Our Mission

Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) is the nation’s largest socialist organization, with over 80,000 members in chapters in all 50 states. We are a “big-tent” political organization open to everyone who shares the socialist vision of building a better world beyond capitalism.

DSA has its roots in the Socialist Party of America (SPA), whose most prominent leader was Eugene V. Debs. In 1973 DSA organizer Michael Harrington formed the Democratic Socialist Organizing Committee (DSOC). In 1982, that group merged with the New American Movement (NAM), to form DSA. Over the next 35 years, national DSA membership remained close to 7,000, but after the first election of Donald Trump in 2016, membership exploded and has kept growing ever since. 

No. We are a “big tent” organization, independent of the Democratic Party. We are not a political party; we are a non-profit activist organization dedicated to the social welfare of Savannah and the surrounding areas.

We sometimes endorse and run democratic socialist candidates who may run in Democratic primaries. We use these campaigns as an organizing tool to build working-class power, but our organization is not a wing of the party.

This is a key difference in organizational structure and strategy.

• Democratic Socialism (Our Model): We believe in a “big tent” organization with multi-party democracy, freedom of assembly, and a free press. Power flows from the bottom up. Members are free to disagree, form caucuses, and debate strategy publicly.
• Democratic Centralism (A Leninist Model): This is an organizational model, most famously used by the Bolsheviks, based on “freedom of discussion, unity of action.” In practice, this meant that once a decision was made by the party leadership (the “center”), all members were required to publicly support it, regardless of their personal opinion.

DSA is a fundamentally democratic, pluralistic organization and does not operate on a democratic centralist model.

Note: As a “big tent” organization, our members have many different strategic approaches and backgrounds. You will find Marxists, democratic socialists, and left-liberals all working together on common goals. We believe this ideological diversity is a strength.

Source: What is Democratic Socialism? – Democratic Socialists of America (DSA)

Capitalism is a system designed by the owning class to exploit the rest of us for their own profit. We must replace it with democratic socialism, a system where ordinary people have a real voice in our workplaces, neighborhoods, and society.

We believe there are many avenues that feed into the democratic road to socialism. Our vision pushes further than historic social democracy and leaves behind authoritarian visions of socialism in the dustbin of history.

We want a democracy that creates space for us all to flourish not just survive and answers the fundamental questions of our lives with the input of all. We want to collectively own the key economic drivers that dominate our lives, such as energy production and transportation. We want the multiracial working class united in solidarity instead of divided by fear. We want to win “radical” reforms like single-payer Medicare for All, defunding the police/refunding communities, the Green New Deal, and more as a transition to a freer, more just life. 

We want a democracy powered by everyday people. The capitalist class tells us we are powerless, but together we can take back control.