Boston DSA New Member Handbook

Why are we here?

DSA’s surge in membership is part of the post-COVID, last stage capitalism era. It is a recognition of the crises in American politics on every front—healthcare, immigration, environmental collapse, a resurgent fascist movement, and more. People are increasingly fed up with a system that seems to benefit no one but the rich and powerful. Young people are looking around and seeing that the planet we’ve inherited is falling apart, and capitalism has nothing to offer them except debt, depression, and wage slavery.

A simple drink of water

When you lean over a water fountain, you have a right to expect that it delivers clean, safe water for anyone and everyone. It should not be a segregated service. It should not be a form of means-tested charity for the needy, or run through decaying lead pipes. Water is life, water is precious, and water is not something to be privatized. It is a public good.

We seek to take more parts of the economy out of the hands of profit-seekers, and instead treat them like you might treat clean water from a public fountain. (That’s what we mean when we talk about decommodifying something.)

There are many other examples of profit motives creating screwed-up situations, like privately owned prisons or price-gouging during disasters. That’s part of why we’re socialists.

The powers that be can’t and won’t deliver a world of peace, freedom, and human dignity; we’re going to have to do that ourselves.

Democratic socialism starts from the basic belief that every human life is important, and that we have a right to make decisions about the world we create together. The basic needs of life—clean air, water, food, shelter, education—should be considered fundamental human rights, not an opportunity for someone to make a buck.

It’s important to recognize that exploitation and abuse aren’t occasional side-effects of capitalism. Instead, they’re actually necessary to its function. Young people are learning through their own experiences what Marx observed 150 years ago: The world’s monetary wealth is accumulated by taking advantage of other people’s need to survive.

We organize for an economy (and a society) run democratically to meet human needs, not for private profit. In the short term, we aim to win living wages for all workers; in the long term, we aim to end the wage system altogether. In the short term, we endeavor to put an end to police and anti-immigrant violence; in the long term, we envision a world in which prisons and borders are obsolete. Now and in the future, we seek to guarantee quality healthcare, housing, a livable environment, and education for all.

To get there, our strategy is to build working-class political power from the grassroots. We are organizing face-to-face in our neighborhoods and workplaces, in churches and in dive bars. (Many of our new members have joined up after a canvasser knocked on their door and had a deeply real conversation with them.) We’re forging a democratic, volunteer, and member-run network of accountable relationships, so we can take collective action again and again.

That’s real power. We use it to defend each other and take on bosses, landlords, and political elites; we aim to win office, change the terms of political debate, and move our society towards justice.