Democratic Socialists of America

In 1982, , who published in 1962 the book “ ” on the problems of the poor in one of the richest countries in the world, achieved the unification of two small socialist organizations that grew out of the American anti-war movement - the (DSOC - a fragment of the old Socialist party of America , standing at the left position, but designed to work within the Democratic party) and (NAM - a coalition of intellectuals, the number of " new Left ", feminist and former members of the socialist and communist parties). Harrington saw the main goals of the new organization as influencing the Democratic Party on the left and ending the internecine struggle of the socialists. The motto of the young organization was the slogan “Left wing of the possible” ^[2] .

At its founding, the DSA included 5,000 DSOC members and 1,000 NAM members, and Michael Harrington and Barbara Ehrenreich were elected co-chairs of the new organization. The vice-presidents of the organization were Cornell West , Noam Chomsky , Gloria Steinem , Francis Fox Piven, Edward Asner and Rep. Ron Dellams , who in 1971 became the first socialist congressman since Victor Berger at the beginning of the 20th century.

The DSA sees itself as a broad left-wing organization, incorporating various trends: from social-democratic and reformist to eco-socialist , revolutionary-socialist , libertarian-socialist and communist . Most of its members share anti-capitalist and Marxist ideas, although the self-determination of “democratic socialists” can span from the supporters of left-liberal politics in the style of the New Deal by F. D. Roosevelt to the Trotskyites ^[3] .

The democratic socialists of America oppose capitalism , patriarchy, aggressive wars, fascism and racism. Their activists participate in the trade union movement, the struggle for labor rights and a minimum wage of $ 15 per hour, demanding democratic control of workers over their own jobs. Hence the ideal of DCA in public ownership, including workers' cooperatives. Among the priorities of the DCA is the struggle for universal free education and medical care. The democratic socialists of America support socialist feminism and LGBT rights.

DCA publishes Democratic Left , a quarterly digest of news and analytics. The student wing of the organization is the Young Democratic Socialists of America ( YDSA ).

In the presidential election, America’s Democratic Socialists generally supported progressive or liberal Democratic candidates, including Walter Mondale , Jesse Jackson , John Kerry , Barack Obama and Bernie Sanders , and in 2000, Green Party candidate Ralph Nader .

For decades, socialist ideology has been marginalized in U.S. political processes, but a notable change occurred during the Democratic primary in 2016, when Senator Bernie Sanders , openly calling himself a democratic socialist, turned out to be the main rival of the undisputed party establishment candidate, Hillary Clinton . In particular, during the primaries in Iowa, where they are held in the form of caucuses , exit polls showed that Sanders received the support of 84% of voters aged 17 to 29, 58% of voters who described themselves as “extremely liberal” in their beliefs, and 57% of those earning less than 30 thousand dollars a year ^[4] .

In August 2017, the ACD national convention was held, during which most of the 700-800 delegates representing 25 thousand registered members of the organization voted to leave the Socialist International , as a number of its member countries have adopted and are pursuing neoliberal policies themselves (in particular, SPD , SP of France, Institutional Revolutionary Party of Mexico, Indian National Congress , Greek PASOK ) ^[5] .

The influx of new members into the organization only intensified after the victory of Donald Trump in the elections. By the end of 2017, membership increased to 32,000. As of July 2018, the ACD already had 47,000 members, and the number of local cells increased from 40 to 181. The average age of members was 33 years, compared to 68 in 2013. ^[2] . In the 2017 elections in 13 states, 15 DCA activists were elected to local governments (in addition to the 12 already elected), including Lee Carter in the Virginia House of Delegates .

In 2018, 28-year-old DCA activist Alexandria Okasio-Cortes unexpectedly defeated current Democratic party caucus chairman Joseph Crowley at the primaries of Democratic candidates to the U.S. House of Representatives in one of the New York constituencies. On November 6, 2018, she was elected to Congress along with another DCA activist, Palestinian American Rashida Tlaib from Michigan.

• Bernie Sanders
• US Socialist Party
• Jacobin

• Joel Bleifuss. Not My First Democratic Socialist Convention . In These Times (August 31, 2017). Date of treatment July 29, 2018.
• The United States is left to peak Trump: socialists are gaining popularity there // BBC (July 4, 2018)