{"id":13594,"date":"2025-01-15T23:02:53","date_gmt":"2025-01-16T04:02:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tempestmag.org\/?p=13594"},"modified":"2025-01-20T03:20:19","modified_gmt":"2025-01-20T08:20:19","slug":"dsa-never-recovered-from-bowman","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tempestmag.org\/test02\/2025\/01\/dsa-never-recovered-from-bowman\/","title":{"rendered":"DSA never recovered from Bowman"},"content":{"rendered":"

I<\/span>n 2016, the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) became one of the year\u2019s many surprises when it suddenly transformed from a stagnant social democratic paper organization into the center of gravity on the U.S. Left. For the next five years, DSA\u2019s rapid growth was the subject of much commentary as it became an organization of nearly 90,000, with members in every state and major city in the United States.<\/p>\n

This growth came to a definite end in 2021. At the August 2021 DSA National Convention, then-National Director Maria Svart said that membership growth had \u201cslowed to a trickle.\u201d The honeymoon period from 2016\u20132019 had come to an end when confronted with strategic questions around COVID-19, Black Lives Matter, electoral strategy, and internal organization. These issues exploded in what has come to be known as the \u201cBowman Affair,\u201d which marked a crisis within the organization and exodus of many members.<\/span><\/p>\n

Until recently, no data has been available to make an objective evaluation of DSA\u2019s trajectory. Membership data has not been widely available, and <\/span>the reports<\/span><\/a> that have come from the organization <\/span>for years<\/span><\/a> were only carefully selected partial figures. The National Political Committee (NPC)\u2014DSA\u2019s national leadership\u2014seated in the fall of 2023 <\/span>began reporting<\/span><\/a> membership figures<\/span><\/a> that show the membership counts both nationally and by chapter from January 2020 to May 2024. In what follows, I analyze the membership data provided by DSA to give a view of the organization over the period that is based on objective metrics. After that, I offer some commentary on the trends and their context.<\/span><\/p>\n

On the data and technical points<\/b><\/h4>\n

The data used here comes directly from the NPC\u2019s figures in their \u201cNPC\u2014Chapter Breakdown of Membership\u2014Public\u201d spreadsheet. The data includes figures for the national organization as well as each chapter or organizing committee (geographic group of members that has not yet been recognized as a chapter).<\/span><\/p>\n

The data shows two figures: \u201cTotal Membership\u201d and \u201cMembership In Good Standing.\u201d This can be confusing, because DSA has an extremely permissive definition of membership: One is considered \u201cin good standing\u201d if they have paid dues anytime in the prior twelve (12) months. However, a person remains on the roster for an additional two years <\/span>after <\/span><\/i>their membership has lapsed. So, for example, December 2023 counts 71,015 total members (that is, anyone who has paid dues in the past three years, i.e. since December 2020!) but only 53,835 members in good standing, those who have paid any dues in the past year.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

This is an important point because DSA has historically reported the <\/span>total membership<\/span><\/i> figures, which exaggerate the current strength of the organization at any given time. The <\/span>total membership <\/span><\/i>figure obscures causal relationships; using those figures, we have a much harder time trying to understand if there were any events that impacted membership.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n