Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) is a democratic socialist organization in theUnited States and a

member of Socialist International, an international federation of social-democratic, democratic socialist

and labor political parties and organizations.
DSA was formed in 1982 by a merger of the Democratic Socialist Organizing Committee(DSOC) and the New
American Movement (NAM). Under the leadership of Michael Harrington, DSOC had become America's largest
democratic socialist organization, despite having started, in Harrington's words, as "the remnant of a remnant"
with Harrington having been the leader of a minority caucus of the Socialist Party of America in 1972 when it
changed its name to Social Democrats, USA.[1] NAM was a coalition of writers and intellectuals with roots in both
the New Left movements of the 1960s and the former members of socialist and communist parties of the Old Left.
Initially the DSA consisted of approximately 5,000 ex-DSOC members and 1,000 ex-NAM members. Upon the
DSA's founding, Michael Harrington and socialist-feminist authorBarbara Ehrenreich were elected as co-chairs of
the organization.
According to DSA national director Maria Svart, the group has its roots in the Socialist Partyof Eugene
Debs and Norman Thomas.[2] The organization does not run its own candidates in elections but instead "fights for
reforms... that will weaken the power of corporations and increase the power of working people." These include
decreasing the influence of money in politics, empowering ordinary people in workplaces and the economy, and
increasing gender and cultural equality.[3] They also support free higher education.[4]
Contents
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1 Organizational history

1.1 Electoral positions

1.2 Membership size

1.3 Structure

1.3.1 Student Section

1.3.2 National Conventions

2 Ideology

3 See also

4 Footnotes

5 Further reading

6 External links

Organizational history[edit]
Further information: History of the socialist movement in the United States
The DSA was formed in 1982 after a merger between the Democratic Socialist Organizing Committee (DSOC) and
the New American Movement (NAM).[5][6] At the time of the merger of these two organizations, the DSA was said to
consist of approximately 5,000 former members of DSOC, along with 1,000 from NAM. [7]
At its start, DSOC had 840 members, of which 2 percent served on its national board; approximately 200 had
previously had membership in Social Democrats, USA or its predecessors in 1973 when SDUSA stated its
membership at 1,800, according to a 1973 profile of Harrington. [8]
In electoral politics, DSA, like DSOC before it, was very strongly associated with Michael Harrington's position that
"the left wing of realism is found today in the Democratic Party." In its early years DSA
opposed Republican presidential candidates by giving critical support to Democratic Party nominees like Walter
Mondale in 1984.[9] In 1988, DSA enthusiastically supported Jesse Jackson's second presidential campaign.
[10]
DSA's position on US electoral politics states that "democratic socialists reject an eitheror approach to
electoral coalition building, focused solely on [either] a new party or on realignment within the Democratic Party." [11]

During the 1990s, DSA gave the Clinton administration an overall rating of C-, "less than satisfactory." [12]
The DSA's leadership believes working within the Democratic Party is necessary because of the nature of the
American political system, which rarely gives third parties a chance politically. That said, DSA is very critical of the
corporate-funded Democratic Party leadership. [13]The organization believes that:

Original DSA Logo

"Much of progressive, independent political action will continue to occur in Democratic Party primaries in support of
candidates who represent a broad progressive coalition. In such instances, democratic socialists will support
coalitional campaigns based on labor, women, people of color and other potentially anti-corporate elements...
Electoral tactics are only a means for democratic socialists; the building of a powerful anti-corporate coalition is the
end..."[14]

Electoral positions[edit]
In 2000, DSA took no official position on the presidential election, with several prominent DSA members
backing Green Party presidential candidate Ralph Nader.
In 2004, the organization backed John Kerry after he won the Democratic nomination. In its official magazine the
DSA's Political Action Committee declared:
"While we have no illusions about how a Kerry administration would govern absent mass pressure from below
and are not impressed with his delayed criticism of the war and his earlier commitments in favor of 'free trade,'
we also realize that the Bush administration is as reactionary as Reagans. A Kerry defeat would be taken not as a
defeat of the US political center, which Kerry represents, but of the mainstream Left. As a result, it would embolden
the Right and demoralize the Left (as well as trade unionists and people of color) as much as Reagans 1984
defeat of Mondale did. On the other hand, a Kerry victory will let us press onward, with progressives aggressively
pressuring an administration that owed its victory to democratic mobilization from below." [15]
The only resolution on upcoming elections at the DSA's 2005 convention focused on Bernie Sanders's
independent campaign for the U.S. Senate.[16] The organization's 2007 convention in Atlanta featured recordbreaking attendance and more participation by the organization's youth wing. Sanders gave the keynote address. [17]
In 2008, the DSA supported Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama in his race against Republican
candidate John McCain. Following Obama's election, many on the right [18] began to allege that his administration's
policies were "socialistic," a claim rejected by DSA and the Obama administration alike. The widespread use of the
word "socialism" as a political epithet against the Obama government by its opponents caused National
Director Frank Llewellyn to declare that "over the past 12 months, the Democratic Socialists of America has
received more media attention than it has over the past 12 years."[19]

Membership size[edit]

Members march at the Occupy Wall Streetprotest on September 17, 2011

Membership in DSA is obtained through the payment of annual dues, which in 2010 range from a "low income and
student" rate of $20 to a "sustainer" rate of $130, with a basic rate of $45. [20] Every member receives a paid
subscription to the organization's quarterly newsletter, Democratic Left (commonly known as DL).[21] The
organization also offers "family memberships" at the rate of $80, which include only one subscription toDL,[20] and
sells subscriptions to the publication to non-members for $10 per year.[22]
When formed, the estimated membership was 5,000, after the merger with theDemocratic Socialist Organizing
Committee (DSOC),[23] the membership had grown to an estimate 7,000 in 1987. [24] In 2002, Fox News claimed
there were 8,000 members in the organization, [25] and three years later the DSA announced on its website that its
membership had increased by some 13% since July 2003 as the result of a recent direct mail campaign. [26]
DSA does not release annual membership numbers, nor do officials of the organization state them with precision in
the press. It does, however, publish annually its sworn declaration of "Statement of Ownership, Management, and
Circulation" in its official magazine so as to qualify for subsidized postage rates from the United States Postal
Service. In the 12 months previous to its 2009 declaration, the group indicates that Democratic Left had an
average "Total Paid Distribution" of 5707 copies.
The "Total Paid Distribution" numbers of Democratic Left over recent years are as follows: