Hey everyone, im thinking of joining the dsa as in my town there is a chapter which does various drives etc, give me reasons why or why not to join
If the alternative is not joining any organization, definitely do it.
Pros
- find left of center people to hang out with
- network to find actually :cool: people
Cons
- give $60 to a shitty national leadership
- spend time building and being influenced by org with shitty politics
i mean you can pay as little as you want lol but I think ppl if they can afford it should consider it because its important to seriously fund left organizations like that. i dont pay much in dues but i do a lot of volunteer work for DSA so i feel it balances out. tbh they should be paying me lol
national funds the international committee actually so your money does go towards that too technically ha
You also get access to the DSA forum, https://discussion.dsausa.org/, which is fairly active
Go for it. Any activism is better than none. Over time, you may find DSA restrictive, but individual chapters vary quite a bit and yours could be very based. Or you might find a PSL or other org that aligns more with your views.
Alternative: make a “was the compromise” magnet to go right next to it
with climate change it's starting to seem like Stalin was the compromise
i put up a big Bernie sticker in 2016 on a street pole in NYC and its still there somehow today
probably. youre not convincing people to come to our side with a sticker. i took mine off because i dont trust mechanics in the first place, even less if they know what my views are.
if the mechanic thought i was a radical bernie extremist the sticker would be doing its job
Preparr for a lot of liberalism and (white) baby's first steps into leftism. If you can get past that, it's great for pipelining and is often the largest org in town, so if you can get people to do things you care about you can have a larger impact than in a small org with better politics.
You can also, 100%, dual card. Can be a good way to give your commufying comrades a path to a more commie org.
they'll expel you real fast if you dual card with a demcent org and they find out. they're terrified of entryism, as much as the org exists to do entryism.
It's safe to dual card with a non party org, so like, the IWW or any anarchist org.
yeah, there's one anarchist org (I'm forgetting the name, something Rose) that has a demcent-like policy that might catch flak, but the others are safe.
DSA is the perfect gateway for more communists, bring them to the real revolution
Some of them know what they're doing in being a branch of democrats but many others in there are looking for more answers and more action.
Radicalize them, that's what Bernie was good for too
Worst case scenario, you’ll join, be put off by something, but you’ll have met a couple people you can start projects with later.
I've been involved with DSA for 4 years and mostly in the IC over the past 2 years. Happy to answer any potential questions.
Sure, try to learn how to do some basics of party work like 'how to work within an organization', or 'how to publically speak to people about political issues without coming off as an online crank or stuttering from anxiety' (public speaking can suck if you don't have practice). You'll even pick up some skills that can help you in life or in whatever other org you decide to join later on if you leave DSA, like maybe some basics of multimedia work, accounting, art design, etc.
hell yeah, networking and agitating and getting org experience is important. just don't get lost in it if there's a lot of drama or ineffectual liberal shit.
but if they're doing food drives they're miles better than what most of us have to work with. feels like trying to make wine from shit. long as you're careful and strategic about it, dsa is probably gonna be slightly grapier shit than the chuds i have to try and agitate.
Honestly at this point, all of it, any of it, is just a club. This club, that club. Whatever
Some chapters suck and the org as a whole isn't amazing but I think it's worth it unless there's something else that aligns with your politics better. There are good people in it and it will actually get you connected to movement people and teach you skills useful in political work.
We're having a convention this summer which could possibly bring some serious change to the organization.
Also just fill out a dues waiver if you don't want to give any money. They don't actually verify that you need financial assistance afaik. There's near zero discipline so it's not like anything is expected of you either.
