Democratic Socialists of America
American political organization
Summary
The Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) is a socialist political organization in the United States. It is the country's largest socialist organization, with more than 100,000 members as of February 2026. A big tent on the left wing of the political spectrum, DSA is primarily organized around the principles of democratic socialism, with its members active in electoral politics, labor organizing, and direct action campaigns. The organization, which is not a political party with a ballot line, has a decentralized structure in which local chapters and ideological caucuses have significant autonomy. DSA's largest chapter is in New York City, where the organization is also headquartered.
Originally created by Jiang
6/18/2003, 8:18:52 AM
Modified
5/27/2026, 9:58:00 AM
Recent revisions
ce
/* History */
ce lead, add a note on Trump's election, which is cited as a reason for growth in the body
further ce in lead
incorporate some of the lead revisions; I think it is important to mention that it is not a political party at the start (as this is a common confusion)
stop readding disputed content
added elected infobox rows + made "ballot line" message more explicit in lede & footnote + reordered lede as overview, history, ideology, elections, chapters
/* Origins and founding (1973–1982) */ Updated language to better fit MoS.
/* Origins and founding (1973–1982) */ Added a little bit more context on Harrington's leadership in the Socialist Party of America
/* History */ Removed incorrect claim of Harrington's supposed leadership within the Socialist Party USA as on Pages 403 and 414 of "American Democratic Socialism: History, Politics, Religion, and Theory" author Gary Dorrien points out how the SPUSA was born out of the Debs Caucus which opposed Harrington's leadership in the SPA.
rm seats per infobox
The link for "multi-tendency" in the infobox now redirects to "Caucuses and factions" instead of "Ideology and political positions" as the former is significantly better at conveying that information, with direct examples provided of various ideological currents in DSA.
ce
/* Geography */ updated chapter and OC count
Nominated for merging; see [[:Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/List of DSA controversies]].
/* Structure and organization */ Added new page pertaining to chapters/caucuses and sources
Undid revision [[Special:Diff/1355141921|1355141921]] by [[Special:Contributions/Ofreakinghio|Ofreakinghio]] ([[User talk:Ofreakinghio|talk]]) [[WP:NOTSEEALSO]]: The "See also" section should not include red links
Added a link to the page for the Philadelphia chapter of DSA, a page which still needs to be created
Fixed missing references list – [[:Category:Pages with missing references list|You can help!]]
added back infobox electeds rows per talk page, added note highlighting that most DSA electeds are Democrats, added notes section if necessary
