Obama, International Socialism, and the Democratic Socialists of America

DEMOCRATIC SOCIALISTS OF AMERICA


See:
http://www.tysknews.com/Depts/gov_philosophy/phil_of_government.htm
Biden defends Socialist Obama
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fX_yiRsSrYw&feature=related


News From DSA
A Report from DSA's National Office, October 17, 2008

“The campaign has 18 more days to run, and progressives have to continue to work hard to elect the Obama/Biden ticket along with as many progressive Democrats as possible.”

“…Progressives can only take advantage of this opening if the election provides increased Democratic majorities, with as many progressive Democrats as possible, in Congress and puts Obama in the White House with a mandate for change.”

“A McCain victory remains a frightening possibility in what has been an extraordinarily unpredictable year.”

That's why the National Political Committee of DSA at its September meeting urged DSA members to make extra efforts to ensure that the Obama/Biden ticket prevails. And why we urge all progressives to make that same effort between now and the election.

In solidarity,

Frank Llewellyn
National Director

P.S. Obama's Website is organized to facilitate involvement. The home page (http://www.barackobama.com) (once you get past the contribute message) features "5 things you can do" - click on the icons and follow the prompts. If you want to find carpools to neighboring states click on your state page and look for the Weekend canvasser link or the Drive for Change link. And when you volunteer be sure to let the campaign staff know that you are from DSA.
Source: citation date: October 30 2008
http://www.dsausa.org/dsapac/Election%20closer%20than%20polls%20indicate.htm


“Democratic Left” Fall, 2008
Democratic Socialists of America PAC,
75 Maiden Lane,
Suite 505, NY, NY 10038;

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“Obama’s victory is by any means assured. I hope, of course, but I am worried about stolen votes and rigged computers, the right-wing rumor network, the formidable propaganda machine, and also the residual racism and xenophobia of lots of Americans that this apparatus will tap.

Push all that aside for a moment. My ruminations are after all about what we don’t and probably can’t know. Maybe Obama and his team can pull off a victory. Think of the excitement, the exhilaration of the campaign they’ve run so far. Was there ever a better slogan than “we are the ones we’ve been waiting for?”

Bush and Cheney can be routed! If they can, it will be in significant part because Obama’s youthful charisma, his mantra of change, and his campaign’s ground strategy are changing the shape of the electorate, making it younger, and darker. This is no mean feat, and a step toward making American politics more democratic.

Americans take pride in being the world’s leading democracy. But, in fact, we have very low levels of voter participation compared to other developed democracies, and turnout is skewed to over-represent older and better-off whites.”

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“If turnout remains high, an Obama victory could mean a realignment of American electoral politics around a majority coalition similar to the one forged in the New Deal era, with African Americans and Latinos replacing the white South as the reliable core of the coalition.”

P 9/16
BOSTON DSA
Boston DSA kicked off the new year with a members’ meeting on presidential politics, featuring a debate between Massachusetts SEIU Political Director and former Boston DSA Chair Harris Gruman, an Edwards supporter, and Brian Corr, founder of Progressive Massachusetts for Barrack Obama.

P/ 10/16

“Sacramento DSA worked intensely on the Obama campaign
through Super Tuesday and continues electoral work with the Sacramento Progressive Alliance. The local held a Democratic Party platform event in July…”


A Brief History of the American Left; By Maurice Isserman

“The Democratic Socialist Organizing Committee (DSOC) had been founded by Michael Harrington out of some fragments of the old Socialist Party. DSOC continued to operate, in the old Socialist or Communist manner, as the left-wing of the New Deal coalition, clearly now not as a separate political party but as an explicitly socialist force within the Democratic Party…Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), for the first time since the First World War brought together the various splinters of left opinion in America: former Socialists and Communists, former old leftists and new leftists, and many who had never been leftists at all…” source: http://www.dsausa.org/about/history.html; citation date: October 29, 2008.