Now is the time for action…

As we end an eventful February 2021, we reflect on how much we have to build and accomplish together. Are you a nonmember ready to commit to helping us make this world better for all of us instead of just the rich? Are you a comrade who took a break and needs a refresher?

Join us for our upcoming Intro to DSA event onWednesday, March 3, at 6 p.m. and hear what we’re doing to build the socialist movement here in San Francisco. Register here! There’s no time like the present when it comes to fighting for our future and building working class power. Bring any questions and a friend!

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Announcements

Soliciting Resources for Strategic Planning

With an upcoming convention in June and a year in which we have no planned regional elections, it would be good to take a step back and come up with a plan on fights we should undertake in the coming years. As we brainstorm ideas it would be incredibly helpful for us to share resources to help us come up with a framework for thinking strategically. We’d love to compile a list of articles, books, magazines, movies—really anything that you might have found useful in doing any of the following:

  1. Identifying areas of struggle for us to participate–the capitalists have created lots of suffering in the world, each of which demands a lot of attention to adequately address. Which of these problems should we address? What should we look out for when picking a project?
  2. Tactics that we can adopt in our organizing.
  3. How should we think about coalitions?
  4. What should the goals of our projects be? When can we consider a particular project complete?

If you have a resource that you’d like to share with the rest of your comrades, please send your recommendations via this form and join the conversation on the DSA SF forum.

Dean Preston’s Weekly Update

This week’s update from our comrade Dean Preston includes a statement of solidarity with San Francisco teachers, who are currently being attacked and sued by Mayor London Breed and the City Attorney Dennis Herrera. Make no mistake: this is an all-out war on the hardworking teachers of San Francisco, driven by a capitalist desire to reopen the economy no matter the human cost. Supervisor Preston and his office stand firmly with the UESF and say loud and clear: No reopening until it’s safe! Read his full statement here. 

The update also includes many opportunities to get involved and help our community: 

  • Join Dean & our comrades TODAY, February 23 from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. to reach out to senior renters who are eligible for the vaccine. Zoom link here.
  • Call into the next Budget & Finance Committee meeting on Wednesday, February 24, at 11:00 a.m., to demand that the $20.1 million raised by Prop I are allocated to rent forgiveness and affordable housing. Talking points here. Call into 1 (415) 655-0001 and enter the following Meeting ID: 187 836 1885 ##
  • Sign up to help Mrs. Adrian Williams and The Village Project pack up bags of food for San Francisco seniors.

Read the full update here.

Upcoming Events

Tonight: DSA Trivia Night

Come join your friends on Discord tonight, February 23rd, 7:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. for DSA trivia night! We’re hanging out to play trivia and get to know each other!

Email coordinators@dsasf.org for more info or to join the Discord!
 

Socialist Feminist Working Group Day School

The national DSA Socialist Feminist Working Group will be holding its third Day School session on Saturday, February 27th at 1:00 p.m. to discuss social reproduction theory with an eye toward history and the modern, post-pandemic day. Please RSVP here (make sure you read the instructions to get the Zoom link).

Already registered? Check out the full syllabus and readings here.
 

Labor Organizing Training (Begins Next Week on March 3)

The next semester of organizer training will begin on Wednesday, March 3rd at 5 p.m. PTand run for six weekly sessions, with alternate sessions on Sundays at 2 p.m. PT (first alternate session 3/7, session topic same as preceding Wednesday):

  • Session 1 – Leader Identification
  • Session 2 – Mapping and Charting a Workplace
  • Session 3 – The Organizing Conversation
  • Session 4 – Escalating Campaigns
  • Session 5 – Public Action and Engaging with the Boss
  • Session 6 – Inoculation and the Boss Campaign

If you want to learn more about how to organize at your own workplace or support others in doing so through EWOC, sign up for the training.

Everything You Wanted to Know About Marx But Were Afraid to Ask

Join the Education Committee on Thursday, March 11th at 6:30 p.m. for an interactive session and discussion of the ideas of Karl Marx. After a brief introduction, participants will choose short passages/quotations from Marx to analyze and discuss. This educational exercise is intended to make Marx more accessible and less intimidating, especially for newcomers, while also allowing those already familiar with Marx to dig deeper into his key texts. For access to the passages/quotations, as well as the Zoom link, please register here.

Reading Groups

Future Economies Reading Group: Raising Capital in Worker Cooperatives

This month, the Future Economies Reading Group will investigate how worker-owned cooperatives can raise startup capital while maintaining full worker control. While capitalist corporations can raise capital by selling equity shares, cooperatives are owned and governed by their stakeholders—not by absentee shareholders.

We’ll look at case studies and real structures that cooperatives use in practice to raise funding. We will be joined by Daniel Fireside, most recently Capital Coordinator at the cooperative Equal Exchange on TONIGHT, February 23rd from 5:30 p.m to 7:00 p.m. Find the short readings and Zoom details here.

What is Fascism?

As someone once said, the history of fascism is, at the same time, the history of the theory of fascism. This reading group will explore what fascism is and why it is a severe danger to working and oppressed people. We think these writings on fascism will help provide the conceptual tools required to develop the correct strategy and tactics to fight fascism and the far-right. We’ll cover classic texts from Clara Zetkin, Antonio Gramsci, Daniel Guerin, Leon Trotsky, and Nicos Poulantzas. We’ll also read recent writing on the US far-right, including from DSA Santa Cruz comrades, who we expect to be joining us for discussion.  

This week’s reading (February 25th) will be On the Popular Impact of Fascism by Nicos Poulantzas. Please register here for Zoom and reading links. Thursdays 6:30 to 8:00 p.m.

? Starting 3/1: EcoSoc Book Club

The Ecosocialist Committee will be reading Silvia Federici’s Re-enchanting the World: Feminism & the Politics of the Commons starting on Monday, March 1 from 6:00 to 7:00 p.m., with additional meetings on March 15 and March 28.All comrades are encouraged to register.