We understand Marxism as a living, breathing theoretical framework, which is not and never can be a static set of dogmas. We see Marxism as the foundational and most informative lens through which to understand the workings of capitalism, a task which is paramount in our efforts to dismantle it.

A capitalist society will not be reformed into a socialist one, just as capitalism itself was not born through welcomed reforms to the former feudal order. Popular legislature and politicians with benevolent intentions can help create more favorable conditions for change, but these things alone cannot bring the revolutionary overhaul we seek: a complete upheaval of the present economic system that extracts value from the many for the private profit of the few.

We believe in the necessity of building towards a state that is comprised of and exists exclusively for the benefit of the working class. Such an institution is the most authentic expression of workers’ power, and is the only body that can ensure the well-being of all people. A democratically planned economy is a primary component of this expression of the will of the working class, and is necessary for projects ranging from reparations to preventing the impending ecological catastrophe of climate change. Decentralization of the functions of the state essentially precludes the possibility of such coordinated planning, and weakens the ability of the working class to respond in periods of reaction.

Our goal of building socialism and our goal of the destruction of all forms of oppression are intrinsically linked. We understand that any analysis of class is inherently also an analysis of gender, race, sexuality, and all other vectors through which oppression operates, and that the reverse is also true. We reject attempts at analysis that discard or flatten these factors rather than treating them as real, material conditions of life under capitalism. We recognize, among others, the struggles against homophobia, sexism, transphobia, racism and ableism as requiring additional and unique analysis and tactics when building power and shaping the new society we wish to see in the world. Civil society’s prejudices are uniquely shaped by capitalism, but capitalism is not the only social order to feature them, and we must remain vigilant in assessing and combatting reactionary habits even as we gain power.

Wars launched by the ruling class do nothing but pit workers against each other, all while making the world more dangerous, dictatorial, and chaotic. As socialists in the US, we have not only a unique responsibility but also a unique position from which to oppose all US imperial interventions abroad. We stand for the free movement of all people, an open door for all refugees and immigrants, and the closing of all detention centers. Migration and the unfettered, free movement of people around the world must be unconditionally available to everyone. We oppose all forms of occupation, whether those of an imperialist military abroad or those of a repressive police-state at home. We believe that the phrase “workers of the world unite” is as relevant now as it was when it was written 150 years ago, and that this sentiment outlines the only path towards a worthwhile future.

Our analysis of capitalism and its relationship to the state extends to its two state-sanctioned political parties as well; we recognize that the Democratic Party is loyal first-and-foremost to its donors on behalf of the capitalist class. Working with bourgeois parties on their own terms misleads the working class by positioning such parties as potential vessels for working-class power, whereas in actuality their nature as organs of the capitalist class firmly stymies any revolutionary potential. To the extent that socialists engage with capitalist parties at all, it should only be to provide a revolutionary pole through which those workers who have been energized by the prospect of social democratic reforms can be radicalized.

An urgent task of the socialist movement in the United States should be to build such a party. The working class of the US presently has no single body through which our power can be expressed, and it is imperative that we develop one. Electoral politics are certainly only a part of the work of a workers’ party; however, it is an arena which we must contest. We can only run independent, working-class candidates for elected office without their being beholden to a capitalist party or its bourgeois donor class when we control our own ballot line and electoral apparatus. Workers’ parties have always been the vessels by which the working class has successfully taken power. We view that not as an accident of history, but as a testament to the strength of a unified working class. We also understand that, while DSA may or may not have the potential to become this workers’ party, it should help to lay the groundwork for it.

Struggle and class consciousness condition us for political and economic power. No other class in society, with its unique position at the point of production, has the power and ability to strike, stopping services and production and restarting these services under its own initiative. We believe in the necessity of organizing the working class and in its ability to revolutionize the world not because of any paternalistic or fetishistic impulse, but because of this material condition that necessarily positions it as the revolutionary class. We also understand that organized working-class struggle is inextricably linked to all efforts toward struggles for liberation of oppressed peoples.

and we strive to build it across all avenues of our organizing. Leadership positions must always be a mechanism for the execution of the will of the rank-and-file, be they in a trade union or in a socialist organization. The working class as a whole must be empowered to develop and implement its own authentic vision of the world. We seek to empower the working class through the development of its own democratic and participatory institutions and inspire class consciousness through these collective acts. We reject action for action’s sake: we are organizers first and foremost, and the actions we take and the tactics we employ must always be strategic in revealing the class struggle in our daily lives and build our capacities to fight.