DSA-LA Organizes to Fight Fascism with Democratic Socialism
Fascism.
It’s a charged word—one that can appear to many as histrionic, and to others, the perfect description of the social and political environment we find ourselves in. It is a movement that begs for definition to properly counter it, yet is broad enough to render such a definition endlessly debatable. Whatever the case, whatever we call it, however we define it, we are living with the material reality, accelerating headlong into the collapse of even a nominal democracy.
DSA-LA saw the writing on the wall, and acted accordingly by passing a priority resolution to create a Working Group focused on developing our organization in a way that can respond rapidly and effectively while establishing a long-term vision and executing against a political program—to react while playing the long game, including direct action tactics and strategies, mass politics, and effective coalition building.
This body has been put to the test and has had to adapt and grow every day since June 6th, when the invasion of Los Angeles by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) saw our friends, families, and neighbors chased through the streets and dragged out of their places of business.
Our early response was naturally largely reactive as comrades were moved to act: taking to the streets in the face of violent repression, coordinating jail support for protestors, and signing on with rapid response networks in their neighborhoods. Weeks of triage felt like months as the administration escalated tensions by deploying the National Guard and Marines, engaging in disturbing shows of force, and increasing the brutality and frequency of the raids themselves. Members adapted as quickly as possible as they connected with local organizations with decades of experience in immigrant justice, plugging in and activating branch-by-branch.
Our earliest and longest running action has been with the National Day Laborer Organizing Network (NDLON), with every branch adopting a Home Depot—a consistent target of ICE here in Los Angeles—to patrol daily. Volunteers act as early warning systems, inform jornaleros of their rights, advocate for them with store staff, and bear witness through documentation and reporting should raids occur—which they have, with all the violence that entails. Our comrades have witnessed the impunity with which these “agents” act and the terrorism inflicted upon those the federal government deemed scapegoats to feed to a rabid base.
The “agents” have adjusted their tactics as we have adjusted ours, notably shifting their raid schedules, and employing a “hit-and-grab” strategy that sees them in and out in minutes. These tactics were on full display in early August, as ICE defied the Temporary Restraining Order in a stunning series of what can rightfully be described as abductions. Where a location might have been hit once in a day, we watched—many of us in shock, while away at DSA’s national convention in Chicago—as they returned multiple times in a series of blitz attacks. As if this were not enough they cosplayed as special forces in tactical gear, smuggled in via a Penske truck to conduct a raid they dubbed “Trojan Horse”, abducting 16 jornaleros outside of a Home Depot in Westlake.
Such an escalation and disregard for any semblance of the law makes permanent patrols and empowered communities all the more important—especially given how many of those abducted are denied access to a lawyer, or lost in the system should bystanders not get their information to track them.
To be properly reactive, we must be proactive.
To achieve this end, our comrades have organized consistent ‘Know Your Rights’ and ‘Rapid Response’ training for both members and the public. Branches and neighborhood groups conduct block walks to prepare local businesses, and where possible we have begun cultivating a more meaningful presence in our most vulnerable communities with our Socialists in Office (DSA members who are elected officials) and the tenants unions-—an especially critical component as impacted families often face a loss of income, fear going to school, avoid critical appointments and face retaliation from landlords who use their status as a threat.
Through these actions, we continue to coordinate and build relationships with the Los Angeles Tenants Union (LATU), Community Self-Defense Coalition, Unión del Barrio, Instituto de Educación Popular del Sur de California, and the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights, Los Angeles (CHIRLA), as well as local street vendors’ unions. The importance of coalition-building has never been clearer—to properly defend our neighbors we must create an expansive and connected network. This Working Group will continue to develop partnerships with the mindset of understanding where to plug in and learn versus when to lead. In doing so, we will recruit membership into our chapter and expand the base of those who identify with the movement, a pool that grows as left-leaning liberals become increasingly radicalized by the ineptitude of the gerontocratic establishment Democrats.
These direct actions were at first largely self-organized, an initiative taken to fight back before the Working Group could formally be established. They spread to every branch, with each building a system based on its unique environment, providing training to both prospective and existing members, and creating a sustainable network to keep boots on the ground every day for as long as they are needed. While we have since taken the steps to consolidate related channels and provide the structure for cross-team (and for that matter, cross-chapter) collaboration through a broader Community Defense campaign, we have remained agile and flexible.
Going forward, the Working Group will help guide and support comrades in the Immigrant Justice, Queer Socialist, and Palestine Solidarity Working Groups, while connecting committees and Working Groups across the chapter to collaborate on strategic initiatives. Through consistent and focused research, education, and training, we will grow our ability to proactively respond to the ways fascism manifests in Los Angeles, California, and the world. With clear eyes, we will set our sights on ending the genocide in Gaza and ensuring the safety of our comrades at home as we fight to end imperialism from Palestine to Mexico, understanding that fascism enacted abroad will always come back to us.
We will not lose sight of the need to organize around the issues that matter most to the working class. Indeed, these issues will be the foundation for strong, popularized messaging, the expansion of our electoral presence, and the means by which we build collective power to not only fight fascism, but to bring about a society governed by the working class that keeps it running.
There is much to learn, bridges that need to be repaired and reinforced, a base that requires expansion and activation, leaders to develop, and a local and national body that must begin to cohere around a program that speaks to the masses. Where we find ourselves is not in an isolated response, not simply a “moment,” not a project. It is quite likely a protracted battle, one that will test our commitment and our grit. We will not win with piecemeal action.
Ours is not an ad hoc resistance—it’s a Democratic Socialist model in action: member-led, coalition-backed, and scalable.
As we fight on we must remember: Just as fascism did not arrive overnight, it will not be defeated in a day. Our hearts will be broken daily. We will be shaken by the violence of the state. We will be energized. We will feel like collapsing under the weight of it all. Yet we will fight—as a community, for our community: family, friends, those we will never know.
While we might not know when this will end, there IS an expiration date. Our mandate is to ensure that when we win, it lasts. This can only happen if we fight fascism with socialism.