Remembering democratic socialist Suzanne Crowell, who passed away on June 15, 2025.

Has the US Left's failure to unite around a Black presidential candidate damaged trust and relations of solidarity?

Boycotts to protect DEI and workplace diversity are strengthened by lessons from the Black civil rights movement

The communities and economies of the DC area were built atop a centrally coordinated public transit system. What if we applied the same for housing?

Number 3 will SHOCK you!

Dialogic public art reminds the socialist viewer that they have a role to play in breaking the iron grip upheld by corporate greed and murderous ideological formations.

Abortion access and trans rights are on the front lines of the fight against the far right and for working class liberation. A new working group in DC seeks to advance this struggle.

How Maryland organizers used electoral canvassing to make voting about something more than the candidate—a tool in the fight for Palestinian liberation.

Steve was an early and active member of the Metro DC DSA’s Montgomery County branch and a beloved presence at branch meetings, picnics, actions and more.

Years ago, a judge found the NYPD's Stop and Frisk practice a form of systemic racial discrimination. The Stop and Frisk program in DC is even worse. Why can't we stop it?

The option for ranked choice voting has been waiting to appear on the District's ballot. Initiative 83 would create a better electoral candidate pool, despite opposition, a member argues.

A revolution on a world scale will take a very long time. But it is also possible to recognize that it is already starting to happen. To see the revolution around you, ask: “what is revolutionary action?”

DC civil-rights activist and music legend Reagon passed away this summer, an immense loss to the movement. Maxwell Rott calls for a new appreciation of her historical research on music in the Black Freedom Movement.

With turnout slightly above average, Democratic voters opt for status quo in local and federal primaries.

Why is the District government allowing a monopoly to regulate itself?

An interview on the barriers, promises and tribulations of intentional communities. Featuring three communities operating in VA, MD and DC.

Few have more acumen in the art of destroying a successful business than Alex and Chad McCracken. The story on how their greed and egos plummeted a community anchor.

A new documentary provides a strong impression of modern monetary theory, but socialist viewers should pay attention to the concept's strategic horizons.

A new report document the movement for social housing, a decommodified housing model, taking shape across the United States.

The Washington Capitals corporate owner, Monumental Sports, has just purchased a popular research tool cherished by hockey enthusiasts, with intent to permanently close the site.

Preservation of TOPA is more than just a foundational right for the DC's tenants, it is also a vital point of agitation between the rentier capitalist class and workers.

Lifelong peace organizer and trade unionist Dennis Serrette has passed away at 83.

The successful struggle for telework, transit subsidies, alternate work schedules and similar programs was the result of the hard work of federal workers and their unions.

The Secure DC omnibus crime bill (“Crimnibus”) was passed by the DC Council. Here's what's in and what's out of the unpopular carceral package.

Anti-mask bans are making a comeback, and they are disrupting anti-capitalist resistance movements and suppressing civil liberties in the process.

Does Initiative 83 pose a threat to the District's left-wing electoral project? A Minnesotan expatriate shares their perspective on the proposed system.

Unaddressed income and wealth inequality has produced staggering child poverty in the City, with low income support for Black and brown families plus additional assault from toxic lead exposure.

A mass protest erupted in DC on November 4th, 2023. The scale of turnout demonstrated mass desire for an end to US support for Israel's apartheid regime.

Disrupting DC recounts a local episode in corporate control of our shared social life.

The revolution will not be message tested.

A wide-ranging interview with photo journalist Michael Key on the current problems with journalism and its future under socialism. 

DC is set to inherit full control over a prime parcel of real-estate. Should we build housing for all, or parking lots for a blood sport?

Republicans in Congress, having solved the rest of America’s problems, have renewed their focus on how the District of Columbia runs its municipal affairs.

A multinational corporation owns and operates DC's electrical utilities at the expense of the public good. There is an alternative to this exploitative arrangement.

To enhance the safety of all residents in the District, DC must embrace a decarceral regimen that funds care and support, not cages and violence.

Don't believe the hype; Mayor Bowser's budget engagement forums are little more than show-n-tell propaganda events.

The emblematic play by Nathan Alan Davis, currently in its world premiere at Arena Stage, connects America’s fraught racial past with its present.

Annual report provided to document activities of the Metro DC DSA in 2022.

Montgomery County, Maryland is building a network of social housing at virtually zero cost. Here is how they do it, and why social housing is desperately needed in DC.

Brief coverage of an anti-Amazon rally held on Black Friday.

The time is now ripe for College Park to become a union town—if the people of Maryland make it. 

In the past fourteen months, current and former officers have brought five lawsuits against MPD. The failure of the department to protect honest whistleblowers casts doubt on the possibility of police reform.

Compliance fines and renewable energy credits are not encouraging energy providers to decarbonize DC's power grid. The District should directly finance renewable expansion and confront the dirty work head-on.

What went down on election night, 2022.

A new coalition is looking to disrupt police involvement in basic traffic enforcement.

A new play at DC's Kreeger Theater explores the common threads that link unique immigrant experiences.

In November, DC voters will again be asked to end the subminimum wage.

The Virginia Republican Party has fully embraced the far-right culture wars.

The enthusiasm and promise of a nation-wide tenants network was on display at the ATUN 2022 convention.

An analysis of the District 2022 primary elections suggest DC is depolarizing around race and repolaring around class.

Too often, those elected are content to let business as usual remain unchanged — even in communities, where those elected say all the right things. When can electoral change make a difference?

It's simple to wave your hand and say you will hire an unrealistic number of police officers. But reality is more complicated than that.

Gains the Mayor has made in improving DC’s public education system have been undermined by a callous approach to workers, funding mismanagement, and a disregard for transparency and open communication.

On April 7, the DMV lost an important figure in the history of DC's left-wing currents.

On DC's DIY scene, explorations of beauty, and deploying novel artist feedback mechanisms.

The vehicle Mayor Bowser is using to build more affordable units is not well managed, and her administration has a history of using it to reward developers that do not perform the best.

By laying a foundation of civic and political education in local Advisory Neighborhood Commissions, the DSA can equip and prepare socialists to vie for power in the District.

Arrestable protests in Washington are not the only way to get a response from the President. It is time for mainstream media to give creatives greater news coverage.

The District has made strides to replace police with non-law enforcement public servants and non-carceral programming. Our message to DC Council is simple: keep going.

What opponents of CRT are really afraid of is white students embracing solidarity with students of color in favor of social change.

Without a guarantee of healthful food to all, we will be unable to move forward or effectively organize any form of alternative to capitalism.

“…portraying the struggle ahead of us, but with hope and motivation”

In DC, the Defund MPD effort has found quiet success in changing policy and opinions on policing shared by the broader public.

How to take on power and win.

On election night 2021, nationally endorsed DSA candidates won over 25 local victories at the hyperlocal level.

District educators should consider abandoning pay-systems that reproduce competition and inequity in the workplace.

'The Washington Revolutionary' reports on the grotesque intersection of police brutality, gentrification and the thin blue line of silence that produces false narratives.

As community members and creative subjects ourselves, the activist-artist must help forge a shared dream for the future.

A two-decade recounting of local perspectives on the labor movement.

Rep. Jamaal Bowman’s HR4442 is designed to return schools to their place as centers of community. If socialists act fast, we can make it a reality.

What would it take to reduce gun violence as we emerge from the pandemic? (Hint — more cops are not the solution.)

In a post-carbon future, will urban expressways wither away and revert to urban space?

Socialists of all stripes should reckon that we may need to rebuild at the local level the very thing we’ve been fighting for years.

On Thursday, June 10th, the Defund MPD coalition brought its case for reimagining public safety to the District Council.

Photos from the Saturday, May 15 Nakba 73 protests in DC.

Israel's propaganda tactics have not changed in over a decade - but their success is fading in the face of activist resolve.

Community groups, political organizations, and mutual aid networks rallied to confront the District government's bumbling vaccine rollout.

A slice of history covering DC's oft-forgotten far-left.

The passing of the former labor leader's passing provides an occasion to look back on the role he played in guiding the progress of the labor movement out of the hysteria of the Cold War.

Medicare for All is not a fix-all solution. But it is the foundation from which an equitable and just health care system can be built.

A labor contingent in PG County reviewed organizing efforts at Amazon and eco-socialist organizing around the PRO Act.

In 2021, Virginia is a much-changed state absorbed by a blue wave that foretells an opening for progressive politics from Virginia to Florida.

DC statehood is back on the nation’s agenda. With Democratic majorities in both houses of Congress, only a likely Senate filibuster stands in the way of adding a 51st star to the US flag.

A decade of neoliberal retrenchment is finally starting to crack. Can DC's left recognize the moment?

Local socialists have been quietly building out an anti-capitalist technical operation for use by the DC-area left. Its impetus and activities are outlined here.

The Police Union is a critical barrier to defunding the Metropolitan Police Department and investing in the community - here's what needs to happen.

As the Washington Teachers Union battles against reopening plans set forth by Mayor Bowser, the need for working-class solidarity is more apparent than ever.

A republished interview from 1984 with DC statehood and environmental activist Josphine Butler.

Unearthed images of Occupy protests in Washington, DC.

Longtime DSA member Howard Croft, who died of COVID-19 in June, ran for DC Council in 1997. This article provides a concise overview of Croft’s accomplishments to that point and the vision he brought to the race for the Ward 6 seat.

An investigation of how co-ops in DC are navigating the post-covid world reveals their resilience in the face of systemic turmoil.

Introduction

The latest eyewitness reporting on protesters, hostile and often brutal police conduct, and Mayor Bowser’s duplicitous and self-serving maneuvers.

A guide for exploring the clash of ideologies in a compact enclave in Northwest Washington.

This article, published in the June 1992 issue of the Washington Socialist, looks at two uprisings from that time triggered by police violence: in DC’s Mount Pleasant Neighborhood in 1992 and in Los Angeles the previous year.

Dr. Howard Croft, DC Statehood advocate, professor and chair of urban studies at UDC and longtime member of Metro DC DSA from its earliest days, has died. Members and activists who have long memories of his tireless work for empowerment of all residents of the District of Columbia contribute their recollections.

A wide network of activists and organizers, fueled by popular uprising in DC, provides a legitimate political opening for local change.

Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan has failed to meet the challenge of the COVID-19 virus in a state battered by skyrocketing unemployment.

A history of Black radicalism on the eastern shore of Maryland.

A review of Michael Raysson's book on security guard unizonization efforts in Boston.