Red Star NPC Monthly Newsletter: December Holiday Edition!
Hello and happy holidays from Red Star!
Elections and Appointments
In the last month DSA has completed a series of internal elections and appointments, many filling new positions created by the August convention.
Ashik and our very own Megan were elected as new national chairs! We want to congratulate Ashik on his victory, and look forward to working together as we chart out a new path for this new role. We’re excited for Megan, who will do an incredible job governing and representing our organization going forward.
We also want to congratulate Red Star candidates Matt N, Sanwal Y, and Fern D, as well as all the other newly elected members of the Democracy Commission! There’s a lot of work we’re excited to get started on with the new Commission, and our members are going to do an excellent job helping drive that forward.
Congratulations also to Red Star candidate Bobby N and the rest of the newly elected National Electoral Committee Steering Committee! Bobby will provide excellent leadership on the NEC as we navigate the challenging electoral questions facing DSA.
Finally, we congratulate the newly elected National Labor Commission co-chairs, as well as the newly appointed Editorial Board. We are particularly excited to see how the Editorial Board handles the work assigned to it by convention.
NPC Updates
At the last NPC meeting, Red Star NPC member Megan Romer introduced a resolution to collectivize and strengthen recruitment efforts, and it passed! The resolution (whose text you can find here), requires proposals seeking national funding of more than $500 dollars to outline a plan to engage existing members and recruit new ones. It also clarifies the responsibility of the GDC to train chapters on recruitment and engagement, and mandates that core trainings be recorded and made available to membership. This resolution will help ensure that best practices around recruitment and retention are adopted throughout the organization, and that the knowledge to do so is made widely available.
On financial matters, John has been filling the role of Treasurer on the interim Steering Committee. While he was not elected to the Steering Committee in the recent election, the NPC decided to keep him in the position until the January full NPC meeting where they could discuss how they can keep him in the role doing the work. That the NPC agreed to this is a testament to the hard work that John is doing as treasurer, and what an excellent job he’s doing.
The DSA budget will be at the forefront of the NPC term in the coming months. As John shared in the December 10 meeting, the organization is in a precarious financial situation. At this same meeting, the NPC approved moving cash reserves that had previously been put into high yield CD accounts back into the DSA checking account to ensure we have adequate cash flow in the coming months. We are facing a 2 million dollar submitted deficit for 2024 if we do not reduce our spending, even on convention approved items. At the current pace, our money (including reserves) will be at around 380k dollars by the end of 2024 which is 1 month of operating expenses. The organization would not have the funds to operate by as soon as February 2025. The NPC will be deliberating further on determining the 2024 budget in light of these conditions early in the coming year.
The NPC also made some other decisions at its December meeting. The National Tech Committee was authorized to set up a self-hosted password manager for National Bodies and eventually chapters. This will improve security across DSA while reducing any subscription fees for a managed service. The NPC also directed the NEC to send information about deliberations on candidates who were not recommended for endorsement, in addition to endorsement recommendations. This will allow the NPC to make better informed decisions on our electoral strategy.
What We’re Reading
Megan: Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin
John: Tress of The Emerald Sea by Brandon Sanderson
Black Scare/Red Scare: Theorizing Capitalist Racism in the United States by Charisse Burden-Stelly
Sam: Minor Detail by Adania Shibli
Stalin: History and Critique of a Black Legend by Domenico Losurdo
Recipe Korner
Comrade Rose asked Megan to share her marmalade recipe in order to make rugelach. Here’s an excerpt from their conversation, where Megan explains her recipe:
Easiest thing in the world, it's just 1:1:1 chopped citrus, water, sugar. You chop up the citrus but try to pull the seeds and any bigger pith hunks out (you can "suprème" them if you want to be a purist, I'm much lazier) but don't throw them away, save them and wrap them in cheesecloth (or do what I do, bulk single-use fabric teabags) and then boil all the citrus chunks and water until the peels are super soft, like down to gooey. Then pull out your seed/pith bag, add your sugar, boil for 20 min? Maybe 30? You can use a thermometer but I don't remember the temp, I always just stick a few spoons in the freezer, dip one in, and do the little nudge to see if it's gelatinous.
Then can or freeze. I like to add a cinnamon stick or star anise or, for Satsumas, a vanilla bean because I can never just be normal. Cardamom, black peppercorns, whatev.
Further Discussion
If you're interested in discussing this piece with other DSA members, head on over to the DSA Discussion forums at https://discussion.dsausa.org/t/red-star-npc-monthly-newsletter-december-holiday-edition/29178.
The forums are open to all DSA members in good standing. If you haven't made an account, you can do so at optin.dsausa.org, and if you're not a DSA member in good standing, sign up or renew your dues at https://act.dsausa.org/donate/membership/