DSA’s Summit Reveals a Movement Seeking Power Without Moderation

DSA is not abandoning its maximalist goals; it is merely separating its long-term ambitions from politically marketable issues that candidates like Mamdani use to win support.

The Democratic Socialists of America’s national summit in Chicago featured the familiar symbols of a movement still comfortable at the political fringe: attendees calling one another “comrades,” socialist literature, and debates to replace capitalism with socialism.

But the gathering was more than a leftist social event; it was a strategy session for an …