Communists Belong in DSA

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Communists Belong in DSA (Red Star Caucus manifesto)

Author: Christina W. | Published: 2024-08-13 (updated post-2025 convention) | Source: advocacy

Summary

The red-star-caucus explaining, in its own words and under its own byline, why Marxist-Leninists should join dsa and how they intend to win it. This is the single most load-bearing document in the wiki for the takeover question, because it is the strategy stated openly rather than alleged: “as communists contest for and win hegemony within the organization, we continue to move toward a revolutionary horizon.”

The historical analogy is explicit and self-chosen: “The Bolsheviks were born from the pluralist RSDLP; the 26th of July Movement was born from the Orthodox Party. The big-tent nature of these organizations allowed organized and disciplined communists to decisively shape the trajectory of their respective revolutions. DSA is the same.” Red Star’s account of DSA’s history is that it was “an anti-communist, Labor Zionist, social democratic organization” for decades until the 2016 membership wave overran the old guard, leaving an ideologically undefined organization that communists could contest.

Two claims here bear directly on the wiki’s flagged data gap. First, the democratic-centralism ban: footnote 1 states that DSA’s bylaws contained a provision expelling members “under the discipline of any self-defined democratic-centralist organization,” describes it as “a relic of its anti-communist roots and its foundation under threat of entryist disruptions,” and carries an update: “This clause was removed from DSA’s bylaws at the 2025 National Convention.” Red Star confirms both the ban’s anti-entryism purpose and its 2025 repeal — while arguing the ban was toothless in practice (“infrequently used and has not restricted communists organizing inside DSA”).

Second, the co-chair seat: Red Star states that at the 2023 convention all three of its NPC candidates were elected and one became a co-chair — establishing that megan-romer held the seat before 2025 and was reelected, not newly installed. It also claims that as of writing, “nearly half of the current NPC members openly identify as communists.”

The piece is careful to disclaim entryism in the classic sense: “We want to be clear that we suggest joining DSA and actively participating in its activities, not agitating against DSA from inside it,” and Red Star only admits members with a prior history of DSA activity. Its practical program is unglamorous — do chapter work, learn Robert’s Rules, run for chapter leadership, find other communists.

Key Claims

  • Red Star self-identifies as “a Marxist-Leninist DSA caucus” and DSA as “our political home.”
  • Stated goal: communists “contest for and win hegemony within the organization.” Explicit models: Bolsheviks out of the RSDLP; Castro’s 26th of July Movement out of the Orthodox Party.
  • DSA’s history per Red Star: decades of anti-communism, Labor Zionism, social democracy; a 2016 membership wave “completely overran its existing membership”; growth stalled around 2021 (Bernie’s second defeat, COVID, Biden-era depoliticization), which Red Star reads as evidence that “latching ourselves to high-profile electoral campaigns was flawed.”
  • 2023 convention: all three Red Star NPC candidates elected; one became one of two co-chairs — “a paid leadership role, newly created at that same convention.” Red Star ran on a “good governance” platform, not sectarian purges.
  • Claim: “nearly half of the current NPC members openly identify as communists” (written of the 16-seat NPC, pre-2025 expansion).
  • Footnote 1 (updated): DSA bylaws contained an expulsion provision for members “under the discipline of any self-defined democratic-centralist organization,” described as a relic of anti-communist roots and protection against “entryist disruptions”; “in practice, this ban is infrequently used and has not restricted communists organizing inside DSA.” UPDATE: “This clause was removed from DSA’s bylaws at the 2025 National Convention.”
  • Why DSA and not CPUSA: Red Star members with CPUSA experience say charges of “bureaucratic centralism” there “are, regrettably, not without basis” — rubber-stamp leadership elections, conventions every four to five years, suppression of debate via “unity of action.” “CPUSA is now firmly to the right of DSA on Palestine and orientation towards the Democratic Party.”
  • Structural features that make DSA winnable for communists: open elections, open resolutions, member-to-member communication platforms, low barrier to entry, big-tent membership (anyone willing to self-identify as a socialist).
  • Red Star’s institutional work: normalizing Robert’s Rules (with mandatory caucus training), opening internal national communications, making NPC decisions more visible.
  • Political wins claimed: DSA rejecting lesser-evil campaigning for the Democratic nominee; rejecting an anti-Trump negative campaign that would implicitly endorse Biden/Harris; moving away from Labor Zionism; setting expectations for electeds on Palestine.
  • Cited experiment: Las Vegas DSA attempted to take over its county and state Democratic Party and won a majority of executive board seats — an effort Red Star says was “proven ineffective,” which they treat as a valuable negative result.
  • Explicit disclaimer: join and participate, “not agitating against DSA from inside it.” Red Star only admits members with a history of DSA activity; joining DSA should not be treated as a path into Red Star.

Direct quotes worth preserving

“The Bolsheviks were born from the pluralist RSDLP; the 26th of July Movement was born from the Orthodox Party. The big-tent nature of these organizations allowed organized and disciplined communists to decisively shape the trajectory of their respective revolutions. DSA is the same: as we continue to improve the democratic structures of DSA, and as communists contest for and win hegemony within the organization, we continue to move toward a revolutionary horizon.” — Christina W., Red Star Caucus

Why citable: the strategy in the strategists’ own words, with their own historical analogy. No hostile paraphrase is needed or improvable — this is the primary text for the takeover debate.

“As a relic of its anti-communist roots and its foundation under threat of entryist disruptions, DSA’s bylaws do contain a provision for expulsion of members ‘under the discipline of any self-defined democratic-centralist organization’. However, in practice, this ban is infrequently used and has not restricted communists organizing inside DSA as DSA members. (UPDATE: This clause was removed from DSA’s bylaws at the 2025 National Convention.)” — Red Star Caucus, footnote 1

Why citable: confirms the ban’s existence, its anti-entryism purpose, and its 2025 repeal — from the caucus the ban was written to exclude. It also supplies the best counter-argument: the rule was already a dead letter.

“In addition to Red Star’s three out of sixteen seats and one of two national Co-Chairs, nearly half of the current NPC members openly identify as communists.” — Christina W.

Why citable: a self-reported count of communist representation on DSA’s governing body, more aggressive than anything hostile sources have claimed.

“We want to be clear that we suggest joining DSA and actively participating in its activities, not agitating against DSA from inside it.” — Christina W.

Why citable: the disclaimer that distinguishes Red Star’s self-description from classic entryism — required for fair treatment of the takeover question.

Connections

Entities mentioned: dsa, red-star-caucus, megan-romer, bernie-sanders, alexandria-ocasio-cortez, democratic-party, CPUSA, Las Vegas DSA, YDSA Concepts referenced: entryism, democratic-socialism, socialism, democratic centralism, hegemony, big-tent organization, lesser-evilism Events: 2025-dsa-national-convention, 2024-dsa-harris-non-endorsement Debates: is-the-dsa-taking-over-the-democratic-party, is-democratic-socialism-different-from-socialism

Contradictions / Tensions

  • De-single-sources the wiki’s most contested claims from the friendliest possible direction. Red Star confirms the democratic-centralism repeal, its own co-chair seat (held since 2023), and its explicit goal of winning hegemony inside DSA. On these facts there is no dispute between Red Star and its critics — only over what they mean.
  • The strongest available rebuttal to the entryism charge is also here: Red Star organizes for DSA rather than against it, requires prior DSA activity for membership, credits DSA’s democratic structures rather than subverting them, and cites the Las Vegas experiment — an actual attempt to take over a Democratic Party apparatus — as a failure they learned from. Whether “win hegemony inside a big-tent org through open elections” counts as entryism is the live question; the entryism concept page should carry this tension.
  • Contradicts the “moderate DSA” framing used by DSA’s public defenders: Red Star insists DSA is not a purely social-democratic organization and that dismissing it as such “discount[s] the communist organizing within it.”
  • The “nearly half of the NPC openly identify as communists” claim is self-reported, undefined (“openly identify” by what test?), and refers to the pre-expansion 16-seat NPC. It is the least verifiable claim here — attribute it, don’t adopt it. Compare with the caucus-by-caucus roster in metro-detroit-dsa-2025-convention-results, where Red Star itself holds 3 of 25 seats.
  • Published August 2024, before the 2025 convention; the footnote was updated afterward. Date accordingly when citing.

Notes

The piece cites Mao (“social practice”) and the Marxists Internet Archive throughout and links to Red Star’s internal documents (“Zenith” series, “good governance” platform, NPC slate pages) — a useful trailhead if the wiki later needs Red Star’s own strategy documents rather than its public-facing recruitment argument.