DSA’s national leadership is majority communist.
These graphics were not made by me. They were circulated on far-left social media after the 2025 DSA convention.
When I talk about DSA’s two heads, reformist vs. revolutionary, this is what I mean.
These graphics were not made by me. They were circulated on far-left social media after the 2025 DSA convention.
When I talk about DSA’s two heads, reformist vs. revolutionary, this is what I mean.
https://twitter.com/thehill/status/2070956833247035497
And I can literally imagine @TradeUnionJake reading this and reminding me to make sure everyone knows this part too.
At its 2025 convention, DSA’s national leadership didn’t just move left ideologically.
They repealed the old ban on democratic centralism, which was basically a Cold War-era safeguard meant to stop communist factions from capturing the organization.
Remember, DSA goes back to the 80s. So it is both crazy that they had this rule in the first place, and historically fascinating that they just got rid of it.
Democratic centralism is a Leninist idea that basically means you can argue behind closed doors, but once the group decides, everyone is expected to march in public with the official line.
DSA repealing that ban is not just some nerdy procedural change. It suggests they may be making room for the kind of communist factional discipline that older DSA leaders were specifically trying to keep out.
Screenshot is from Cosmonaut. If DSA used to have an anti-communist period, what exactly should we call the period it is in now?
At its 2025 convention, DSA’s national leadership didn’t just move left ideologically.
They repealed the old ban on democratic centralism, which was basically a Cold War-era safeguard meant to stop communist factions from capturing the organization.
Remember, DSA goes back to the 80s. So it is both crazy that they had this rule in the first place, and historically fascinating that they just got rid of it.
Democratic centralism is a Leninist idea that basically means you can argue behind closed doors, but once the group decides, everyone is expected to march in public with the official line.
DSA repealing that ban is not just some nerdy procedural change. It suggests they may be making room for the kind of communist factional discipline that older DSA leaders were specifically trying to keep out.
Screenshot is from Cosmonaut. If DSA used to have an anti-communist period, what exactly should we call the period it is in now?
There are ways DSA describes its own factions that I am not even comfortable saying to some audiences because you all would look at me like a crazy person. Y’all are not ready to learn about the DSA Right.
But this is why precision matters. People should be described accurately, and when possible, by the labels they use for themselves. You do not have to agree with the label, but you should understand why they use it and what it tells you about how they think.
So when someone tells me, “Stop calling them socialists, they are communists,” my answer is: inside DSA, that distinction is not always so clean. Some members and caucuses describe themselves as socialists while also coming out of explicitly communist traditions.
DSA has caucuses that range from election-focused socialists to revolutionary Marxists, Marxist-Leninists, Trotskyists, and even Maoists.
Red Star and Liberation are the easiest examples of explicitly communist caucuses. Marxist Unity, Reform & Revolution, and Bread & Roses sit more broadly in the Marxist or revolutionary camp.
When I look at the voting bloc on DSA’s NPC that most consistently pushes the organization in its most radical direction, it is usually Red Star, Springs of Revolution, and Marxist Unity Group.
But this is why precision matters. People should be described accurately, and when possible, by the labels they use for themselves. You do not have to agree with the label, but you should understand why they use it and what it tells you about how they think.
So when someone tells me, “Stop calling them socialists, they are communists,” my answer is: inside DSA, that distinction is not always so clean. Some members and caucuses describe themselves as socialists while also coming out of explicitly communist traditions.
DSA has caucuses that range from election-focused socialists to revolutionary Marxists, Marxist-Leninists, Trotskyists, and even Maoists.
Red Star and Liberation are the easiest examples of explicitly communist caucuses. Marxist Unity, Reform & Revolution, and Bread & Roses sit more broadly in the Marxist or revolutionary camp.
When I look at the voting bloc on DSA’s NPC that most consistently pushes the organization in its most radical direction, it is usually Red Star, Springs of Revolution, and Marxist Unity Group.
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