What do I do as a Member?
DSA is a great space to learn new ideas and skills. You do not need previous experience organizing in politics. You’ll be surprised by how much you already know from living under capitalist rule. We all know the stress of rising rents, expensive medical bills, student loan debt repayments, and the feeling of alienation at work. We’ve all seen what racism, patriarchy, homophobia, transphobia, xenophobia, and imperialism at home and abroad have done to our communities. We welcome and need all kinds of skills in our socialist movement. We need people to write, teach, analyze, debate, carpool, canvas, make calls, take to the streets, provide childcare, make food, make banners, create spreadsheets, and everything in between. All that we ask you is to be willing to show up and work democratically.
How do I get Started?
DSA only survives as a movement and organization by the participation of its members. Organizing with DSA is fulfilling and sometimes fun because you are not working for a boss or volunteering for a politician who will never know your name. This work we do is for everyone and ourselves. We are building connections, community, and a more equal society.
We’ve created this checklist to help you navigate your journey with Iowa City DSA. We recognize that not everyone has the same capacity, and you can do any of these things at any time, but these are some helpful points. Sign up below and we’ll walk you through the most effective way to get involved, educated, and join the fight for socialism!
If you wish to do informal sociable things with your comrades like potlucks, book clubs, or park clean-ups, just start doing it. Our movement gets stronger when we have many other activities that stitch us together alongside the work.
When you want to do work officially as a part of Iowa City DSA, you need a democratic sign-off. Since we’re an organization entirely made of working-class people up against the capitalist class, our strength and power come from our people power - our ability for all of us to work together towards specific strategic goals.
For this reason, proposing things like new campaigns, electoral endorsements, or new chapter working groups requires building support from other members and having a proposal discussed, voted on, and democratically passed. Generally, that means writing up what you’d like to do with the chapter and getting other members to sign on in support - and using that petition process as a way to talk to fellow members and make sure that you have enough people willing to put in the work on the project.