Red Oktober

October 2020

This Red October, we bring a content collection that seeks to plug up the holes in the Metro area left's collective memory. "A History of Metro DSA" stands as a preface from our new DSA History series. The collection of writings, prepared by longtime Bill Mosley, charts not only the evolution of the DSA in the Metro region, but tracks the issues and bases of power extant of DC's political left in general. "Images from Occupy DC" builds on our attempt to reconcile history and memory of the local left - disclosing some amateur photos from what might be considered the progenitor of mass movement building in the Metro area. "Reflections from 1997: Croft for City Council" reveals one of the DSA's last attempts to push into elected power, before the collapse of the DSA's political stream into stasis.

And as we all prepare for the chaos that November's election will surely bring, provided are some thoughts on how to build our movements and ponder use and execution of power. "Can Co-Ops Endure?" charts the strength and capacity of economic cooperatives in DC, showing how means of production are used to not only exercise political power, but protect and empower communities. "Improved Courts, Yes, But Improved Legislators As Well" provides practical advice to a left that may soon have the courts stacked against them. And "Anti-concepts" is a user guide on how to craft messaging so that the demands of mass movements can evolve into policy change.

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The colored image for this month's banner is an amended cover from an old Italian-American newspaper (Prometeo!) that advocated worker solidarity and social revolution as a counter narrative to white supremacy and fascism that was proliferate in the 1920s. Magazines such as Prometeo! were scattered across the eastern seaboard between the 1900s and 1930s. But their existence was largely forgotten once socialism, anarchism, and communism died out among the Italian diaspora that spotted the eastern seaboard. As the forces of fascism lurched across Europe to infiltrate the United States, it was workers and immigrant communities that largely battled the advance of that nightmare. Something to ponder as we move onto November.

In this issue