What does it Mean to be a Member?

Iowa City DSA is entirely made up of members. We are an all-volunteer group. National DSA has a few paid staff and our National Co-Chairs are also paid. However, on the local level, most chapters do not have any paid staff. Anything that’s being done, from canvassing, building benches, organizing, and strategic planning, everything happens because someone made the time for it, alongside our many demands from work, our loves, and our homes.

Our members plan events, actions, teach-ins, and much more to create the world we believe in. We're not here to posture or make empty signals. We’re not interested in moral grandstanding. We are fighting to build a more just society.

Many political organizations rely on grants or large donations from wealthy donors. We do not. We believe that those kinds of arrangements inevitably end up as a tit-for-tat relationship, and even with grants, accepting that kind of money could make us beholden to political actors, who don’t hold our views. It would undermine the radical democracy that we hold central to our mission.

We are Completely Member Funded

DSA is a completely member-funded organization, meaning that our vision and our work are guided only by our members and our shared vision of socialism. No politician, corporation, political party, or NGO can dictate what we do, say, or how we organize. It’s through our independence and solidarity, that we threaten them. Many members pay monthly local dues. Those dues fund our actions, agitations, education, and events.

Join DSA: https://act.dsausa.org/donate/membership/

However, no one is turned away from DSA for lack of funds. For information on a dues waiver go to: https://act.dsausa.org/survey/dueswaiver/

How does DSA work?

Meetings & Decision Making

National

The work of the national organization is driven by decisions that we as members make every two years at the National Convention. The convention is the highest decision-making body of the organization because it is the most representative - decisions are made by proposals and votes from representatives of all the chapters in the country (as well as “at-large” members who live in areas where there are no chapters).

At the convention, delegates elect a group of sixteen members to the National Political Committee (NPC), members to the Democracy Commission, and two National Co-Chairs, etc. The NPC and the Co-Chairs guides and leads the implementation of DSA's major political and organizational goals.

The NPC facilitates coordination between members and chapters across the country to provide a more efficient framework in which to organize nationally. The NPC also directs the staff, headquartered in New York City, that provides administrative support for the chapter and accomplishes the day-to-day affairs required to sustain a large and rapidly expanding organization.

Every two years, DSA holds a national convention to elect its leadership and vote on priorities. The National Political Committee (NPC), is elected by the convention to implement the convention’s decision. The majority of members are organized into local chapters. Chapters have the autonomy to decide what local work will look like. Members in chapters elect their own local leadership, usually once a year. Chapters gather regularly in general membership meetings to decide on local work, and priorities and get an overall view of the chapter’s work.

There are also several national working groups, including: Labor Commission International Committee Green New Deal Committee Queer Socialist Working Group

And there are more that can be found here: https://www.dsausa.org/get-involved/

Local Meetings

Between local conventions, Iowa City DSA holds twelve meetings each year to discuss chapter policies, and active campaigns, and make major political decisions with the entire membership. Typically, these meetings are held on Sundays in the afternoon.

Questions of major political importance that require chapter-wide decisions are brought to and presented to the entire chapter at local meetings, and such votes are the highest decision-making mechanism for the chapter, outside of the local convention. Examples of questions that require chapter-wide votes include forming a new branch or endorsing electoral candidates. Rank-and-file members are encouraged to organize to bring proposals to local meetings.

To read the Iowa City DSA bylaws, check here: #######

Roles & Responsibilities

Members

Members are the most important force in our organization. Our political strength comes because we are a group operating in solidarity with one another, each contributing time and labor as we are able. True to the “socialist organizer” card every member receives after joining DSA, we are committed to creating a space where our campaigns, projects, and actions come from the rank and file.

Steering Committee

The Steering Committee is a body of democratically elected officers, selected in annual elections from within our membership. Like other members, the Steering Committee is not paid, and all their work is donated labor. They include:


The Steering Committee is broadly charged with leading and guiding the implementation of the chapter’s democratically voted-on mission, priorities, and resolutions. It approves the use of chapter resources towards member-led projects, organizes and runs Local Meetings, initiates and executes internal policies to help the chapter run smoothly, and works to maintain a larger, united political vision for the chapter, including delegating and charging members, other officers, and chapter working groups with tasks as necessary. Like other working groups in Iowa City DSA, the Steering Committee is subordinate to votes of the Local Convention or chapter membership in Local Meetings.


The Steering Committee can be reached at: exec@iowacitydsa.org