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On this episode, we talk to Megan, one of DSA’s national cochairs, about her political journey from early-00s girlboss feminism to Marta Harnecker’s mass-protagonist vision of a socialist future, and how collective political education was crucial to her transformation. 

Find Marta Harnecker’s writings in the Monthly Review online archive HERE.

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In this episode, Luke talks with Edward about the Socialist Party of America's (SPA) 1912 Program and its role in his political development. Luke concentrates on two aspects of the platform: its programmatic character and democratic political demands, including the demand for a democratic constitution. This is the first of several conversations we hope to host with NPEC members about texts that played an important role in their political development and current orientation. 

Luke mentions the SPA's Program, DSA's 2024-25 Workers Deserve More Program,  Aziz Rana's The Constitutional Bind, and Rana's interviews on Class. 

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In this episode, we talk to Ashik, one of DSA’s national cochairs, about how he grew into socialism over time through organizing and political education, from growing up Muslim in Bay Ridge during 9/11, to participating in the Occupy and environmental movements, to becoming a leader of the biggest socialist organization in the United States. 

Ashik’s picks:

Naomi Klein's books: https://naomiklein.org/books-and-films/

Ecology as Politics by Andre Gorz on Open Library: https://openlibrary.org/works/OL1390039W/Écologie_et_politique?edition=key%3A/books/OL14718425M

Reform and Revolution (pdf): https://www.sscc.wisc.edu/soc/faculty/pages/wright/Sydney%20seminar%202016/Andre%20Gorz%20REFORM%20OR%20REVOLUTION.pdf

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On January 6th, DSA’s International Committee (IC) and National Political Committee (NPC) organized an emergency mass call to discuss the Trump administration’s provocations in Venezuela, and socialists’ role in leading the fight against imperialist aggression. Class is pleased to present Hands Off Venezuela! as a podcast episode, following up on our episode on Cuba. 

Apply for DSA’s International Committee: https://actionnetwork.org/forms/dsa-international-committee-application

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DSA regularly sends large delegations of members to Cuba to distribute aid and learn about Cuban politics, government, and society. Last fall, National Political Committee (NPC) members Cliff and Daniel went on one such delegation. They join us to share their individual perspectives on the value of this trip for a socialist political education. 

Note: We recorded this episode a week and a half before its release, just prior to the American invasion of Venezuela, which is why it is unmentioned here. Solidarity with the working classes resisting US imperialism in Latin America and beyond! ¡Cuba sí, bloqueo no! 

Che: A Memoir by Fidel Castro. Open Library link. Buy on bookshop.org

Season Two of Blowback
 

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Why is the right so fixated on whoever or whatever it is they think is Marx or “Marxism”? Why do they conflate Marx with everything else they don’t like? We are starting our second semester of Capital this week, and joining Michaela is fellow NPEC comrade Ed, who shares his perspectives on a formal and political education under Reagan, and how socialist struggle has prepared him for yet another age of repression under Trump.  

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Michaela speaks with Ashwin, a River Valley DSA member and current researcher in Mexico City, about the social movement running UTOPIAs: experiments in providing services, education, and pleasure in the poorest district of the city backed by MORENA, the current ruling party, which promotes “Mexican Humanism” as a core principle of governance. 

“Mexico City’s UTOPIAs” by Ashwin R https://socialistforum.dsausa.org/issues/fall-winter-2025/mexico-citys-utopias/

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Edward and Michaela share their experiences as long-time readers and guides to Capital Volume One, at a time when socialism is on the rise, and curiosity about this difficult but key work is growing. 

Join NPEC’s current Capital group (familiarity with Part One of the text is highly recommended, but you can get caught up): https://actionnetwork.org/events/capital-reading-group-fall-semester-2025/

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In this episode, Michaela and Darren talk about socialist perspectives on archival research. DSA's next Archives Training Project is on Wednesday, the 29th. You can register here. Whether you're a chapter chair or secretary wondering how best to approach records, a comrade with a lot of socialist swag and no idea what to do with it, or just someone curious about how archives work, you're welcome to come to this online workshop where we discuss why we care about archives as socialists, best practices for starting an archive, and how institutions take in materials for socialist, left and labor archives.

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This is a recording of NPEC's panel event with Aziz Rana and Matt McManus about the left's approach to the Constitution. Topics include how the left navigates terms like “bourgeois democracy," and how it should approach the upcoming 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, with its promises of equality and universal rights. The conversation asks us to push beyond conventional framings of constitutionalism and question what a genuinely democratic politics should look like today. A question-and-answer period follows the conversation.

Aziz Rana is a professor of law at Boston College. He is the author of The Constitutional Bind: How Americans Came to Idolize a Document That Fails Them and The Two Faces of American Freedom.

Matt McManus is an Assistant Professor at Spelman College. His books include Against Post-Liberal Courts and Justice and The Political Theory of Liberal Socialism. 

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