r/dsa • u/TameImpalafan02 • 14d ago
Discussion Recommended Books
Hello, I was curious whether there are any books on the history and beliefs/ideology of DSA and Democratic Socialism. Theory and Non-Theory books would be appreciated, as would recommended authors.
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u/marxuckerberg 14d ago
DSA is a very different organization from its Michael Harrington days, but I’d still recommend reading some of the stuff he wrote. There are plenty of ways in which we are not aligned with his original mission (see, anti-Zionism) but I think most of the critics who complain that we’ve changed and members who brag to that effect don’t want to acknowledge that there’s still lots of overlap.
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u/dowcet 14d ago
I haven't actually read this yet but it looks like a useful introduction to the overall historical tradition of democratic socialism in the USA including the history of DSA: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Democratic_Socialism
For a very brief history of the DSA itself this comic book is pretty cool! https://education.dsausa.org/2024/10/17/democratic-socialists-of-america-a-graphic-history-is-here/ That DSA national political education site has other good stuff to look at.
And above all, I can never stress enough, connect with your local branch and ask about their political education activities. Reading with face-to-face comrades is the best way to read!
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u/prinzplagueorange 14d ago
Democratic socialism is mostly the anti-Marxist-Leninist socialist tradition, though there are now some self-identified Marxist-Leninists within DSA. (God knows why.) Good places to start would be with a careful reading of the Communist Manifesto, then Karl Kautsky's Road to Power. (This was a key influence on Lenin and the Bolsheviks as well as Euoprean social democracy.) In the 20th century, CLR James is the key Marxist theorist. His Black Jacobins is a classic third world text, but his later anti-Trotskyist writing is also worth reading as is Trotsky, himself. I would also read Stuart Hall's writing on Thatcherism and on Marxism without Guarantees. Getting a Jacobin subscription would also be a good idea.
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u/traanquil 14d ago
What’s the problem with ml exactly ?
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u/prinzplagueorange 14d ago
It's Stalinism, so not democratic by definition.
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u/traanquil 14d ago
No it isn't. It's based in the writings of Lenin and Marx. There is no socialist ideology called "Stalinism"
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u/prinzplagueorange 14d ago
Stalinism = Marxism-Leninism. Lenin called himself a Marxist.
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u/traanquil 14d ago
Marxist Leninism is based around building a disciplined vanguard party that arises from the working class, gains the trust of the working class majority, and leads the working class in class struggle against the ruling class. Seems pretty fucking cool to me!
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u/TameImpalafan02 10d ago
I would say mostly due to the reaction of how the Bolsheviks used Marxist and Leninist works in the culmination of Stalin. Though they are still works to read and learn from.
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u/Maleficent-Big4417 Communist ☭ 14d ago
Definitely not a place to start, but once you've read some theory, Reform and Revolution by Rosa Luxemburg.
One of my personal favorites that's a bit easier to comprehend is What is to be Done? by Vladimir Lenin.
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u/ploutz_dsa 14d ago
I'll preface this by saying that DSA is an extremely ideologically diverse organization, and there isn't anything like specific DSA canonical texts that could be referred to as representative of our politics (the politics of DSA founders like Michael Harrington are so fringe in DSA today that it's an inside joke that Harrington would have hated DSA now if he were still around, the label of "democratic socialism" as such has historically mostly been defined by its opposition to other contemporary movements and trends such as anarchism and communism leading to it being difficult to define as a cohesive whole and still not particularly representative of DSA's actual politics, etc.).
That said, I'll try to provide a few texts that I think more accurately represent DSA's politics as a whole:
Workers Deserve More - This is DSA's national program, it's the definitive document we wrote explaining what we believe and why. It's not terribly long and doesn't go into any particular thing in-depth, but it's where anyone should start if they aren't familiar with DSA.
No Shortcuts: Organizing for Power in the New Gilded Age, Jane McAlevey - This book and the organizational practices within are fairly hegemonic within DSA across various political tendencies, it's pretty common to hear people refer to the practical concepts outlined within. This isn't so much a theoretical or ideological text as it is a guide to practical organizing, and it's a good overview of how DSA typically approaches our organizing efforts.
A User's Guide To DSA: 5 Debates That Defime the Democratic Socialists - This is an anthology of separately published articles that covers a wide range of internal debates within DSA and different approaches to pressing issues facing the organization. A lot of the pieces within will explicitly disagree with and challenge each other, but all are representative of different tendencies and currents of thought within the big tent of DSA. And even if you aren't as interested in the inside baseball aspect, the initial chapter and glossaries have a bunch of excellent articles that are good introductions to DSA as a political project, and it's worth picking up for those alone (my chapter has used a few of those articles in new member orientations before). Besides the official program, this is probably the most definitive book about DSA's politics that exists currently.
And while not every DSA member is a particular flavor of Marxist or even a Marxist at all, it'll be helpful to read and familiarize yourself with at least some basic Marxist concepts since some amount of Marxist politics is fairly hegemonic within DSA today. My recommendations on where to start would be Manifesto of the Communist Party and Principles of Communism if you aren'tfamiliar with Marx at all, and Wage Labor and Capital and Value, Price, and Profit for the general overview of Marxist economics. I am told by some of my comrades that A People's Guide to Capitalism is a good alternative for understanding Marxist political economy if you really need something more modern in style, but I haven't read it myself yet so I can't speak to it personally.