WORKING GROUPS
Working Groups are the main vehicles for Boston DSA to carry out its external organizing. Each working group is focused on a different sector of our shared political project; activities undertaken by working groups include running electoral campaigns, organizing tenants, organizing a workplace, and much more! Every working group has a monthly meeting and elects their own leadership (co-chairs and/or an organizing committee).
If you're new and wondering how you can get involved with Boston DSA activity, a great first step is to pick one or two working groups that sounds interesting to you and attend their monthly meeting. Meeting times and information about how to attend in-person and/or virtually can be found on the chapter Events Calendar. To join meetings via Zoom, you can find a "Zoom" button in the Member Portal -- this has links to all Zoom meetings hosted by the chapter. And if you can't make a meeting, that's okay too; most of the actual work happens outside of these meetings! E-mail the working group or find them on Discord and ask how you can get involved!
Our working groups are:
ECO-SOCIALISM
What we do: The Boston DSA Ecosocialism Working Group aims to promote a socialist analysis amongst environmentalists and an ecological analysis among socialists. It does this by organizing winning campaigns that: 1) build solidarity among community members and key allies; 2) recognize and challenge the capitalist origins of our modern environmental crisis.
When we meet: First Thursday of the month, 7pm
E-mail: ecosocialism@bostondsa.org
ELECTORAL
What we do: We seek to influence electoral politics in the greater Boston area. Borrowing from the success of the NYC DSA electoral model, we are building the structure we need to run our own independent field operations, and we are starting to gear up to run some serious challenges, bringing the strength of our membership to bear on electoral campaigns.
When we meet: Second Thursday of the month, 7pm
E-mail: electoral@bostondsa.org
housing
What we do: Boston DSA’s Housing Working Group is concerned with organizing around one of our most fundamental rights — the right to a stable and affordable home. In Boston this right has come increasingly under attack as rent prices skyrocket, rising by 25% in the last five years. The Housing Group works closely with City Life Vida Urbana, a local tenants rights organization, as well as other community groups, to fight rent increases and evictions in the neighborhoods where these trends are most acutely felt. During the pandemic, we are building a Greater Boston Tenants Union to bring together tenants across the city, and organizing eviction defense canvasses to let tenants know how to fight back.
When we meet: Third Monday of the month, 7pm
E-mail: housing@bostondsa.org
Healthcare
What we do: The Healthcare Working Group is committed to the decommodification of healthcare. We are working on the long drive organizing in favor of a Medicare for All in Massachusetts bill.
When we meet: Fourth Monday of the month, 7pm
E-mail: healthcare@bostondsa.org
LABOR
What we do: Labor solidarity is at the core of democratic socialist politics. Without a strong and organized working class movement we can’t hope to build the power necessary to challenge capitalism. To that end, the labor sub-working group works to identify ways DSA can work to Support our comrades involved in local labor struggles, to talk with DSAers in unions about what it means to be a democratic socialist in the labor movement, and to work with new DSAers to help form unions in their workplaces. During the pandemic, we are involved with the Emergency Worker Organization Project, an initiative of National DSA to help any worker who wants to organize their workplace.
When we meet: First and third Wednesdays of the month, 6:30pm
E-mail: labor@bostondsa.org
Internationalism
What we do: The Internationalism Working Group aims to build global solidarity for global liberation. We oppose globalized capitalism, imperialism, militarism, settler colonialism, and all forms of oppression wherever they occur. Capitalism is global — to defeat it, we must be too.
When we meet: Third Thursday of the month, 7pm
E-mail: internationalism@bostondsa.org
Palestine
What we do: The goal of the Palestine Working Group is to advance Palestinian liberation.
When we meet: Ad hoc, soon to be recurring!
E-mail: palestine@bostondsa.org
POLITICAL EDUCATION
What we do: The goal of the Political Education Working Group is to provide our members with the practical skills and theoretical knowledge to undertake effective organizing work and to educate the general public on DSA’s vision of a socialist future, our approach to achieving, and our perspectives on relevant issues.
When we meet: Final Thursday of the month, 7pm
E-mail: education@bostondsa.org
Socialist Feminism
What we do: The Socialist Feminist Working Group organizes around issues relating to socialist feminism, bodily autonomy, and gender liberation in the greater Boston area and seeks to advance socialist feminist theory and praxis within the chapter.
When we meet: Last Friday of the month, 6pm
E-mail: socialistfeminism@bostondsa.org
Cambridge
What we do: DSA members that live or work in Cambridge join to talk about what's happening in the city and work on our chapter's priorities. In November 2023 one of our chapter-endorsed candidates returned to the Cambridge City Council, where we hope to support municipal policies that are in line with a socialist vision for the city including real tenant protections, decommodified housing, public transportation, and an emerging non-police emergency response program. DSA boasts over 400 members in Cambridge. Get to know that DSA neighbor just down the street or in your building and let's build power for a socialist future together! Email cambridge@bostondsa.org for more information.
When we meet: First Wednesday of the month, 6pm
E-mail: cambridgedsa@gmail.com