EXCLUSIVE: Socialism is gaining ground in America. We asked a DSA leader all about it. 

They want to abolish the Senate, the Electoral College and ICE, defund the Department of War and “demilitarize police departments,” and replace both the presidency and the Supreme Court with an executive and judiciary “chosen by and subordinate to Congress.”

They’re the Democratic Socialists of America, and the group’s platform has resonated with voters such that seven DSA-backed House candidates are likely headed to Congress after the November midterms, the organization says.

Heartlander News asked Andrew Thompson, a member of DSA’s National Political Committee, about the DSA’s new platform, Workers Deserve More, which was released in July. Answering for himself, Thompson said he believes the DSA is “stepping into the vacuum of the Democratic Party.”

The DSA is the largest socialist organization in America, and its membership has grown from about 5,000 to almost 126,000 in a little over a decade, according to its own figures.

Thompson, in a video interview, argued that the Democrats have “ultimately failed” and that the “genocide” in Gaza, as well as “American endless wars,” are frustrating people across the political spectrum. He also noted that DSA has recently been prolific in labor organizing and that chapters across the country have been “fighting back against ICE.”

“ICE detention centers pretty much operate as concentration camps across the country,” Thompson said, seated in front of a poster depicting a blue horse statue whose red eyes beamed lasers at an ice block. Above the mustang read, in all capital letters, “NO ICE IN CO.” The horse appeared to be a depiction of the statue beside the Denver International Airport, known as “Blucifer.”

Thompson, who is based in Colorado, has been a DSA member since 2021 and belongs to the Denver chapter.

He grew up in the Midwest, in a rural Wisconsin town of less than 2,500 people. Thompson said he watched his mother work in a factory for “her entire life,” that she suffered multiple workplace injuries and that they both fervently agree with the DSA that America should have “some form of socialized health care.”

“I’ve been working since I was a child and I don’t really want that future for anyone else,” he said, adding that he worked on his grandparents’ farm. “I want people to be able to have a dignified life.”

Out to change America

Thompson expressed his convictions about the socialist future he imagines.

“I have so much faith in it because I, as a member, am a part of a collective that has the ability to make a fundamental change in this country,” he said, adding that he wants to craft a future where “a better world is possible” that allows for “more agency” in life that he does not believe capitalism provides.

“I’ve organized with people who are in their 60s, 70s, to people who are in high school, and the same unifying factor is we all come together and discuss things that we think will make our communities a safe and better place for all [and] not under a profit incentive,” he said. “So, join a DSA chapter [and] learn what it’s all about. It’s not really that scary. You’re going to meet somebody that wants you to have health care and a house and a roof over your head and not have to choke on air pollution.”

In response to critics’ concern that socialism inevitably leads to communism, Thompson said he welcomes the conversation “to some degree.”

“I think there’s a lot of fear mongering about socialism, et cetera, to scare people that it’s going to take away their rights, liberties, et cetera, when it’s kind of the exact opposite,” he said. “I welcome the conversation. Capitalism has neither the capacity, nor the morality, nor the ethics to solve the problems of poverty.”

Supporters of free markets note that more than one billion people have escaped extreme poverty in the past few decades, a shift attributable to capitalism.

When asked if the DSA cares to differentiate democratic socialism from communism, Thompson said he’s not necessarily concerned about labels because “DSA at the end of the day is a big tent organization.”

Some DSA groups, known as caucuses, openly advocate for communism, such as the Red Star caucus, the Communist caucus and the Marxist Unity Group.

Thompson said his activities include “a lot of Palestine solidarity organizing.” In a follow-up email, he supplied a quote he attributed to Tarek Ismail, an associate professor of law at the CUNY School of Law: “They label you a terrorist, so you spend your time fighting the label instead of fighting them.”

“A trend of authoritarian regimes and political leaders use the terrorist [label] to reframe political disagreements as matters of criminal threat,” Thompson added in a written statement, clarifying the quotation.

He repeated socialism’s call to collectivism.

“You are much more empowered as an individual when you get to work amongst a collective towards common shared interests for the betterment of your community rather than the profit incentive,” he said.

Does socialism work?

When asked what the DSA has to say to critics who note socialism has historically failed and what the organization’s preferred system will do differently, Thompson said, “I think the first thing I would say is, find me a socialist project in the world that America hasn’t tried to intervene to kill the leaders or kill members of the socialist or communist party.”

He referenced The Jakarta Method, a 2020 political history book by journalist Vincent Bevins, which he summarized as a good resource to learn more about the CIA and “American-backed corporations” allegedly snuffing out progressive uprisings in Southeast Asia.

When asked a follow-up question on how an individual’s rights would be guarded under the DSA’s platform, Thompson said in a written statement, “I think it would be difficult to find a governing majority of a multi-party proportional legislature willing to expend political capital to infringe upon foundational rights, and not face consequences from the people who directly elect them.”

Other DSA members have equated their proposed platform to a parliamentary system. Notably, several parliamentary systems around the world have implemented “hate speech” laws and harsh firearm restrictions.

When asked if Thompson is concerned about being associated with communist Russia or Mao’s regime, he said, “I think it’s pretty crazy that the United States is the only country in the world that has like over 600 military bases and occupies over half of the globe.” He added that the U.S. is threatening the sovereignty of other countries and that it, along with defense contractors, is profiteering off the military-industrial complex.

“We are the only truly democratic organism that exists in the United States other than unions,” he said, suggesting people “Find a local DSA chapter in your area and join it.”

One question Thompson couldn’t immediately answer was what he thinks it means to be an American.

“I don’t really know if I have an answer to this question because I don’t – I kind of see myself more as an internationalist,” he said after a pause.

While an American is someone born here or naturalized, those legal definitions create “artificial boundaries” that lead to people being otherized, placed in concentration camps, deported, killed and written off as “disposable people,” he said.

He admitted others in the DSA might not share his view. “We’re an organization. You can ask five different people and get six different opinions,” he said.