This year is perhaps one that defies description. So instead, we’re going to let all the work we did speak for itself.
After the election of Donald Trump, people began searching for something beyond America’s rotten two-party system. Nationwide, DSA membership more than doubled to around 31,000 members. New chapters popped up in cities across the country, and some older ones were reinvigorated with fresh ideas and passion. Here in Seattle, our membership exploded to more than 600 people. We have a lot to celebrate.
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- Seattle DSA members carried out a service project at Mount Baker’s Heliotrope Ridge trail in July.
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- Seattle DSA was able to send 16 delegates to the 2017 DSA National Convention in Chicago.
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- Seattle DSA Community Service Committee
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- Bhaskar Sunkara, editor of Jacobin magazine and then-Vice-Chair of DSA, speaks to hundreds at the Seattle Socialism Conference.
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- DSA members march in solidarity at the Martin Luther King Jr. Day march in January 2017.
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- Seattle DSA was part of a coalition of organizations that put pressure on the City Council to pass a cit income tax.
This year, we formed committees and working groups to tackle everything from community service projects to endorsing our very first city council and mayoral candidates. We were involved the historic campaign to enact an income tax in the city, we showed up at picket lines to support unions in their fight for workplace democracy, endorsed Nikkita Oliver for mayor, and taught many people to canvas for the first time for the Jon Grant campaign. We started a monthly film series, led countless reading and discussion groups, and supported our unhoused neighbors during brutal encampment sweeps. We sent delegates to the national convention in Chicago, voted to make Medicare for All a national priority for 2018 and made connections with chapters across the country. We started a little thing called Hellhole.
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- A sign directing people to a monthly DSA meeting. Ain’t no party like a socialist party.
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- DSA members speak during a public comment period and demand the city stop the sweep of encampments.
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- Canvassers gear up to knock on doors in a final push for the Jon Grant City Council Pos. 8 campaign.
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- SDSA members join Seattle Clinic Defense in supporting Planned Parenthood.
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- Seattle DSA members camp out at City Hall to protest encampment sweeps.
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- You can never have enough buttons.
It’s amazing what we accomplished in just a single year, but there is still so much left to be done. The road is long, and the battle against capitalism and its oppressive, soul-crushing weight will outlast our lifetimes. It has never—and will never—be easy, but if this is what we’ve achieved in one year, think about we can achieve in a few more.
Reflect on 2017 by taking a look at everything we published on Dispatches this year. See you in 2018!
January:
- Martin Luther King Jr. March brings Seattle together in solidarity
- SeaTac International Swarms With Dissent
February:
March:
- The New Bloodletting: Why We Need Medicare-for-All not Exploitation-by-Few
- Dignity Shouldn’t Be A Luxury. Period.
- Introducing Seattle DSA’s 2017 Candidate Survey
- ‘We’re going to get this done:’ Councilmember Johnson pledges support for city income tax
- Rolling Out Our Fundraiser For Abortion Access
April:
- Building a center of resistance at the Seattle Socialism Conference
- Coding a Different Workplace
- Transit Riders Union Income Tax Gains New Major Supporter: Mayor Ed Murray
May:
- Seattle DSA endorses housing activist Jon Grant for City Council
- Seattle DSA ?s Democracy Vouchers
- A Seattle income tax is possible: Here’s how the Transit Riders Union made it happen
June:
- Seattle DSA Endorses Nikkita Oliver for Mayor
- Seattle DSA & the Low Income Housing Institute – Real Work that Needs Doing
- Why Give Back to Your Bosses? How corporate PACs undermine democracy
July:
- Grassroots Organizing, in Action: Seattle City Council Unanimously Passes Income Tax Measure
- UW’s Minimum Wage Study Was Bad, But the Media Pile-On Was Worse
- Seattle DSA & Washington Trails Association – Digging Duff Together!
- Who Really Benefits From Benevolent Business?
August:
- What Is It Good For?
- ‘We’re gonna have to eat the rich. I’ll start heating up the tortillas’: DSA Convention 2017 reflections
- Introducing…The Hellhole
- Beyond Elections
October:
- Sweeping People Away: How Seattle’s homeless sweeps do more harm than good
- No Society Here
- The Case Against Compromise Politics
- Seattle sweeps away its vets: Getting to know the unhoused residents of Beacon Hill
- Socialism and Public Banking: The Story of the Bank of North Dakota and the Nonpartisan League
November:
- Seattle is the Canary in the Coal Mine
- 91 Business Owners Looking to Pass the Buck (Figuratively, of Course)
- Universal Healthcare Isn’t Just a Human Right—It’s Freedom
December:
- Statement of Solidarity With Survivors of Sexual Abuse & Harassment
- “Things to trash and things to keep”: Lives divided by continued sweeps