R&R Issue 21: Think Global, Act Local

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In R&R Issue 21: Think Global; Act Local, we seek to draw out the connections between global struggles and local organizing.

Socialists currently face countless challenges, many of which operate at a national and international level. Contending with the rising cost of living and the housing crisis, countering the threats of right-wing authoritarianism and the proliferation of imperialist wars, and addressing the unfolding climate catastrophes are all battles that impact workers globally.

When standing against such imposing and widespread conditions, it is easy to feel hopeless. In the face of these existential threats, it can be difficult to recognize the very real impacts our organizing can have.

Nevertheless, ordinary people continue to come together to participate in a global resistance. With an eye always cast towards the bigger picture, socialists around the world unceasingly strive to make a difference in their immediate communities. It is this inseverable connection, between local work and internationalist thinking, that gives our movement strength to combat exploitation wherever it emerges.

The issue begins by highlighting two monumental wins. Comrades from NYC-DSA reflect on the historic Zohran Mamdani campaign, and draw out both the opportunities and potential obstacles facing DSA as Zohran prepares to take office. Then, guest author Deputy Paul Murphy from the Irish party People Before Profit reflects on the historic election of anti-war candidate and leftist Catherine Connolly as President of Ireland.

In “Think Global: A Democratic Socialist International Is In Formation”, we consider how organizers in several countries are facing roughly the same conditions and making similar choices. DSA, Your Party, Die Linke, La France Insoumise, and a number of other formations all are contend with the failures of the institutional center-left, the self-isolation of the cadre formations, the rise of the far right, and local manifestations of global movements including Palestine solidarity, environmentalism, and the labor movement. And, in a semi-spontaneous way, these geographically separate movements are reaching the same conclusions and recognizing the need to develop pluralistic, mass-membership organizations on the basis of Democratic Socialism.

Building on this, the article “Act Local: Making A Difference At The Chapter Level” explores how local organizing acts as the basis for DSA’s engagement with the working masses in the American context. It further expands upon how revolutionary socialists, or any other committed organizers, can help grow and strengthen their chapters.

Next, in “From The Ground Up: Lessons Learned At The Local Level,” we collect several anecdotes from socialist comrades in DSA and abroad to highlight successful and replicable organizing efforts: these include examples ranging from effective propagandizing campaigns, to setting up chapter events, hosting dinners, throwing block parties, and even socialist librarianship.

Finally, the issue concludes with three longer chapter organizing report, which synthesize recountings of comrades’ local work with their concrete analyses of how the experiences reflect broader lessons for socialist organizers. In “Florida Needs Hope: A Socialist Slate Can Provide It!”, a state-specific electoral strategy is developed through the bringing together of local conditions and an analysis of socialist electoralism at the national level. The pieces “How Socialists Fought Fascism at Colorado Mesa University” and “Local Work from the Inside Out” both tackle how targeted campaigns were influenced not only be external political conditions but also the relationships between activists and socialists, either at the level of coalitional work or within a DSA chapter itself.

Taken together, all of this issue’s articles make it clear: workers have a world to win, and the first step to victory is often right in front of us.

– Emma Buckley, Darren Colbourne, Henry De Groot, Michael LeGore, Ruy Martinez