Red Star’s NPC Newsletter

Hello from Red Star! Curious what we’ve been up to on the NPC? Read on to find out!

Megan’s Chapter Visits

DSA Co-Chair Megan has been hard at work supporting chapter organizing and building connections between chapters and the national organization. Since beginning her tenure as co-chair, Megan has visited dozens of chapters for conventions, leadership meetings, organizing projects, and a few group tattoos!

Supporting organizing in chapters is a crucial function of the national organization, as so much of our on-the-ground work is done through chapters. By building these relationships, we connect chapter democracy and the lessons learned through chapters’ organizing experience into our shared national organization. If you want to chat with Megan about DSA, set up an appointment!

Convention Planning Committee

Planning for Convention 2025 is officially underway! As officially announced to DSA last week, this convention will be in Chicago from August 8th to the 10th. At convention, DSA will set our agenda for the next two years. We highly encourage everyone to run for convention delegate in your chapter for the opportunity to participate in our organizational democracy.

Red Star has been and will continue to be highly involved in planning convention, with four members seated on the Convention Planning Committee, including Chris W as co-chair and John and Megan as NPC representatives. In our approach to convention planning, we are working to ensure that convention is as participatory, accessible, and constructive as it can be.

If you are interested in helping to plan convention, we encourage you to apply for one of the planning subcommittees.

National Comms Restructuring

Red Star supported a recent NPC resolution restructuring the Communications Committee. The new structure will allow for applicants outside of national priority committees, meaning any DSA member will be able to apply. It will also introduce a new co-chair structure, in which one co-chair is a non-NPC member, in addition to the current single NPC chair.

This is an important step toward opening up national DSA to rank and file members, enabling and encouraging broader participation. If you are interested in joining the Comms Committee, keep an eye out for when the application opens!

Releasing Membership Numbers

In September, Red Star’s NPCers supported a resolution to share membership monthly numbers with all members, including total members and the net increases and declines by chapter, as well as the survey responses members give on quitting.

The September membership numbers can now be found on the forum. We encourage all DSA members to look through these charts to better understand the growth and shrinkage of chapters and the organization as a whole.

NPC Minutes

On October 15th, our NPC members submitted a resolution to finally address the eight-month backlog of minutes from DSA's highest body that has severely hampered our efforts to increase transparency for membership. The following day, the Secretary, Cara T, resigned, citing lack of capacity and her desire to prioritize other work. We applaud her recognition that she was unable to fulfill the obligations of the role, but this level of disregard for crucial record-keeping responsibilities should never have happened in the first place. We will be working diligently to support the incoming secretary in completing the backlog in a timely manner.

What’s Next on the NPC?

National calendar resolution: Our NPC members will be introducing a resolution to set up and maintain a public calendar of national events. The calendar will give both existing members and people just finding DSA a one-stop shop for all of our organizer trainings, campaign calls, education events, and much more. This will be an important part of making the national organization and its resources more readily accessible to all members.

Recent Publications

National DSA Endorsements Belong to National DSA is a piece chronicling DSA’s handling of the request to endorse AOC, Red Star’s perspective on the process, and a broader look at the importance of treating national endorsements as a collective expression of our politics. Keep up with our website and social media for ongoing publications!

Now Reading…

Here’s a peek into what our NPC members are currently reading!

Megan: Hex by Thomas Olde Heuvelt
Sam: Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin
John: Black Scare / Red Scare by Charisse Burden-Stelly
Bonus: Megan, Sam, and John are all reading Marx's Capital, Volume I alongside the National Political Education Committee’s reading group!

Further discussion

If you're interested in discussing this newsletter with other DSA members, head on over to the DSA discussion forum.

The forums are open to all DSA members in good standing. If you're not a DSA member in good standing, sign up or renew your dues!