Democratic Socialists of America

Anti-Americanism

• Armed Revolution: Many DSA leaders and factions view the United States as an empire and a colonial project to be dismantled. Groups within the DSA and its International Committee call for a “revolutionary transformation,” a mass mobilization to overthrow the existing government, which requires armed violence.
• Dismantling of U.S. Political Institutions: The DSA platform aims to abolish the U.S. Senate and electoral college system and calls for a “second constitutional convention to write the founding documents of a new socialist democracy.”
• Undermining U.S. Global Security: The DSA’s International Committee wants the U.S. to withdraw from the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), calling it a “war-mongering Cold War holdover.”
• Challenging U.S. Sovereignty and Undermining National Unity: The DSA endorses “full decolonization of all the occupied lands of the United States,” such as Hawaii, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands and all “indigenous” nations.

Promotion of Terrorism

• Support for Hamas: On October 7, 2023, the National Political Committee, the DSA’s leadership, issued a statement blaming Israel for the terror attack by Hamas, declaring: “Today’s events are a direct result of Israel’s apartheid regime—a regime that receives billions in funding from the United States.” No mention was made of Hamas or the terror group’s victims.
  
  Another statement released on October 7, 2023, by the DSA’s International Committee read: “Long live the resistance!”
• The same day, the DSA’s New York City chapter promoted an October 8, 2023 rally called: “All Out for Palestine.” NYC-DSA posted that the protest was organized “In solidarity with the Palestinian people and their right to resist 75 years of occupation and apartheid.”
• At the event, with terrorists still active in Israel, speakers glorified the murders, including the slaughter by Hamas of 300 young Israelis attending a music festival. To the laughing crowd, a speaker celebrated the killings, saying: “...the resistance came in electrified hang gliders and took at least several dozen hipsters.”
• Endorsement of Violence Against Israelis: DSA’s Palestine Solidarity Working Group explicitly stated that "liberating colonized land is a real process that requires confrontation by any means necessary" (i.e., armed violence). The group also posted about Israelis, that “there are no such things as civilians” and “Indigenous resistance in all forms are valid, whether it be non-violent protests or armed resistance…”
• Support for Iranian Strikes on Israel: After Iran’s April 2024 attack on Iran with 300 drones, cruise and ballistic missiles, DSA’s International Committee published a statement declaring a “firm opposition to providing any military or diplomatic assistance to the Zionist project” and opposing “any U.S. participation in or support of Israeli strikes against Iran.”
• Glorifying Murderers of Jews and Israelis: The DSA Liberation Caucus openly celebrated the brutal killing of a young Jewish-Israeli couple in Washington, D.C. in May 2025, portraying their murderer as a “legitimate act of resistance against the Zionist state and its genocidal campaign in Gaza." The caucus called for the murderer’s immediate release.
• Collaborating with Pro-Terror Organizations: DSA partners with pro-terror organizations, including Palestinian Youth Movement (PYM), Samidoun and Within Our Lifetime (WOL), to coordinate large-scale national marches, local rallies, direct actions, lobbying campaigns and educational initiatives. The DSA International Committee’s Palestine Solidarity Toolkit includes content from PYM and the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) as recommended materials.

Antisemitism & Anti-Israel Hatred

• Israel Double Standard: The DSA’s platform calls for an end to “economic and financial sanctions [designed] to punish other countries,” specifically those levied against Cuba, Venezuela and Iran, but endorses the anti-Israel Boycott Divestment & Sanctions (BDS) movement and calls for an end to U.S. military aid to Israel. The platform also categorically opposes the normalization of relations between Israel and other countries. At the DSA National Convention in Chicago in August 2025, delegates passed a “Labor for an Arms Embargo” resolution directing the DSA to push for arms embargoes against Israel through unions.
• Anti-Israel Rhetoric and Challenging Israel’s Right to Exist: The DSA established a national working group dedicated to organizing for BDS and advocating for “a free Palestine, from the river to the sea,” a phrase understood as a call for the complete destruction of the state of Israel. The working group issued statements on behalf of the DSA, which accused Israel of engaging in “premeditated ethnic cleansing” since 1948, declared that “Zionism is Racism and Israel is an Apartheid State” and alleged that Israel is pursuing “Jewish supremacy” through the “dispossession and elimination” of the “indigenous” Palestinians. It said that “fascist mobs are the true face of Zionism and the representatives of the Israeli State’s objectives.”
• Normalized Antisemitic Hate and Harassment of Jewish Students: YDSA collaborated with National SJP during the 2023 wave of anti-Israel campus protests. Many YDSA members helped SJP organize walkouts and teach-ins. YDSA chapters on college campuses were active participants in the pro-Hamas encampments.
• DSA’s Anti-Zionism “In Principle and Praxis”: At the DSA National Convention in Chicago in August 2025, the DSA passed R22 – “For a Fighting Anti‑Zionist DSA.” The resolution affirms the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO)’s “al‑Thawābit” principles and sets strict requirements for DSA endorsements, including support for BDS. The resolution establishes that public opposition to “Palestinian liberation,” affiliation with the Israeli state or U.S. pro‑Israel lobbying groups, or knowingly providing material aid to Israel can be expellable offenses.

Support for Abolitionism and Anti-Carceral Policies

• The DSA promotes the total abolition of the police and prisons. DSA’s platform endorses the “8 to Abolition” demands created during the 2020 Black Lives Matter protests. The eight points include calls to defund the police, demilitarize communities, remove police from schools and free people from prisons and jails.
• The National DSA Abolition Working Group advances the "8 to Abolition" demands by providing an Abolition Toolkit and organizing events, such as “Know Your Rights,” which is training to subvert public law enforcement by government officials.
• The DSA calls for the abolition of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), with factions calling for open borders and “universal citizenship.”

The National Political Committee (NPC), the DSA's highest leadership body, is elected every two years by chapter delegates at the organization’s annual national convention. The NPC directs the organization’s political and organizational agenda, which is broadly defined by the same delegates.

The latest NPC was elected in August 2025.

Newer radical factions, such as Springs of Revolution and the Marxist Unity Group, gained significant power and influence, both in leadership, the number of NPC seats they won and the resolutions they were able to pass.

Megan Romer of the Red Star caucus, which advocates for a Marxist-Leninist takeover of America, was elected as co-chair of the NPC.

Old-guard caucuses, such as Socialist Majority and Groundwork, were openly ridiculed and mocked for being ineffective and out of touch with the movement’s direction, despite Ashik Siddique of Groundwork being elected co-chair of the NPC alongside Romer.

It is worth noting, however, that Siddique is on board with the extreme rhetoric of the DSA’s most radical faction. Just a week after the October 7, 2023 terror attack, Siddique posted: “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,” a slogan understood as a call for the destruction of Israel.

Siddique has been calling for the dismantlement of “empire” (i.e., America) since at least 2019.

Romer has written: “...we do not, in fact, condemn Hamas and ... no socialist should …”

Romer has repeatedly expressed her hatred of the police, calling law enforcement officers “pigs.” When asked who she was taught to hate as a child, she responded “cops” and declared: “I was an abolitionist before I was a socialist...You can’t have police abolition under capitalism, because police are the armed agents that hold capitalism together.”

Other members of the NPC include:

• Abdullah Farooq
• Ahmed Husain
• Amy Wilhelm
• Andrew Thompson
• Cara Tobe
• Cerena Ermitanio
• Christian Araos
• Clayton Ryles
• Cliff Connolly
• David Jenkins
• Eleanor Babaev
• Ella Teevan
• Frances Gill
• Francesca Maria
• Hayley Banyai-Becker
• Hazel Williams
• Jeremy Cohan
• John Lewis
• Kareem Elrefai
• Katie Sims
• Luisa Martínez
• Sarah Milner
• Sidney Carlson White
• Daniel Salup-Cid, YDSA co-chair and Sara Almosawi, YDSA co-chair (who share a vote)

The NPC elects five of its members to serve on the NPC’s Steering Committee, which serves as the NPC’s administrative executive body, and also hires a national director. Currently, the national director position is vacant.

The DSA's youth wing (YDSA) is a national organization of activists from high schools, colleges and universities. It operates with a national committee and regular conferences to coordinate strategy across its chapters.

YDSA grew rapidly after the 2016 Bernie Sanders campaign and the COVID-19 pandemic, with chapters increasing in size and activity significantly. YDSA is known for agitating for the unionization of campus workers and joining with other “social justice” groups to promote a variety of intersectional causes, including the pro-Hamas encampments and “trans-gender liberation.”

On October 7, 2023, the day Hamas terrorists attacked Israel, YDSA issued a statement expressing its “solidarity with Palestine” and placing the blame for the attack squarely on Israel. The group urged its members to “Take to the streets to join a protest for peace and against funding the Israeli state…”

At the July 2024 convention, YDSA voted to become explicitly anti-Zionist and passed a resolution calling for “the dismantling of the Zionist Entity in totality,” with clauses stating the group will enforce its anti-Zionist stance by expelling members who “have provided material aid to Israel.”

A resolution supporting the “Student Intifada" contains clauses encouraging as many YDSA chapters as possible to run long-term divestment campaigns on their campuses.

• Rashida Tlaib
• Zohran Mamdani
• Cornel West
• Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC)
• Omar Fateh

The DSA organizational structure includes:

• Caucuses, which are member-led factions that promote particular political viewpoints or strategies
• Committees, which handle governance and administrative responsibilities
• Working Groups, which carry out specific issue-based projects

Some of the most egregious of these DSA groups include:

Springs of Revolution

Springs of Revolution (SoR) is an unofficial but influential DSA faction working to transform DSA into a revolutionary mass movement. Its platform places Palestine at the center of its program and embraces abolitionist campaigns, immigrant defense and anti-imperialist agitation.

In their founding letter, the group presents itself as “veterans of prior springs of revolution — from the Arab Spring and Occupy Wall Street to the George Floyd uprisings and Student Intifada.” The same letter openly celebrates the aftermath of the Al-Aqsa Flood — Hamas’s name for its October 7 massacre — claiming that the pro-Hamas protests it unleashed “activated thousands of new organizers into DSA.”

Springs of Revolution co-leads BDS initiatives, including Mask Off Maersk and Stop Fueling Genocide, in partnership with the Palestinian Youth Movement (PYM), a pro-terror Marxist-Leninist organization with ties to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP).

At the 2025 DSA Convention, four Springs of Revolution activists were elected to the National Political Committee:

• Ahmed Husain
• Luisa Martinez
• Francesca Maviglia
• Andrew Thompson

Other Springs of Revolution activists include: Ethan Eblaghie, Nell Geiser, Jordan Duran and Katy Slininger.

Marxist Unity Group

The Marxist Unity Group (MUG) is a faction within DSA committed to advancing a doctrinaire, revolutionary and centrally organized form of Marxism. It seeks to transform the DSA into an independent socialist party free from the Democratic Party. The group ultimately aims to overthrow the current U.S. Constitution (which it calls the “slaveholder constitution”) by an armed working class using “any means necessary” and winning over a “decisive section of the military rank and file” to its side.

The Marxist Unity Group supports socialist agitation within labor unions and advocates militant, disciplined electoral work with independent socialist candidates to not only build a socialist legislative bloc committed to the abolition of institutions (including the Senate and Electoral College), but to educate the public about socialism.

The group wields considerable influence within the NPC. In 2025, three of its members were elected to the committee:

• Amy Wilhelm (Seattle DSA)
• Sidney Carlson White (NYC DSA)
• Cliff Connolly (Orlando DSA)
• Parker McQueeney

Liberation Caucus

The Liberation Caucus, formed in late 2024, is on the DSA’s farthest left spectrum. The group advocates for the overthrow of capitalism and the establishment of centralized socialism on a Marxist-Leninist-Maoist basis.

The Liberation Caucus views the U.S. as a settler-colonial “prison house of nations.” Their goals include national liberation through armed resistance for Black, indigenous and other “colonized” people in the U.S. and globally.

In May 2025, the caucus praised DSA member Elias Rodriguez after he shot and killed two Israeli embassy staffers in Washington, D.C. The group posted: “It is right to rebel against the enemy. This is Maoist law.” The post featured a black and white sketch of Rodriguez against a Palestinian flag stamped with a hammer and sickle.

The caucus signed onto a statement by Unity of Fields (an extremist and violent group) which defended Rodriguez’s actions as “legitimate…resistance against the Zionist state” and called for his immediate release. On social media, the Liberation Caucus declared, “Free Elias Rodriguez and all political prisoners.”

It also joined a petition by Unity of Fields, urging its followers to “bring the war home” (i.e., carry out acts of violence in the U.S.).

After blowback, DSA’s national leadership publicly condemned the murders and distanced the organization from the Liberation Caucus.

Following the 2025 DSA National Convention, the Liberation Caucus wrote: “We committed ourselves to a firm, unyielding anti-Zionist line, an abolitionist line with regards to ICE, and established further our path towards building an actual revolutionary socialist party.”

Libertarian Socialist Caucus

The Libertarian Socialist Caucus (LSC) was founded in 2017 to advance the concept of “dual power” within the DSA. The “dual power” strategy first aims to build member-run “counter-institutions” – such as tenant unions, rank-and-file committees, neighborhood assemblies and co-ops. The strategy then calls for linking these groups together. Ultimately, the goal is to shift real decision-making away from bosses and politicians and place control over resources and rules in the hands of ordinary members.

At the same time, the caucus continues to advocate for using elections (albeit as a secondary tool) to advance its goals.

LSC is among the most explicitly anti-Zionist caucuses inside DSA. On October 13, 2023, following the October 7, 2023 Hamas massacre of Israelis, DSA LSC posted on X:

“LSC expresses our full solidarity with the Palestinian people in their 75-year-long fight to end the occupation of their homeland. As libertarian socialists, it is our duty to stand against state violence, colonialism, and apartheid.”

The group also posted: “We hold the Israeli ethnostate entirely responsible.” In another post, the group wrote: “We call on the NPC to make clear DSA's unqualified opposition to funding for fascist Israel, and in particular for the Israeli military. DSA's endorsed members must not aid genocide. From the river, to the sea, Palestine will be free!”

In a July 2024 caucus statement, LSC wrote: “Even before October 7th, LSC organized and agitated against DSA’s tolerant culture toward Zionists” and vowed to “listen to our Arab and Muslim comrades who have underlined their expectations of our organization as an ally.”

LSC said they followed the lead of “Palestinian-led and Palestine solidarity organizations” to organize for stronger opposition to Zionism within the DSA. They specifically mentioned the pro-terror groups Palestinian Youth Movement (PYM), Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) and Within Our Lifetime (WOL), whom they thanked ”for demonstrating their support and understanding in our endeavor.”

In the same statement, LSC called for DSA to be explicitly anti-Zionist “in principle and praxis,” and urged the DSA to pass the MSR-12: Making DSA an Anti-Zionist Organization in Principle and Praxis resolution, which called for the expulsion of DSA members who oppose BDS as a legitimate tactic, are affiliated with the Israeli government or a Zionist lobby group or "knowingly provided material aid to the Israel.”

In January 2025, LSC published a pamphlet titled: "A Guide to DSA Politics," which stated:

“Anti-Zionism is DSA’s position on the Palestine question, wherein Zionism is recognized as a colonial and racist ideology that enables ‘Israel’ to exist as an apartheid regime built on ethnic cleansing and genocide. Anti-Zionists completely reject arguments regarding Israel’s ‘right to exist’ or to ‘defend itself’ …”

On December 17, 2024, DSA-LSC posted on X support for Luigi Mangione, who was charged with "murder as an act of terrorism" in the December 4, 2024, shooting of United Healthcare's chief executive Brian Thompson in Manhattan, New York. When arrested, Mangione was carrying a handwritten letter calling healthcare companies "parasitic."

Caucus members include:

David Jenkins, a DSA-LSC caucus member, was elected to the 2025-2027 National Political Committee (NPC).

Byron Lopez

C.S. Jackson

Red Star Caucus

The Red Star Caucus is a national Marxist–Leninist caucus that originated in San Francisco in 2019 and has since expanded into a nationwide caucus. Red Star itself emerged from the remnants of a local branch of Refoundation, a national “Radical Left caucus” within the DSA that dissolved around 2018.

Red Star carries the banner of revolutionary Marxism and “scientific socialism” (a Marxist approach to socialism that claims to rely on empirical analysis and historical materialism and believes that socialism is the inevitable outcome of class struggle).

The caucus also adheres to a Democratic “party surrogate electoral strategy,” i.e., using the Democratic Party in the short-term as a “surrogate” until a socialist workers’ party is built and assumes state power.

Red Star is against both “excessive” centralization and decentralization, agitating instead for real “democracy” in every level of its organization.

The caucus’s self-defined goal is replacing capitalism with communism: “We do not believe that capitalism can be reformed into socialism – it must be overthrown and replaced.” Thus, Red Star says it “strives to weaken and ultimately dismantle US empire” and argues for a vanguard party emerging through democratic struggle within the DSA.

Red Star has been explicit in its support of Hamas and other terror organizations. On October 12, 2023, the caucus issued a joint statement with the Marxist Unity Group titled: "For a Free Palestine."

The statement read: “Palestine will only be free when there is no territory held under Israeli apartheid, ending 75 years of occupation and oppression by the Zionist entity. We support the right of the Palestinian people to defend themselves from harm and to determine their own fate.”

The statement also claimed that the NPC members from both caucuses had submitted a resolution that promoted BDS and “demanded full recognition of the right of return; the halting of arms sales and ‘aid’ from the US that continues the current state of affairs; an end to the occupation - from the river to the sea.”

On May 24, 2024, Red Star published an article co-written by caucus members Peter Loutzenhiser and Shiloh Beeler titled: “We Do Not Condemn Hamas, and Neither Should You.”

The article promoted the idea of “Palestinian resistance” (i.e., terrorism) as an inevitable result of the “annihilation” of Palestinians by Israel and encouraged socialists to actively support “resistance groups,” including Hamas. PFLP, PIJ and the like because they form a united front fighting Israeli “occupation.”

In August 2024, Red Star reported: “Nationally, we have begun the process of setting clear expectations for electeds to support Palestinian liberation, while locally, many Red Star members have helped to pass resolutions that enshrine anti-Zionism as a core tenet of DSA.”

At the 2025 DSA National Convention, the Red Star caucus supported several anti-Israel resolutions, including R22: For a Fighting Anti-Zionist DSA.

In a June 2025 newsletter, Red Star reported that members Nayef Alrayes and “Hazel F.” had co-authored the DSA for Palestinian Self-Determination resolution to be considered at the 2025 national DSA convention. RS wrote:

“This amendment reframes DSA’s commitment to a single Palestinian state as part of a commitment to al-Thawabit [PLO principles], the red lines of the Palestinian people adopted by the Palestinian National Council in 1977, and clarifies that our support for a Palestinian state is the result of our unwavering commitment to their right to self-determination.”

As of October 2025, three members were elected to the 2025-2027 DSA NPC: Megan Romer, Hazel Williams and John Lewis.

Caucus members include:

Megan Romer

John Lewis

Adithya Pugazh

Andrew Dai

Hazel Williams

Sam Heft-Lufty

Peter Loutzenhiser

Shiloh Beeler

Nayef Alrayes

Reform and Revolution Caucus

The Reform & Revolution caucus, formed in 2019, describes itself as “a revolutionary Marxist caucus” in DSA and asserts that DSA should be built into a mass socialist party rooted in the multiracial working class: “…we fight to end economic inequality, racism, sexism, and all forms of oppression, and to overthrow the capitalist state!”

On October 13, 2023, Reform & Revolution published a statement “in solidarity with the Palestinian people resisting apartheid and occupation.” The statement called for "mass protests in the US and around the world” against Israel’s military response to the Hamas massacre and said: “We support a mass armed uprising against the Israeli military, democratically organized, like the First Intifada.”

On December 1, 2023, Reform & Revolution’s Steering Committee published a statement that included a section titled: “How can the IDF be defeated?” The statement said: “Marxists are not pacifists. A mass uprising against the brutal IDF requires taking up arms, which is the right of all occupied peoples.”

The statement also said: “Movements within Israel for peace and against the occupation (as has happened on a number of occasions) can undermine morale within the IDF. Such a development would be a significant change in the balance of forces in favor of Palestinian liberation.”

On May 24, 2024, caucus member Sarah Milner published an article titled: "What BLM teaches us about Palestine Solidarity," in which she called to “Divest our universities, pension funds, and cities from Israeli genocide.”

On July 5, 2024, Milner and fellow caucus member Maria Franzblau published an article titled: “Why DSA Should Agitate for a One State Solution,” in which they wrote: “To take the strongest stand for Palestinian liberation DSA should support a one state solution and the left wing of the resistance.”

The article said: “Fighting for a free Palestine requires more than a ceasefire. Even if the war stopped tomorrow, the occupation and exploitation would continue. As Marxists, we need to not only consider immediate questions, but also longer term ones. The occupation of Palestine is rooted deeply in imperial relations between the United States and the whole of the Middle East. To actually end the oppression of Palestinians, we will have to challenge the fundamental logic of American foreign policy. Our job is to turn protests and upsurges into a durable challenge to the capitalist system—to go from mass reform movements to political independence.”

The Reform and Revolution Caucus holds two seats on the NPC: Sarah Milner and Daniel Salup-Cid, YDSA co-chair.

Caucus members include:

Maria Franzblau

Sarah Milner

Daniel Salup-Cid

Philip Locker

Socialist Majority

The Socialist Majority Caucus (SMC) was founded in 2019 and has since become one of the most influential caucus groups in the DSA, especially in key chapters such as NYC-DSA.

SMC is focused on broad electoral alliances and coalition politics. It advocates for “majoritarian” politics, i.e., maintaining socialist goals and building a socialist majority via democratic politics. It sees electoral campaigns by socialists, such as Bernie Sanders and AOC, as key means to engage people with socialist demands and expand the DSA.

SMC’s 2025 platform emphasized pushing the DSA as “the face of the democratic socialist electoral movement” and introduced a resolution titled: “From Palestine to Mexico: Fighting Fascist Attacks on Immigrants.” The resolution, co-authored by Socialist Majority co-chair Kristian Hernandez, Leslie Chang and Layla Elabed said:

“As socialists at the heart of the American empire, DSA must organize to protect people targeted by both domestic oppression and US imperialism. This resolution proposes ways in which members, chapters, and the organization as a whole will pursue the struggle against nativism and in defense of immigrants and pro-Palestine protestors, recognizing that the only way to meet the current political moment is solidarity and a recommitment to building class-based, mass politics.”

The resolution also directed the National Electoral Commission (NEC) to assist DSA chapters in “identifying and collaborating on state or local broad pro-sanctuary and/or pro-Palestine legislation or policy.”

SMC garnered four seats on the 2025-2027 NPC: Christian Araos, Jeremy Cohan, Clayton Ryles and Katie Sims.

Caucus members include:

Leslie Chang

Renée Paradis

Seth Woody

Groundwork

The Groundwork Slate (GW) is "a group of DSA members organizing to change DSA into what we all want but don’t have: a force strong enough to meaningfully influence politics on the scale of the next presidential election, potential general strike, and whatever other national ruptures may come."

GW is a climate-focused, electoral-oriented caucus that believes in winning reforms by working with broader progressive movements. Groundwork seeks “to build DSA into a world-historic political force” and “to become a genuine, mass political party.”

Groundwork was formed by core ecosocialist activists from NYC-DSA who brought their “climate justice,” electoral and labor-based organizing experience from the Ecosocialist Working Group into a broader national caucus with a more aggressive political strategy.

Groundwork members began organizing informally in 2023 and ran a slate for the 2023 DSA National Political Committee (NPC) convention. In 2024, Groundwork officially declared itself a national caucus.

Groundwork’s leadership base, political style and strategic priorities are deeply shaped by NYC-DSA’s electoral successes and organizational weight.

Groundwork claimed Zohran Mamdani’s win in the NYC Democratic mayoral primary “as a proof of concept” that DSA could bring together labor unions and other mass organizations into a left-labor coalition to run a presidential candidate in 2028.

At the 2025 National DSA Convention, the group platformed “Resolution 33: Unite Labor and the Left To Run A Socialist For President,” which committed DSA to seriously prepare for running a socialist candidate in the 2028 Democratic presidential primary.

In November 2023, Groundwork published a newsletter in which they referred to Zionists as “our own enemies” and reported that its members would “lead the way on building a national infrastructure for our No Money for Massacres phone banks, which has enabled close to 250,000 calls to build support for the Ceasefire resolution introduced by DSA reps Cori Bush and Rashida Tlaib.”

The group stated: “So, let’s keep becoming AIPAC’s worst nightmare. It is our duty as socialists to lead the way into a world where all people live lives of dignity. From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.”

At the NYC-DSA Convention in 2024, Groundwork members proposed a resolution titled: “Organizing for Palestinian Liberation: A Socialist Strategy,” which “Reaffirms without reservation our commitment to the BDS movement; and to organizing toward Palestinian liberation and political, economic, and social equality between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea.”

Groundwork reported that the resolution “overwhelmingly passed, which commits the entire chapter to an unapologetically anti-Zionist political education and organizing strategy around Palestine. This resolution reaffirms our commitment to BDS and offers a vision for how NYC-DSA can lead on anti-Zionist, anti-imperialist principles.”

At the 2025 DSA National Convention, Groundwork members won five seats on NPC.

Sumter A, Eleanor Babaev, Kareem Elrefai, Frances Gill, Alejandra Quintero, Carl Roberts, Cara Tobe, Ashik Siddique

Bread & Roses

Founded in 2019, Bread & Roses (B&R) is a national caucus of Marxist organizers focused on gradually building DSA into a mass, working-class organization capable of eventually forming an independent workers’ party. Until 2019, DSA worked on electing its members through the Democratic Party.

B&R is one of the largest and most influential DSA caucuses, with significant membership in the DSA’s influential National Political Committee (NPC) and in the largest of the DSA’s chapters, the NYC-DSA.

Bread and Roses has historically been dominant in YDSA.

B&R anti-Israel activism features prominently as part of its core fight against “imperialism.” The group accuses Israel of being an apartheid state and supports the BDS movement. Caucus members are also active in promoting Zohran Mamdani’s “Not on Our Dime!” act in the New York State legislature, a legislative initiative aimed at stopping New York charities from funding Israeli settlements and military activity.

B&R is a major power center within DSA, often setting the tone for strategic debates.

As of 2025, the Bread and Roses caucus accounts for at least three members of the influential National Political Committee (NPC). They include:

• Cerena Ermitanio (Houston DSA)
• Hayley Banyai-Becker
• Ella Teevan

Emerge

The Emerge caucus of the DSA is a far-left, multi-faceted communist group that originated in New York City in 2018 and expanded nationally in 2025. Emerge advocates for a “working class revolution in our lifetime” and looks to Russia, China, Cuba and the South American socialist tyrannies for inspiration. In America, the group’s inspiration comes from the Black Panther Party and internationally, from the “Palestinian resistance movement.”

BDS and Palestine Solidarity Working Group

The BDS and Palestine Solidarity Working Group (PSWG), established in 2019, has been a key driver in the DSA’s transformation from its pro-Zionist origins to a vocal supporter of the October 7, 2023, massacre of Israelis by Hamas terrorists.

According to DSA’s Socialist Majority caucus, the DSA BDS and Palestine Solidarity Working Group’s Toolkit, “borrows heavily” from NSJP’s Palestine Day of Resistance Toolkit.

In 2022, PSWG became embroiled in a controversy with DSA’s National Political Committee (NPC) after the working group called for the expulsion of then Representative Jamaal Bowman. On March 18, 2022, in a contentious 9-8 vote, the NPC officially dechartered PSWG and announced that the group’s functions would be absorbed into the International Committee (which is under the purview of the NPC).

The NPC further barred PSWG’s steering committee members from holding national leadership positions for one year and disabled the group’s website.

However, due to protests from rank-and-file DSA members, the NPC issued an apology less than a week later and voted unanimously to reinstate the group. However, in a vote of 7-7-1, the NCP decided the leadership ban would remain in place, much to the anger of many local groups.

Today, the working group is active, but it is more coordinated and integrated with the International Committee.

Anti-War Working Group

The Anti-War Working Group (AWG) is dedicated to opposing “U.S. imperialism and … regime-change operations and interventions in foreign wars and conflicts.” It exists as an issue-based network at both the national and local chapter levels.

The group’s mission is to mobilize DSA members to protest wars, military aid and sanctions, and “disrupt the U.S. war machine.” It sees its anti-war activism as integral to destroying capitalism.

The group, which often works with other “peace organizations” like CODEPINK, launched a “No War on Iran” campaign after the U.S. assassinated Iran’s IRGC’s head, Qassem Soleimani, in January 2020. It also opposes Israel’s war against Hamas.

The AWG considers economic sanctions a form of war and campaigns against U.S. sanctions on countries like Cuba, Venezuela, Iran and North Korea.

International Committee

The International Committee (IC), which is under the purview of the NPC, forges relationships with other socialist and leftist movements, organizing educational events and campaigns related to anti-imperialism and anti-colonialism worldwide. The IC’s 15 members are appointed by the NPC and the NPC’s steering committee.

The IC has most recently focused on anti-Zionism, BDS and trade solidarity campaigns and has a Palestine working group co-chaired by Syjil Ashrif.

As of September 2025, the IC is co-chaired by Emerge caucus members Rowan Callahan and Tolu Oseyemi. As of the same date, Marxist and other extremist groups, including members from Red Star and Bread & Roses, have gained influence and control of the committee.

IC Members include:

• Megan Romer (Red Star caucus)
• Ashik Siddique (Groundwork caucus)
• Alex Pellitteri (Bread & Roses caucus)
• Others representing Reform & Revolution, Socialist Majority Caucus and Libertarian Socialist Caucus

DSA Afrosocialists & Socialists of Color

The Afrosocialists & Socialists of Color (AFROSOC) Caucus originated in 2017 and, according to its website, “advocates for and builds power with DSA’s Black/POC (Persons of Color) membership and their communities…to help build a multiracial working-class base, the only viable strategy for securing a socialist future.”

The website also states, “Through public and internal education and agitation, we aim to continue the legacy of the Black radical tradition, as well as the radical traditions of other oppressed minorities.”

AFROSOC also promotes BDS. In February 2021, AFROSOC co-sponsored “DSA, BDS, and Palestine Solidarity: A Panel Discussion” with the BDS and Palestine Solidarity National Working Group.

On October 17, 2023, AFROSOC posted on X: “NO MORE U.S. AID TO ISRAEL!"

LIFT THE SIEGE ON GAZA NOW!”

In May 2025, AFROSOC posted that the caucus “emphasizes the importance of allying with groups advocating for Black liberation, both domestically and internationally …” and has aligned itself with the pro-terror group Black Alliance for Peace (BAP).

In April 2025, AFROSOC reposted a video of Kwame Ture, who led the militant Black Panther Party, in which Ture claimed that Zionism was “certainly not a liberation movement because it never fought against any imperialism” and that “Zionism is the baby child of and infant protector of imperialism in the Middle East.” (00:00:08)

The caucus promotes domestic terrorist Assata Shakur, who was convicted of killing a New Jersey state trooper and wounding another in 1973 while a member of the separatist Black Liberation Army (BLA).

In April 2025, AFROSOC reposted a video of PFLP terrorist Ghassan Kanafani in honor of his birthday.

In June 2025, AFROSOC published a statement in Medium titled: “To Rebel is Justified” supporting the Los Angeles riots against ICE.

In August 2025, following DSA’s National Convention, Christopher Winston, a member of AFROSOC executive committee, posted on X: “afrosoc chanting globalize the intifada outside the deliberation room gave me life.”

Winston also posted: “My goal is to help turn DSA into an organization that the rebels who burned the third precinct and the orphaned kids who are fucking up the IOF can trust. Every concession and gain we have made is because somebody went out in the streets and started fucking shit up. That’s how change is made. The rightist line of change through relying solely on elections and methods of that type has been defeated, time and time again. Everybody knows this.”

AFROSOC Executive Committee members include:

Ciné Julien, Mary Black, AJ Williams, Abel Amene, Syjil Ashraf, Jane Mantey, Christopher Winston, Michael Gonzales, Nxongotelo Mgabini.

AFROSOC member John Lewis sits on the NPC.

Palestinian Youth Movement (PYM)

The DSA organizes and works closely with the Palestinian Youth Movement (PYM), a transnational grassroots movement of young Palestinians dedicated to the “liberation of Palestine.” PYM has “close ties” with the terror group Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) and its affiliates, as well as with Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), an organization linked to Hamas,” according to an Israeli government report.

PYM regularly co-organizes events with the Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network (Samidoun). The U.S. and Canada designated Samidoun as a terrorist entity in October 2024, describing it as a “sham charity that serves as an international fundraiser for the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) terrorist organization.”

DSA chapters work with PYM to produce anti-Zionist educational materials and candidate training. The DSA International Committee’s Palestine Solidarity Toolkit includes content from PYM as recommended materials and references PYM-authored articles and ideological grounding.

Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP)

Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) is a core coalition partner of the DSA. An explicitly anti-Zionist and left-wing advocacy group, JVP attempts to leverage intersectional politics to spread hatred of Israel and Zionism, particularly on college campuses. JVP chapters across the country engage in anti-Israel educational campaigns, protest actions and coalition organizing to shift U.S. policy on Israel/Palestine.

The group promotes antisemitism, supports terrorists, defends anti-Israel agitators and endorses the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement.

JVP and DSA frequently co-sponsor protests, sit-ins and political education events. JVP has led anti-Israel actions on Capitol Hill and in New York’s Grand Central Terminal with the participation of many DSA members, including NYC mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani. DSA and JVP have also jointly pressured progressive elected officials to block U.S. aid to Israel.

DSA references JVP materials in its resource library.

Working Families Party (WFP)

The Working Families Party (WFP) is a progressive political party founded in New York in 1998 and is now active nationally.

On December 21, 2023, members of NYC-DSA and the WFP marched together with other groups calling for a ceasefire in Gaza and urging U.S. politicians to reject pro-Israel lobby influence.

WFP supported DSA member Zohran Mamdani in the NYC mayoral Democratic primary. The two organizations are strategically aligned in advocating against Israel. WFP endorsed the “Not On Our Dime Act,” a legislative initiative by Mamdani aimed at stopping New York charities from funding Israeli settlements and military activity.

Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR)

The Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) is a nonprofit “Islamic advocacy group” that has been linked since its inception to Hamas and other Muslim Brotherhood terrorist organizations. In 2007, federal prosecutors designated CAIR a co-conspirator with the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development (HLF), a group that was shut down in 2001 by the U.S. government for funneling donations to Hamas and convicted in the largest terror-funding trial in U.S. history.

On October 7, 2023, CAIR blamed Israel for being attacked by Hamas. In December 2023, CAIR executive director Nihad Awad praised the attacks against Israel and the Hamas terrorists who committed them.

DSA’s “Palestine Solidarity Toolkit” includes “safety and security” resources drafted by CAIR.

CAIR Action, CAIR’s political arm, donated to Mamdani’s campaign through its super PAC, Unity and Justice Fund, and has endorsed DSA-affiliated candidates. DSA participated in the “No Votes for Genocide” campaign spearheaded by CAIR.

Adalah Justice Project (AJP)

The Adalah Justice Project (AJP), a Palestinian-led advocacy group, advocates for the “right of return” (i.e., the destruction of Israel as a Jewish state). AJP’s Executive Director Sandra Tamari and local organizers coordinated with NYC-DSA on campaigns like “Not on Our Dime” aimed at stopping New York charities from funding Israeli settlements and military activity.

AJP and the DSA are aligned in their anti-Western/anti-American ideology, framing the U.S. as a global imperial power in alliance with Zionism and “settler colonialism.” Adalah, along with the DSA, advocates for the dismantling of U.S. policing, military aid and capitalism.

DSA signed AJP’s statement of solidarity, which demanded an “immediate and permanent ceasefire” in Gaza and for the U.S. Congress to end “all support for the Israeli government’s apartheid regime, occupation, and ethnic cleansing of Palestinians.”

Sumaya Awad, a member of DSA and AJP’s communications director, held teach-ins for DSA chapters about linking the struggle in Palestine with abolition and anti-police organizing in the U.S. Awad was also a keynote speaker for the 2024 YDSA (Young Democratic Socialists of America) convention, where she addressed an audience of student DSA members.

U.S. Campaign for Palestinian Rights (USCPR)

The U.S. Campaign for Palestinian Rights (USCPR) is a coalition of American-based anti-Israel organizations that lobbies the United States Congress to adopt anti-Israel policies and end government support for Israel.

USCPR, officially called Education for Just Peace in the Middle East, is also the fiscal sponsor of the Palestinian BDS National Committee, which was reported to include ties to U.S.-designated terror organizations such as Hamas, Islamic Jihad and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP).

The New York Post reported that USCPR pays its fellows – including Craig Birckhead-Morton, a DSA member and leader within the DSA International Committee – to encourage and support radical student protesters on college campuses.

DSA chapters reference USCPR for materials, toolkits and campaign ideas. USCPR’s toolkits on how to advocate for ending military aid to Israel have been used by DSA activists lobbying their representatives. DSA chapters across the country mobilize their members to attend national days of action and BDS campaigns launched by USCPR.

In December 2023, DSA explicitly noted USCPR as one of the “dozens of groups” DSA collaborated with during ceasefire demonstrations.

USCPR Action co-sponsored the "Not on Our Dime!" Act, a legislative initiative by Zohran Mamdani aimed at stopping New York charities from funding Israeli settlements and military activity.

USCPR Action has used data “created and updated by a group of anti-Zionist” DSA members for tracking legislative actions taken by congressional Democrats on issues related to Israel.

Progressive International (PI)

Progressive International (PI) is an anti-capitalist, revolutionary global coalition launched in 2020 by Democracy in Europe Movement 2025 and The Sanders Institute. Its purpose is to “Unite progressive forces across the world to confront rising authoritarianism, neoliberalism, and climate breakdown.”

On its website, PI includes the PFLP manifesto titled: “[The] Strategy for Liberation of Palestine,” which calls for (p. 62) violent “armed struggle” against Israel to achieve the “liberation of Palestine” and lists (p.4) Israel and (p.6) the U.S. among its “enemies.”

PI promotes a total arms embargo on Israel, supports the right of return, BDS and ending the “Zionist apartheid regime.” PI provides DSA with a form of international legitimacy that enhances its credibility, stature and influence, providing strategic resources and ideological grounding for DSA’s anti-Israel activism.

Through campaigns like “Arms In, Aid Out,” DSA’s call to end U.S. “complicity in Israeli violence” was echoed by parliamentarians and parties across continents, validating the campaign as lawful, principled and globally shared.

PI uses its Wire platform to circulate DSA campaigns and publish op-eds, letters and endorsements of DSA-aligned elected officials and protest movements. In 2025, PI published a global economists’ endorsement of NYC mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani’s anti-Israel and anti-imperialist platform, which reinforced the legitimacy of DSA’s political priorities as economically and morally sound.

PI provides DSA with visibility among foreign journalists, diplomats, academics and policy thinkers who might otherwise dismiss U.S. socialist organizing as marginal. DSA’s narratives thus gain geopolitical weight, bolstered by co-signers and institutional voices from outside the U.S. In turn, DSA has promoted PI’s End the Nakba Campaign.

IfNotNow (INN)

IfNotNow (INN) is an American Jewish activist movement that works to end the American Jewish community’s support for the Israeli presence in Judea and Samaria (the West Bank) and the “occupation” of Gaza.

In late 2023, INN activists partnered with DSA, staging a sit-in in the U.S. Capitol rotunda, where hundreds of activists demanded Congress back a ceasefire in Gaza. On November 15, 2023, INN and DSA co-organized a candlelight vigil and illegal protest outside the Democratic National Committee headquarters in Washington, D.C., urging Democratic leaders to support a ceasefire.

INN has supported anti-Israel politicians endorsed by DSA, including Rashida Tlaib and Zohran Mamdani.

DSA was a signatory on the “Reject AIPAC” campaign, which was paid for by INN in 2024 and calls on candidates for federal office to pledge not to take endorsements or contributions from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) or aligned PACs.

The DSA was founded in 1982 through the merger of two groups: the Democratic Socialist Organizing Committee (DSOC) and the New American Movement (NAM).

The DSOC, which began in 1973 and was led by Michael Harrington, was an outgrowth of a faction from the Socialist Party of America that had previously folded. Harrington co-founded the and was its most influential leader in its early years.

NAM, a small socialist group dedicated to feminism, was established in 1971 to replace Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), which dissolved in 1969 amidst internal strife.

Harrington was an ardent anti-Communist and supporter of Israel who believed in grassroots organizing and working within the system, namely the Democratic Party, which he hoped to gradually win over to his agenda. He eschewed the radicalism of SDS but promoted the group’s anti-war and anti-imperialism objectives.

Although Harrington advocated for gradual change through electoral politics, his long vision included collective ownership of key industries and expanded social welfare programs. The organization’s early platform reflected these goals and also spoke to racial and gender equality.

Today, the political legacy of Harrington’s DSA is non-existent, and the man who started the organization is reviled.

DSA's shift from its moderate and pro-Israel beginnings to its current revolutionary, pro-Marxist, anti-Israel platform is due to the entrance of highly organized groups who joined and captured the organization, according to Maurice Isserman, another DSA cofounder and former SDS member who left the DSA after 41 years due in protest over DSA’s reaction to the October 7 massacre.