FIGHTING FASCISM WITH PROP 50 SUPPORT
Prop 50 canvassers in LA. Gabriel Orea photo.
I was canvassing for Prop 50 in Boyle Heights, a predominantly Latino neighborhood in LA, and asked a middle-aged man, “So, what do you think, do you support it?” He looked me in the eye and said confidently, “Well, yes, we have to stop Trump; he just cares about himself and getting rich.”
A few weekends later I canvassed in Cypress Park with a new DSA member. We walked up to our first door and knocked. We were greeted by a middle-aged Latino, who, after turning down the loud cumbia playing on the stereo, invited us to their backyard. He went to get his wife, who gathered all five people in the house so that we could inform them about Prop 50 and get them to vote. She was not eligible to vote, but she wanted her family to. After we shared our information, her husband and the younger family members, in their 20s and 30s, were supportive.
Later in our canvass we spoke to an older Latino couple in their front-yard struggling to harvest a guava high up in their tree. We told them we were canvassing for Prop 50. They cheerfully told us that they had already turned in their ballots. We affirmed how important it is that we stand up to Trump, exchanged some friendly small talk and continued with our canvass.
As the month went on, and election day got closer, there were the endless quick conversations: “Yes, I already support Prop 50.” I found overwhelming support for the ballot measure. People and progressive organizations were sold on standing up to the MAGA takeover.
My experience with other organizations
My experience working with the Democratic Party and other progressive organizations was very positive. At first, I did not mention DSA. The organizers of the canvasses had made a point to say that we could mention our organizations when we canvassed. After I felt more comfortable and saw that others were talking about their affiliations, I said I was from DSA. No one shunned me or treated me differently. Overall, I had a very positive experience and found people to be like me.
The events were well run and spirited with many elected officials and people of different ages and races working together to stop the MAGA takeover. It was good for me to participate in these events. I was able to connect with progressive activists from other organizations. Those activists are some of the people DSA wants to be in touch with and to have good, working relationships with so that we can effectively build support for Socialism and progressive causes that will improve people’s lives.
While we figure out what is the best thing to be doing at any particular time to build the Socialist movement, we want to be supporting progressive political causes so that we build trust and history with progressive people and win them over to Socialism.
My Prop 50 Journey
This is a timeline of my experience with the Prop 50 campaign. As you can see, DSA [all DSA, or specifically DSA-LA?] was slow to get involved, even though there were events for us to join early on in September.
My experience with DSA
California DSA promptly endorsed Prop 50, which was a good start, but structural problems kept us from mobilizing more of our members more quickly. A month after the endorsement there was still no DSA-organized Prop 50 activity for our members. The California Democratic Party and other progressive organizations were already starting their Prop 50 work. We missed out on the opportunity to demonstrate our strength and commitment by quickly joining them.
Our activity did pick up, with our San Diego chapter standing out in their level of participation. But if we are going to be a serious political force, we need to improve. When DSA San Diego endorsed Prop 50 they included concrete goals and steps of how many canvasses and canvassers they were aiming for. This was part of the reason they were successful.
In early September, I drafted a proposal for LA to form a Prop 50 committee. In that proposal, I could have included concrete goals. Had I done that, we might have set ourselves up to mobilize more of our LA members. We should learn from San Diego’s experience.
I’ll be contacting each chapter to find out how their campaigns went. Despite taking some good steps in the right direction, the fact is that we mobilized too few of our members. We missed the opportunity to do more, even though Prop 50 had overwhelming support in DSA-LA and other California DSA chapters, was endorsed by the California DSA leadership and is supported among most progressive California voters.
What is the problem?
How can we get DSA to be a strong, relevant political organization that will be able to have statewide coordinated campaigns that build Socialism, fight MAGA and that can respond to political events?
How can we have a streamlined process that cuts through the delay and inefficiency we DSA activists have all encountered?
What to do Now!
With the upcoming very impactful 2026 elections, we do not want to get ourselves in the same Prop 50 position. Nationally, this is still very much a problem, evidenced by the inability of the National Political Committee to endorse the latest “No Kings” events or to approve $1,088 for California DSA to use for the Prop 50 campaign.
The NPC did not endorse “No Kings” because US flags (regarded as a symbol of imperialism, despite the context) would be prominent. The NPC voted 14-12 against providing funds for Prop 50 support because gerrymandering and Gavin Newsom should not be supported no matter our current political situation.
Fascists are in power. They are an immediate and dangerous threat to the progressive movement and oppressed people. Socialists are not close to strong enough of a political force to resist them on our own. If this dangerous reality is not enough to move our leaders to understand why we need to participate in a broad movement of progressive forces, they should reconsider their positions.
A few conclusions
I want to be part of an organization that has broad popular support—not one where people keep saying, “Why did they do that?” California DSA and all the California chapters have a great opportunity to craft together a statewide campaign that will mobilize as many DSA members and supporters as possible.
I want to be part of an organization that can use resources in a coordinated way. We can work together developing unity and organizational methods and structures that will be the basis for a statewide organization—a statewide organization that can get rid of a lot of the delay and inefficiency that always seems to happen when we try to do anything.
I want to be part of an organization that can be politically relevant and work with others. To make Socialism a reality in the US we will need millions of people who understand and support Socialist programs.
I want a mass socialist organization, not a small sectarian irrelevant one. I know there are others like me who want California DSA and DSA to become that organization as we work together to figure out the role of DSA in the political battles to come.
Please contact me to work together on this very important task.