Red Star Newsletter - August 2026

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

National Work Update

NPC Update

The month of August was a very busy month for our DSA co-chair and Red Star member Megan Romer. Just a few examples of her many media appearances: She appeared on an episode of the Bad Faith podcast to discuss what it means to build a culture of accountability, commitment, and collective responsibility. On NewsNation with Chris Cuomo, she made the case for socialism and explained how DSA is distinct from the Democratic Party. And she unflinchingly defended Workers Deserve More on Fox News. At this moment when many national figures are opportunistically retreating from their positions, defending the program and sticking to DSA's principles is more important than ever. 

DSA’s organization-wide membership survey, spearheaded by Hazel W and the GDC,  is kicking off this month! The last survey was conducted in 2021 and the organization has grown significantly and become much more diverse since then. She also continues to spearhead the National Abolish ICE grants to support chapters facing immediate ICE activity. If your chapter is involved in anti-ICE and abolitionist organizing, please consider applying. 

DSA Treasurer and Red Star NPC member John L has had several interviews talking about August’s successful Socialist Summit, including an interview on Fox News and on the CLASS podcast from the NPEC. 

Growth & Development Committee Update

Red Star has pushed for a vision of chapter development in GDC that rationalizes and centralizes developmental milestones, and part of that goal involves working with staff to collect data on how DSA chapters are doing. GDC Steering recently passed a resolution that standardizes the Chapter Development Rubric as the way DSA will be collecting data and planning interventions with chapters. We hope that as people apply the rubric to their own chapter context, they'll see clear next steps to take to push their chapter forward, and we encourage you to go through this rubric on your own with people in your chapter!

GDC Trainings Subcommittee Update

GDC is looking to help you bring Constructive Criticism workshops to your chapter! Working through our disagreements and filling in each other’s blind spots is a necessary part of being able to win in the class struggle. We can’t win alone and it’s up to us to learn how to struggle together productively. Fill out this interest form to get connected to GDC and organizers from across the country. You can build the foundations for fostering a culture of healthy conflict in your chapter.

Socialist Forum

Socialist Forum, DSA’s quarterly theory and debate publication, is looking for contributions. Building a movement together requires us to communicate and debate our views in order to create stronger alignment and helps us apprehend the challenges and issues we face. If there is a debate you want to weigh in on or an article you have been wanting to write, consider pitching to Socialist Forum! The editors are happy to work with you to make your vision a reality.

Red Star in the Spotlight: Our Members Share their Socialist Analysis

Since our last newsletter, Red Star members have been actively engaging with the broader Left, contributing vital socialist perspectives on a range of critical issues.

Red Star Writes

NPC member, Hazel W., makes the Marxist case for abolition against the left’s growing accommodation to policing and prisons with her piece In Defense of Abolition. Hazel led the charge on adding abolitionist language to Workers Deserve More and this article comes at an opportune time when many DSA electeds and leaders are publicly breaking with our program, and explains why retreating from abolition is a mistake for DSA.

Red Star’s “Reading Now”

Unequal Exchange: Past, Present, and Future' 

In 'Unequal Exchange: Past, Present, and Future', Torkil Lauesen revisits and updates the groundbreaking theory of Unequal Exchange put forth by Arghiri Emmanuel in the 1970s. The text lays bare the inner workings of economic imperialism on the global scale, the intrinsic features of capitalist production and exchange that produce exploitation between classes and between nations, and the powerful political forces that this imbalance unleashes in the Periphery and the Imperial core. Join Red Star on September 3rd at 5 PDT to discuss this essential text that deepens and enriches the Communist analysis of Capitalism in the 21st century.

Monthly Quote

Today the millionaires of all countries are behaving on an international scale in a way that deserves our heartiest thanks […] When the French bourgeoisie makes Bolshevism the central issue in the elections, and accuses the comparatively moderate or vacillating socialists of being Bolsheviks; when the American bourgeoisie, which has completely lost its head, seizes thousands and thousands of people on suspicion of Bolshevism, creates an atmosphere of panic, and broadcasts stories of Bolshevik plots […] we must salute and thank the capitalists. They are working for us. They are helping us to get the masses interested in the essence and significance of Bolshevism, and they cannot do otherwise, for they have already failed to ignore Bolshevism and stifle it.

— V.I. Lenin, Left Wing Communism: An Infantile Disorder

Recipe Korner

Vegan Jambalaya

https://www.noracooks.com/vegan-jambalaya/

Ingredients

• 3 tablespoons olive oil, divided
• 1 package vegan sausage (13 oz), sliced
• 1 large yellow onion, chopped
• 1 green bell pepper, diced
• 1 red bell pepper, diced
• 3 stalks celery, chopped
• 6 cloves garlic, minced
• 2-3 tablespoons cajun seasoning, divided
• 1 teaspoon salt (omit if your cajun seasoning contains salt)
• ¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper, may omit
• 1 teaspoon dried thyme
• 14 ounce can crushed tomatoes
• 2 teaspoons vegan worcestershire sauce
• 1 ½ cups long grain white rice, uncooked
• 2 ¾ cup water
• 1 cup okra, thinly sliced, optional
• fresh chopped parsley and green onion, for serving

Directions

1. In a large pot or pan, add 2 tablespoons of olive oil and warm over medium-high heat. Add the sliced sausages and 1 tablespoon of the cajun seasoning and sauté for 3-4 minutes, until browned and warm. Transfer to a clean plate and set aside.
2. To the same pot, add the last tablespoon of olive oil and the chopped onion, bell peppers and celery. Sauté for 5-7 minutes, stirring frequently. Now add the garlic, 1 more tablespoon cajun seasoning, salt (omit if your cajun seasoning has salt!), cayenne pepper and thyme. Stir and cook for 1 more minute.
3. Now add the crushed tomatoes, worcestershire sauce, rice and water to the pot. Stir well, bring to a boil, then lower the heat to a simmer (covered) and cook for 25-30 minutes, until the rice is cooked. Stir every 5 minutes to make sure the rice doesn't burn and stick to the bottom of the pot. Add a little more water as needed if the mixture starts to dry out.
4. Stir in the okra, if using. Add the sausage back to the pot and mix well. Taste; season with another tablespoon of cajun seasoning, if desired and add more salt and pepper to taste. Remove from heat.
5. Serve sprinkled with chopped parsley and green onions, and enjoy!