DSA Santa Cruz is a multi-tendency socialist organization committed to building a democratically controlled economy in Santa Cruz and beyond. While capitalism concentrates wealth in the hands of the few leaving the majority of people with little to no say in most aspects of their lives, socialists want collective, democratic ownership of our economy and decision-making power in the hands of workers—not private individuals or the state. Getting there requires building solidarity across difference—that is, building working-class power that is as diverse as the class itself. 

Santa Cruz was once deemed "The Leftmost City," celebrated as a "deviant case" from the typical real estate and development interests power that permeates the United States. 30 years on, that vision of Santa Cruz has all but vanished: ever-increasing rents, pervasive housing insecurity, and dwindling community culture have been the consequence of a city council controlled by establishment Democrats–and by proxy–the real estate industry.

Now, more than ever, we need to build socialist organization that is not beholden to Democratic Party donors and capitalist class interests. That means building worker power! Tenant power! Student power! Community power!

What sets our approach apart from other left and progressive groups in Santa Cruz is that we refuse to view the various campaigns our members are working on--from housing justice to ecosocialism, from mutual aid to anti-imperialism, from anti-racist struggles to trans rights--as isolated "issues".  Instead, we stive to conceive all of the injustices in our world and in our communities as interlocking components of a profoundly destructive economic system and to conceive of our work as a coherent project of dismantling and moving beyond that system. 

Chapter Bylaws

Grievance Policy

Electoral Endorsement Policy