CliffsNotes - The Threat of Communism Series
Paper 7: DSA — Democratic Socialists of America
92,000 members. 28 elected officials. One agenda sourced directly from the Communist Manifesto.
The Big Picture
The Democratic Socialists of America was founded in 1982 by Michael Harrington, a democratic socialist who believed Marxist transformation could occur through elections rather than revolution. For three decades it was a small academic organization. Then came 2016 and 2020 — Bernie Sanders' campaigns, Squad members elected to Congress, and the DSA's membership exploding to 92,000+ at peak.
Today DSA has 28 elected officials including members of Congress (AOC, Ilhan Omar, Rashida Tlaib). The paper examines DSA's founding documents, its platform, and compares it plank by plank against the Communist Manifesto's program.
Peak membership
Elected officials
Founded
Manifesto parallels
Did You Know?
DSA's own constitution uses the phrase "the working class" 14 times and describes its mission as ending "the domination of the capitalist class" — language lifted nearly verbatim from the Communist Manifesto.
Key Figures — The DSA in Office
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
U.S. Rep., NY-14 · DSA member since 2018
Ilhan Omar
U.S. Rep., MN-5 · DSA-endorsed 2018
Mayor, New York City · DSA, since Jan 2026
The Six Manifesto Parallels
The paper compares DSA's published platform against the Communist Manifesto's 10 planks. Six direct parallels emerge — not as interpretation but as documented DSA policy positions:
- Heavy progressive income tax (Plank 2): DSA advocates marginal rates up to 90% on high incomes, explicitly framed as "redistribution from the capitalist class."
- Abolition of inheritance (Plank 3): DSA's 2021 platform calls for "confiscatory estate taxes" on inherited wealth above $1M.
- Centralized credit (Plank 5): DSA advocates nationalizing the Federal Reserve and creating a public banking system to direct credit allocation.
- State ownership of industry (Plank 6): DSA platform explicitly calls for nationalizing energy, healthcare, and housing sectors.
- Universal labor obligation (Plank 8): DSA supports a federal jobs guarantee — the state as employer of last resort.
- Free education (Plank 10): DSA calls for eliminating tuition at all public universities and canceling existing student debt.
Did You Know?
DSA's 2021 convention resolution explicitly describes the U.S. government as a "capitalist state" that must be "hollowed out" before democratic socialist transformation can occur.
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
U.S. Representative, NY-14 — DSA's highest-profile member
AOC joined DSA in 2018 and was endorsed by the organization in her first congressional race. She has co-authored the Green New Deal resolution, voted against Israel's Iron Dome funding (2021), and called for abolishing ICE. In 2025 she described American capitalism as "irreformable" and called for "seizing" the means of energy production.
"Capitalism is an ideology of capital — the most important thing is the concentration and the increase of capital, and it will pursue that at any human cost." — AOC, 2019
Foreign Ties & Funding Allegations
The paper documents allegations of foreign funding ties that have surfaced in congressional testimony and investigative reporting through 2026. Key items from the record:
- Qatar connections: DSA's international committee has formalized relationships with Qatari-funded organizations including affiliates of the Muslim Brotherhood's political network. Qatar funds Al Jazeera, which provides consistent favorable coverage of DSA candidates.
- Progressive International: DSA is a founding member of Progressive International, a transnational socialist network with affiliates in Venezuela (Chavista parties), Bolivia (MAS), and Brazil (PT). The network explicitly coordinates electoral strategies across member countries.
- Post-October 7 protests: DSA was a primary organizational force behind campus and street protests following Hamas's October 7, 2023 attack. DSA's national leadership released a statement that did not condemn Hamas violence; several chapters released statements expressing "solidarity with the Palestinian resistance."
Did You Know?
DSA's international committee maintains formal relationships with socialist parties in Cuba, Venezuela, and Bolivia — all countries where private property in the means of production has been abolished by law.
Verbatim: What DSA Members Said in 2025–2026
The paper documents on-record statements from DSA members and DSA-endorsed elected officials. A selection:
- "We don't want a seat at the table. We want to flip the table." — DSA national co-chair Maria Svart, 2025 convention keynote.
- "Landlords produce nothing. They extract rent from workers who produce everything." — NYC Councilmember Shahana Hanif (DSA), 2026 housing debate.
- "The question is not whether to socialize healthcare — it's whether we do it before or after the next market crash." — Rep. Rashida Tlaib, 2025 Progressive Caucus meeting.
- "Zionism is a settler-colonial project and we stand against it." — DSA national resolution, 2023, reaffirmed 2025.
Think About It — Discussion Questions
- DSA argues it pursues change through elections, not revolution — does that make it fundamentally different from Marxist-Leninist parties that pursued revolution? Where does the distinction matter and where does it not?
- Six of the Communist Manifesto's 10 planks appear in DSA's platform. DSA members would argue these planks are mainstream in every European social democracy. Are they right? If so, what does that tell us about Europe's direction vs. the Manifesto's goals?
- Should DSA's foreign organizational affiliations (Progressive International, Qatari-linked groups) be treated as evidence of foreign influence, or as routine international solidarity among like-minded political parties? What standard should apply?
Bottom Line
DSA is not a fringe movement — it controls a congressional bloc, the mayor of the largest U.S. city, and dozens of state and local offices. Its platform matches six of the Communist Manifesto's ten planks, sourced from DSA's own published documents.
Want the full sourced paper with APA references?
Download Paper 7 (.docx)