Reflections

Famed union leader Richard Trumka died suddenly last month at age 72. Socialists should remember his legacy to ensure labor's revival.

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

A retrospective article republished from 1997 - this piece illustrates that the question of what to do about meetings transcends time, the size of the organization and the social and political context.

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

Introduction

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.

This article, reprinted from 1984, reflects on the nomination of Geraldine Ferraro to become Walter Mondale's running mate. The Mondale-Ferraro ticket, of course, lost the 1984 general election to Reagan-Bush, but will Harris go beyond past woman nominees and become the first member to be elected to national office?

Just as today, DSA 35 years ago was wrestling with how, as a predominately white organization, it could effectively work across racial lines and forge ties with communities of color.

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.

Hilda Mason was not only a longtime DC councilmember but also an open socialist, making her one of the few DSA members in elected office prior to 2017.

This piece from Fall 1987 draws parallels between that year’s crash and much more significant one of 1929 and offers predictions of how it might affect U.S. politics going forward.

Labor’s present-day struggles against capital – and sometimes, amongst itself – are reflected in this 1985 Socialist interview with Victor Reuther, brother of the late United Auto Workers’ President Walter Reuther and himself a longtime UAW leader.

If civil disobedience is needed to prick the consciences of a number of us sufficient to avert a new global tragedy, then we are obliged to practice it.

Reflections on democratic socialism from 1984.