Memberships in Democratic Socialist of America chapters around the country have surged in the past eight weeks, reports The Atlantic.
An estimated 10,000 people have joined since March, bringing the group’s total membership to roughly 66,000, according to internal figures.
Leaders of the DSA attribute some of this recent growth to Senator Bernie Sanders suspending his presidential campaign in early April, which sent his supporters seeking another outlet for their organizing energies. But current economic and public-health conditions have sparked anger nationwide—and the present moment seems especially ripe for socialist outrage, according to the magazine.
“People are really starting to just look around and say, ‘Man, capitalism isn’t working,’” said the co-chair of the Detroit DSA chapter, who requested to be quoted anonymously for fear of professional repercussions, reports Atlantic’s Elaine Godfrey. “If the markets can’t even produce hand sanitizer or toilet paper or masks during a plague—what good is this system?”, he asked.
Of course, the problem with the shortages of hand sanitizer and toilet paper are not the result of capitalism but the lack of free-market capitalism, as I explained back in March, here: There is Plenty of Toilet Paper.
Right now, the DSA is emphasizing recruitment, framing their efforts as giving struggling workers “a way to fight back,” the DSA Denver labor chair, Mariah Wood said. “It’s a good time to be a socialist,” she added.
According to the article, “the DSA is interested in recruiting higher-income workers on the front lines of the crisis, too. Through word of mouth, the Twin Cities chapter has reached out to health-care employees who feel like their workplace conditions are unsafe.”
Keep in mind, socialists are very clever operators. They will use any crisis, including the lockdown which is closer to socialist central planning than anything else, to promote their very shallow understanding of economics and societal organization.
They do, however, understand organizing to gain power, because power-seeking and the desire to rule over others is what they are all about.
–RW
Part of the plan.
.
Seems to me there are a lot more than 66,000 stupid people in this country. What can you say to someone who actually says this:
“People are really starting to just look around and say, ‘Man, capitalism isn’t working,’” said the co-chair of the Detroit DSA chapter”