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Young Democratic Socialists of America

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Young Democratic
Socialists of America
FoundedMarch 20, 1982; 43 years ago (1982-03-20)
Ideology
Colours  Red
National affiliationDemocratic Socialists of America
NewspaperThe Activist
Websitey.dsausa.org Edit this at Wikidata

The Young Democratic Socialists of America (YDSA) is the youth section of the Democratic Socialists of America. The organization was known as Young Democratic Socialists (YDS) until 2017.

History

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YDS logo until 2017

Following the merger of the Democratic Socialist Organizing Committee and the New American Movement in 1982, DSOC's youth section became known as the Democratic Socialists of America Youth Section. The organization played a significant role in the 1980s in the movements against apartheid in South Africa and United States intervention in Central America. It helped introduce many student activists to trade union struggles, with many of the organization's alumni going on to become labor organizers and union staff members.

In the 1990s, following the death of DSA founder Michael Harrington and the fall of the Soviet Union, membership in DSA community chapters declined while the Youth Section became the focal point of activity in the organization. During this time, tensions between DSA and the Youth Section culminated in the Youth Section renaming themselves to the Young Democratic Socialists (YDS), "establishing a separate identity in terms of both internal structure and external relations."[1] In the late 1990s, YDS chapters, most notably the ones at Ithaca College and Arizona State University, became heavily involved in the national movement against the prison-industrial complex.

During the 2000s, membership in both DSA and YDS continued to fall. YDS leadership attempted to stabilize the organization by narrowing its national priorities and focusing on growing chapters at campuses were there was less competition from other leftist student organizations.[1] One of YDS's long term campaigns during this time was supporting the Coalition of Immokalee Workers in their effort to raise agricultural workers' wages by pressuring fast food corporations with college outlets. YDS also participated in many coalition events, marching in the NYSPC section of the United for Peace and Justice march against the Iraq War in Washington, D.C., on January 27, 2007.[2] In September 2009, YDS members participated in a march against the G20 in Pittsburgh.[3] In October 2010, dozens of YDS members joined the union-sponsored One Nation Working Together march in Washington, D.C.

YDS, along with DSA, experienced massive membership surges following the election of Donald Trump in 2016. The organization provided a place to keep up the political momentum generated by the Bernie Sanders campaign, with student organizers pushing for policies around issues such as college affordability and Medicare for All.[1] In 2017, members once again voted to change their name to the Young Democratic Socialists of America, signaling a closer relationship with their parent organization.

As YDSA continued to grow throughout the late 2010s, members wished to cohere the work of the organization around national campaigns and priorities. In 2018–2019, YDSA adopted College for All as its single national campaign, but was limited by "a relative lack of membership engagement, especially when it came to connecting local chapters to national committee work." YDSA then took the opposite approach by instituting a number of priority campaigns and committees in 2019–2020. While this encouraged members who felt they were left out of national work in the past to organize on relevant priorities nationally, later leaders felt the abundance of committees damaged national organizing by "exceeding the capacity of our membership and spreading core YDSA organizers too thin."[4]

Still, YDSA continued to grow with the YDSA for Bernie campaign, which allowed organizers to grow and cohere the chapters around a common national priority. After Sanders dropped out of the 2020 Democratic Party presidential primaries, many Students for Bernie chapters transitioned into YDSA chapters, contributing to an influx of organizers and members into YDSA. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the NCC voted to replace all other priorities with the Student & Workers’ Recovery campaign, which focused on pressuring colleges and the government to aid students and workers during the pandemic.[4] During the George Floyd protests, many YDSA members participated in local actions against racist policing. YDSA still continues to focus on labor work, especially in organizing student and graduate workers. In 2023, the University of Oregon chapter of YDSA won their campaign to unionize undergraduate students on their campus as "UO Student Workers," forming the largest undergraduate student workers' union in the United States with more than 3,800 workers.[5][6]

Since the end of Bernie's 2020 campaign, YDSA has shifted to consolidate its national resources and enact unifying national campaigns alongside more regular recruitment drives in order to grow. At the 2023 YDSA Convention, delegates voted to form several new bodies to handle social media and growth and development, and the organization's leadership body started to receive stipends to allow more time to organize[7]. For two years, in 2023 and 2024, YDSA ran national campaigns focusing on transgender rights and bodily autonomy issues (such as abortion and contraceptive access), culminating in national days of action[8][9]. Amidst a budget shortfall and membership contraction, YDSA's budget was cut, sparing national leadership stipends, with the resulting discourse placing an emphasis on YDSA's continued growth even in a time of membership decline for DSA[10][11][12].

YDSA played a significant role in the rise of the Palestine solidarity encampments in the spring of 2024, and the national organization played a prominent role in the growth of the movement beyond its initial hubs. YDSA chapters and organizers played significant roles in most major U.S. encampments, including at Columbia[13], San Francisco State University[14], the University of Florida[15], the University of Oregon[16] and dozens more[17]. After the encampments largely concluded, YDSA's 2024 Convention emphasized a commitment to Palestinian liberation and divestment from Israel, and the use of a student strike to achieve those demands[18].

In 2025, responding to the second Trump administration and its actions around deporting undocumented migrants, YDSA has adopted a national campaign focusing on establishing "sanctuary campuses", a concept similar to that of sanctuary cities which were established during the first Trump administration to protect migrant communities[19][20][21].

Organization

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YDSA chapters and members are encouraged to pursue and promote a democratic socialist political education and participate in social justice activism, often taking part in anti-war, labor, and student-issue marches and rallies. Each year, YDSA members vote on national priorities, policies, and campaigns at an annual convention. The organization published an internal newsletter called The Red Letter.[22] Its members run and contribute to The Activist, their official publication.[23]

The organization runs two annual conferences: an outreach conference in the winter that includes plenaries and workshops, and a convention during the summer that focuses on debating and deciding the political direction of YDSA and electing the national leadership for the following year.[24] In the past, outreach conferences have featured keynote speakers such as Noam Chomsky, Cornel West, journalist and author Barbara Ehrenreich, The Nation correspondent Christian Parenti and Columbia University professor Gayatri Spivak.[25] Other speakers include Dan Cantor of the Working Families Party, author and journalist Liza Featherstone, Temple University professor Joseph Schwartz, long-time activist Steve Max and sociologist Frances Fox Piven.[26]

National conferences have taken place in February 2016 in Brooklyn,[27] August 2016 in Washington, D.C.,[28] and February 2019 in Berkeley, California.[29] Since 2020, most national winter conferences have taken place in Chicago, excluding the 2021 convention, which was online due to COVID-19 precautions, and the 2024 conference, which was held in-person in Atlanta.[30][31][32][33][34] [35] The 2022 summer convention was held in Minneapolis.[36] The 2023 summer convention was held in Chicago.[37] The 2024 summer convention was held online.[38] The 2025 summer convention is to be held in Chicago[39].

The organization is run by the YDSA National Coordinating Committee (NCC), which consists of two co-chairs and seven at-large members (previously two co-chairs and four at-large members).[40] YDSA's co-chairs are also voting members of DSA's national leadership, the National Political Committee, and play an active role on that body as representatives of the youth section[41].

As of July 2025, the group has 114 chapters in various educational institutions across the United States, including high schools, community colleges, and both public and private universities.[42] According to an organizer, the group seized on Bernie Sanders’s momentum between 2016 and 2019 to grow from 25 to 84 registered chapters.[43] It also has numerous members-at-large without chapters who usually work through other progressive groups to articulate an active democratic socialist presence in campus and community politics.

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b c Duhalde, David; Kreider, Ben. "History of Young Democratic Socialists of America" (PDF). DSA Fund. Retrieved 6 May 2024.
  2. ^ "YDS & NYSPC Events". Archived from the original on 28 January 2007. Retrieved 24 February 2007.
  3. ^ "YDS and the G-20 Protest in Pittsburgh". Archived from the original on 26 April 2010. Retrieved 6 February 2010.
  4. ^ a b YDSA. "YDSA National Tasks and Perspectives". Retrieved 6 May 2024.
  5. ^ Springfield, Bryce (2023-11-23). "An Introduction to the Internal Politics of DSA". The Princeton Progressive. Retrieved 2024-01-04.
  6. ^ Wheeler, Porter (Aug 8, 2023). "Oregon YDSA Organizes Wall-to-Wall Campus Union". Young Democratic Socialists of America.
  7. ^ Basta, Andrew; McAdams, Gabriel. "For R26: Charting the Path Forward to an Internationalist YDSA". YDSA. Retrieved 2025-07-25.
  8. ^ "Inside the TRANS Campaign, and the Struggle for Trans Liberation". YDSA. Retrieved 2025-07-25.
  9. ^ Milner, Sarah (2023-10-17). "Report: DSA's Campaign for Trans and Reproductive Rights | Reform & Revolution". reformandrevolution.org. Retrieved 2025-07-25.
  10. ^ "Budget Statement". www.ydsaconstellation.org. Retrieved 2025-07-25.
  11. ^ Pope, Zurie. ""Personally Devastating": YDSA Budget Slashed in Deficit Crisis Cuts". YDSA. Retrieved 2025-07-25.
  12. ^ "YDSA 2024 Resolutions". ydsa.breadandrosesdsa.org. Retrieved 2025-07-25.
  13. ^ Lundquist, Jack. "Linking Up Struggles". Democratic Socialists of America (DSA). Retrieved 2025-07-25.
  14. ^ N, Ali. "There's Power in the Union: Democracy and Divestment at SFSU". YDSA. Retrieved 2025-07-25.
  15. ^ Lewis, Ray (2024-04-30). "'Not a daycare': University of Florida explains arrests of anti-Israel protesters". WWMT. Retrieved 2025-07-25.
  16. ^ Reynolds, Evan (2024-04-29). "UO students begin pro-Palestine encampment on campus". Daily Emerald. Retrieved 2025-07-25.
  17. ^ Pope, Zurie. "Solidarity Encampments Are Changing Colleges Everywhere". YDSA. Retrieved 2025-07-25.
  18. ^ Walker, Jackson (2024-08-19). "Dem socialists planning nationwide college strike to kick off academic year". KEYE. Retrieved 2025-07-25.
  19. ^ Ortega, Victor (2025-04-07). "KVAQ-TV | Students push for UTRGV as a sanctuary campus for immigrants". Retrieved 2025-07-25.
  20. ^ "YDSA at ASU launches 'Sanctuary Campuses' campaign to push for student protections - The Arizona State Press". www.statepress.com. Retrieved 2025-07-25.
  21. ^ Leschber, Blake. "Students call for administration to make TXST a sanctuary campus". The University Star. Retrieved 2025-07-25.
  22. ^ "The Red Letter: Spring 2015". Archived from the original on 18 June 2015. Retrieved 18 June 2015.
  23. ^ "About The Activist". Retrieved 7 February 2021.
  24. ^ "2021 YDSA Convention". Archived from the original on 7 January 2022. Retrieved 7 January 2022.
  25. ^ "Justice Beyond Borders". Archived from the original on 1 April 2007. Retrieved 24 February 2007.
  26. ^ "Real Change for a Change?". Alternet. Archived from the original on 26 April 2010. Retrieved 13 March 2010.
  27. ^ Betsy Avila. "Young Democratic Socialists 2015: Toward an Intersectional Left". Young Democratic Socialists. Archived from the original on 2015-09-10. Retrieved 2016-01-30.
  28. ^ Betsy Avila. "YDSA IN ATLANTA: Southern Regional Conference". Archived from the original on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 2016-01-30.
  29. ^ Gisela Pérez de Acha. "Millennial socialists who gathered in Berkeley believe in democracy, feminism and hashtags". Archived from the original on 2022-01-07. Retrieved 2022-01-07.
  30. ^ "Unite, Fight, Win – 2020 YDSA Winter Conference". Young Democratic Socialists of America. Retrieved July 22, 2024.
  31. ^ "2021 YDSA Conference: A Better World is Possible". Young Democratic Socialists of America. Retrieved July 22, 2024.
  32. ^ "2022 YDSA Conference". Young Democratic Socialists of America. Retrieved June 22, 2024.
  33. ^ "2023 YDSA Conference". Young Democratic Socialists of America. Retrieved July 22, 2024.
  34. ^ "2024 Young Democratic Socialists of America Conference". Young Democratic Socialists of America. Retrieved July 22, 2024.
  35. ^ "2024 Young Democratic Socialists of America Conference". YDSA. Retrieved 2025-07-25.
  36. ^ Cole, Harrison (August 20, 2022). "Two Steps Forward: Report and Analysis on the 2022 YDSA Convention". Cosmonaut. Retrieved July 22, 2024.
  37. ^ "2023 YDSA Convention". Young Democratic Socialists of America. Retrieved June 7, 2024.
  38. ^ The Activist Editorial Board (July 21, 2024). "Activist Updates: 2024 YDSA Convention Day 2". The Activist.
  39. ^ "2025 YDSA Convention". YDSA. Retrieved 2025-07-25.
  40. ^ "National Coordinating Committee". Retrieved 7 February 2021.
  41. ^ "YDSA National Convention 2021 Report". washingtonsocialist.mdcdsa.org. Retrieved 2025-07-25.
  42. ^ "Find a Chapter". YDSA. Retrieved 2021-09-14.
  43. ^ Paz, Isabella Grullón (2019-10-15). "Why Some Young Voters Are Choosing Democratic Socialism Over the Democratic Party (Published 2019)". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2020-12-18.
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