Young Democratic Socialists
Encyclopedia
Young Democratic Socialists (YDS) is a democratic socialist
youth organization in the United States
. It is the youth section of the Democratic Socialists of America
, whose political outlook it shares, and the American affiliate of the International Union of Socialist Youth
(IUSY). As such, YDS is regularly invited to international conferences by its sister organizations.
and U.S. 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 YDS 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.
. The organization publishes an internal newsletter called the Red Letter. In addition, its members and allies run an online magazine called The Activist.
YDS chapters or groups of members often participate in peace, labor, or global justice marches. For instance, YDS had a contingent march in the NYSPC section of the United for Peace and Justice
march against the Iraq war in Washington, DC on January 27, 2007. In September 2009, YDS members participated in a march against the G20 in Pittsburgh. In October 2010, dozens of YDS members joined the union-sponsored One Nation Working Together march in DC. YDS Co-Chair Amber Frost was a featured speaker at the youth feeder march before the One Nation Working Together demonstration.
The organization runs two annual conferences: a larger outreach conference in the winter, and a smaller retreat or conference that focuses on internal matters. From February 16 to 18, 2007, YDS held its largest youth conference in several years at Bayard Rustin High School in New York City. Called "Justice Beyond Borders: Democracy and Socialism in the 21st Century," the conference featured keynote speeches by Professor Noam Chomsky
, journalist and author Barbara Ehrenreich
, The Nation
correspondent Christian Parenti
, author and journalist Liza Featherstone
, Columbia University
Professor Gayatri Spivak, and Temple University
Political Science Chair Professor Joseph Schwartz. The 2010 outreach conference was held March 5–7 at Norman Thomas
High School in Manhattan
. The event kicked off with a plenary session by long-time activist Steve Max and noted sociologist Frances Fox Piven
. Prominent academic and Democratic Socialist of America Honorary Co-Chair Cornel West
was the keynote speaker. Other speakers included Professor Gayatri Spivak, Dan Cantor of the Working Families Party
, Christian Parenti, Liza Featherstone, and Professor Joseph Schwartz.
in Kansas
, the College of Wooster in Ohio
, Temple University
in Philadelphia, and William Paterson University
in New Jersey. Previous well-known chapters have included those at Ithaca College
, Arizona State University
, University of Chicago
, James Madison University
, the University of Central Oklahoma
, and Bryn Mawr College
. YDS 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.
Democratic socialism
Democratic socialism is a description used by various socialist movements and organizations to emphasize the democratic character of their political orientation...
youth organization in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. It is the youth section of the Democratic Socialists of America
Democratic Socialists of America
Democratic Socialists of America is a social-democratic organization in the United States and the U.S. affiliate of the Socialist International, an international federation of social-democratic,democratic socialist and labor political parties and organizations.DSA was formed in 1982 by a merger of...
, whose political outlook it shares, and the American affiliate of the International Union of Socialist Youth
International Union of Socialist Youth
The International Union of Socialist Youth encompasses socialist, social democratic and Labour Party youth organizations from more than 100 states of the world...
(IUSY). As such, YDS is regularly invited to international conferences by its sister organizations.
History
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 AfricaSouth Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
and U.S. intervention in Central America
Central America
Central America is the central geographic region of the Americas. It is the southernmost, isthmian portion of the North American continent, which connects with South America on the southeast. When considered part of the unified continental model, it is considered a subcontinent...
. 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 YDS chapters, most notably the ones at Ithaca College
Ithaca College
Ithaca College is a private college located on the South Hill of Ithaca, New York. The school was founded by William Egbert in 1892 as a conservatory of music. The college has a strong liberal arts core, but also offers several pre-professional programs and some graduate programs. The college is...
and Arizona State University
Arizona State University
Arizona State University is a public research university located in the Phoenix Metropolitan Area of the State of Arizona...
, 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
Corrections Corporation of America
Corrections Corporation of America is a company that owns and manages private prisons and detention centers and operates others on a concession basis. The company is the largest private corrections company in the United States and manages more than 60 facilities with a designed capacity of 90,000...
, a for-profit prison company.
Current Activities
The group's most visible current national activities are its participation in the Student Labor Week of Action and Defend Public Education coalition, Activist Agenda (i.e. national priorities) items such as a Blue-Green Action Campaign (around green jobs) and Free Higher Education, and organizing various national conferences, usually held in New York CityNew York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
. The organization publishes an internal newsletter called the Red Letter. In addition, its members and allies run an online magazine called The Activist.
YDS chapters or groups of members often participate in peace, labor, or global justice marches. For instance, YDS had a contingent march in the NYSPC section of the United for Peace and Justice
United for Peace and Justice
United for Peace and Justice is a coalition of more than 1,300 international and U.S.-based organizations opposed to "our government's policy of permanent warfare and empire-building."...
march against the Iraq war in Washington, DC on January 27, 2007. In September 2009, YDS members participated in a march against the G20 in Pittsburgh. In October 2010, dozens of YDS members joined the union-sponsored One Nation Working Together march in DC. YDS Co-Chair Amber Frost was a featured speaker at the youth feeder march before the One Nation Working Together demonstration.
The organization runs two annual conferences: a larger outreach conference in the winter, and a smaller retreat or conference that focuses on internal matters. From February 16 to 18, 2007, YDS held its largest youth conference in several years at Bayard Rustin High School in New York City. Called "Justice Beyond Borders: Democracy and Socialism in the 21st Century," the conference featured keynote speeches by Professor Noam Chomsky
Noam Chomsky
Avram Noam Chomsky is an American linguist, philosopher, cognitive scientist, and activist. He is an Institute Professor and Professor in the Department of Linguistics & Philosophy at MIT, where he has worked for over 50 years. Chomsky has been described as the "father of modern linguistics" and...
, journalist and author Barbara Ehrenreich
Barbara Ehrenreich
-Early life:Ehrenreich was born Barbara Alexander to Isabelle Oxley and Ben Howes Alexander in Butte, Montana, which she describes as then being "a bustling, brawling, blue collar mining town."...
, The Nation
The Nation
The Nation is the oldest continuously published weekly magazine in the United States. The periodical, devoted to politics and culture, is self-described as "the flagship of the left." Founded on July 6, 1865, It is published by The Nation Company, L.P., at 33 Irving Place, New York City.The Nation...
correspondent Christian Parenti
Christian Parenti
Christian Parenti is an American investigative journalist and author. His books include: Lockdown America: Police and Prisons in the Age of Crisis , a survey of the rise of the prison industrial complex from the Nixon through Reagan Eras and into the present; The Soft Cage: Surveillance in America...
, author and journalist Liza Featherstone
Liza Featherstone
Liza Featherstone is an American journalist and journalism professor who writes frequently on labor and student activism for The Nation....
, Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
Professor Gayatri Spivak, and Temple University
Temple University
Temple University is a comprehensive public research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Originally founded in 1884 by Dr. Russell Conwell, Temple University is among the nation's largest providers of professional education and prepares the largest body of professional...
Political Science Chair Professor Joseph Schwartz. The 2010 outreach conference was held March 5–7 at Norman Thomas
Norman Thomas
Norman Mattoon Thomas was a leading American socialist, pacifist, and six-time presidential candidate for the Socialist Party of America.-Early years:...
High School in Manhattan
Manhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
. The event kicked off with a plenary session by long-time activist Steve Max and noted sociologist Frances Fox Piven
Frances Fox Piven
Frances Fox Piven is an American professor of political science and sociology at The Graduate Center, City University of New York, where she has taught since 1982.-Life and education:...
. Prominent academic and Democratic Socialist of America Honorary Co-Chair Cornel West
Cornel West
Cornel Ronald West is an American philosopher, author, critic, actor, civil rights activist and prominent member of the Democratic Socialists of America....
was the keynote speaker. Other speakers included Professor Gayatri Spivak, Dan Cantor of the Working Families Party
Working Families Party
The Working Families Party is a minor political party in the United States founded in New York in 1998. There are "sister" parties to the New York WFP in Connecticut, Massachusetts, South Carolina, Delaware, Pennsylvania, Vermont and Oregon, but there is as yet no national WFP...
, Christian Parenti, Liza Featherstone, and Professor Joseph Schwartz.
Organization
The group is currently headed by national organizer Andrew Porter, and is run by a coordinating committee consisting of two co-chairs, a Coalitions Coordinator, Corresponding Secretary, National Organizing Committee Facilitator, Anti-Racist Coordinator, Feminist Issues Coordinator, Activist editor, and six at-large members with regional focus. The group has a number of current chapters and organizing committees across the country. The strongest are Wichita State UniversityWichita State University
Wichita State University is a NCAA Division I public university in Wichita, Kansas with selective admissions. WSU is one of six state universities governed by the Kansas Board of Regents. The current president is Dr. Donald Beggs....
in Kansas
Kansas
Kansas is a US state located in the Midwestern United States. It is named after the Kansas River which flows through it, which in turn was named after the Kansa Native American tribe, which inhabited the area. The tribe's name is often said to mean "people of the wind" or "people of the south...
, the College of Wooster in Ohio
Ohio
Ohio is a Midwestern state in the United States. The 34th largest state by area in the U.S.,it is the 7th‑most populous with over 11.5 million residents, containing several major American cities and seven metropolitan areas with populations of 500,000 or more.The state's capital is Columbus...
, Temple University
Temple University
Temple University is a comprehensive public research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Originally founded in 1884 by Dr. Russell Conwell, Temple University is among the nation's largest providers of professional education and prepares the largest body of professional...
in Philadelphia, and William Paterson University
William Paterson University
William Paterson University is a comprehensive public institution located in Wayne, New Jersey serving nearly 11,000 undergraduate and graduate students through five colleges: , , , , and ....
in New Jersey. Previous well-known chapters have included those at Ithaca College
Ithaca College
Ithaca College is a private college located on the South Hill of Ithaca, New York. The school was founded by William Egbert in 1892 as a conservatory of music. The college has a strong liberal arts core, but also offers several pre-professional programs and some graduate programs. The college is...
, Arizona State University
Arizona State University
Arizona State University is a public research university located in the Phoenix Metropolitan Area of the State of Arizona...
, University of Chicago
University of Chicago
The University of Chicago is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois, USA. It was founded by the American Baptist Education Society with a donation from oil magnate and philanthropist John D. Rockefeller and incorporated in 1890...
, James Madison University
James Madison University
James Madison University is a public coeducational research university located in Harrisonburg, Virginia, U.S. Founded in 1908 as the State Normal and Industrial School for Women at Harrisonburg, the university has undergone four name changes before settling with James Madison University...
, the University of Central Oklahoma
University of Central Oklahoma
The University of Central Oklahoma, often referred to as UCO, is a coeducational public university located in Edmond, Oklahoma. The university is the third largest in Oklahoma, with almost 18,000 students and approximately 434 full-time and 400 adjunct faculty...
, and Bryn Mawr College
Bryn Mawr College
Bryn Mawr College is a women's liberal arts college located in Bryn Mawr, a community in Lower Merion Township, Pennsylvania, ten miles west of Philadelphia. The name "Bryn Mawr" means "big hill" in Welsh....
. YDS 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.
See also
- Democratic Socialists of AmericaDemocratic Socialists of AmericaDemocratic Socialists of America is a social-democratic organization in the United States and the U.S. affiliate of the Socialist International, an international federation of social-democratic,democratic socialist and labor political parties and organizations.DSA was formed in 1982 by a merger of...
- International Union of Socialist YouthInternational Union of Socialist YouthThe International Union of Socialist Youth encompasses socialist, social democratic and Labour Party youth organizations from more than 100 states of the world...
- Democratic SocialismDemocratic socialismDemocratic socialism is a description used by various socialist movements and organizations to emphasize the democratic character of their political orientation...
- History of the socialist movement in the United States
- Jobs with JusticeJobs with JusticeJobs with Justice is a national campaign for workers' rights in the United States. It was founded in 1987, and includes both individual members and affiliated organizations....
- United States Student AssociationUnited States Student AssociationThe United States Student Association , founded in 1947, bills itself as the oldest and largest student association in the United States. It has a historical and current commitment to diversity and breaking the barriers to educational access imposed by inequality and discrimination...
- United Students Against SweatshopsUnited Students Against SweatshopsUnited Students Against Sweatshops is a student organization with chapters at over 250 colleges and universities in the United States and Canada. In April 2000, USAS founded the Worker Rights Consortium , an independent monitoring organization that investigates labor conditions in factories that...