Class

Clarissa Redwine and JS Tan, authors of Against Tech Oligarchy: Worker Resistance in the World’s Most Powerful Industry, discuss the political and economic motivations behind their organizing and writing, and the class-conscious role tech workers can play in building a truly democratic society. JOIN NPEC, DSA’s National Labor Commission, our Tech Committee, Haymarket Books, and EWOC on Monday, September 14th, 12:30 PT/3:30 ET to kick off the Against Tech Oligarchy reading group! Attend the event, and you can get a copy of the book for free! RSVP for the ATO event HERE Send us Fan MailBecome a member of Democratic Socialists of America.Sign up to receive NPEC's newsletter, Red Letter. 

Hayley and John from DSA’s National Political Committee (NPC) discuss the planning, programming, vibes, and takeaways from DSA’s first—but definitely not last—Socialist Summit in Chicago, held at the end of July.Send us Fan MailBecome a member of Democratic Socialists of America.Sign up to receive NPEC's newsletter, Red Letter. 

Sebastian and Kelly discuss the exciting rise of tenant unionization on the socialist left and how it fits into the broader scope of working-class organizing and the crucial fight for decent housing. To learn more about how you can organize with your neighbors, join the ETOC summer cohort, starting August 8th!Join the Emergency Tenant Organizing Committee’s Summer Cohort, starting on August 8th! Send us Fan MailBecome a member of Democratic Socialists of America.Sign up to receive NPEC's newsletter, Red Letter. 

On this episode, Luke talks with Michaela about DSA’s new Workers Deserve More Program. We talk about the program’s origins, the drafting process, and all of the cool demands it contains. We also discuss some of our favorite parts, the initial media reaction, future political education opportunities revolving around Workers Deserve More, and how DSA’s elected officials can support the program. Check out a recording of the mass call announcing the program. And of course, the program itself! Send us Fan MailBecome a member of Democratic Socialists of America.Sign up to receive NPEC's newsletter, Red Letter. 

It's the summer of sports and socialism! Connell (River Valley DSA) and Jason (Connecticut DSA) join us to talk about socialist fandom, the political economy of sports in the US, and how sports can bring us together as an organization.Send us Fan MailBecome a member of Democratic Socialists of America.Sign up to receive NPEC's newsletter, Red Letter. 

Right-wingers have attacked public schools for decades as training grounds for future “woke” Marxists. Our guests Kevin, Mie, and Sudip turn that on its head with their new study, identifying what they’ve termed “social justice nationalism," a pedagogy that avoids class analysis and a real critique of power, and isolates social activism and politics from collective action. Join the National Political Education Commission Check out Kevin's book, I Guess This is Activism? hereSend us Fan MailBecome a member of Democratic Socialists of America.Sign up to receive NPEC's newsletter, Red Letter. 

Jalil Muntaqim and Sid C. W. discuss the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, national liberation struggles, and the Spirit of Mandela coalition's July 4 National Mobilization Against Genocide. Jalil is a member of the Spirit of Mandela coalition, and Sid is a member of DSA's National Political Committee (NPC). Information about the mobilization can be found here. DSA is one of many organizations endorsing the mobilization, and members interested in attending or hosting a watch party can email Sid at [email protected] us Fan MailBecome a member of Democratic Socialists of America.Sign up to receive NPEC's newsletter, Red Letter. 

How should socialists position ourselves and our movement in the face of American decline and ongoing threats to democracy? Aziz Rana, DSA-endorsed candidate for Congress Oliver Larkin, and St Petersburg, FL’s socialist in office, Richie Floyd, discussed the current political terrain on a mass call recorded Weds 05/20, presented here as a podcast. Join DSA’s National Electoral Commission.Send us Fan MailBecome a member of Democratic Socialists of America.Sign up to receive NPEC's newsletter, Red Letter. 

Gabriel from Portland DSA joins Class to discuss the complex political and class struggles around unpopular hyperscaled data center construction in Oregon, and how the moratorium campaign influenced the State House primaries happening now, where a DSA candidate, Tammy Carpenter, is competing against the Democratic establishment and tech capitalists. Read about the OR data center struggle in PDX DSA’s blog here. The two Jacobin articles mentioned in the episode include Holly Buck's “Democratic Governance of AI is the Real Solution" and Aaron Regunberg's “Stop the AI Build-out, Start the Fight." Send us Fan MailBecome a member of Democratic Socialists of America.Sign up to receive NPEC's newsletter, Red Letter. 

Cerena and Griffin, two DSA labor leaders from Houston and DC, join us to discuss the meaning and history of May Day for the socialist and labor movements and how, in this disorganizing time, we can still organize towards higher worker militancy and struggle to fight the right and capital.  This year, our May Day demands are NO WAR, ABOLISH ICE, TAX THE RICH! Now, over 150 DSA chapters are doing something for May Day — we hope your local DSA is too. This site shows May Day actions all over the country — find yours! Here is a chapter toolkit for May Day, including a socialist night school module on May Day and the General Strike from NPEC! Send us Fan MailBecome a member of Democratic Socialists of America.Sign up to receive NPEC's newsletter, Red Letter. 

Class is taking a spring break and will be back with our regular programming on April 20th. For now, enjoy a moment of seasonal poetry with a few comrades across time and space: Rosa Luxemburg, Bertolt Brecht, Langston Hughes, and Ada Limón. Happy early Earth Day and May Day, listeners! Read on this episode:- Rosa Luxemburg’s letters to Hans Diefenbach, March 30, 1917 & Sophie Liebkecht, May 2, 1917- Bertolt Brecht, "Morning Address to a Tree Named Green" (1927) & "Spring 1938" (1938). These are casual links for convenience; official English translations for these aren’t readily available online. - Langston Hughes, “An Earth Song” (1925) - Ada Limón, “Instructions on Not Giving Up” (2017), republished in The Carrying (2021)  Send us Fan MailBecome a member of Democratic Socialists of America.Sign up to receive NPEC's newsletter, Red Letter. 

David (Socialist Majority, NYC-DSA) and Ramsin (Bread and Roses, Chicago DSA) discuss their perspectives on party-building, political independence, and the democratic road to socialism.  Read David’s piece comparing the SPA and DSA, “The Long Reroute,” published by the Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung here. Read Ramsin’s pieces about how and when to advance socialist political independence, here and here.Send us Fan MailBecome a member of Democratic Socialists of America.Sign up to receive NPEC's newsletter, Red Letter. 

In this episode, we talk with Lisa from Labor Notes and Scott from the IBEW reform caucus CREW about the new guide on building rank-and-file reform caucuses in existing unions. Reform caucus organizing is one of the primary strategies within DSA and the broader American labor left to support the growth of a militant, democratic workers' movement. Find the new Labor Notes guide, “How to Build a Union Reform Caucus,” here. Check out the classic Secrets of a Successful Organizer here, as well as Ellen David Friedman’s new book, Keep Going: A Guide to Organizing When it’s Hard. Kim Moody’s 2000 essay, "The Rank and File Strategy,” can be found here. Send us Fan MailBecome a member of Democratic Socialists of America.Sign up to receive NPEC's newsletter, Red Letter. 

NPEC member and former chair Evan (Mid-Hudson Valley) talks about his journey into socialism and garden knowledge, and how our hopeful politics of renewal, intention, collectivity, and cooperation are made practical and material by digging around in the dirt. Evan recommends the book Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants by Robin Wall Kimmerer for anyone interested in knowing more about his own learnings, and where he started to become interested in growing things in our world. You can find it for sale from the publisher here.Send us Fan MailBecome a member of Democratic Socialists of America.Sign up to receive NPEC's newsletter, Red Letter. 

We’re joined by Nick and Tyler from Louisville DSA to talk about being socialist poets and glimpsing beauty in a chaotic, capitalist world. Nick and Tyler’s occasional podcast, Poetry is a Destructive Force, is here. Oscar Wilde's "The Soul of Man Under Socialism” is here. Oscar Wilde's “Lecture to Art Students” is here.  Send us Fan MailBecome a member of Democratic Socialists of America.Sign up to receive NPEC's newsletter, Red Letter. 

We are pleased to present “Stop the Siege on Cuba,” a mass call from February 22nd by DSA’s International Committee and Cuba Solidarity Working Group, along with an interview with Claire from Boston DSA, a co-chair of the working group. Listen and learn how to get involved with democratic socialist activism in support of Cuban self-determination and freedom from imperialist violence and oppression. ¡Cuba sí, bloqueo no! Find out how to help stop the siege on Cuba with DSA here. Send us Fan MailBecome a member of Democratic Socialists of America.Sign up to receive NPEC's newsletter, Red Letter. 

In this episode of Class, we talk to Sarah, chair of DSA’s National Grievance Panel, about the contradictions and openings of conflict within a socialist organization. We walk through some of the political and affective distinctions that must urgently be drawn to effectively struggle together as comrades and build the truly free world we want to live in. Read a review of Jodi Dean’s Comrade: An Essay On Political Belonging by NPEC alum Mie here. Buy Comrade here.  Check out Gracie Lion's Constructive Criticism here. Read Jo Freeman’s classic essay "Tyranny of Structurelessness" here. Send us Fan MailBecome a member of Democratic Socialists of America.Sign up to receive NPEC's newsletter, Red Letter. 

On this episode, we talk with Colin from DSA’s National Tech Committee about becoming a socialist and doing socialism on the internet. This episode will kick off what we expect will be a regular discussion on the wide topic of “digital socialism.” NPEC/NTC Training 02/19: Socialist Archiving 201: The Digital Deep DiveGet involved with DSA’s National Tech Committee! NTC websiteApply to the committee Send us Fan MailBecome a member of Democratic Socialists of America.Sign up to receive NPEC's newsletter, Red Letter. 

On this episode, we talk to Megan, one of DSA’s national cochairs, about her political journey from early-00s girlboss feminism to Marta Harnecker’s mass-protagonist vision of a socialist future, and how collective political education was crucial to her transformation. Find Marta Harnecker’s writings in the Monthly Review online archive HERE.Send us Fan MailBecome a member of Democratic Socialists of America.Sign up to receive NPEC's newsletter, Red Letter. 

In this episode, Luke talks with Edward about the Socialist Party of America's (SPA) 1912 Program and its role in his political development. Luke concentrates on two aspects of the platform: its programmatic character and democratic political demands, including the demand for a democratic constitution. This is the first of several conversations we hope to host with NPEC members about texts that played an important role in their political development and current orientation. Luke mentions the SPA's Program, DSA's 2024-25 Workers Deserve More Program,  Aziz Rana's The Constitutional Bind, and Rana's interviews on Class. Send us Fan MailBecome a member of Democratic Socialists of America.Sign up to receive NPEC's newsletter, Red Letter. 

In this episode, we talk to Ashik, one of DSA’s national cochairs, about how he grew into socialism over time through organizing and political education, from growing up Muslim in Bay Ridge during 9/11, to participating in the Occupy and environmental movements, to becoming a leader of the biggest socialist organization in the United States. Ashik’s picks:Naomi Klein's books: https://naomiklein.org/books-and-films/Ecology as Politics by Andre Gorz on Open Library: https://openlibrary.org/works/OL1390039W/Écologie_et_politique?edition=key%3A/books/OL14718425MReform and Revolution (pdf): https://www.sscc.wisc.edu/soc/faculty/pages/wright/Sydney%20seminar%202016/Andre%20Gorz%20REFORM%20OR%20REVOLUTION.pdfSend us Fan MailBecome a member of Democratic Socialists of America.Sign up to receive NPEC's newsletter, Red Letter. 

On January 6th, DSA’s International Committee (IC) and National Political Committee (NPC) organized an emergency mass call to discuss the Trump administration’s provocations in Venezuela, and socialists’ role in leading the fight against imperialist aggression. Class is pleased to present Hands Off Venezuela! as a podcast episode, following up on our episode on Cuba. Apply for DSA’s International Committee: https://actionnetwork.org/forms/dsa-international-committee-applicationSend us Fan MailBecome a member of Democratic Socialists of America.Sign up to receive NPEC's newsletter, Red Letter. 

DSA regularly sends large delegations of members to Cuba to distribute aid and learn about Cuban politics, government, and society. Last fall, National Political Committee (NPC) members Cliff and Daniel went on one such delegation. They join us to share their individual perspectives on the value of this trip for a socialist political education. Note: We recorded this episode a week and a half before its release, just prior to the American invasion of Venezuela, which is why it is unmentioned here. Solidarity with the working classes resisting US imperialism in Latin America and beyond! ¡Cuba sí, bloqueo no! Che: A Memoir by Fidel Castro. Open Library link. Buy on bookshop.orgSeason Two of Blowback Send us Fan MailBecome a member of Democratic Socialists of America.Sign up to receive NPEC's newsletter, Red Letter. 

Why is the right so fixated on whoever or whatever it is they think is Marx or “Marxism”? Why do they conflate Marx with everything else they don’t like? We are starting our second semester of Capital this week, and joining Michaela is fellow NPEC comrade Ed, who shares his perspectives on a formal and political education under Reagan, and how socialist struggle has prepared him for yet another age of repression under Trump.  Send us Fan MailBecome a member of Democratic Socialists of America.Sign up to receive NPEC's newsletter, Red Letter. 

Michaela speaks with Ashwin, a River Valley DSA member and current researcher in Mexico City, about the social movement running UTOPIAs: experiments in providing services, education, and pleasure in the poorest district of the city backed by MORENA, the current ruling party, which promotes “Mexican Humanism” as a core principle of governance. “Mexico City’s UTOPIAs” by Ashwin R https://socialistforum.dsausa.org/issues/fall-winter-2025/mexico-citys-utopias/Send us Fan MailBecome a member of Democratic Socialists of America.Sign up to receive NPEC's newsletter, Red Letter. 

Edward and Michaela share their experiences as long-time readers and guides to Capital Volume One, at a time when socialism is on the rise, and curiosity about this difficult but key work is growing. Join NPEC’s current Capital group (familiarity with Part One of the text is highly recommended, but you can get caught up): https://actionnetwork.org/events/capital-reading-group-fall-semester-2025/Send us Fan MailBecome a member of Democratic Socialists of America.Sign up to receive NPEC's newsletter, Red Letter. 

In this episode, Michaela and Darren talk about socialist perspectives on archival research. DSA's next Archives Training Project is on Wednesday, the 29th. You can register here. Whether you're a chapter chair or secretary wondering how best to approach records, a comrade with a lot of socialist swag and no idea what to do with it, or just someone curious about how archives work, you're welcome to come to this online workshop where we discuss why we care about archives as socialists, best practices for starting an archive, and how institutions take in materials for socialist, left and labor archives.Send us Fan MailBecome a member of Democratic Socialists of America.Sign up to receive NPEC's newsletter, Red Letter. 

This is a recording of NPEC's panel event with Aziz Rana and Matt McManus about the left's approach to the Constitution. Topics include how the left navigates terms like “bourgeois democracy," and how it should approach the upcoming 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, with its promises of equality and universal rights. The conversation asks us to push beyond conventional framings of constitutionalism and question what a genuinely democratic politics should look like today. A question-and-answer period follows the conversation.Aziz Rana is a professor of law at Boston College. He is the author of The Constitutional Bind: How Americans Came to Idolize a Document That Fails Them and The Two Faces of American Freedom.Matt McManus is an Assistant Professor at Spelman College. His books include Against Post-Liberal Courts and Justice and The Political Theory of Liberal Socialism. Send us Fan MailBecome a member of Democratic Socialists of America.Sign up to receive NPEC's newsletter, Red Letter. 

Since at least 2015 in the US, American Socialism has been growing again, and DSA is currently the largest organized socialist formation in the country, by far. But what about the vast majority of… well, everyone else, of all different inclinations? What role does political education have in bringing non-socialists into DSA to build our party — or at least, bringing them closer to us, or not in opposition? Michaela and Guy chat about the current political moment and how it’s affecting this basic but crucial task. They also give a preview of NPEC’s upcoming training, “Talking to Non-Socialists.” Sign up for Talking to Non-Socialists, Part 1, on October 9th.  https://actionnetwork.org/events/talking-to-non-socialists-training-fall-2025/Sign up for NPEC’s monthly newsletter, Red Letter! https://actionnetwork.org/forms/sign-up-for-red-letter/ Send us Fan MailBecome a member of Democratic Socialists of America.Sign up to receive NPEC's newsletter, Red Letter. 

Libraries are quintessentially public goods and common spaces in the US, and are generally appreciated, if not beloved, by the vast majority. As a store of human knowledge and a free site of learning and literacy access supported and funded by the state, they often become ideological battlegrounds, especially in times of political strife. What role can a socialist librarian play as a worker and advocate, particularly at a moment when broad swathes of the public education infrastructure in America, including the public library, are under relentless attack by the right? In this episode, Michaela speaks with Ella T about her socialist journey and what has led her to librarianship. Ella shares her perspective on the political and social struggles bearing upon and within libraries at this crucial time. Michaela is a member of North New Jersey DSA and is chair of DSA’s National Political Education Committee (NPEC). Ella is a member of Seattle DSA and was recently elected to DSA’s National Political Committee (NPC). Before we dive in, a reminder that Class is available on all major podcast platforms. Please consider becoming a DSA member by following the link in the podcast description. You can also send us a message about the episode and sign up for Red Letter, NPEC’s monthly newsletter, using the provided links.Send us Fan MailBecome a member of Democratic Socialists of America.Sign up to receive NPEC's newsletter, Red Letter. 

Class is back after a break, and we're excited to share what's new. Starting today, new episodes will be released biweekly, transitioning to a weekly schedule in January. We're expanding our content to include interviews with DSA members about ongoing projects and initiatives, as well as discussions on topical articles and current events. In other words, we aim to integrate more of DSA's ongoing projects and initiatives into Class. In this episode, I'll be speaking with Michaela B about the panel that NPEC hosted at the Socialism Conference in Chicago in July, titled "Socialist Humanism or Barbarism: On Political Education, Democratic Rights, and Where We Go Next." Michaela is a member of North New Jersey DSA and the current chair of NPEC, and teaches in the Department of Law, Jurisprudence and Social Thought at Amherst College. Before we dive in, a reminder that Class is available on all major podcast platforms. Please consider becoming a DSA member by following the link in the podcast description. You can also send us a message about the episode and sign up for Red Letter, NPEC’s monthly newsletter, using the provided links.Send us Fan MailBecome a member of Democratic Socialists of America.Sign up to receive NPEC's newsletter, Red Letter. 

This is Class, the official podcast of the National Political Education Committee of the Democratic Socialists of America. This is the second of a two-part conversation with Alina Herrera Fuentes about the feminist movement in Mexico. Alina is a lawyer, feminist, and Marxist. She is a member of Morena's National Institute for Political Formation. Currently, Alina is the educational content coordinator for the comprehensive gender program. In this episode, we talk about Morena´s success and challenges in the feminist struggle, the next step for the feminist movement, and some observations and advice for leftists in the U.S. Send us Fan MailBecome a member of Democratic Socialists of America.Sign up to receive NPEC's newsletter, Red Letter. 

This is Class, the official podcast of the Democratic Socialists of America’s National Political Education Committee. This is the first of a two-part conversation with Alina Herrera Fuentes about the feminist movement in Mexico. Alina is a lawyer, feminist, and Marxist. She is a member of Morena's National Institute for Political Formation, or INFP. Currently, Alina is the educational content coordinator for the comprehensive gender program run by INFP. In this episode, we talk about the history of Morena — Movimiento de Regeneración Nacional — and Morena's and Alina's vision for a more just and gender-equal Mexico. This interview is in Spanish. An English translation can be found by clicking the “transcript” option on Buzzsprout. Send us Fan MailBecome a member of Democratic Socialists of America.Sign up to receive NPEC's newsletter, Red Letter. 

This is Class, the official podcast of the Democratic Socialists of America’s National Political Education Committee. This is part two of our conversation with Rodrigo Nunes about what Lenin can teach us about pontaneity, organization, strategic thinking, and the current moment. Part two will be released in two weeks.Rodrigo Nunes is a senior lecturer in political theory and organisation at the University of Essex and the author of Organisation of the Organisationless: Collective Action After Networks (Mute, 2014), Neither Vertical Nor Horizontal: A Theory of Political Organisation (Verso, 2021) and The View from Brazil: Neoliberalism, the Far Right and the Grammar of Disintegration (Verso, forthcoming), as well as several articles in multiple languages, including "It Takes Organizers to Make a Revolution." As an organiser, he has been involved in several initiatives, including the first editions of the World Social Forum in Brazil and the Justice for Cleaners campaign in the UK.Send us Fan MailBecome a member of Democratic Socialists of America.Sign up to receive NPEC's newsletter, Red Letter. 

This is Class, the official podcast of the Democratic Socialists of America’s National Political Education Committee. This is part one of our conversation with Rodrigo Nunes about what Lenin can teach us about pontaneity, organization, strategic thinking, and the current moment. Part two will be released in two weeks.Rodrigo Nunes is a senior lecturer in political theory and organisation at the University of Essex and the author of Organisation of the Organisationless: Collective Action After Networks (Mute, 2014), Neither Vertical Nor Horizontal: A Theory of Political Organisation (Verso, 2021) and The View from Brazil: Neoliberalism, the Far Right and the Grammar of Disintegration (Verso, forthcoming), as well as several articles in multiple languages, including "It Takes Organizers to Make a Revolution." As an organiser, he has been involved in several initiatives, including the first editions of the World Social Forum in Brazil and the Justice for Cleaners campaign in the UK.Send us Fan MailBecome a member of Democratic Socialists of America.Sign up to receive NPEC's newsletter, Red Letter. 

This is Class, the official podcast of the Democratic Socialists of America’s National Political Education Committee. My name is Luke Pickrell. This is part one of our conversation with Daphna Thier about the Emergency Workplace Organizing Committee (EWOC)Daphna is an organizer and educator at EWOC. In the last couple of years, she's trained a few hundred workers on the basics of workplace organizing. She is also a contributing writer and the editor of Unite and Win: the Workplace Organizer's Handbook. She's a DSA member based in Brooklyn, New York. In part two, Daphna discusses exciting labor campaigns, the intersection of labor organizing and politics, and EWOC’s future project. Unite and Win: the Workplace Organizer's Handbook:workerorganizing.org/unite-and-win Learn more about EWOC and get involved:workerorganizing.org/trainingworkerorganizing.org/supportworkerorganizing.org/volunteer Send us Fan MailBecome a member of Democratic Socialists of America.Sign up to receive NPEC's newsletter, Red Letter. 

This is Class, the official podcast of the Democratic Socialists of America’s National Political Education Committee. My name is Luke Pickrell. This is part one of our conversation with Daphna Thier about the Emergency Workplace Organizing Committee (EWOC)Daphna is an organizer and educator at EWOC. In the last couple of years, she's trained a few hundred workers on the basics of workplace organizing. She is also a contributing writer and the editor of Unite and Win: the Workplace Organizer's Handbook. She's a DSA member based in Brooklyn, New York. In part one, Daphna discusses EWOC's origins and its recent book, Unite and Win: the Workplace Organizer's Handbook. Unite and Win: the Workplace Organizer's Handbook:workerorganizing.org/unite-and-win Learn more about EWOC and get involved:workerorganizing.org/training workerorganizing.org/support workerorganizing.org/volunteer Send us Fan MailBecome a member of Democratic Socialists of America.Sign up to receive NPEC's newsletter, Red Letter. 

This is part two of our two-part interview with José Luis Granados Ceja and Kurt Hackbarth about politics in Mexico. José Luis and Kurt are journalists and activists based in Mexico and the co-hosts of Soberanía: The Mexican Politics Podcast. José Luis has written for Venezuela Analysis, and Kurt has written for Jacobin, including a recent article, “Mexico’s Lessons for the International Left.” In part two, José Luis and Kurt discuss outgoing (former as of October 1) president Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s proposed constitutional reforms, discourse around immigration in Mexico, and what activists in the U.S. should know about Mexico. Send us Fan MailBecome a member of Democratic Socialists of America.Sign up to receive NPEC's newsletter, Red Letter. 

In this episode, we talk with José Luis Granados Ceja and Kurt Hackbarth about politics in Mexico. The interview is divided into two parts, and part two will be released in two weeks. José Luis and Kurt are journalists and activists based in Mexico and the co-hosts of Soberanía: The Mexican Politics Podcast. José Luis has written for Venezuela Analysis, and Kurt has written for Jacobin, including a recent article, “Mexico’s Lessons for the International Left.” In part one, José Luis and Kurt discuss Claudia Sheinbaum’s victory in the June presidential elections, the reaction to her victory in Mexico and abroad, and the history of Sheinbaum’s party, Morena.Send us Fan MailBecome a member of Democratic Socialists of America.Sign up to receive NPEC's newsletter, Red Letter. 

We're happy to share a bonus episode with you: the first episode of Haymarket Book’s Originals project, Fragile Juggernaut. Haymarket Originals brings in-depth, series-length audio treatments of a wide range of historical and contemporary political subjects to podcast listeners worldwide. Haymarket Originals is a new home for audio deep dives, by and for the left. The first Haymarket Originals project is Fragile Juggernaut: What Was the CIO? — an important collaboration with labor writers, historians, and organizers.Through a limited run of twenty episodes, they will revisit and reflect on the near-mythical history of the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO)—and the high water mark of US labor activity in the 1930s and 1940s—in the context of today’s critical juncture in the labor movement. Join Tim Barker, Andrew Elrod, Ben Mabie, Alex Press, Emma Teitelman, Gabriel Winant, and special guests as they explore the trajectory of the American working class through a period of its greatest drama and political possibility.You can Listen to and subscribe to Fragile Juggernaut on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts, and help us spread the word! You can read an introduction to this collective inquiry into the history of the US workers’ movement and support the show on Patreon.I hope you enjoy the first episode of Fragile Juggernaut. Send us Fan MailBecome a member of Democratic Socialists of America.Sign up to receive NPEC's newsletter, Red Letter. 

This is part two of our two-part conversation with Manisha Sinha about Reconstruction. Part one is here. In part two, Manisha discusses the historiography of reconstruction, the afterlives of “reconstruction and its discontents,” the eventual defeat of Reconstruction as the U.S. rose to become an imperial power, and the lessons contemporary activists can draw from the Reconstruction period. Dr. Manisha Sinha is a history professor at the University of Connecticut. She is the author and co-author of several books, including The Slave's Cause: A History of Abolition (2016) and The Rise and Fall of the Second American Republic: Reconstruction, 1860-1920, published this year. Send us Fan MailBecome a member of Democratic Socialists of America.Sign up to receive NPEC's newsletter, Red Letter. 

In this episode, we talk with Dr. Manisha Sinha about Reconstruction and the interconnectedness of social movements between the beginning of the Civil War in 1860 and the passage of the 19th Amendment in 1920.  The interview is split into two parts.  Part two will be released in two weeks.  You can now click on the “Send us a Text Message” link at the top of the episode description to share your thoughts on the episode.  This episode's prompt: Do you think the history presented by Manisha is relevant to current political and social struggles in the U.S.? If so, how? Dr. Manisha Sinha is a history professor at the University of Connecticut. She is the author and co-author of several books, including The Slave's Cause: A History of Abolition (2016) and The Rise and Fall of the Second American Republic: Reconstruction, 1860-1920, published this year. In part one, Manisha explains why it’s important to expand the chronology of Reconstruction to include labor struggles in the North, wars against Indigenous people, and the struggle for female suffrage; how Radical Republicans like Thaddeus Stevens interpreted the Constitution, fought for the Reconstruct Ammenendemts, and grappled with President Johnson; and how workers in the South and North struggled for rights during the Gilded Age.Send us Fan MailBecome a member of Democratic Socialists of America.Sign up to receive NPEC's newsletter, Red Letter. 

This is part two of our two-part interview with Aziz Rana.  To share your thoughts on the episode, click on the “Send us a Text Message” link at the top of the episode description.  Aziz Rana is a professor of law at Boston College.  He’s the author of two books, The Two Faces of American Freedom, published in 2014, and The Constitutional Bind, published in April of this year.  In 2022, Aziz spoke at the Socialism Conference in Chicago about the need for a democratic constitution.  That recording is available in the class episode archive.  Aziz recently published an op-ed in the New York Times titled “The Constitution won’t save us from Trump,” which drew a response from Nacy Pelosi. In part two, Aziz talks about the Consitution as creating a political playing field within which American politics operates. Aziz also talks about the contradiction between a growing realization that the Constitution is harmful and the power of "constitutional realism."  Finally, Aziz talks about our current moment and how it compares to previous periods of constitutional critique. Send us Fan MailBecome a member of Democratic Socialists of America.Sign up to receive NPEC's newsletter, Red Letter. 

In this episode, we talk with Aziz Rana about the struggle for democracy and America’s Constitutional Bind.  The interview is split into two parts.  Part two will be released in two weeks.  You can now click on the “Send us a Text Message” link at the top of the episode description to share your thoughts on the episode.  This episode's prompt: should socialists care about the Constitution? Why or why not? Aziz Rana is a professor of law at Boston College.  He’s the author of two books, The Two Faces of American Freedom, published in 2014, and The Constitutional Bind, published in April of this year.  In 2022, Aziz spoke at the Socialism Conference in Chicago about the need for a democratic constitution. That recording is available in the class episode archive.  Aziz recently published an op-ed in the New York Times titled “The Constitution won’t save us from Trump,” which drew a response from Nacy Pelosi. In the first part of the interview, Aziz talks about the inspiration for his book and lays out his primary arguments: America finds itself in a constitutional bind.  We cling to an undemocratic document that does us great harm.  It didn’t always used to be this way.  Our “Constitutional creed” developed over time, starting around the turn of the 20th century, in the context of American imperial expansion.  Rana explains the importance of universal and equal rights to the Socialist Party of America, which exemplified pre-Cold War democratic agitation.  He compares the Socialist Party of America’s (SPA) political agitation and the Black Panther Party’s Revolution Peoples Constitutional Convention in 1970 to determine how the Cold War shaped constitutional critique - for better and worse.  A few subaltern voices, such as W.E.B. Du Bois and James Boggs, connected pre-Cold War critiques with those of the ‘60s and ‘70s.  Rana also identified many interesting points regarding democracy and the Constitution in the DSA’s 2021 political system.  At the end of Part One, Rana discusses the Bill of Rights and how socialists such as Crystal Eastman fought for civil liberties without supporting the Constitution. Send us Fan MailBecome a member of Democratic Socialists of America.Sign up to receive NPEC's newsletter, Red Letter. 

Send us a Text Message.This is the second part of our conversation with Sanjiv Gupta and Paul Heideman about U.S. politics, conflict within the Republican Party, and the current state of American democracy. We invited Saniv and Paul back onto the podcast as a follow-up to their 2022 presentation at the Socialism Conference in Chicago. Sanjiv Gupta is a member of the River Valley DSA chapter in Western Massachusetts and a sociologist at UMass-Amherst. Paul Heideman is a writer and high school teacher in NYC. He is the editor of Class Struggle and the Color Line, and his work has appeared in Jacobin, Dissent, and In These Times.Transcript:Luke: This is CLASS, the official podcast of the Democratic Socialists of America's National Political Education Committee. My name is Luke Pickrell. This is part two of our conversation with Sanjiv Gupta and Paul Heidman. Sanjiv is a member of the River Valley DSA chapter in Western Massachusetts and is a sociologist at UMass Amherst.Paul is a writer and high school teacher in New York City. He's also the editor of Class Struggle and The Color Line, and his work has appeared in Jacobin, Descent, and In These Times. Our conversation continues just where we left off in Part 1. Enjoy.The discussion around breaks, dirty breaks, and what's happening in the Republican Party kind of dovetails nicely into the next question I wanted to ask, which is also in your 2022 presentation. You said both parties are structurally weak, implying, of course, that, the Democratic Party is also structurally weak in some ways.And we've talked about how this Palestine anti-APEC section within the Democratic Party. So, curious, Paul, if, if you could start, and then Sanjiv, of course, you can come in. Is the Democratic Party weak? weak? If so, how? And then could we see someone running on the Democratic Party ballot line on a Palestine angle or a true democracy, democracy angle?Paul: there are a couple of different senses of party weakness that are related, but are, that are worth distinguishing. One is simply like electoral fortunes, you know, like a weak party is a party that fails electorally. In some senses, I would say, look, the Republican party, for most of my lifetime, has been weak. The Republican party has won the popular vote once since 1988. Right? 2004 was the only time that in the presidential election, the Republican Party won the presidential vote. That's kind of a stunning record, right? In some senses, we're living in a period of Democratic Party electoral dominance. Now, the Electoral College, you know, and the Supreme Court together have meant that that hasn't always translated into who holds the presidency.But that's, that's, so, so just kind of how you do in the election. That's one index of party weakness. Another is the party as an institution and how able the leaders of that institution are to get what they want. And in that sense, I think both parties are weak, in comparison with earlier periods of American history and in comparison with like European parties in most senses. And, there's a couple of ways this is true. What one is just the primary system. The primary system means that the party leadership does not get to pick candidates. They can put their thumb on the scale, right? But they don't get to just pick the candidate, which they used to be able to do in American parties. And what that means is that like, look, that's how Trump. You know, took over the Republican Party, right? It was through the primaries. That is how, you know, socialists have won election to federal office in the United States is on the Democratic ballot, right? Like, the party leadership in both cases would have rather those things didn't happen. But theySend us Fan MailBecome a member of Democratic Socialists of America.Sign up to receive NPEC's newsletter, Red Letter. 

In today’s episode, we talk with Sanjiv Gupta and Paul Heideman about U.S. politics, conflict within the Republican Party, and the current state of American democracy. We invited Saniv and Paul back onto the podcast as a follow-up to their 2022 presentation at the Socialism Conference in Chicago. Sanjiv Gupta is a member of the River Valley DSA chapter in Western Massachusetts and a sociologist at UMass-Amherst. Paul Heideman is a writer and high school teacher in NYC. He is the editor of Class Struggle and the Color Line, and his work has appeared in Jacobin, Dissent, and In These Times. These two resolutions are mentioned in the discussion: No Votes for Genocide Resolution and Establishing a Mass Member Input Process for a Position on the 2024 Presidential Election Resolutions  Transcript: Luke: This is CLASS, the official podcast of the Democratic Socialists of America's National Political Education Committee. My name is Luke Pickrell. In this episode, we talk with Sanjiv Gupta and Paul Heidemann, who I will introduce fully at the beginning of the show. Our discussions will be released in two parts.Over the course of these two chapters, I asked Sanjiv and Paul to talk about the Uncommitted Movement and how DSA should relate to the 2024 elections. Paul explains the internal workings of the Republican Party and how Trump's rise to prominence has impacted the Republicans. We consider the challenges facing the Republican Party and the Democratic Party, and particularly how the ongoing war in Gaza could be splitting the Democrats.We conclude by talking a bit about the meaning of liberal democracy and how socialists should relate to the larger structure of American politics. Enjoy.Today we're joined by Sanjiv Gupta and Paul Heidemann. I want to introduce, our two guests here to the, to the podcast. Sanjiv is a member of River Valley DSA in Western Massachusetts. And he's also a sociologist at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Paul is a writer and a high school teacher in New York City.He's the editor of Class Struggle and The Color Line. And Paul's work has appeared in Jacobin, Descent, and In These Times. You all might remember Sanjeev and Paul from episodes 6 and 7 of the podcast. We shared a recording of their presentation at the 2022 Socialism Conference in Chicago, and that presentation was called The Crisis of American Politics, Socialists, and Liberal Democracy.And then I was just reminded that Sanjiv also appeared on several of our first episodes. we had an introductory series talking about what is capitalism more generally. So, two years later, give or take, after the Socialism 2022 conference, we wanted to have Sanjiv and Paul on the show to discuss a variety of topics, but mostly within the realm of the 2024 presidential elections, democracy more broadly, the Republican Party, And then also the Democratic Socialists of America, the DSA, And then, of course, we'll release this discussion in two parts. So first off, Sanjiv and Paul just wanted to thank you both for joining us. Sanjiv: Very happy to be here.Paul: Glad to be here.  Luke: Yeah, it's, it's great to have you both. So, I thought first we could start off with the Uncommitted Movement, something that's started recently. the Uncommitted Movement generally being a campaign to get voters to mark uncommitted on their Democratic ballots as a protest against Biden's Gaza policy. I was doing a little bit of research before the shSend us Fan MailBecome a member of Democratic Socialists of America.Sign up to receive NPEC's newsletter, Red Letter. 

This episode is an attempt to make the first part of the Communist Manifesto, the part called “Bourgeois and Proletarians” intelligible for some one knew to socialism. This text is a part of the DSA NPEC “What is Capitalism?” curriculum. Written in 1848 by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, this is one of the foundational texts of the socialist movement. The first chapter covers the expansion of capital and the consolidation of the bourgeoisie as a class, as well as their relationship to the proletariat (the working class) and their role in history.Crucial to Marx and Engels’ understanding of socialism is their appreciation of the power of capitalism, not simply to dominate and exploit, but to create vast amounts of wealth. Prior to capitalism, no society existed that produced enough for every person to not only be fed, clothed and housed, but to enjoy luxuries and meaningful free time. While capitalism is incapable of providing a just distribution of this wealth, it has ushered in an era of unprecedented wealth. Because the working class produces this wealth, it is the unique agent of change that can upend this status quo.The Manifesto not only shows capitalism to be a historical phase, and not something that has existed forever, but it also points towards the potential, even the inevitability, that something else will replace it.Elton L.K. will be returning to his personal podcast The Working Class Intelligentsia. In The Working Class Intelligentsia he follows serially the writings and biography of Italian Communist Antonio Gramsci, and the lessons we can learn today from them. Gramsci is famous for participating in a socialist movement that collapsed under Mussolini’s fascism. Mussolini put a few socialists in prison, including Gramsci. While in prison Gramsci was for some reason allowed to theorize how the Italian revolution failed, and analyze how power worked through Italian history. Season 2 is going to cover the Russian Revolution and the simultaneous socialist movement building in Italy in the year 1917.Send us Fan MailBecome a member of Democratic Socialists of America.Sign up to receive NPEC's newsletter, Red Letter. 

Achieving the liberation of the queer community requires realizing the intersecting nature of all U.S. cultural oppressions — including class oppression — ties the liberation of all to the end of capitalism. Today, queer oppression is being used not only to sustain capitalism but to help grow fascism. When so many people’s personal hierarchy of needs requires them to spend their limited resources struggling simply to survive an onslaught of existential attacks, how does a socialist movement grow and build class consciousness? How has capitalism infected liberal social analysis of so-called “identity politics” and activism in those realms? How can socialism provide a better analysis and reinvent activism in those realms? What can socialism, in general, learn from queer analysis and activism?Genevieve R is the co-chair of DSA Trans Rights and Bodily Autonomy. She's also a founding member of the Ithaca Tenants Union and the Ithaca Solidarity Slate, which has elected four organized socialists to the City Council.Rashad X (he/him) is a proud member of Lakefront DSA in NE Illinois and a member of DSA's National Political Committee. Most of his work is focused on ensuring that DSA is fighting the imperial police state through political independence and ensuring DSA is a leader in winning the battle for Democracy. Both of these themes inspire his involvement in the Trans Rights and Bodily Autonomy Campaign, where DSA is fighting the unpopular far-right agenda implemented through the US's undemocratic political system.Emma P is a published researcher in both neuroscience and engineering. Her love has always been philosophy, hence she has been a lifelong member of the working class. She has organized outside of socialist spaces, from multi-city protests to state-level building and leading, as well as collaborating with national organizations. She has contributed nationally behind the scenes for about 15 years. But several years ago, she lucked into an opportunity to join the socialist struggle, join DSA, and find comrades who mean the world to her. She has held a few local offices, is a member of NPEC’s committee, and is now on the TRBA steering committee. She likes to call this work applied philosophy, but no one else finds it funny. Reclaiming queer liberation as an inherently socialist struggle has been a dream of hers.Get involved! Queer Socialists Working Group.Also check out DSA’s recent Kickoff of the Trans Rights & Bodily Autonomy Mass Campaign Commission.   This commission will act as an organizing and resource hub for our over 150 chapters in 48 states. It will struggle on different fronts including for legislative reform, defense of queer community spaces, protection of queer people in the workplace, distribution of trans and abortion resources, and a national Day of Action on March 31, Trans Day of Visibility.Send us Fan MailBecome a member of Democratic Socialists of America.Sign up to receive NPEC's newsletter, Red Letter. 

In the Communist Manifesto, Marx and Engels wrote that “the first step in the revolution by the working class is to raise the proletariat to the position of ruling class, to win the battle of democracy.” Almost two centuries later, the battle for democracy continues. Today, economic precarity and social upheavals have led many to question our present political system. In these times, DSA’s position that the United States is “no democracy at all” is a rousing and powerful assertion against mainstream narratives. At this event, DSA members Jerry Harris and Luke Pickrell will discuss their understanding of democracy, whether the Constitution supports or frustrates democracy, and to what extent socialists should "fight for" or "defend" democracy going into the 2024 Presidential elections.Jerry Harris is the national secretary of the Global Studies Association and on the international board of the Network for Critical Studies of Global Capitalism. He is a retired union activist with over 120 published articles on political economy, globalization, democracy and other topics. His work has been translated into Spanish, Portuguese, Czech, German and Chinese. His last book was "Global Capitalism and the Crisis of Democracy."Luke Pickrell is a member of East Bay DSA and Marxist Unity Group. He's written in Cosmonaut and The Democratic Constitution Blog, and contributed to various discussions in the Why Marx? project. He's also interviewed or co-interviewed several people about democracy and the U.S. Constitution for Cosmopod, including Robert Ovetz, Douglas Egerton, Gil Shaeffer, and Bruno Leipold.The video version of this episode can be found on YouTube here.Send us Fan MailBecome a member of Democratic Socialists of America.Sign up to receive NPEC's newsletter, Red Letter. 

Local DSA chapters have been conducting what is called Socialist Night School. Socialist  Night School is a democratic space for people to participate in the education process. In today’s episode we talk with Guy Brown, Molly Culhane and Evan Moravansky. They are members of the National Political Education Committee. Evan is the chair. They will explain more about what the National Political Education Committee is, and they’ll explain much more about Socialist Night School.Guy Brown (he/him) is currently a member of DSA's National Political Education Committee and the father of a two-year-old. After leaving the Ozarks, he worked as an early childhood and elementary teacher before joining Charlotte Metro DSA in 2016 . He enjoys playing soccer with his toddler, cuddling with his two pitbulls, and watching Bravo with his wife.Molly Culhane is a member of East Bay DSA and the National Political Education Committee. She is also a graduate student in Jurisprudence and Social Policy at UC Berkeley, with research interests that center on the criminalization of informal economic activity. Hailing from Denver, Colorado, Molly is enthusiastic about running, public transportation, and building a more inclusive, more robust socialist movement through political education.Evan Moravansky is a member of mid-Hudson Valley DSA and is the Chair of the National Political Education Committee. ResourcesNPEC Mentorship program sign-up formNPEC Socialist Night School Curriculum websiteNPEC-created old curriculum for basic SNS modulesSocialist Night School modules shared from other chaptersSocialist Night School "What is Capitalism?" and Backwards Planning Training Socialist Night School "What is Socialism?" and Facilitation TrainingSend us Fan MailBecome a member of Democratic Socialists of America.Sign up to receive NPEC's newsletter, Red Letter.