Building International Socialism In A New Era
Previous generations of socialists around the world have had the benefit of a structured and developed international communist movement. Before World War I, the Second International served as the connecting point for a global revolutionary struggle. After the split between the Second International’s left and right wings, the Communist International took up the mantle as the institution fighting for global socialist transition. The USSR at the core of the Comintern served as a source of inspiration and provided (sometimes covert) material support. We don’t have that benefit. The history of the 20th century is the history of the fracturing and disintegration of these institutions. The 21st century will be defined by efforts to rebuild them on new foundations.
Unlike the frenetic interventionist period of socialist China’s earlier history, the modern day People’s Republic of China now pursues a policy of standoffish socialist internationalism. It organizes scattered conferences on socialism while prioritizing a developmentalist sovereignty-focused foreign policy. China’s rise is reshaping the world and creating the conditions for progressive movements to take hold, but it will be the responsibility of socialists around the world to steer these developments towards a full socialist transition.
The international socialist movement is, across the world, reaching out tendrils that are straining to connect. The growing influence of the São Paulo Forum and solidarity across the Latin American states provide opportunities for shared development and mutual defense. Organizations like the Progressive International empower their participants with shared education and the building of narratives that can be taken up by future international movements.
As DSA debates the direction of our international work, Red Star members and like-minded comrades should advocate for a culture of openness towards international socialist movements. DSA should prioritize inquiry and investigation at all levels, studying global struggles and applying their lessons to our work here in America. This means extensive political education, multi-sided investigation, and expanded opportunities for DSA members to participate in people-to-people exchanges. And as participants in that inquiry, communists in DSA should ensure that DSA members are equipped with information that captures the real history, scale, and achievements of modern socialist and anti-imperialist projects.
If DSA can create a truly open approach to learning from socialist movements around the world, it will develop a robust and rigorous understanding of their contradictions and achievements. This process will also create organic connections that can serve as the foundation for the future internationalist movement.
Peaceful Development: The Condition for Socialist Transition
Though the Soviet Union played a diminishing role in its twilight as a driving force in the fight for socialist transition, its absence has created a massive vacuum in the global movement against imperialism. Over the past 30 years, the capitalist counterrevolution has expanded globally, without even the nominal role held by the Soviet Union to keep US imperialism’s rapacious instincts in check.
The Communist Party of China now occupies the position of the largest socialist party in power, governing a country of 1.4 billion people and, by measures like Purchasing Power Parity GDP, the world’s largest economy.
However, since the reform-and-opening up period began in the late 1970s, the People’s Republic of China has played a much more restrained and ambivalent role in the international socialist movement. Moving from its more bellicose third-world oriented foreign policy (including conflicts with other socialist powers such as the Soviet Union and Vietnam, and support for the Khmer Rouge and the Mujahideen in Afghanistan), China has adopted a policy of multilateralism. It prioritizes securing “Peaceful Development” for China’s rise and enforcing norms of international sovereignty in global affairs.
China remains an assertive and important player on the world stage, but its major interventions are best described as developmentalist internationalist rather than socialist internationalist. Initiatives like the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, the Belt and Road Initiative, and the expansion of the BRICS framework provide a path for independence from the US financial system and reduce the US empire’s power. But these systems are agnostic of the internal development and political systems of their participating nations, leaving room for a global capitalist developmentalism. China’s role is often contradictory in international affairs; for example, China has deepened economic ties with Israel while also taking a more assertive stance against Israel’s recent actions in Gaza, potentially burning these bridges.
At the same time, dismissing China as having abandoned the principles and goals of international socialist transformation feels inadequate. China puts special emphasis on its relationship of solidarity with Cuba, including providing significant assistance as Cuba suffers under a US-led blockade. China convenes many events like the World Socialism Forum that serve as connecting points for global socialist movements. The direction of China’s internationalism is an open question even within China. Initiatives like the Tricontinental Institute’s partnership with the social sciences journal Wenhua Zhongheng provide a good view into some of the internal debates among Chinese Marxists on the need to be more assertive in solidarity with the Global South and progressive movements globally.
The spirit of internationalism is also clear for any who have had the opportunity to engage in direct people-to-people interaction. Recently, the migration of American TikTok users to the app Xiaohongshu (Red Note) opened up new avenues of communication on topics like China's political system, which the People’s Daily welcomed in a brief article. On platforms like RedNote, in language learning apps like Tandem, and for those who have visited, studied, or worked in China, it’s clear that many ordinary Chinese people are excited to hear about the development of the socialist movement in America and around the globe.
China’s foreign policy seems focused on creating the conditions for an emergence of a new multilateral world order, but the responsibility for socialist transition remains the responsibility of the world order’s participants. The international situation can be a condition for revolutionary change, but the basis of change will come from domestic movements of progressive social forces. As Marco Fernandes writes, for the global south, “it is necessary to strengthen national popular projects with broad participation from progressive social sectors, especially the working classes, otherwise, the fruits of any development are unlikely to be reaped by those who need them the most.”
Socialists should not confuse projects like BRICS, the Belt and Road Initiative, and China’s significant inroads into development in Africa for a new socialist international, but neither should we dismiss the monumental shifts they are creating in the balance of world powers. Socialists should celebrate the impact of these new developments in reducing the power of imperialist hegemony, while maintaining our basic orientation of support for socialist and progressive movements in all countries.
Here in America, we must fight to keep the US empire from undermining global anti-imperialist movements while we struggle for revolution of our own. We are not alone in the struggle for socialism, but socialists worldwide will need to be the ones to take the first steps.
The Tasks of American Socialists In The New Era
Under these conditions, American socialists have three core tasks:
- Accelerate the decline of American imperialism and allow for progressive movements in the periphery to find their own footing.
- Learn from international socialist movements to inform and inspire our organizing work here in America
- Use education, people-to-people diplomacy, and shared organizing to build organic connections and solidarity at all levels of the socialist movement that can become the roots of a future socialist internationalism
The first task remains the most urgent. Though the emergence of multipolarity provides an opportunity for global progressive movements to take hold, the US empire is in a period of reorientation. Newly-minted Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s comments on multipolarity reflect US imperial administration beginning to reckon with the shift.
The liberal interventionist policy of regime change through NGO meddling may soon give way to a greater focus on direct confrontation and military buildup. As interest rates rise, venture capital funding which once went to consumer tech now prioritizes military contracting, with Silicon Valley and El Segundo firms expanding their influence in the Pentagon.
The US empire is not withdrawing from its “security objectives,” but refining the policies used to achieve them. Though changes such as a “reduction” in military budgets and the “closing” of the US Agency for International Development may at first seem to be a withdrawal from US imperial intervention, they represent a consolidation and modernization more than anything else.
Under these conditions, socialists must continue to fight to defund the US war machine, expand the BDS movement and divest from Israel, organize to end the blockade on Cuba, and other work fighting the US empire. But we should also be building towards the growing potential of socialist internationalism through grassroots-level connection that can be expanded on as the socialist movement in America grows its power.
DSA’s Fragile Role In the Anti-Imperialist Movement
DSA has taken many positive steps toward practical intervention in the anti-imperialist movement. Led by the DSA International Committee (IC), DSA has taken a leading role in resisting US funding for the Israeli military, supporting encampments on college campuses across the country, and participating in the No Appetite For Apartheid campaign to expand the BDS movement via mass organizing. Through other organizing work we have become a major force in the movement to end the embargo on Cuba, joined the São Paulo Forum as an Associate Member, and worked directly in solidarity with the ZENKO Henoko Anti-Base Project to oppose the construction of a new military base in Okinawa.
But the IC now sits in an uneasy stasis, with few major shifts in our basic line and work since 2021’s Resolution 14 and the adoption of DSA’s new political platform. The reorientation formalized in 2021 represented a correct basic orientation for DSA but this has been an uneasy compromise between very different factions within DSA. In the absence of major new developments or expansions in our international solidarity work, the 2025 DSA convention may respond more positively to interventions that portray themselves as a new path forward, even if they are rooted in an old third-campist approach to international solidarity.
At the 2023 convention, the Bread and Roses (B&R) caucus put forward an amendment to the International Committee’s consensus resolution, which called to “reorient DSA to a Class-Struggle Internationalism.” This amendment included the formulation of a “‘big tent’ approach to building relationships with socialist and movement groups, organizations, and parties in other countries.” This call to ideological diversity seems to speak DSA’s language and appeals to members’ real desire to approach our international solidarity work with a spirit of open and positive inquiry. At first blush it feels like a new model of how DSA can think of its international orientation, something that many in DSA may welcome. It’s also likely that this formulation could make its way back as DSA debates its international orientation at the 2025 convention.
But B&R’s arguments did not outline a real multifaceted approach to international solidarity that reflects the spirit of cooperation that DSA members think of when they hear the term “big tent.” The article accompanying the resolution by B&R’s Oren S. makes the ideological orientation of the amendment clear. For example, the article brings out many tired arguments skeptical of socialist powers through sarcastic language like “identifies as left-wing.” Though B&R uses the term “big tent,” it’s clear that this is just a rhetorical tool to push a specific line and reverse the positive steps of our international work.
The “big tent” internationalism that B&R put forward was inherently reactive, shaped by the movements they perceive are already sufficiently represented and studied in DSA. But are these international movements really within the tent in the way we envision?
Do members have ample opportunities to learn from the history of the Cuban revolution, apply its lessons to our work, and interact directly with the Cuban people to learn about their struggle and share their own achievements here in America? Can we say the same about the struggle to transform the Venezuelan economy? Lessons and contradictions of the Pink Tide across Latin America? Revolutionary struggle under state oppression in Kenya? Are DSA members able to do real inquiry and learn about the long, precipitous path of socialism in power in China?
As B&R calls for DSA to take a big tent approach to international solidarity, are they ready to take it to its logical conclusion? Will they speak with their chest and say that the 99 million members of the Communist Party of China and 5 million members of the Communist Party of Vietnam are part of the big tent of the international socialist movement? Will DSA welcome them to speak alongside 1.5 billion people struggling to build modern socialist societies? Are the socialist elements of the movement resisting Israeli occupation welcome in the big tent? If so, then let us throw open the doors!
B&R’s position on this question is clear; in their article they write that “[DSA] need[s] to be able to confidently say that the world socialists envision and fight for is not the repressive, authoritarian society of China or Venezuela.” If B&R are not willing to be the ones to build the big tent, Red Star members and communists in DSA should be the ones to push for the full realization of a positive, inclusive international spirit.
Moving DSA’s Internationalism Work Forward
In order to outline a dynamic and exciting vision for DSA’s role in the anti-imperialist movement and avoid a reversal in our current international work, DSA should put a major focus on member-engagement through robust political education and the expansion of organic people-to-people exchanges as a new core task.
The IC has of course done good work in this vein, for example the Venezuelan Feminist Tour in 2022. But this work should be expanded and made a principal focus of the positive vision brought to the 2025 convention. DSA members across the country should be organized to have robust political education and inquiry into socialist and anti-imperialist movements around the world. (The IC consensus resolution designates the Progressive International as DSA’s primary “Political International” but this work can be expanded on further through activity at all levels of DSA.)
Communists in DSA should not shy away from political education that explores the contradictions within these movements, and members should be open to reading and digesting left perspectives that may be critical in some cases. But we should be cautious not to let this be a Trojan Horse to “teach the controversy” in a way that undermines the outcomes of member inquiry.
We should trust that a thorough, multi-sided investigation will help members be able to stand in more informed and vigorous solidarity with socialist and anti-imperialist movements. This process can inspire members to understand their place in the history of global anti-imperialist and socialist struggle.
People-to-people exchanges are transformative, and Member participation in solidarity trips, delegations, and personal travel should be expanded. As we wrote last year, the IC should create a better capacity to use delegations to reach DSA members and the broader public with DSA’s basic line of opposition to US imperialism.
Beyond official delegations, which require detailed attention on the format and communications, members should take it upon themselves to participate in opportunities to create organic connections of learning and discovery. They should be willing to share their work here in America on their visits, and share the things they see among other DSA members and the broader American public. For example, Americans can travel to Cuba even outside of a delegation as part of support for the Cuban people, and see the situation firsthand. From one Red Star member who recently visited Cuba on a personal trip:
“The warm embrace of the Cuban people combined with the breathtaking sights on the island stirred intense feelings of admiration for the strength and resilience of those who fight for socialism and for survival 90 miles from the southern coast of Empire — against an economic blockade and all odds stacked against them. No matter who I spoke to while on the island and no matter their views of the government (which they spoke quite candidly of), they treated me like family. Visiting the island of Cuba as a tourist to connect with everyday Cubans and insert US dollars in the Cuban economy is a small show of solidarity that goes a long way, and definitely lights a fire in your ass to come back home to fight against imperialism.”
At November 2023’s APEC summit, Xi Jinping announced an initiative to invite 50,000 young people to study or participate in exchange programs. Though it was not a caucus initiative, several Red Star members have participated in week-long exchange programs to Shanghai, Beijing, and Harbin in the past year as part of that effort. Red Star members had the opportunity to learn from local government and academic institutions, explore Chinese cities, and meet Chinese people from many walks of life. Almost seven percent of citizens are members of the Communist Party, and it’s clear from any basic interaction with ordinary Chinese people in and out of the Party that opinions about socialism and the future of the global progressive movement are varied and dynamic. Casual interactions with young people passionate about socialism are unavoidable, and Red Star members were grateful to be able to openly discuss our work in the socialist movement in America as well. From Red Star member Michael S:
To learn first hand from people whose parents grew up in poverty about how much socialism has done for their whole generation inspired me to commit myself further to the cause here in the United States. Everything from the village councils to the mass public input process that created Shanghai's urban planning policy is infused with a democratic process and spirit that we should learn from as we grow the movement for socialism. For example, I was amused by the observation that the village councils we visited wrestle with mundane things I can relate to as a DSA member, like pushing for agendas to come out before the meeting and making sure there's always a note taker! The struggle for socialism, to build the everyday practice of organization and collective decision making, is shared across language and national borders.
Outside of Red Star, it was interesting to see members of B&R, Marxist Unity Group, and Reform and Revolution travel to Ireland to canvas for Irish member of parliament Paul Murphy from the ecosocialist organization People Before Profit. Though we should be clear about the distinction between these trips and IC-organized delegations, DSA members self-organizing trips and reflecting on their experiences is an opportunity to learn and share more about organizing culture around the world. From MUG’s Isaac K-D:
“In Ireland we got to spend a week in the life of a PbP foot soldier. Experiencing their dramatically different canvassing practices (the candidate comes to every canvass!), their ongoing debates, and their regular meetings helped me refresh and reframe my own organizing. By seeing similar things done for similar goals in a different context, I was able to step out of my own normal organizing routine and see it from a new perspective.”
DSA should consider expanding opportunities to visit and interact with socialist projects and parties around the world. This could include lower-key visits with looser itineraries that include less diplomatic work and more cultural, immersion, or organizing focuses, or providing resources to self-organize visits and attend existing trips. By default, members with access to disposable income will have an easier time taking these trips on, so DSA should consider opportunities to fundraise and support members in travel with grants or trips that provide discounted rates and curated itineraries, or provide connections to existing trips that may provide support through free travel and/or lodging.
DSA can also engage with diaspora communities, particularly those where anti-communism among immigrant communities is highlighted as a pretext for US intervention. By building connections with and actively recruiting from the progressive elements of diaspora communities, DSA can have stronger opportunities for future organic connections and push back against narratives of conservatism among people living in America from socialist countries.
As members organize for the 2025 convention and consider the future of our international work, DSA members who believe in continuing the positive developments of DSA’s international work in recent years should strongly consider the importance of building a positive program for anti-imperialism. Communists in DSA should take on the responsibility to reach a larger portion of DSA membership with an open and positive spirit of international solidarity.
Further Discussion
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