I appreciate everyone’s responses a lot. I also think it was good to remove the post because there was some reactionary stuff in the google doc I linked. I found it through one of the articles that Bad Mouse’s link led to, not in any of the other comments. I only looked at the “first hand accounts” links in the doc and didn’t even double check what else there was so that’s my error.
I had a feeling the take would be that there are certainly big flaws, as there are in any org, with any group of people, but PSL is still one of the few vehicles for socialist agitation that there actually exists, and by joining it we can help improve it.
I’m likely going to be moving to San Francisco when I’m back in the states in case anyone has recommendations about specific orgs in the bay that are certainly good.
Also I got to say Bad Mouse’s ultra turn also bummed me out a little. It seems like such a baby leftist thing to do to just shit on a socialist party from across an ocean and then refuse to elaborate.
If I were to give you a personal rec it would be to feel comfortable joining PSL but also don’t lose yourself in any problematic behaviors a given local chapter might have. There’s a risk in any (imo prematurely) Demcent org to feel a need to follow the line lest you lose your friend group / organizing group and it’s okay to give yourself permission to say no to bad ideas and to raise issues. I’ve seen plenty of folks stay in places they don’t really feel safe because of those fears, including a trans comrade that felt completely alienated by a class reductionist org but didn’t want to remove themselves from their friends/comrades by leaving and joining a different org. They’re still having a hard time with this.
I see. It’s something I’ll definitely look into and I think I’ll give it a shot in the case that I can actually make it past the onboarding phase. I’ll always have family and friends outside the org so that is probably a good boundary to keep myself from getting swept up in any organizational drama.
Do you think it’s worth any of our time to try to steer DSA into a better direction? I feel like if they could sever their ties with the Democrats it could become a vehicle for some real agitation and organizing. Again it just takes involvement. It’s funny how “don’t let perfect be the enemy of good” actually applies to socialist organizing because we are trying to change the world for the better but not to voting for genocidal capital-simp freaks because they are, you know, actually trying to do bad.
Nice! Glad to hear you’re still interested in joining an org! For most people just taking that first step is the major inflection point in becoming an organizer. You can do it!
Re: DSA, imo it’s in decline and continues to be full of liberals and old semi-reformed Trots with completely unrealistic ideas. It varies wildly by locale, though. There are chapters that are dominated by Trots, chapters dominated by MLs, chapters dominated by environmentalist SocDems, etc etc. The most common DSA member is one that forgot to cancel their dues and has never been to a meeting. I would rate DSA as middle of the pack in terms of a first org to join. You probably won’t learn any theory through it and it probably won’t give you proper training in anything, but you can also craft your own direction and self-teach without others getting in the way and there’s a decent chance they’re involved in some labor stuff (but probably not in a particularly powerful way). It will waste your time on drama if you pay attention to it. Luckily, it’s very easy to leave the DSA lol.
The major issue with the DSA is that it mostly grew due to Bernie so it’s people whose leftward transition more or less arrested at “slightly left of Bernie” or went off in one of several disillusionment pipelines and these people do not agree with each other about anything and most of them haven’t read basic theory or are media illiterate. So there’s two issues: it’s aimless as an org overall, with many liberal tendencies, and they have absolutely no idea how to grow the org, having benefited from an event that will probably not happen for them again. It is possible to join groups trying to make DSA better overall, but to be realistic you’re looking at a decade of struggle and no guarantees. Also the few decent subgroups tend to be specific to a given city. Just don’t want you to burn out on that reform project - so enter it with clear eyes!
Re: pro-capital genociders, DSA struggled for like 1-2 years with merely criticizing Bowman for funding the iron dome. DSA’s resolution to this was, over time, to disband its Palestinian-focused working group, punt on censuring Zionists and support for Zionism within its org, and spreading a bunch of nonsense about how they’ve gotta support their few elected members. Bowman then said he’d left the DSA a year earlier lol. That’s the kind of stuff you’d be forced to observe. But you also won’t be joining a culty org or one that actively teaches you incorrectly so just take all of this as a suggestion to engage critically if that’s the org you try first.
Finally, the best org to join will often be the one that is active and large in your area. At least you know it’s doing things. It might be none of the ones we discussed. I would recommend looking at the orgs that are active in Palestine solidarity actions, including protests, because that will rule out a number of opportunist orgs and put you in the general orbit of the “best” org in your region, whatever it might be. If an org is coordinating those actions and does well-regarded labor work I recommend joining that one.