Democratic Socialists of America

The Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) is a political organization in the United States and the country's largest socialist organization. Sitting on the left-wing to far-left of the political spectrum, it is a multi-tendency coalition of Marxist-Leninists, Trotskyists, eco-socialists, democratic socialists, libertarian socialists, and other caucuses. Established in 1982, the DSA emerged from a merger of the Democratic Socialist Organizing Committee (DSOC) and the New American movement (NAM).

The DSOC, founded in 1973, was an offshoot of the Socialist Party of America (SPA) aligned with the ideas of Michael Harrington, a prominent socialist activist and intellectual; the NAM, founded in 1971, was a New Left group and descendant of the Students for a Democratic Society (SDS). After a 1982 merger, the DSA supported grassroots movements and progressives in the Democratic Party. It has historically emphasized a decentralized structure; it has local chapters and a national leadership elected every two years at a convention of chapter delegates.

It was a minor political force until the 2016 presidential campaign of Senator Bernie Sanders, a self-identified democratic socialist, after which its membership swelled from about 6,000 members in 2015 to more than 90,000 in 2021. While not a political party, the DSA has engaged in electoral politics by endorsing candidates who align with its values. It experienced an ideological shift after 2016, with an influx of younger members who brought in more radical views than its historically dominant reformism and social democratic leadership. During the 2023 DSA National Convention, Marxist and revolutionary socialist factions won a majority of seats on its National Political Committee for the first time, marking a further shift to the left and growing efforts to implement a policy of democratic centralism. This led many older members to leave, citing entryism, growing centralization, and ideological drift.

The DSA's 2021 platform, its most recent, calls for abolishing police and prisons; ending all misdemeanors; fighting institutional white supremacy through racial reparations for people of color, anti-discrimination, and hate crime laws; enacting single-payer healthcare; raising the minimum wage; a Green New Deal; abolishing the Electoral College, Senate, and filibuster; and transitioning to a parliamentary system. Identifying with anti-imperialism, it supports withdrawing from NATO, PEPFAR, and other forms of American foreign aid; an end to the dollar as the world's reserve currency; and normalizing relations with China, Venezuela, Cuba, and Iran. It describes the United States and Israel as settler states built upon genocide. To that end, it is anti-Zionist and supports the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movements; independence for Hawaii, Puerto Rico, Native American reservations, and other territories; and a second constitutional convention to establish a decolonized and socialist republic.