism, the Far Right and the Grammar of Disintegration (Verso, forthcoming), as well as several articles in multiple languages, including "It Takes Organizers to Make a Revolution." As an organiser, he has been involved in several initiatives, including the first editions of the World Social Forum in Brazil and the Justice for Cleaners campaign in the UK.
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This is Class, the official podcast of the Democratic Socialists of America’s National Political Education Committee. My name is Luke Pickrell. This is part one of our conversation with Daphna Thier about the Emergency Workplace Organizing Committee (EWOC)
Daphna is an organizer and educator at EWOC. In the last couple of years, she's trained a few hundred workers on the basics of workplace organizing. She is also a contributing writer and the editor of Unite and Win: the Workplace Organizer's Handbook. She's a DSA member based in Brooklyn, New York. In part two, Daphnadiscusses exciting labor campaigns, the intersection of labor organizing and politics, and EWOC’s future project.
Unite and Win: the Workplace Organizer's Handbook:workerorganizing.org/unite-and-win
Learn more about EWOC and get involved:
workerorganizing.org/trainingworkerorganizing.org/supportworkerorganizing.org/volunteer
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This is Class, the official podcast of the Democratic Socialists of America’s National Political Education Committee. My name is Luke Pickrell. This is part one of our conversation with Daphna Thier about the Emergency Workplace Organizing Committee (EWOC)
Daphna is an organizer and educator at EWOC. In the last couple of years, she's trained a few hundred workers on the basics of workplace organizing. She is also a contributing writer and the editor of Unite and Win: the Workplace Organizer's Handbook. She's a DSA member based in Brooklyn, New York. In part one, Daphna discusses EWOC's origins and its recent book, Unite and Win: the Workplace Organizer's Handbook.
Unite and Win: the Workplace Organizer's Handbook:workerorganizing.org/unite-and-win
Learn more about EWOC and get involved:
workerorganizing.org/trainingworkerorganizing.org/supportworkerorganizing.org/volunteer
Send us Fan Mail
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Sign up to receive NPEC's newsletter, Red Letter.
This is part two of our two-part interview with José Luis Granados Ceja and Kurt Hackbarth about politics in Mexico. José Luis and Kurt are journalists and activists based in Mexico and the co-hosts of Soberanía: The Mexican Politics Podcast. José Luis has written for Venezuela Analysis, and Kurt has written for Jacobin, including a recent article, “Mexico’s Lessons for the International Left.” In part two, José Luis and Kurt discuss outgoing (former as of October 1) president Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s proposed constitutional reforms, discourse around immigration in Mexico, and what activists in the U.S. should know about Mexico.
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In this episode, we talk with José Luis Granados Ceja and Kurt Hackbarth about politics in Mexico. The interview is divided into two parts, and part two will be released in two weeks. José Luis and Kurt are journalists and activists based in Mexico and the co-hosts of Soberanía: The Mexican Politics Podcast. José Luis has written for Venezuela Analysis, and Kurt has written for Jacobin, including a recent article, “Mexico’s Lessons for the International Left.” In part one, José Luis and Kurt discuss Claudia Sheinbaum’s victory in the June presidential elections, the reaction to her victory in Mexico and abroad, and the history of Sheinbaum’s party, Morena.
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We're happy to share a bonus episode with you: the first episode of Haymarket Book’s Originals project, Fragile Juggernaut.
Haymarket Originals brings in-depth, series-length audio treatments of a wide range of historical and contemporary political subjects to podcast listeners worldwide. Haymarket Originals is a new home for audio deep dives, by and for the left. The first Haymarket Originals project is Fragile Juggernaut: What Was the CIO? — an important collaboration with labor writers, historians, and organizers.
Through a limited run of twenty episodes, they will revisit and reflect on the near-mythical history of the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO)—and the high water mark of US labor activity in the 1930s and 1940s—in the context of today’s critical juncture in the labor movement. Join Tim Barker, Andrew Elrod, Ben Mabie, Alex Press, Emma Teitelman, Gabriel Winant, and special guests as they explore the trajectory of the American working class through a period of its greatest drama and political possibility.
You can Listen to and subscribe to Fragile Juggernaut on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts, and help us spread the word! You can read an introduction to this collective inquiry into the history of the US workers’ movement and support the show on Patreon.
I hope you enjoy the first episode of Fragile Juggernaut.
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This is part two of our two-part conversation with Manisha Sinha about Reconstruction. Part one is here. In part two, Manisha discusses the historiography of reconstruction, the afterlives of “reconstruction and its discontents,” the eventual defeat of Reconstruction as the U.S. rose to become an imperial power, and the lessons contemporary activists can draw from the Reconstruction period.
Dr. Manisha Sinha is a history professor at the University of Connecticut. She is the author and co-author of several books, including The Slave's Cause: A History of Abolition (2016) and The Rise and Fall of the Second American Republic: Reconstruction, 1860-1920, published this year.
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In this episode, we talk with Dr. Manisha Sinha about Reconstruction and the interconnectedness of social movements between the beginning of the Civil War in 1860 and the passage of the 19th Amendment in 1920. The interview is split into two parts. Part two will be released in two weeks. You can now click on the “Send us a Text Message” link at the top of the episode description to share your thoughts on the episode. This episode's prompt: Do you think the history presented by Manisha is relevant to current political and social struggles in the U.S.? If so, how?
Dr. Manisha Sinha is a history professor at the University of Connecticut. She is the author and co-author of several books, including The Slave's Cause: A History of Abolition (2016) and The Rise and Fall of the Second American Republic: Reconstruction, 1860-1920, published this year. In part one, Manisha explains why it’s important to expand the chronology of Reconstruction to include labor struggles in the North, wars against Indigenous people, and the struggle for female suffrage; how Radical Republicans like Thaddeus Stevens interpreted the Constitution, fought for the Reconstruct Ammenendemts, and grappled with President Johnson; and how workers in the South and North struggled for rights during the Gilded Age.
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This is part two of our two-part interview with Aziz Rana. To share your thoughts on the episode, click on the “Send us a Text Message” link at the top of the episode description.
Aziz Rana is a professor of law at Boston College. He’s the author of two books, The Two Faces of American Freedom, published in 2014, and The Constitutional Bind, published in April of this year. In 2022, Aziz spoke at the Socialism Conference in Chicago about the need for a democratic constitution. That recording is available in the class episode archive. Aziz recently published an op-ed in the New York Times titled “The Constitution won’t save us from Trump,” which drew a response from Nacy Pelosi.
In part two, Aziz talks about the Consitution as creating a political playing field within which American politics operates. Aziz also talks about the contradiction between a growing realization that the Constitution is harmful and the power of "constitutional realism." Finally, Aziz talks about our current moment and how it compares to previous periods of constitutional critique.
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In this episode, we talk with Aziz Rana about the struggle for democracy and America’s Constitutional Bind. The interview is split into two parts. Part two will be released in two weeks. You can now click on the “Send us a Text Message” link at the top of the episode description to share your thoughts on the episode. This episode's prompt: should socialists care about the Constitution? Why or why not?
Aziz Rana is a professor of law at Boston College. He’s the author of two books, The Two Faces of American Freedom, published in 2014, and The Constitutional Bind, published in April of this year. In 2022, Aziz spoke at the Socialism Conference in Chicago about the need for a democratic constitution. That recording is available in the class episode archive. Aziz recently published an op-ed in the New York Times titled “The Constitution won’t save us from Trump,” which drew a response from Nacy Pelosi.
In the first part of the interview, Aziz talks about the inspiration for his book and lays out his primary arguments: America finds itself in a constitutional bind. We cling to an undemocratic document that does us great harm. It didn’t always used to be this way. Our “Constitutional creed” developed over time, starting around the turn of the 20th century, in the context of American imperial expansion.
Rana explains the importance of universal and equal rights to the Socialist Party of America, which exemplified pre-Cold War democratic agitation. He compares the Socialist Party of America’s (SPA) political agitation and the Black Panther Party’s Revolution Peoples Constitutional Convention in 1970 to determine how the Cold War shaped constitutional critique - for better and worse. A few subaltern voices, such as W.E.B. Du Bois and James Boggs, connected pre-Cold War critiques with those of the ‘60s and ‘70s. Rana also identified many interesting points regarding democracy and the Constitution in the DSA’s 2021 political system. At the end of Part One, Rana discusses the Bill of Rights and how socialists such as Crystal Eastman fought for civil liberties without supporting the Constitution.
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This is the second part of our conversation with Sanjiv Gupta and Paul Heideman about U.S. politics, conflict within the Republican Party, and the current state of American democracy. We invited Saniv and Paul back onto the podcast as a follow-up to their 2022 presentation at the Socialism Conference in Chicago.
Sanjiv Gupta is a member of the River Valley DSA chapter in Western Massachusetts and a sociologist at UMass-Amherst.
Paul Heideman is a writer and high school teacher in NYC. He is the editor of Class Struggle and the Color Line, and his work has appeared in Jacobin, Dissent, and In These Times.
Transcript:
Luke: This is CLASS, the official podcast of the Democratic Socialists of America's National Political Education Committee. My name is Luke Pickrell. This is part two of our conversation with Sanjiv Gupta and Paul Heidman. Sanjiv is a member of the River Valley DSA chapter in Western Massachusetts and is a sociologist at UMass Amherst.
Paul is a writer and high school teacher in New York City. He's also the editor of Class Struggle and The Color Line, and his work has appeared in Jacobin, Descent, and In These Times. Our conversation continues just where we left off in Part 1. Enjoy.
The discussion around breaks, dirty breaks, and what's happening in the Republican Party kind of dovetails nicely into the next question I wanted to ask, which is also in your 2022 presentation. You said both parties are structurally weak, implying, of course, that, the Democratic Party is also structurally weak in some ways.
And we've talked about how this Palestine anti-APEC section within the Democratic Party. So, curious, Paul, if, if you could start, and then Sanjiv, of course, you can come in. Is the Democratic Party weak? weak? If so, how? And then could we see someone running on the Democratic Party ballot line on a Palestine angle or a true democracy, democracy angle?
Paul: there are a couple of different senses of party weakness that are related, but are, that are worth distinguishing. One is simply like electoral fortunes, you know, like a weak party is a party that fails electorally. In some senses, I would say, look, the Republican party, for most of my lifetime, has been weak. The Republican party has won the popular vote once since 1988. Right? 2004 was the only time that in the presidential election, the Republican Party won the presidential vote. That's kind of a stunning record, right? In some senses, we're living in a period of Democratic Party electoral dominance. Now, the Electoral College, you know, and the Supreme Court together have meant that that hasn't always translated into who holds the presidency.
But that's, that's, so, so just kind of how you do in the election. That's one index of party weakness. Another is the party as an institution and how able the leaders of that institution are to get what they want. And in that sense, I think both parties are weak, in comparison with earlier periods of American history and in comparison with like European parties in most senses.
And, there's a couple of ways this is true. What one is just the primary system. The primary system means that the party leadership does not get to pick candidates. They can put their thumb on the scale, right? But they don't get to just pick the candidate, which they used to be able to do in American parties. And what that means is that like, look, that's how Trump. You know, took over the Republican Party, right? It was thr
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In today’s episode, we talk with Sanjiv Gupta and Paul Heideman about U.S. politics, conflict within the Republican Party, and the current state of American democracy. We invited Saniv and Paul back onto the podcast as a follow-up to their 2022 presentation at the Socialism Conference in Chicago.
Sanjiv Gupta is a member of the River Valley DSA chapter in Western Massachusetts and a sociologist at UMass-Amherst.
Paul Heideman is a writer and high school teacher in NYC. He is the editor of Class Struggle and the Color Line, and his work has appeared in Jacobin, Dissent, and In These Times.
These two resolutions are mentioned in the discussion: No Votes for Genocide Resolution and Establishing a Mass Member Input Process for a Position on the 2024 Presidential Election Resolutions
Transcript:
Luke: This is CLASS, the official podcast of the Democratic Socialists of America's National Political Education Committee. My name is Luke Pickrell. In this episode, we talk with Sanjiv Gupta and Paul Heidemann, who I will introduce fully at the beginning of the show. Our discussions will be released in two parts.
Over the course of these two chapters, I asked Sanjiv and Paul to talk about the Uncommitted Movement and how DSA should relate to the 2024 elections. Paul explains the internal workings of the Republican Party and how Trump's rise to prominence has impacted the Republicans. We consider the challenges facing the Republican Party and the Democratic Party, and particularly how the ongoing war in Gaza could be splitting the Democrats.
We conclude by talking a bit about the meaning of liberal democracy and how socialists should relate to the larger structure of American politics. Enjoy.
Today we're joined by Sanjiv Gupta and Paul Heidemann. I want to introduce, our two guests here to the, to the podcast. Sanjiv is a member of River Valley DSA in Western Massachusetts. And he's also a sociologist at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Paul is a writer and a high school teacher in New York City.
He's the editor of Class Struggle and The Color Line. And Paul's work has appeared in Jacobin, Descent, and In These Times. You all might remember Sanjeev and Paul from episodes 6 and 7 of the podcast. We shared a recording of their presentation at the 2022 Socialism Conference in Chicago, and that presentation was called The Crisis of American Politics, Socialists, and Liberal Democracy.
And then I was just reminded that Sanjiv also appeared on several of our first episodes. we had an introductory series talking about what is capitalism more generally. So, two years later, give or take, after the Socialism 2022 conference, we wanted to have Sanjiv and Paul on the show to discuss a variety of topics, but mostly within the realm of the 2024 presidential elections, democracy more broadly, the Republican Party, And then also the Democratic Socialists of America, the DSA, And then, of course, we'll release this discussion in two parts. So first off, Sanjiv and Paul just wanted to thank you both for joining us.
Sanjiv: Very happy to be here.
Paul: Glad to be here.
Luke: Yeah, it's, it's great to have you both. So, I thought first we could start off with the Uncommitted Movement, something that's started rec
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This episode is an attempt to make the first part of the Communist Manifesto, the part called “Bourgeois and Proletarians” intelligible for some one knew to socialism. This text is a part of the DSA NPEC “What is Capitalism?” curriculum.
Written in 1848 by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, this is one of the foundational texts of the socialist movement. The first chapter covers the expansion of capital and the consolidation of the bourgeoisie as a class, as well as their relationship to the proletariat (the working class) and their role in history.
Crucial to Marx and Engels’ understanding of socialism is their appreciation of the power of capitalism, not simply to dominate and exploit, but to create vast amounts of wealth. Prior to capitalism, no society existed that produced enough for every person to not only be fed, clothed and housed, but to enjoy luxuries and meaningful free time. While capitalism is incapable of providing a just distribution of this wealth, it has ushered in an era of unprecedented wealth. Because the working class produces this wealth, it is the unique agent of change that can upend this status quo.
The Manifesto not only shows capitalism to be a historical phase, and not something that has existed forever, but it also points towards the potential, even the inevitability, that something else will replace it.
Elton L.K. will be returning to his personal podcast The Working Class Intelligentsia. In The Working Class Intelligentsia he follows serially the writings and biography of Italian Communist Antonio Gramsci, and the lessons we can learn today from them. Gramsci is famous for participating in a socialist movement that collapsed under Mussolini’s fascism. Mussolini put a few socialists in prison, including Gramsci. While in prison Gramsci was for some reason allowed to theorize how the Italian revolution failed, and analyze how power worked through Italian history. Season 2 is going to cover the Russian Revolution and the simultaneous socialist movement building in Italy in the year 1917.
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Achieving the liberation of the queer community requires realizing the intersecting nature of all U.S. cultural oppressions — including class oppression — ties the liberation of all to the end of capitalism. Today, queer oppression is being used not only to sustain capitalism but to help grow fascism. When so many people’s personal hierarchy of needs requires them to spend their limited resources struggling simply to survive an onslaught of existential attacks, how does a socialist movement grow and build class consciousness? How has capitalism infected liberal social analysis of so-called “identity politics” and activism in those realms? How can socialism provide a better analysis and reinvent activism in those realms? What can socialism, in general, learn from queer analysis and activism?
Genevieve R is the co-chair of DSA Trans Rights and Bodily Autonomy. She's also a founding member of the Ithaca Tenants Union and the Ithaca Solidarity Slate, which has elected four organized socialists to the City Council.
Rashad X (he/him) is a proud member of Lakefront DSA in NE Illinois and a member of DSA's National Political Committee. Most of his work is focused on ensuring that DSA is fighting the imperial police state through political independence and ensuring DSA is a leader in winning the battle for Democracy. Both of these themes inspire his involvement in the Trans Rights and Bodily Autonomy Campaign, where DSA is fighting the unpopular far-right agenda implemented through the US's undemocratic political system.
Emma P is a published researcher in both neuroscience and engineering. Her love has always been philosophy, hence she has been a lifelong member of the working class. She has organized outside of socialist spaces, from multi-city protests to state-level building and leading, as well as collaborating with national organizations. She has contributed nationally behind the scenes for about 15 years. But several years ago, she lucked into an opportunity to join the socialist struggle, join DSA, and find comrades who mean the world to her. She has held a few local offices, is a member of NPEC’s committee, and is now on the TRBA steering committee. She likes to call this work applied philosophy, but no one else finds it funny. Reclaiming queer liberation as an inherently socialist struggle has been a dream of hers.
Get involved! Queer Socialists Working Group.
Also check out DSA’s recentKickoffof the Trans Rights & Bodily Autonomy Mass Campaign Commission. This commission will act as an organizing and resource hub for our over 150 chapters in 48 states. It will struggle on different fronts including for legislative reform, defense of queer community spaces, protection of queer people in the workplace, distribution of trans and abortion resources, and a national Day of Action on March 31, Trans Day of Visibility.
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In the Communist Manifesto, Marx and Engels wrote that “the first step in the revolution by the working class is to raise the proletariat to the position of ruling class, to win the battle of democracy.” Almost two centuries later, the battle for democracy continues. Today, economic precarity and social upheavals have led many to question our present political system. In these times, DSA’s position that the United States is “no democracy at all” is a rousing and powerful assertion against mainstream narratives. At this event, DSA members Jerry Harris and Luke Pickrell will discuss their understanding of democracy, whether the Constitution supports or frustrates democracy, and to what extent socialists should "fight for" or "defend" democracy going into the 2024 Presidential elections.
Jerry Harris is the national secretary of the Global Studies Association and on the international board of the Network for Critical Studies of Global Capitalism. He is a retired union activist with over 120 published articles on political economy, globalization, democracy and other topics. His work has been translated into Spanish, Portuguese, Czech, German and Chinese. His last book was "Global Capitalism and the Crisis of Democracy."
Luke Pickrell is a member of East Bay DSA and Marxist Unity Group. He's written in Cosmonaut and The Democratic Constitution Blog, and contributed to various discussions in the Why Marx? project. He's also interviewed or co-interviewed several people about democracy and the U.S. Constitution for Cosmopod, including Robert Ovetz, Douglas Egerton, Gil Shaeffer, and Bruno Leipold.
The video version of this episode can be found on YouTube here.
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Local DSA chapters have been conducting what is called Socialist Night School. Socialist Night School is a democratic space for people to participate in the education process.
In today’s episode we talk with Guy Brown, Molly Culhane and Evan Moravansky. They are members of the National Political Education Committee. Evan is the chair. They will explain more about what the National Political Education Committee is, and they’ll explain much more about Socialist Night School.
Guy Brown (he/him) is currently a member of DSA's National Political Education Committee and the father of a two-year-old. After leaving the Ozarks, he worked as an early childhood and elementary teacher before joining Charlotte Metro DSA in 2016 . He enjoys playing soccer with his toddler, cuddling with his two pitbulls, and watching Bravo with his wife.
Molly Culhane is a member of East Bay DSA and the National Political Education Committee. She is also a graduate student in Jurisprudence and Social Policy at UC Berkeley, with research interests that center on the criminalization of informal economic activity. Hailing from Denver, Colorado, Molly is enthusiastic about running, public transportation, and building a more inclusive, more robust socialist movement through political education.
Evan Moravansky is a member of mid-Hudson Valley DSA and is the Chair of the National Political Education Committee.
Resources
- NPEC Mentorship program sign-up form
- NPEC Socialist Night School Curriculum website
- NPEC-created old curriculum for basic SNS modules
- Socialist Night School modules shared from other chapters
- Socialist Night School "What is Capitalism?" and Backwards Planning Training
- Socialist Night School "What is Socialism?" and Facilitation Training
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Today we are talking with members of the Chicago Teachers Union, Ayesha Qazi, David Stieber and Hadeil Abdelfattah. As you may remember from our episode on the victory Chicago’s mayor, a former CTU member, Chicago’s students and educators have lived through a neoliberal hell. From 2003 to 2013 Chicago closed 50 schools, only making conditions for students worse. These closures moved the members of the teachers union to become militant. Their militancy changed the direction of Chicago’s education politics and reignited a labor movement in America that starting to reverse decades of decline of US union membership. Chicago educators recently joined 146 other unions, locals and caucuses, including United Auto Workers, United Electrical Radio and Machine Workers of America and Association of Flight Attendants, signing a letter calling for basics rights to be restored in Gaza, hostages to be released, and for Biden to call for a ceasefire.
Ayesha Qazi-Lampert is an AP Environmental Science Teacher at Chicago Public Schools. She is a member of the Chicago Teacher Union Climate Justice committee and is the Chair of the American Federation of Teachers Climate and Environmental Justice Caucus
Dave Stieber is a 17 year Chicago Public Schools high school social studies and poetry teacher. He is National Board Certified and hold his Masters in Urban Education Policy. His partner is also a CPS teacher and together they have two children that both attend CPS.
Hadeil M. Abdelfattah, Ed.D. is a Palestinian-American born and raised on the northside of the city of Chicago. She is an educator of nearly 28 years and is currently a Lead Instructional Coach at Chicago Public Schools. She holds a doctorate in Educational Leadership and wrote an Autoethnographic study of her experiences as the child of immigrants in a large urban school district.
Our Union Called for a Cease-Fire. It's About Our Students. (In These Times)
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DSA is becoming a true working class organization. Today we are continuing our conversation with three past and present members of DSA’s National Labor Commission, also known as the NLC. The National Labor Commission has several campaigns underway. We have talked about the Emergency Workplace Organizing Committee or EWOC on this podcast a number of times.
Ayesha Mughal was an NLC Steering Committee member from 2022-2023 and is currently a staff organizer on the Starbucks Workers United campaign in Pennsylvania.
Sean Orr is a UPS package-car driver and elected shop steward in Teamsters Local 705 in Chicago.
Sarah Hurd is one of the co-chairs of DSA's National Labor Commission which works to build rank and file militancy and solidarity within the labor movement. The NLC launched a campaign called "Strike Ready" which served as a major force in organizing community support for the Teamster's contract fight against UPS.
The 2024 Labor Notes Conference will be held April 19-21 in Chicago. Register by March 1 for a big discount. Labor Notes is both a media project and a network of rank-and-file members, local union leaders, and labor activists who know the labor movement is worth fighting for. They encourage connections between workers in different unions, worker centers, communities, industries, and countries to strengthen the movement—from the bottom up.
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This has been an important year for the labor movement and for DSA. Workers are seeing the value in forming a union and using the credible threat of a strike to win better pay, working conditions and political power. Today we are speaking with three past and present members of DSA’s National Labor Commission, also known as the NLC. The National Labor Commission has several campaigns underway. We have talked about the Emergency Workplace Organizing Committee or EWOC on this podcast a number of times.
Ayesha Mughal was an NLC Steering Committee member from 2022-2023 and is currently a staff organizer on the Starbucks Workers United campaign in Pennsylvania.
Sean Orr is a UPS package-car driver and elected shop steward in Teamsters Local 705 in Chicago.
Sarah Hurd is one of the co-chairs of DSA's National Labor Commission which works to build rank and file militancy and solidarity within the labor movement. The NLC launched a campaign called "Strike Ready" which served as a major force in organizing community support for the Teamster's contract fight against UPS.
The 2024 Labor Notes Conference will be held April 19-21 in Chicago. Register by March 1 for a big discount. Labor Notes is both a media project and a network of rank-and-file members, local union leaders, and labor activists who know the labor movement is worth fighting for. They encourage connections between workers in different unions, worker centers, communities, industries, and countries to strengthen the movement—from the bottom up.
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NPEC Presents: "Understanding the Israeli–Palestinian Colonial Conflict,” with featured speakers: Moshé Machover and Sumaya Awad.
How should we understand what is taking place in Gaza and across occupied Palestine? What history do we need to know to understand and interpret the present? What can we do in the present to shape the future? Moshé Machover and Sumaya Awad will help us answer these questions.
Moshé Machover, born in Tel Aviv in 1936, is a mathematician and socialist activist who has been active in and written extensively on Middle-Eastern politics. A collection of his essays on the Middle East, Israelis and Palestinians – Conflict and Resolution(Haymarket Books).
Sumaya Awad is Adalah Justice Project's director of strategy and communications, and coeditor of Palestine: A Socialist Introduction (Haymarket Books). She has written a series of essays with Daphna Thier in Jacobin, including In Israel, Zionism Prevents Working Class Solidarity .
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This episode is going to be different from prior episodes. Today we’re going to be talking about psychoanalysis. Marx esteemed scientific rationality. Many, including many socialists, reject psychoanalysis as a pseudoscience. I have my own questions, honestly. Nonetheless, there is a significant branch of Marxism grounded in Freudian psychoanalysis, including controversial yet influential thinkers like Louis Althusser and Slavoj Žižek.
On Today’s episode I asked Michael Downs to talk about his essay “Wage Labor and Jouissance, Why the Left Needs Žižek to Understand Workers”. Michael Downs is most famous for his theory blog The Dangerous Maybe. The Dangerous Maybe makes philosophers such as Žizek, Lacan, Marx and Heidegger intelligible to people with little to no background in theory. Michael Downs himself does not have a college degree, but his blog posts have been so respected that professors are assigning his them in their classrooms. In his essay “Wage Labor and Jouissance” he talks about some insights he has gotten from reading Žižek, insights that he believes socialists organizers should be aware of: we must meet workers where they are at. We will fail to bring about socialism if we force our values on the rest of the working class. Our job as organizers is to present them with the tools to take their own liberation into their own hands. This aligns with the socialist organizers from EWOC and the DSA National Labor Committee and other places that you have heard on this podcast.
- Michael Downs' theory blog The Dangerous Maybe.
- Michael Downs' essay “Wage Labor and Jouissance, Why the Left Needs Žižek to Understand Workers” in Underground Theory (2023).
- Downs’ courses on Žižek’s “For They Know Not What They Do”, and an Intro to Nick Land.
Note: Downs' class on Nick Land is interesting because Land offers a critique of socialism, and yet he influenced some of today’s most important socialist thinkers, including Mark Fisher and Nick Srnicek.
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October 7, 2023 Hamas executed a surprise attack on military and civilian Israeli targets, killing over 1200 people and taking around 200 hostages. Israel’s response to Hamas’s horrific actions has once again been disproportionate and genocidal. We demand a ceasefire and condemn any attacks on civilians.
In recent years DSA has made solidarity with Palestine a priority. We already had plans to do an episode on Palestine soon, but due to recent events we wanted to provide historical context as soon as possible, context that is rarely provided by the mainstream media in America.
We will have more on this topic in the future. The DSA National Political Education Committee is working on additional educational materials, including training material on how to talk to non-socialistists on Palestine. This material will be available to everyone, but will be especially designed for local DSA chapters to facilitate their own trainings.
In this episode we interview Sumaya Awad and Daphna Thier. Sumaya Awad is the Adalah Justice Project's director of strategy and communications, and coeditor of Palestine: A Socialist Introduction (Haymarket Books). You’ll recognize Daphna from a number of our previous episodes. She was previously the chair of the DSA National Political Education Committee, and is now the Labor Education Coordinator for Emergency Workplace Organizing Committee (EWOC). Sumaya and Daphna have published multiple articles together in Jacobin on Palestine (see below).
Articles by Sumaya Awad and Daphna Thier:
- The Tide Is Turning Against Israeli Apartheid (Jacobin)
- Why You Should Support Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions Against Israel (Jacobin)
- The One-State Solution (Jacobin)
- In Israel, Zionism Prevents Working-Class Solidarity (Jacobin)
- Sorry, Anti-Zionism Still Doesn’t Equal Antisemitism (Jacobin)
Note that Sumaya and Daphna both make reference to the number of Palestinian children that have died in the current conflict. According to the Washington Post as of yesterday, October 22, 1,873 children have died.
Volunteer with DSA’s No Money for Massacres Phone-banks.
DSA Members and U.S. Representatives Cori Bush and Rashida Tlaib submitted a resolution to Congress titled “Ceasefire NOW”. The NPC Steering Committee officially endorsed the resolution and is calling for all DSA members to send an email to their elected representatives demanding they sign on as co-sponsors of this resolution and end the genocide.
DSA put together a Palestine Solidarity Toolkit that all members can use to stay informed, take action, and Become a member of Democratic Socialists of America.
Sara Nelson took office as the International President of the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA, AFL-CIO on June 1, 2014, and she is currently serving her second four-year term.
Sara became a United Airlines Flight Attendant in 1996 and has been a union activist since nearly the beginning of her career, including serving as strike chair and leading communications for nearly 10 years at AFA’s United chapter.
In the summer of 2019, she addressed DSA’s largest ever Convention, which occurred during a surprising wave of strikes by teachers, hotel workers, and others. Much of the convention revolved around the power of the working class when we organize -- which is what Nelson spoke about.
Nelson draws on diverse stories throughout the U.S.’s history to show how organizing at work not only improves people’s lives, individually and as a group but that rather than being just another form of activism, labor organizing is our most powerful weapon.
NPEC Curriculum - Sara Nelson’s “Solidarity is a Force Stronger than Gravity"
YouTube video of Sara Nelson’s “Solidarity is a Force Stronger than Gravity"
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Vivek Chibber is the guest on today’s episode, discussing his essay “Why the Working Class?” which maybe not so coincidentally is the name of our series. In this episode Vivek not only answers the question he proposes to answer, but he talks some about what socialism could look like, and DSA’s role to getting there.
Vivek Chibber is a professor of sociology at New York University. He is the editor of Catalyst: a Journal of Theory and Strategy.
NPEC Curriculum - Vivek Chibber’s “Why the Working Class?”
NPEC Presents: Imperialism: the US and Mexico
The relationship between the United States and Mexico, both today and historically, constitutes a significant feature of U.S. imperialism. Speakers at this panel event will discuss concepts of imperialism; the long drive by U.S. capital and the U.S. government to dominate Mexico and seize economic benefits at the expense of Mexico and the working class of both countries; and Mexican/Chicano labor in the U.S. including the ways in which the U.S. imperialist relation to Mexico has tended to divide the working class and responses to those divisions. This unequal relationship continues today, affecting workers on both sides of the border.
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Early forms of socialism envisioned a better world for everyone, and before socialist theory workers fought for autonomy and respect from their bosses, but Marx and Engels played an important role uniting the workers movement and socialist movement. Marx’s pamphlet “Wage Labor and Capital” is a concise text for articulating how capitalism functions, and how it exploits the workers. Marx had not yet fully developed his concept of labor power, which he explored in far greater detail in Das Kapital, or Capital in English.
David Kotz is Professor Emeritus of Economics at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and Senior Research Fellow in the Political Economy Research Institute. He is the author of the book Socialism for Today: Escaping the Cruelties of Capitalism, Polity Press, forthcoming 2024. He also wrote The Rise and Fall of Neoliberal Capitalism, Harvard University Press, 2015 and 2017. He is a member of DSA’s National Political Education Committee.
NPEC “Why the Working Class?” Curriculum, including Marx’s ‘Wage Labor and Capital’
https://dsa-education.pubpub.org/pub/why-the-working-class/release/6
Foundational Political Education Series: Socialism
September 17, 2023
https://actionnetwork.org/events/foundational-political-education-series-socialism?source=direct_link&link_id=4&can_id=6e32bd9fc928173c7c4f64fb3a5b58ab&email_referrer=email_2027248&email_subject=red-letter-your-npec-newsletter
Foundational Political Education Series: Class
September 24, 2023
https://actionnetwork.org/events/foundational-political-education-series-class?source=direct_link&link_id=5&can_id=6e32bd9fc928173c7c4f64fb3a5b58ab&email_referrer=email_2027248&email_subject=red-letter-your-npec-newsletter
Volunteer Wanted: Podcast Audio Editor
Class is looking for an Audio Editor to help with podcast production. We want to expand our team. Duties include: editing and processing recorded interview audio for clarity, sound quality, and flow; mastering to podcast loudness specifications; editing theme music for intro/outro; providing remote audio tech support for recording sessions when necessary; communicating with team to coordinate file exchanges, content, and release dates. Must be proficient in a DAW like Pro Tools, Reaper, or equivalent. Previous podcast experience is preferred. If you're interested, please contact politicaleducation@dsacommittees.org.
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If you’ve been listening to this podcast for very long you probably already know the answer to the question “why the working class?” In some ways this question is the reason for existence for the podcast. We want to raise class consciousness. As members of the working class we have interests that do not align with the large business owners and investors. Only by coming together can we serve our interests: to live and flourish on this planet with each other sustainably.
This episode will be the first in a series answering the question why the working class? Subsequent episodes will be covering each of the texts in the NPEC “Why the Working Class?” curriculum (link below).
This episode is edited down from multiple episodes recorded back in June 2022. We tried to get them out a long time ago, but we had a variety of technical and audio issues. We’ve decided to record new episodes, but there were some pieces so good that we wanted to release them out of context.
Today’s episode is hosted by Daphna Thier, who was the chair of DSA’s national political education committee at the time. She is now the Labor Education Coordinator for Emergency Workplace Organizing Committee (EWOC). It also includes Kari Thompson (UE Director of Education, Director of International Strategies, Member of UE Local 896) and Justin Freeman (an NYC-DSA member, father, CUNY graduate, and Director of Community Affairs for the New York State Assembly).
NPEC Curriculum “Why the Working Class?”
Credits:
Producer: Elton LK
Logo by Michaela Brangan
Sound Engineer & Opening Music by Casey Stikker
Additional Assistance, including content by Palmer Conrad
Today’s episode part 2 of a 2 episode series on the National Convention, one of the primary democratic mechanisms within the structure of DSA. To discuss the national convention Justin Charles from the NPC will return. We’ll also be joined by Renée Paradis. Both are members of the Platform and Resolutions Subcommittee.
Links:
2023 DSA Convention
2023 DSA Convention Compendium (Resolutions)
Register for NPEC's Comradely Disagreement and Debate Training: July 27th
Join the National Political Education Committee on Thursday, July 27th, from 5:30-7pm PT/8:30-10pm ET for our pre-convention Comradely Disagreement and Debate Training!
New NPEC Curriculum Module: Labor History
We're proud to announce our latest out-of-the-box curriculum module: The US Labor Movement and the Socialist Role. This introductory and ready-to-use module traces the role socialists have historically played in labor organizing, focusing on the 1934 West Coast Longshore Strike as an example of a multiracial, cross-industry, and community-based working-class alliance, characterized by democratic decision making, creative and powerful tactics, refusal to concede to union/government “mediation,” and a general strike.
Today’s episode will be the first of a 2 episode series on the National Convention, one of the primary democratic mechanisms within the structure of DSA. To discuss the national convention Justin Charles from the NPC will return. We’ll also be joined by Renée Paradis. Both are members of the Platform and Resolutions Subcommittee.
Justin Charles is a member of North Brooklyn DSA, and has been a member of the DSA National Political Committee since July 2020.
Renée Paradis is a member of East Bay DSA, and has served on the Resolutions and Platform convention committee for the last two conventions. She’s also a member of the CA-DSA State Committee and a past chair of DSA's National Electoral Committee.
2023 DSA Convention
https://convention2023.dsausa.org
2023 DSA Convention Compendium (Resolutions)
https://s3.amazonaws.com/actionkit-dsausa/dsa/2023_DSA_Convention_Compendium.pdf
Not be confused with the 2023 Socialism Conference
https://socialismconference.org
Something big has been happening in Chicago. If you have not heard, Chicago recently elected the most progressive mayor in the country. Brandon Johnson was endorsed by a variety of unions, especially the Chicago Teachers’ Union, of which he was previously a member and an organizer. He was also endorsed by Bernie Sanders.
In this episode we have Miles Kampf-Lassin, a journalist from In These Times that followed the Brandon Johnson campaign, to talk about something we have talked about a number of times on this podcast: when workers come together they can fight back against the capitalist class.
Miles Kampf-Lassin is a writer and editor at In These Times magazine. Follow him on Twitter @MilesKLassin
Brandon Johnson Defeated Paul Vallas’s Austerity Agenda Last Night
https://jacobin.com/2023/04/brandon-johnson-mayoral-election-paul-vallas-austerity-agenda-left-victory
Why Chicago’s Mayoral Election Is One of the Most Important Races of 2023
https://perfectunion.us/why-chicagos-mayoral-election-is-one-of-the-most-important-races-of-2023/
Chicago’s Political Revolution
https://inthesetimes.com/article/chicagos-political-revolution
Credits:
Producer: Elton LK
Logo by Michaela Brangan
Sound Engineer & Opening Music by Casey Stikker
Additional Assistance, including content by Palmer Conrad
What would a socialist economy look like? Sam Gindin stresses the importance of establishing the feasibility of an alternative socialist society for the development of a strong socialist movement. He presents a vision of a future socialism, and poses important questions that a socialist society will have to figure out.
In this episode members of DSA’s National Political Committee (NPC) discuss Sam Gindin's essay.
José La Luz is a lifelong labor organizer and campaigner with roots in the New Left in the late 60’s and early 70’s. He was a founding member of DSA after joining DSOC prior to the merger with NAM in the mid 80’s. He is the most senior member of the NPC (in age) adding a multigenerational presence to the national leadership.
Sofia Cutler is a member of North New Jersey DSA, and has been a member of the DSA National Political Committee since 2021 as part of the Bread and Roses Slate. She is a rank-and-file member of Unite Here Local 33.
Justin Charles is a member of North Brooklyn DSA, and has been a member of the DSA National Political Committee since July 2020.
DSA NPEC Curriculum
https://dsa-education.pubpub.org/modules
DSA’s Leadership and Structure
https://www.dsausa.org/about-us/structure/
NPEC Curriculum on Sam Gindin’s "Socialism for Realists"
https://dsa-education.pubpub.org/pub/what-is-socialism/release/6#reading-c-socialism-for-realists-abridged-by-sam-gindin
Credits:
Producer: Elton LK
Logo by Michaela Brangan
Sound Engineer & Opening Music by Casey Stikker
Additional Assistance, including content by Palmer Conrad
Responding to the swelling socialist movement, Tarnoff builds on the work of Nicos Poulantzas and “Eurocommunism” to illustrate how growing a socialist movement requires both competing within the institutions of the state (for example through elections) and developing an autonomous layer of “people power” to act on the state. His essay blends an analysis of tactics and strategy for the socialist movement with a vision of the ultimate goal of a democratic socialism that will have both a transformed state and transformed civil society.
In this episode members of DSA’s National Political Committee (NPC) discuss Ben Tarnoff’s essay.
José La Luz is a lifelong labor organizer and campaigner with roots in the New Left in the late 60’s and early 70’s. He was a founding member of DSA after joining DSOC prior to the merger with NAM in the mid 80’s. He is the most senior member of the NPC (in age) adding a multigenerational presence to the national leadership.
Sofia Cutler is a member of North New Jersey DSA, and has been a member of the DSA National Political Committee since 2021 as part of the Bread and Roses Slate. She is a rank-and-file member of Unite Here Local 33.
Justin Charles is a member of North Brooklyn DSA, and has been a member of the DSA National Political Committee since July 2020.
DSA NPEC Curriculum
https://dsa-education.pubpub.org/modules
DSA’s Leadership and Structure
https://www.dsausa.org/about-us/structure/
Ben Tarnoff’s “Building Socialism from Below: Popular Power and the State”
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1731oHoNsQJLzoXU6yO_ZXjAT9MT4BQnr/view
Credits:
Producer: Elton LK
Logo by Michaela Brangan
Sound Engineer & Opening Music by Casey Stikker
Additional Assistance, including content by Palmer Conrad
Meagan Day, a DSA member and staff writer for Jacobin, wrote an essay in Vox to explain the goals of democratic socialism and respond to common misconceptions about democratic socialists. Since 2016, the mass support for self-declared democratic socialist Bernie Sanders for president and the election of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to Congress brought democratic socialism into the limelight of mainstream political commentary. However, there are many misconceptions about the goals of rapidly growing organizations like DSA.
Day distinguishes between socialists and those who just want to reform capitalism. She points out limits to reform within capitalism, noting that the capitalist class will try to take back any advances won through the struggle of workers. The article gives examples of contemporary institutions that embody socialist principles such as Britain’s National Health Service. She considers how the struggle for reforms can contribute to the ultimate goal of replacing capitalism with socialism. She calls for ending “society’s subservience to the market.”
Speakers:
Daphna Thier: is the Labor Education Coordinator at Emergency Workplace Organizing Committee, and was the former chair of the National Political Education Committee.
José La Luz: has been a member of DSA since the 80’s.
Sofia Cutler: is a member of North New Jersey DSA, and has been a member of the DSA National Political Committee since 2021 as part of the Bread and Roses Slate.
Justin Charles: is a member of North Brooklyn DSA, and has been a member of the DSA National Political Committee since July 2020.
Links:
Meagan Day’s “Democratic Socialism, Explained by a Democratic Socialist”
https://www.vox.com/first-person/2018/8/1/17637028/bernie-sanders-alexandria-ocasio-cortez-cynthia-nixon-democratic-socialism-jacobin-dsa
DSA NPEC Curriculum
https://dsa-education.pubpub.org/modules
DSA’s Leadership and Structure
https://www.dsausa.org/about-us/structure/
Credits:
Producer: Elton LK
Logo by Michaela Brangan
Sound Engineer & Opening Music by Casey Sticker
Additional Assistance, including content by Palmer Conrad
Trump lost the 2020 presidential election, but the forces he represented and the ideas he furthered – the contemporary US right – have not gone away. These forces are continuing their efforts to push the US – both at in the electoral and the extra-parliamentary terrains – further towards their anti-democratic vision for the U.S.
We hear from and ask questions of Bill Fletcher, John Huntington, and Nancy McLean. These three presenters have engaged with the US far right as analysts, organizers, or both. The presentations and discussion help DSA members in our day-to-day organizing and provide important context for our political thinking and work through the 2023 convention and beyond.
Three sets of questions are addressed in this session:
(1) Who is the right, both electorally and in the larger cultural front? What groups are the most active? What are the historical roots of the U.S. right? How are these groups organized?
(2) The “right” has several ideological strand and beliefs. What are these differences? Is it possible to exploit potential divisions between libertarians, white evangelical Christian nationalists, para-militarists, white supremacists, etc. and other segments the right?
(3) What should the broad left do to counter today’s right? How should we organize and with what goals? Where does DSA fit into in the effort to create a progressive counter-offensive to the right?
This is another bonus episode. This is the recording of a debate called “Path to an Accountable Party”, held on January 27, 2023. The debate covers Reform vs. Revolution, and how DSA should relate to the Democratic Party. This may be the biggest debate internally within DSA. This is why public discussions like this are important. They help our members hear arguments for different positions and different strategies. In order to stay united in a single political organization, we will need to address these disagreements directly. If we ignore them they will not magically go away.
This debate on YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sDMgV1B0sZM
“The Case for Realignment” by Alexander Hernández
https://socialistforum.dsausa.org/issues/fall-2022/the-case-for-realignment/
“Rashida Tlaib Shows that the Dirty Break is Viable” by Ian McClure
https://y.dsausa.org/the-activist/rashida-tlaib-shows-that-the-dirty-break-is-viable/
Soy un Chavista: For the Clean Break, Against the Dirty Break
https://midwestsocialist.com/2020/11/17/soy-un-chavista-for-the-clean-break-against-the-dirty-break/
“A Socialist Party in Our Time?” by Jared Abbott and Dustin Guastella
https://catalyst-journal.com/2019/10/a-socialist-party-in-our-time/
Register for EWOC Book Discussion: Labor Power & Strategy, April 27, 2023
https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZAqdOmgpzotGtAPNb_X2htVTC6zg79dllbg
Socialism 2022 Conference, Chicago
Recording was taken from the “How Do We Get a New Constitution” session, of which “part 1” was released in the previous episode of Class
Panelists: Amna Akbar, Aziz Rana
The Left’s path to power is blocked by one of the oldest and least democratic founding documents in the world. Will it take a revolution to rewrite our Constitution? The recent Constituent Assembly in Chile may show a way forward.
Amna Akbar is a professor of law at The Ohio State University Moritz College of Law. Her popular essays and op-eds have appeared in the venues like the New York Times, New York Review of Books, the Boston Review, The Nation, and Jacobin. She serves on the editorial board of the Law and Political Economy Blog.
Aziz Rana is a professor of law at Cornell University. He is the author of The Two Faces of American Freedom and the forthcoming book, The Constitutional Bind: Why a Broken Document Rules America.
Aziz Rana, “Who Owns the Constitution”, Jacobin
https://jacobin.com/2020/10/us-constitution-law-supreme-court-socialism
Aziz Rana, “Why Americans Worship the Constitution”, Public Seminar of The New School
https://publicseminar.org/essays/why-americans-worship-the-constitution/
Andre Gorz’s “Reform and Revolution”
https://socialistregister.com/index.php/srv/article/view/5272/2173
Paris, May of ’68
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/May_68
Join DSA. Become a Member.
https://act.dsausa.org/donate/membership/
Socialism 2022 Conference, Chicago
“How Do We Get a New Constitution”
Panelists: Aziz Rana
The Left’s path to power is blocked by one of the oldest and least democratic founding documents in the world. Will it take a revolution to rewrite our Constitution? The recent Constituent Assembly in Chile may show a way forward.
Aziz Rana is a professor of law at Cornell University. He is the author of The Two Faces of American Freedom and the forthcoming book, The Constitutional Bind: Why a Broken Document Rules America.
Who Owns the Constitution, Jacobin
https://jacobin.com/2020/10/us-constitution-law-supreme-court-socialism
Why Americans Worship the Constitution, Public Seminar of The New School
https://publicseminar.org/essays/why-americans-worship-the-constitution/
Join DSA. Become a Member.
https://act.dsausa.org/donate/membership/
This episode features a panel discussion from the Socialism 2022 Conference in Chicago, moderated by Daphna Thier and discussing the Emergency Workplace Organizing Committee. Panelists include Tristan Bock-Hughes, Olivia Prager, and Gabriel Winant.
Tristan is an organizer with the Illinois Nurses Association and formerly one of two staff with the Emergency Workplace Organizing Committee. Through EWOC, other staff positions, and volunteer efforts he has worked with dozens of union locals and worker organizations throughout the country. He wants to organize himself out of a job.
Olivia is a current Medical Case Manager working with adults living with HIV and AIDS at Howard Brown Health Center. She was one of the initial staff members brought into the organizing campaign for Howard Brown Health Workers United shortly after EWOC helped re-connect them with INA who currently represents their nurses union. HBHWU won their union in early August, successfully unionizing nearly 500 staff members across the organization.
Gabe is a labor historian at the University of Chicago. His book “The Next Shift: The Fall of Industry and the Rise of Health Care in Rust Belt America” came out last year. He’s a former member and organizer with UNITE HERE and currently a volunteer organizer with EWOC. I also recommend his essay on one of my personal favorites, but also one of DSA’s founding members, Barbara Ehrenreich in n+1.
You’ll recognize Daphna, the moderator, from our “What is Capitalism?” series. Daphna is the Labor Education Coordinator for Emergency Workplace Organizing Committee (EWOC). She's also a longtime bartender based in Brooklyn. And the current Labor Education Coordinator at EWOC. You can also find her written work at Jacobin.com, and a chapter she contributed in the book Palestine: A Socialist Introduction.
Gabriel Winant and Teagan Harris "Socialists are Trying to Revive the Labor Movement"
https://jacobin.com/2022/05/emergency-workplace-organizing-committee-ewoc-dsa-labor
If you need help organizing your workplace, here’s the link to Emergency Workplace Organizing Committee (EWOC)
https://workerorganizing.org
Donate to Emergency Workplace Organizing Committee (EWOC)
https://secure.actblue.com/donate/workerorganizing
Credits:
Producer: Elton LK
Logo by Michaela Brangan
Sound Engineer & Opening Music by Casey Sticker
Additional Assistance by Palmer Conrad
Ahead of the 2023 DSA National Convention, please join us for a debate and discussion between National Political Committee members on the future of DSA. We'll dig into important political questions facing our organization and what the terrain looks like for us and for the left broadly. This call will also include an orientation on the format and structure of the Convention and Pre-Convention.
The YouTube version of this debate
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TFLRB5ulVZk
Website for the DSA 2023 National Convention in Chicago, August 4-6, Chicago, IL
https://convention2023.dsausa.org
In case you're interested: the DSA Leadership Structure
https://www.dsausa.org/about-us/structure/
This episode features a panel discussion from the Socialism 2022 Conference in Chicago, moderated by Daphna Thier and discussing the Emergency Workplace Organizing Committee. Panelists include Elce Redmond, Tristan Bock-Hughes, Gabriel Winant, Teagan Harris, and Olivia Prager.
Elce Redmond is a muckraker who has been both a community and union organizer for the past 36 years. For the last two years he has served as a volunteer organizer with EWOC that has built a distributed remote model to support workers organizing in their workplace. Elce is proud to be an organizer who is open to learning new organizing methodologies regardless of his organizing history.
Tristan Bock-Hughes is an organizer with the Illinois Nurses Association and formerly one of two staff with the Emergency Workplace Organizing Committee. Through EWOC, other staff positions, and volunteer efforts he has worked with dozens of union locals and worker organizations throughout the country. He wants to organize himself out of a job.
Teagan Harris is a former student at the University of Chicago’s Masters in the Humanities Program where she studied indigenous art and curatorial work. While studying there, she worked at a local tea shop. She and her coworkers organized their workplace with the help of EWOC, earning them better workplace conditions. Teagan recently graduated with her MA in the Humanities and currently works at a non-profit in Chicago.
Olivia Prager is a current Medical Case Manager working with adults living with HIV and AIDS at Howard Brown Health Center. She was one of the initial staff members brought into the organizing campaign for Howard Brown Health Workers United shortly after EWOC helped re-connect them with INA who currently represents their nurses union. HBHWU won their union in early August, successfully unionizing nearly 500 staff members across the organization.
Gabriel Winant is a labor historian at the University of Chicago. His book “The Next Shift: The Fall of Industry and the Rise of Health Care in Rust Belt America” came out last year. He’s a former member and organizer with UNITE HERE and currently a volunteer organizer with EWOC. I also recommend his essay on one of my personal favorites, but also one of DSA’s founding members, Barbara Ehrenreich in n+1.
Daphna Thier is the Labor Education Coordinator for Emergency Workplace Organizing Committee (EWOC). She's also a longtime bartender based in Brooklyn, and the current Labor Education Coordinator at EWOC. You can find her written work at Jacobin.com, and a chapter she contributed in the book Palestine: A Socialist Introduction.
Gabriel Winant and Teagan Harris
Jacobin
Socialists Are Trying to Revive the American Labor Movement
https://jacobin.com/2022/05/emergency-workplace-organizing-committee-ewoc-dsa-labor
Emergency Workplace Organizing Committee (EWOC)- If you need help organizing your workplace.
https://workerorganizing.org/support/
Donate to Emergency Workplace Organizing Committee (EWOC)
https://workerorganizing.org/don
Credits:
Producer: Elton LK
Logo by Michaela Brangan
Sound Engineer & Opening Music by Casey Sticker
Additional Assistance by Palmer Conrad
This is the second episode in a two-part series on the state of the labor movement in 2022 and what we expect in 2023, and why we as socialists care so much about the labor movement.
Daphna Thier, a DSA member and longtime bartender based in Brooklyn, recently stepped down as the chair of DSA National Political Education Committee (NPEC) and is now the Labor Education Coordinator at EWOC. You can find her written work at Jacobin.com, and she contributed a chapter in the book Palestine: A Socialist Introduction.
Ryan Cowles is a co-chair on DSA’s National Labor Commission. He helps workers build power in their workplace as a volunteer with the Emergency Workplace Organizing Committee and as a member of Inland Empire DSA.
Emma G. is a rank and file Teamster UPS package delivery worker, and a member of DSA National Labor Committee’s Steering Committee.
Dawn Tefft transitioned from a union member to a union organizer, and she also volunteers as a Lead Organizer for the Emergency Workplace Organizing Committee (EWOC). She is a member of DSA.
Nation Labor Committee
https://labor.dsausa.org/
Emergency Workplace Organizing Committee (EWOC)
https://workerorganizing.org/
Volunteer to be an organizer for EWOC
https://workerorganizing.org/volunteer/
DSA chapters interested in hosting local EWOC trainings
https://airtable.com/shruVX1K8MqrWh08q
Credits:
Producer: Elton LK
Logo by Michaela Brangan
Sound Engineer & Opening Music by Casey Sticker
Additional Assistance by Palmer Conrad
In this episode Daphna Thier and Ryan Cowles ask a couple fellow labor organizers about the state of the labor movement, and why socialists care so much about labor.
Daphna Thier is a DSA member and longtime bartender based in Brooklyn. She recently stepped down as the chair of DSA National Political Education Committee (NPEC), and is now the Labor Education Coordinator at EWOC. You can also find her written work at Jacobin.com, and a chapter she contributed in the book Palestine: A Socialist Introduction.
Ryan Cowles is a co-chair on DSA’s National Labor Commission. He helps workers build power in their workplace as a volunteer with the Emergency Workplace Organizing Committee and as a member of Inland Empire DSA.
Emma G. is a rank and file Teamster UPS package delivery worker, and a member of DSA National Labor Committee’s Steering Committee.
Dawn Tefft transitioned from a union member to a union organizer, and she also volunteers as a Lead Organizer for the Emergency Workplace Organizing Committee (EWOC). She is a member of DSA.
Nation Labor Committee
https://labor.dsausa.org/
Emergency Workplace Organizing Committee (EWOC)
https://workerorganizing.org/
Volunteer to be an organizer for EWOC
https://workerorganizing.org/volunteer/
DSA chapters interested in hosting local EWOC trainings
https://airtable.com/shruVX1K8MqrWh08q
The Republican Party is the biggest threat to our liberal democracy, and we cannot depend on the liberals to defend our liberal democracy. How then should we as democratic socialists spearhead the fight for democracy and worker power?
Socialism 2022 Conference, Chicago
“The Crisis of American Politics: Socialists and Liberal Democracy”, part 2.
Moderator: Griffin Mahon
Panelists: Sanjiv Gupta, Paul Heideman
Sanjiv Gupta is a member of the River Valley DSA chapter in Western Massachusetts, and is a sociologist at UMass-Amherst. I personally discovered Sanjiv first from his excellent podcast Socialism in the Time of Corona. You’ll find the link in the show notes.
NOTE: In the episode Sanjiv was introduced as a sociologist at Amherst College, but Sanjiv is at UMass-Amherst.
Paul Heideman is a writer and high school teacher in NYC. He is the editor of Class Struggle and the Color Line and his work has appeared in Jacobin, Dissent, and In These Times. He is currently working on a history of the modern Republican Party. There is a link to his article “Behind the Republican Party Crack-up” in Catalyst.
Links:
Haymarket Books Socialism 2022 podcast
https://socialismconference.org/
Sanjiv Gupta’s podcast Socialism in the Time of Corona
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/socialism-in-the-time-of-corona/id1511330379
Paul Heideman
“Behind the Republican Party Crack-up”, Catalyst
https://catalyst-journal.com/2021/09/behind-the-republican-party-crack-up
***At a point in the recording something was repeatedly hitting the microphone, making it difficult to hear Griffin the moderator. Griffin asked Paul and Sanjiv why they didn’t use the F word “fascism.” Griffin assumed it was intentional to avoid this term, but asked them to expound on their opinion on the use of the word fascism. And he asked a follow up question, if they prefer not to use the term, how would they describe the Republican Party?
Paul said he wasn’t opposed to the use of the term for rhetorical reasons, but argues it isn’t particularly accurate. Historically fascism has been the complete crushing of liberal democracy and a complete break with the constitutional order. When fascists come to power the old constitution is no longer in effect, and all opposing political parties would be removed. This is not actually what the Republican Party is doing, though we could consider calling them “Authoritarian,” like India and Turkey where they still have limited civil liberties and opposition parties.
You’ll continue to hear some noise as Sanjiv answered Griffin’s question, but we were able to make the sound quality good enough to include it into the episode. Thanks for bearing with us.***
Credits:
Producer: Elton LK
Logo by Michaela Brangan
Sound Engineer & Opening Music by Casey Stikker
The Republican Party is the biggest threat to our liberal democracy, and we cannot depend on the liberals to defend our liberal democracy. How then should we as democratic socialists spearhead the fight for democracy and worker power?
Socialism 2022 Conference, Chicago
“The Crisis of American Politics: Socialists and Liberal Democracy”, part 1.
Moderator: Griffin Mahon
Panelists: Sanjiv Gupta, Paul Heideman
Sanjiv Gupta is a member of the River Valley DSA chapter in Western Massachusetts, and is a sociologist at Amherst College. I personally discovered Sanjiv first from his excellent podcast Socialism in the Time of Corona. You’ll find the link in the show notes.
Paul Heideman is a writer and high school teacher in NYC. He is the editor of Class Struggle and the Color Line and his work has appeared in Jacobin, Dissent, and In These Times. He is currently working on a history of the modern Republican Party. There is a link to his article “Behind the Republican Party Crack-up” in Catalyst.
Links:
Haymarket Books Socialism 2022 podcast
https://socialismconference.org/
Sanjiv Gupta’s podcast Socialism in the Time of Corona
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/socialism-in-the-time-of-corona/id1511330379
Paul Heideman
“Behind the Republican Party Crack-up”, Catalyst
https://catalyst-journal.com/2021/09/behind-the-republican-party-crack-up
Credits:
Producer: Elton LK
Logo by Michaela Brangan
Sound Engineer & Opening Music by Casey Sticker
Bodily autonomy has been severely restricted by the overturning of Roe v. Wade. How can socialists organize to protect abortion rights where they exist, provide and expand access where they don’t, and win a permanent nationwide right to free and legal abortion?
Socialism 2022 Conference, Chicago
"Socialists in Defense of Abortion Rights"
Panelists: Aileen Garza and Suz Warshell
Moderator: Melanie Turner-Harper, DSA Tucson, member of DSA NPEC
Aileen Garza was born and raised in Rio Grande Valley in Texas, which she refers to as the RGV. She has been organizing in reproductive rights since 2016 after learning about the reproductive justice framework. In the 2016 election she began working with many Texas and national organizations where she learned about policy advocacy and the impacts that legislation has on her beloved community of the RGV. Currently Aileen continues in Reproductive Rights and is a board member of Frontera Fund, the sole abortion fund in the RGV. And she is continuing her work of empowering, fund raising and educating the community, especially other young people to take their community into their own hands.
Suz Warshell (she/her) is passionate about the behind-the-scenes work needed to win a better world. As a member of DSA's National Electoral Committee, she has led the organization's Protect Abortion training series following the Dobbs decision and helps coordinate the NEC's abortion initiatives for ballot measures in Kentucky and Montana. She currently volunteers as a case manager for the DC Abortion Fund and previously served as the volunteer Deputy Development Director. She also volunteers with the Online Abortion Resource Squad, which works to bring accurate, supportive information about abortion to online forums. She is based in Mexico City.
Links:
Haymarket Books Socialism 2022 podcast
https://socialismconference.org/
Online Abortion Resource Squad
https://abortionsquad.org
Frontera Fund
https://fronterafundrgv.org
Episode of Jacobin podcast ‘The Dig’ referenced in the episode
https://thedigradio.com/podcast/gunpower-death-drive-w-patrick-blanchfield/
DSA’s statement on Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organizationhttps://www.dsausa.org/statements/fight-for-democracy-fight-to-protect-abortion/
DSA Protect Abortion Chapter Toolkit
https://docs.google.com/document/d/186fbIas3-C3JSs4eM53dIV3brz6cXI8h0Osvq2SFIDU/edit
Credits:
Producer: Elton LK
Logo by Michaela Brangan
Sound Engineer & Opening Music by Casey Stikker
Featuring University of Massachusetts Amherst Sociologist Sanjiv Gupta and University of Massachusetts Amherst Economist David Kotz.
This episode is a part of a 4-part series on “What is Capitalism?” This series is accompanying the DSA National Political Education Committee’s curriculum packet, which can find our curriculum at https://education.dsausa.org/resources/.
This chapter, from a book published in 2016 at the time after the first Black Lives Matter protests, introduces the complex interactions between racism and capitalism in the U.S. Taylor reiterates CLR James’ assertion that Black struggles for democratic rights have been at the forefront of the socialist movement in the U.S. In turn, socialists been central to anti-racist struggles. Taylor argues that U.S. ruling classes have used racism and white supremacy, first to justify slavery, then to divide workers. The chapter highlights Marx’s statements on slavery, the Civil War, and capitalists’ use of ethnicity to divide workers.
From #BlackLivesMatter to Black Liberation by Keeanga-Yahmatta Taylor
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Fj1NujY5Z3Qry_2HNCji1ktdW4N_Ajeo/view
Credits:
Producer: Elton LK
Host: Daphna Thier
Logo by Michaela Brangan
Sound Engineer & Opening Music by Casey Stikker
Featuring University of Massachusetts Amherst Sociologist Sanjiv Gupta and University of Massachusetts Amherst Economist David Kotz.
This is episode 3 of a 4-part series on “What is Capitalism?” This series is accompanying the DSA National Political Education Committee’s curriculum packet, which can find our curriculum at https://education.dsausa.org/resources/.
This episode goes into classes and class struggle under capitalism. The discussion is in response to a chapter from the Communist Manifesto about us, the working class, and the capitalists class. The Communist Manifesto was written just as the French Revolution of 1848 was getting started.
“Bourgeois and Proletarians” by Karl Marx & Frederick Engles https://drive.google.com/file/d/1WfYU9Aa8SIPZom3yzC-c7PpD_wLe0W7E/view
Credits:
Producer: Elton LK
Host: Daphna Thier
Logo by Michaela Brangan
Sound Engineer & Opening Music by Casey Stikker
Featuring University of Massachusetts Amherst Sociologist Sanjiv Gupta and University of Massachusetts Amherst Economist David Kotz.
This is episode 1 of a 4-part series on “What is Capitalism?” This series is accompanying the DSA National Political Education Committee’s curriculum packet, which can find our curriculum at https://education.dsausa.org/resources/.
This episode covers a passage from “Understanding Capitalism” by Vivek Chibber, in which he goes into the history of how capitalism came into being and how capitalism works. Under capitalism people sell things on a market, not for personal use, but for generating profit for the capitalists.
“Understanding Capitalism” by Vivek Chibber: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1CTxMynZZYMrtbf30mR8o23vWUQCBFYOh/view
Credits:
Producer: Elton LK
Host: Daphna Thier
Logo by Michaela Brangan
Sound Engineer & Opening Music by Casey Stikker
Featuring University of Massachusetts Amherst Sociologist Sanjiv Gupta and University of Massachusetts Amherst Economist David Kotz.
This episode is a part of a 3-part series on “What is Democratic Socialism?” This series is accompanying the DSA National Political Education Committee’s curriculum packet, which can find our curriculum at https://education.dsausa.org/resources/.
This episode covers “But at Least Capitalism Is Free and Democratic, Right?” by Erik Olin Wright in which Olin Wright takes the common assumption that capitalism grants us freedom and lays out simply how that’s not the case. The working class has a “choice,” but only between working and starving — and that’s no choice at all. And, at work, workers are subject to the whims of their employers, giving over at least eight hours of the day to someone else’s control. He also succinctly lays out how governments steward the interests of capital, and how in turn capitalists control the political system.
“But at Least Capitalism Is Free and Democratic, Right?” by Erik Olin Wright: https://jacobin.com/2016/04/democracy-capitalism-freedom-friedman-wright-socialism