https://twitter.com/DSANorthStar/status/1602758852851531776

Also take a look at their logo

https://twitter.com/jonnysocialism/status/1603024109558206464

  • NotARobot [she/her]
    ·
    2 years ago

    The national DSA is kind of shit but it has a lot of local chapters doing good organizing work. Join whatever org is doing good organizing in your area that you can plug yourself into. Maybe that's an org with an overall better structure and political line, maybe it isn't. To characterize the whole of DSA "literally just democrats" based on a north star tweet is silly if I am being charitable and fed shit if I am not.

    • Commander_Data [she/her]
      ·
      2 years ago

      Logging on to hexbear to intimate another user is a fed because I feel like a dope for being in a useless org.

      • NotARobot [she/her]
        ·
        2 years ago

        I don't think you are actually a fed, I think comrades should be more wary of the fact that they are in a forum filled with people who might get involved in an org who aren't currently, and shitting on an org that does good work vindicates people doing nothing and discourages those who might do something. That's counter-productive.

        • Commander_Data [she/her]
          ·
          2 years ago

          As someone else pointed out, most areas that are large enough to have a DSA chapter probably have something else. At this point, DSA is just MoveOn with vaguely left wing aesthetics.

          It blows my mind that people are on here defending AOC, et al voting to enforce the rail contract. If the excuse is they would have lost their seats at the table, then they're already compromised. This is why so many of us left the org in 2020 when NDSA put Bernie's campaign on par or ahead of local work. We all knew electoralism and Democratic entryism were ultimately losing strategies because of exactly this possibility.

          If there are people here that are considering getting involved with an org for the first time I think it is important to steer them away from DSA. If someone's first taste of left wing organizing ends in useless Democratic entryism, what are the chances they'll walk away frustrated that socialism turned out to be no different than the system they were trying to escape?

          • NotARobot [she/her]
            ·
            2 years ago

            I am honestly not sure how true the first part is. As far as I know, DSA is the largest socialist org and it's not close. Anecdotally, where I live I know a few other orgs exist, but genuinely I have never seen any more than one member from those orgs at a time, and it's not very common. If I left DSA for another org, it seems quite likely the scope of activity where I could get involved would be greatly diminished. Joining a DSA chapter ran by harringtonites would suck, but joining a glorified book club would also suck. I agree with you that we should encourage people to join orgs doing useful work (and steer people away from bad orgs). That org near someone might be a DSA chapter, it might not be. It's not all democratic entryism lmao.

            Like if someone not familiar with the DSA read your comment they would get the idea that it's all electoralists and they all are fans of AOC and they all put all their effort on electing democrats and that's simply not true. A significant portion of DSA's work is non-electoral. I don't want to sound like I'm doing a fucking commercial for the DSA but literally if the chapter near you is good, you can join and ignore electoral stuff. If you want (and you are near a chapter that actually does this), you can join and just focus on labor for example. If the chapter is like yours, then yeah find another org if one exists.

            If you've found a better org in which you can do better organizing then that's fantastic, genuinely. You won't hear any defense from me of the DSA spending resources electing socdems in congress, not expelling bowman, dissolving the palestine working group, etc. etc.