“Don’t fix it — unmake it”

“do not fix America. Unmake it.” … “i do not want to save America, let it rot.” … “America definitely deserves a century of humiliation, but we probably don’t have a century before this s**t collapses.”

— Christopher Winston, DSA (St. Louis; DSA International Committee; Liberation Caucus). Source · Source · Source

“The role of socialists … is really to facilitate the defeat of our own nation.”

— Amy Wilhelm, Seattle DSA; DSA National Political Committee member (former NPC secretary). Profile

“Ending our own empire is the only way to do this.”

— Sarah Milner, Portland DSA; DSA National Political Committee member. Source

“This is a fascist state … This can’t be reformed. It has to be undone first.”

— Jabari Brisport, New York State Senator (D–Brooklyn); NYC-DSA. Source

“From the belly of the beast” — destroy the empire from within

“We’re inside the home of empire. We’re inside the house. It is our job here … we fight here.” … “America is an empire … Israel is [its] forwardmost colonial outpost.”

— Ahmed Husain, DSA National Political Committee member; founder of Springs of Revolution. Source

“[DSA has] a unique responsibility to act from the heart of empire, the belly of the beast … the most important thing we can do is take that empire down from within.” … “The U.S. is an empire in decline.”

— Frances Gill, DSA National Political Committee member; Groundwork caucus. Source · Profile

“The U.S. … does not appear to be a dying empire as much as we wish it to be … We’re still in the belly of the beast.”

— Sidney Carlson White, DSA National Political Committee member. Source

"I am proud to be a member of the largest socialist, anti-Zionist organization in the heart of empire!”

— Andrew Thompson, DSA (DSA International Committee). Source

"We just passed 100,000 members all over the country … what a huge deal that is for building an anti-war movement in the United States in the heart of imperialism globally."

— Ashik Siddique, DSA National Co-Chair. Source

“dismantle the empire 2020.”

— Ashik Siddique, DSA National Co-Chair. Source

“It has to be overthrown — and it will fall”

“U.S. imperialism is not a thing that can be reformed away. It has to be overthrown through revolutionary struggle.”

— Hazel Williams, DSA National Political Committee member (San Francisco; Red Star caucus). Source

“… the US empire is bad and it will be good for the world if it falls.”

— Jamie Peck, DSA; media commentator. Source

“For a socialist revolution in the U.S. to win, we need to overthrow white supremacy, imperialism, and our undemocratic political system simultaneously.”

— Sarah Milner, Portland DSA; DSA National Political Committee member. Source

"There's nothing unique about this era in history that makes an empire inevitable. We can end the U.S. empire here in America … change the terrain permanently in this country so that the war machine no longer can function here."

— Ahmed Husain, DSA National Political Committee member; founder of Springs of Revolution. Source

"We have to eliminate capitalism. We have to eliminate imperialism. And we have to have a totally new system built from the ground up … that system is called socialism."

— Eugene Puryear, Party for Socialism and Liberation co-founder; ANSWER Coalition organizer. Source

America as evil — “the Great Satan,” “death machine,” “amerikkka”

“No entity on this earth is more evil than the United States government. It is the Great Satan, and Israel is its rabid dog.”

— Cliff Connolly, DSA National Political Committee member; Marxist Unity Group. Source

"The U.S. government is “the cruelest, most murderous force on the planet.”

— Luisa Martinez, DSA National Political Committee member. Source

“US death machine.”

— Olivia Katbi, DSA (Portland; national BDS organizer). Source

“in America, even our ‘best’ presidents wrote like they were head of the third reich.”

— Eric Hovagim, DSA. Source

“the American empire descended to barbarism.”

— Judith Chavarria, DSA (Reform & Revolution caucus). Source

“I wish no harm to American ruling class, my enemy is the American people.”

— Francesca Maviglia, DSA National Political Committee member. Source

“ACAB includes the troops, f**k this empire.”

— Mirah Wood, DSA (Seattle). Source

"to decry the Axis of Resistance as it stands up to the imperial hegemon, this great Satan, and its colonial settlement ‘Israel’ is to repeat the same tired arguments used to defend [it]."

— Jorge Rocha, DSA (New York). Source

The broader network — the organizations say it in their founding documents

"Red Star strives to weaken and ultimately dismantle US empire … one is either working to support American imperialism or to oppose it."

— Red Star Caucus, a national caucus inside DSA — official Points of Unity. Points of Unity

"We want socialists to fight to overthrow the Constitution … to win a democratic socialist republic in North America, to complete the partial overthrow of the constitutional order [begun] by the Civil War."

— Marxist Unity Group, a caucus inside DSA — Point of Unity #6, “Fight the Constitution”. Points of Unity

"Here in the belly of the beast in the U.S., we know that every single one of the bombs dropped on Gaza is enabled by the U.S. government and funded by our tax dollars."

— Within Our Lifetime (WOL), rally statement. Source

"The U.S. is the terrorist."

— Party for Socialism and Liberation (PSL), theme of its October 8, 2023 New York City rally. Source

"We must shift our strategies and tactics not only do we have a duty to continue to fight for Palestine we have the ability to directly confront Zionism in the heart of Empire"

— Palestinian Youth Movement (PYM), launching its “Mask Off Maersk” arms-embargo campaign. Source

"Weapons manufacturers are not isolated companies. They are part of a single industry of death. They are the fist of us imperialism."

— Palestinian Youth Movement (PYM), launching its “Mask Off Maersk” arms-embargo campaign. Source

"redouble our struggle against US imperialism from within the belly of the beast."

— New York City Students for Justice in Palestine (NYC SJP), “Right to Resist” zine. Source

"We are building DSA into a force capable of carrying out a socialist transformation of society: a revolution to smash the capitalist state and build a workers' state."

— Reform & Revolution (R&R), a Marxist caucus inside DSA — Points of Unity, adopted January 2026. Points of Unity

The broader network — beyond the DSA's borders

"Glory to all the martyrs. Glory to the axis of resistance. May we see victory within our lifetimes. Marg bar [Death to] Israel."

— Calla Walsh, Samidoun / Unity of Fields — speaking on Iranian state television (the clip is titled “Glory to the Martyrs! Death to America!”). Source

"the thing to do is to destroy the idea of America in Americans' heads so that they can see the humanity of everybody outside [its borders]."

— People's Conference for Palestine 2025, “No Weapons for Genocide” arms-embargo panel. Source

"our job, those of us who live in the global north, is through destabilization to ensure that the cost of that colonial project increases."

— People's Conference for Palestine 2025, “Gaza Resists, Gaza Remains” panel. Source

"[Consider] America's imperialist history and the settler colonial history since 1492."

— Mohamed Abdou, academic; from his campus “Death to the Akademy Tour”. Source

"The US has turned into a very fascist and sadistic country that has obliterated every human right."

— Abu Baker Abed, Gazan journalist — People's Conference for Palestine 2025 keynote. Source

"Our role today is to ensure that the plans of the US and Israel fail, that we make them fail."

— Jenan Awaida, People's Conference for Palestine 2025 — closing remarks. Source

"Who is the terrorist? The United States of America. … We have the historic responsibility of defeating Israeli colonialism."

— Claudia De La Cruz, Party for Socialism and Liberation — 2024 U.S. presidential candidate; October 8, 2023 New York City rally. Source

"Trains organizers to “organize for revolution” and describes the work as building toward “the systemic transformation of society.”

— The People's Forum, “SPARK: Organizing for Revolution” summer school. Source

The vehicle: winning power through the Democratic Party

"I think we are all on the same page here that we hate the Democratic Party."

— Sarah Hurd, DSA Houston. Source

"We can put forward a clear aggressive principled strategy that pushes back against the Democratic leadership and the Democratic party as a whole."

— Sarah Milner, DSA Portland; Reform & Revolution caucus / NPC member. Source

"He comes out of our membership organization … We can have people like Zohran all over the country."

— Ashik Siddique, DSA NPC Co-Chair; Groundwork caucus. Source

"The only viable strategy to build a party in the U.S., at present, is by using the Democratic Party ballot line … continuing to run candidates as unapologetic democratic socialists on the Democratic ballot line."

— Socialist Majority Caucus, a DSA caucus — Points of Unity #5. Points of Unity

"Resolved: we are leaving the Democrats in the dust."

— DSA 2025 National Convention, Resolution R07 (Marxist Unity Group), as reported by Working Mass. Source

"The point is to build the party surrogate, to build all the party apparatuses that allow us to be meaningfully independent … if and when [Zohran] becomes mayor in November, we're [ready]."

— DSA panelist, “Debate: Socialists, Independent Politics, and the Democratic Party”. Source

"Mamdani's victory in the Democratic Party primary for mayor has transformed what's possible for socialists in New York City … the road to November is paved with opportunities to expand our base and muster the forces needed to implement his agenda."

— Alvaro Lopez, in Democratic Left, DSA's official publication — “A Million Doors to a Million Votes: NYC-DSA's Plan for a Mamdani Mandate”. Source

"This resolution commits DSA to ensuring the electoral momentum begun by Zohran's campaign does not end with him … The growth of the DSA electoral program will continue to be a priority of the organization."

— Socialist Majority Caucus, NPC Resolution “Hundreds of Zohrans,” passed unanimously by DSA's National Political Committee. Resolution

"We need two, three, many Zohrans to happen. We need to figure out what NYC DSA has pulled off and to replicate it everywhere."

— NYC-DSA, on The Dig podcast, “How Zohran Won”. Source

"The model we used in New York is 100% replicatable both in terms of our trans organizing, but also getting Zohran elected mayor."

— Daniel Goulden, NYC-DSA. Source

"MUG and Emerge members had some disagreements with statements Zohran made regarding 'Israel's right to exist.' We used our power as organizers … and ask that he stop saying that. We succeeded."

— Sidney Carlson White, DSA National Political Committee; Marxist Unity Group / Emerge. Source