When the police killing of George Floyd set off a nationwide uprising against racism and police brutality, YDSA members across the country took to the streets, joining the tens of thousands who have taken a stand to strongly declare that Black Lives Matter and that the system of policing as we know it can no longer continue. Here are some of their stories.

Ty K. and Soleil Smith of Knox College YDSA argue that socialists must center visions of racial justice and abolition in their activism. They also provide concrete objectives organizers can pursue to work toward these ends.

Socialists in this moment need to do everything they can to support this uprising, and to ensure that the rupture in public opinion created by these protests does not allow fascism to creep in. We need to organize, to build a mass socialist movement that can provide the sorely needed perspective on this crisis, and work to build lasting organizations of working people to fight for an end to the twin scourges of white supremacy and capitalism, in the streets, in the labor movement, and in our chapters and our communities.

A statement of solidarity to YDSA from SYRIZA Youth members about the global problems of police brutality and capitalism. By Spyros Kasapis (SYRIZA Youth member, PhD Student, YDSA at the University of Michigan) and Vicky Tsefala (Head of SYRIZA Youth International Committee). Edited by Elias Khoury of University of Michigan YDSA.  On May 25th, 2020,…

University of Virginia YDSA’s Griffin M. argues that the Rank and File Strategy is crucial for understanding how student socialists should relate to the labor movement. A response to YDSA’s Labor Strategy Should Be About Recruitment. The rank-and-file strategy is about building a militant, left-wing, and democratic labor movement. Wherever workers are striking, socialists should…

Jacob W argues that YDSA’s labor strategy should be about convincing students and workers to become socialists rather than convincing socialists to change careers. YDSA needs a strategy that is regionally flexible & emphasizes outward facing organizing. This piece was originally republished in The Organizer. One of the labor proposals passed at the 2019 YDSA convention…

YDSA will hold its annual convention this summer from July 31st to August 2nd. Hundreds of members representing chapters across the country will collectively decide the direction of our organization for the coming year. Discussion and debate are crucial components of democracy. We must be clear about what we think we should do in order…

The City University of New York used to be free for most students. Only students, faculty, and workers organizing together on all of its campuses can win public education back. By Jatnna De La Cruz

Like many of our comrades around the country, we socialists in Atlanta have been confronted with the immediate task of organizing our communities in the face of the combined catastrophes of the coronavirus pandemic and, perhaps more importantly, the rapidly developing global economic crisis. I am a recent graduate from the Georgia Institute of Technology;…

Elias of Khoury of University of Michigan YDSA highlights some of the most inspiring mutual aid efforts in his home state of Michigan. As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to sweep across the globe, our country’s response increasingly becomes a cautionary tale. The mismanagement and downright callousness shown toward the plight of working people by those…