Minneapolis and the DSA

What I learned reading the Twin Cities Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) platform

Over the last year, I have been learning about Minneapolis politics, and this blog is a journal of my learning. One of the big influences in Minneapolis politics is DSA (Democratic Socialists of America). Four of the thirteen city council members are aligned with DSA and openly identify as DSA¹. An additional three council members² frequently collaborate with the DSA members, resulting in a 7-6 DSA majority (however, it takes 9 members to override the Mayor’s veto).

I was at a recent meeting on the reconstruction of Lyndale Avenue. The meeting was business owners expressing their opposition to the plan for Lyndale. What struck me was the loud opposition to the business owner’s opinion from a substantial number of the attendees. It was pretty clear that the loud group was not just opposed to the business owner’s opinions but was outright anti-business.

That motivated me to read the Twin Cities DSA’s Platform. Although there are a lot of things there, the basic message is that our political system is rigged against working people, and it will take a major transformation, dare I say revolution, to make things right. I have summarized the Twin Cities DSA platform below, but before I get to that, I did some research on what DSA fundamentally stands for.

A fundamental tenet of the DSA political philosophy is that capitalism is unacceptable. DSA sees capitalism as a system that leverages private ownership and workers to generate profit for owners. Why is this bad? Because it concentrates wealth, undermines democracy, creates inequity and limits workers’ control - in short, it rigs the system against most people.

DSA and MAGA have some things in common - they both see “the system” as rigged - a struggle between “the people” and the powerful “elites.” That is, the current system is failing. They both distrust the traditional parties (Democrats and Republicans). Both rely on grassroots energy vs. top-down leadership. Both use strong identity-based political narratives (workers for DSA and patriots for MAGA). Both want to see a major change in how our society works. The DSA and MAGA messages clearly resonate with many people. Both have had political success in getting thier people elected.

When I entered college in the fall of 1977, I was idealistic, and I think I would have been susceptible to the DSA vision. I grew up in Minneapolis. I went to public school. My parents did not own their home. My parents were “workers:” my dad was a janitor (and proud union member of SEIU), and my mom was a sales clerk at a department store- together, they had a second job as caretakers of the apartment building we lived in. I was intellectually intrigued by Marxism and Socialism.

Fast forward to today, and despite my humble beginnings and a career as a “worker,” the system has not been rigged for me. I had a financially successful career and now a comfortable retirement. Neither the DSA nor MAGA messages resonate with me. However, I see why the messages resonate with others.

The DSA concept of “workers” vs “owners” is broad:

• Workers are

  • Wager earners

  • People without capital power (does a 401 (k)/IRA, which 60% of Americans have, that helps provide a comfortable retirement count as capital power?)

  • Precarious and low-income workers

  • Public sector workers

  • Service sector workers

• Owners are

  • Business owners with employees

  • Large-scale landlords

  • High-level corporate executives

DSA sees that a majority of people are workers, and politics is a conflict between workers and owners. What is needed is worker-led governance, labor rights, and public ownership.

Now, back to the Twin Cities DSA platform, here is my summary:

• Decolonizing “Minnesota,” by which they mean returning and restoring the stolen land to the Indigenous Tribes and Nations that originally occupied the area we now call Minnesota.

• Build an economy that serves the needs of the many by taxing the rich and putting workers in control. There are more details here:

  • A living wage of at least $20/hour for all workers

  • A legal limit of a 32-hour workweek

  • Public ownership of key industries and workplaces in the Twin Cities

  • Free, universal healthcare

  • Free, quality education

  • Protect and expand the right of all workers to organize labor unions, collectively bargain, strike, and engage in secondary boycotts

  • Transition privately owned workplaces into worker cooperatives

• Build a democratic society and political system that guarantees the freedom and liberty of all peoples in Minnesota, including:

  • Queer liberation, racial justice, socialist feminism

  • Dissolve the Minneapolis Park Board, Board of Estimate and Taxation, and Charter Commission³, and transfer that power to the City Council

  • Democratize the Metropolitan Council

  • Expand ballot measure power to all cities

  • Replace the Minnesota state senate and house with a single, proportionally elected unicameral body

• Halt the fascist and imperial war machine, including

  • Abolish ICE and the entirety of the Department of Homeland Security

  • Free Palestine

  • Divest from the war economy

• Provide safe and dignified housing for all by:

  • Implementing rent control

  • Fund and build public housing

  • Support tenant unions

  • Housing First⁴ for the unhoused

• Transition away from fossil fuels, including:

  • Shut down the HERC incinerator

  • Fully funding the community vision for a community-controlled Roof Depot site

  • Build publicly owned, operated, and administered renewable energy utilities with union labor

  • Transfer control of Xcel and Centerpoint to our communities without compensation for their corporate owners

  • Rebuild I-94 into a fast public transit corridor and return ownership of the land to Twin Cities communities to build community-controlled (and publicly-owned) housing, commercial establishments, and parks

• Develop a new system of public safety, including:

  • Fully fund and support mental health responders and community safety programs

  • Hold police accountable for police violence

  • Oppose the expansion of the surveillance state

  • Eliminate prisons and armed policing

  • Replace the police with an elected force of neighbors representing the neighborhoods in which they live

When I was in the business world, we used to have the concept of a BHAG—big, hairy, audacious goal—a goal to inspire and unite, not necessarily achievable. The Twin Cities DSA’s platform is a BHAG. Much of what is on the platform is well beyond what a municipality could influence or impact. Much of what is on the platform does not currently have broad support. A municipality can implement several items on the platform, but could weaken it within its broader region (for example, Minneapolis rent control or a city minimum wage). Pretty much everything on the platform has significant resistance from those in power. The platform seems unachievable - it is a BHAG. But if the DSA leads with benefits to individuals vs. ideology (e.g., higher wages, lower rent, cheaper utilites, more time off, etc.), picks the right battles (achievable and has broad support), and speaks to people's feelings (frustrated, overworked, underpaid, skepticism of institutions), it could get some traction beyond the current activists.

The question I ask myself is, would I want to live in the world being envisioned by the DSA? My quick answer is I don’t know. Although my gut reaction is negative, I am open to more consideration. I plan to think about it more and hope to write about it more.

1. Four DSA Minneapolis City Council Members:

• Robin Wonsley (Ward 2)

• Aisha Chughtai (Ward 10)

• Jason Chavez (Ward 9):

• Soren Stevenson (Ward 8):

2. Three DSA-aligned Minneapolis City Council Members:

• Elliott Payne (Ward 1 - Council President)

• Aurin Chowdhury (Ward 12)

• Jamal Osman (Ward 6 - Council Vice President)

3. The Minneapolis Charter Commission is a 15-member appointed judicial board that serves as the custodian of the Minneapolis City Charter—effectively the city’s constitution.

4. “Housing First” means providing unhoused neighbors with housing, medical care, and the services they need, and eliminating encampment sweeps.