The geographically disparate yet notable wins of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) candidates in major cities and states in the U.S. has propelled the DSA—and the term “socialism” or “Democratic socialism”—into non-stop coverage and anxiety-riddled think pieces from legacy media.
Whether it’s the election of New York City mayor Zohran Mamdani, the victories of Mamdani-backed DSA members for New York’s house democratic primaries or the DSA mayor-elect of Washington, D.C., Janeese Lewis George, and Melat Kiros winning democratic nominee for Colorado’s first congressional district, the hypervisibility of the DSA is palpable.
Since the DSA is not a political party, its candidates run as democrats, independents, or even under third parties. That DSA members are increasingly winning under the democratic banner is one of the reasons why right-wing republican pundits and political commentators are fearing what they feel is an ever left-polarized democratic party.
The DSA has in many ways become the new boogeyman. A July 3 opinion piece on Fox News warned of a “socialist takeover” happening “in plain sight” and how a “socialist capture” is imminent with the DSA’s long term plan to “eliminate the senate.”
Hyperbolic fearmongering, however, is not new to legacy media of either the liberal or conservative variety. It was a New York Times article, a liberal imperialist newspaper, that used the FBI’s attack on the Uhuru 3 to argue that it was “a rare glimpse into how Russia has tried for decades to secretly influence American politics”—essentially giving credence to the notion that the African People’s Socialist Party (APSP) was functioning as a Russian agent, forwarding Russian interests.
But what the legacy media, and even the most “progressive” sector of the democratic party, is unwilling to fully deal with is why the messaging of the DSA seems to be resonating with people. What does the election of candidates at the federal or gubernatorial level associated with something explicitly called “socialist” (even if what it’s calling socialism is really a reformation of the current colonial capitalist system more than it is about the self-determination of colonized people) say about where the masses of people are politically? And by extension, what are the day-to-day material conditions that have them responding in such a way?
Not too long ago, it would have been far-fetched if not inconceivable to have a self-proclaimed socialist make it far in the bid to hold office. But as avid readers of The Spear know, the Party has paved the way and demonstrated what it looks like to have a socialist platform that is not only independent of the State, but has no need for the dangling modifier of “democratic” to make it palatable for ruling class media.
In 2017, under the leadership of the Party, Director of Media and Communications Akilé Anai and Chair of the Uhuru Solidarity Movement, Jesse Nevel, ran for St. Petersburg City Council and Mayor, respectively. This was the first time in the history of U.S. elections when reparations and Black Community Control of the Police were on the platform.
Pundits and opinion writers of the imperialist legacy media have argued that the reason why the DSA is making gains is because of an overall tilt to populism spurred by an overcorrection and reaction to the Trumpian version of white Christian nationalist populism. However, populism of either kind, and its general pro-working class sounding catchphrases can only get you so far.
The Walmart socialist Bernie Sanders, as APSP Chairman Omali Yeshitela has hilariously donned him, and the virulent white nationalist Donald Trump are for the purposes of the U.S. political system on opposite ends of the spectrum. And their political programs and talking points conflict in key areas. Yet they both appeal to populist and pro-worker sentiments that have become particularly winning in recent years as wages stagnate (and even if they grow are undercut by rising inflation), cost of living skyrockets and the rich grow mind-numbingly richer on the backs of African and colonized people–so much so that Elon Musk was at one point a trillionaire.
But the utility of populism, which is arguably also what the DSA espouses, is made impotent (if it was even useful to begin with), because it does not deal with the root of the colonial capitalist crisis and does not necessarily put power into the hands of working class African and colonized peoples. Nor does it translate to material political gains for the population best poised to solve the problem of colonial capitalism: the international colonized working class.
Working class African and colonized people want a government that actually represents our interests. We want institutions, services and our basic needs met to not only survive but to live a life free of oppression and domination. But time and again, African people have been shown that without a revolutionary agenda, platform, and institutions that promote political and economic self-determination for working class colonized peoples, ballots and benign-sounding populist rhetoric get us nowhere.
According to its program, the DSA believes in creating “a government by, for, and of the working class…with powerful labor unions and social movements organizing in every city and town…to build a socialist society where people come before profit, basic needs are guaranteed, the largest corporations are put under public ownership and democratic control, peace around the world is secured, and workers around the world join together in common struggle to construct socialism worldwide.”
This sounds like a progressive political goal and something that large sectors of the working class populations would unite with; however, the practical implementation of this, if we grant that it is on an anti-colonial trajectory, cannot be sheared to become a form of socialist colonialism; a kind of socialism that institutes worker-friendly programs but maintains the extractive and parasitic system that the Party has dedicated its existence to destroying. A socialism that does not challenge and destroy the pedestal of colonialism that feeds the capitalist-colonialist system would just be building a socialism for white workers on the backs of colonized peoples.
This historical moment, however, is important for forces like the APSP to strive to be ever more visible so the masses of colonized people know that the work does not end at the election of DSA members. And that through the Party and the overall Uhuru Movement, African people have a more progressive and revolutionary alternative to the DSA that is actively undoing the scourge of colonialism and building a world free from the oppression of nations by other nations.
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