Once a small band of greying radicals on the margins, the Democratic Socialists of America is now one of the leading voices of today’s young left. Their success as a small-dollar, member-driven group may prove to be the future model for progressive organizations. Yet oddly enough, much of their success isn’t from new strategies or tactics; instead, the group has been given new life by sticking to their age-old values of member empowerment.
The intellectual history of America's socialist movement can be traced back to 1912 with the Socialist Party of America. The Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) has been the leading socialist organization in the United States since its founding in 1982. It was formed when two groups, the Democratic Socialist Organizing Committee and the New American Movement, merged into one organization. Yet, one of the most important things that led to its recent success is that, unlike previous socialist movements, DSA isn’t a political party. Instead, DSA is a 501(c)4 nonprofit.
As an advocacy group, DSA gave itself the potential to influence one of the two major political parties instead of competing with it. By hacking the Democratic party instead of trying to replace it, they were in the perfect position to capitalize on the success of Sen. Bernie Sanders’s 2016 presidential campaign. Since then, they have notched up electoral victories and have seen their membership rolls swell.
One of their endorsed candidates that won in 2018, Rhode Island State Senator Sam Bell of Rhode Island told Blue Tent that the DSA has rapidly grown in the state because “they’re an incredibly active grassroots group –– they have real strength now.” In fact, DSA notched up 46 victories in 2018. This included two congressional wins with the elections of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Rashida Tlaib. DSA has expanded its gains in Congress in 2020 with Jamaal Bowman and Cori Bush who both ousted incumbent Democrats in New York and Missouri.
Membership has exploded as well. When DSA was formed, the organization had roughly 6,000 members. This number stayed flat for much of its history. In March of 2016, the group’s membership was 6,100. Yet, the group has seen tremendous growth over the last five years.
By the end of the 2016 Democratic presidential primary, DSA’s membership nearly doubled to 10,000. After Ocasio-Cortez’s victory in June of 2018, DSA gained 5,000 new members in two weeks. By mid-July of 2018, DSA was up to 45,000 members.
DSA’s growth didn’t stop there. 2020 has been a huge year for the group. The coronavirus pandemic and the economic devastation brought in its wake have put DSA’s signature issue Medicare-for-all back in the public spotlight. DSA’s membership has now grown to over 66,000. This surge of recent members can be seen all across the country. At the July general meeting of the Providence, Rhode Island chapter, the group reported that half of their current dues-paying members joined the organization since the start of 2020.
DSA’s membership growth has been a success because it gives power to its members. Many groups have memberships where supporters can give a small donation each year. But, there is often little buy-in for members. They may receive a newsletter and information on helping a progressive organization enact their agenda –– and that’s about it. DSA’s success is that instead of telling members what DSA’s agenda is going to be, DSA’s members set the agenda.
DSA empowers dues-paying members to elect chapter leaders. Members can create working groups to focus on local issues they want to work on. Members also elect delegates to the organization’s national convention. These national delegates in turn elect the national leadership and vote on the organization’s platform.
This structure requires voting members to pay dues, but it also gives members real power within the organization. This has proven to be an important combination to both raise revenue and grow the organization’s army of grassroots activists.
By giving members so much power for paying dues, DSA’s reaped huge financial success. In the last six years DSA has seen its revenue jump: In 2014, revenue was $320,000, by 2017 annual revenue had grown to over $2 million. The group reported to members it raised over $1.1 million in the first half of 2018.
DSA has been able to do this without taking donations from large companies. Nor has it tried to appeal to major donors. And with standard dues at $60 per year, this money can add up. At 66,000 members, DSA may generate almost $4 million in revenue in membership dues this year alone.
Member dues make up a large portion of the group’s total revenue. In the first half of 2018, dues made up 77 percent of the money DSA raised. Online donations made up 17 percent of their 2017 revenue. Their online store and other “swag” generated $58,000 or 5 percent of their revenue and they received a $7,000 bequest.
A look at the full year of 2017 saw similar success: Dues made up 49 percent of income for the year at $1.02 million. Additional online contributions were 37 percent of income at $767,000, and its online store brought in $284,000 for 14 percent of revenue. DSA noted in their report to members that in 2017 monthly dues were categorized as online contributions. In 2018, monthly dues were included in the membership dues category.
DSA has had this revenue and leadership structure long before their recent success. While DSA didn’t adapt to the changing times, today seems to be the perfect time for groups like DSA. Young people are looking to join progressive organizations where they feel their voices can be heard. They can also easily find other like-minded activists online to work with instead of going along with what organizational leaders tell them. This makes DSA’s mix of leftist policies and decentralized democratic structure so appealing to young progressives.
DSA’s strong member democracy model does take power away from the organization's leaders. Yet, progressive groups that emulate DSA’s style would reap similar success with younger activists and small donors. This new generation of activists continues to organize in novel ways and this will create new pressures for progressive leaders. The question will not be if we will see more groups follow this democratic membership model. Instead, it remains to be seen if this model will become the new standard expected of all progressive groups.
Photo credit: Nic Neufeld / Shutterstock.com
