Formerly known as the Democratic Socialists of America Youth Section, the organization played a significant role in the 1980s in the movements against apartheid in South Africa and United States intervention in Central America. It helped introduce many student activists to trade union struggles, with many of the organization's alums going on to become labor organizers and union staff members. In the late 1990s, YDSA chapters, most notably the ones at Ithaca College and Arizona State University, became heavily involved in the national movement against the prison-industrial complex. Chapters tried to force colleges to cancel their contracts with food service provider Sodexho Marriott because its parent company Sodexho Alliance owned stock in Corrections Corporation of America, a for-profit prison company. More recently, the YDSA had a contingent march in the NYSPC section of the United for Peace and Justice march against the Iraq War in Washington, D.C. on January 27, 2007. In September 2009, YDSA members participated in a march against the G20 in Pittsburgh. In October 2010, dozens of YDSA members joined the union-sponsored One Nation Working Together march in Washington, D.C.
Activities
YDSA chapters and members are encouraged to pursue and promote a democratic socialist political education and participate in social justice activism, often taking part in anti-war, labor and student-issue marches and rallies. Each year, YDSA members vote on an agenda for the chapters to adopt. The organization publishes an internal newsletter called The Red Letter and its members run and contribute to The Activist, their official blog. The organization's most visible current national activities revolve around supporting initiatives for Democratic Socialists of America and organizing various national conferences, usually held in New York City. The organization runs two annual conferences per year: a large outreach conference in the winter, and a smaller retreat during the summer that focuses on internal leadership development, regional community building, and debating political direction. In the past, outreach conferences have featured keynote speakers such as Noam Chomsky, Cornel West, journalist and author Barbara Ehrenreich, The Nation correspondent Christian Parenti and Columbia University professorGayatri Spivak. Other speakers include Dan Cantor of the Working Families Party, Christian Parenti, author and journalist Liza Featherstone, Temple University professor Joseph Schwartz, long-time activist Steve Max and sociologist Frances Fox Piven. National conferences have taken place in February 2016 in Brooklyn and August 2016 in Washington, D.C.
Organization
The organization is run by a coordinating committee consisting of two co-chairs and four at-large members. The group has a number of current chapters across the country. The YDSA also has numerous members at large without chapters who usually work through other progressive groups to articulate an active democratic socialist presence in campus and community politics.
