Maddie Dermon | mdermon@freedomfoundation.com
The labor movement, which relies on America’s free-market economic system, should have little in common with the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), who would love nothing more than to uproot capitalism entirely.
But in Salem, Ore., the two go hand in hand.
What many teachers paying monthly dues to the Oregon Education Association (OEA) may not know is that their union has opened its doors to the nation’s foremost socialist group, allowing DSA to hold monthly meetings in OEA’s Salem office, as reported by the Freedom Foundation’s Research & Government Affairs Associate Ben Straka earlier this year.
To inform Salem educators about the questionable use of their dues-funded union headquarters, the Freedom Foundation’s Oregon team developed and positioned billboards in the area, announcing: “OEA <3’s DSA…Why is Oregon’s largest teachers union hosting meetings for the Democratic Socialists of America?”
DSA’s Portland chapter was quick to respond on social media:
“Seen on the way to Salem: a billboard from a far-right anti-union group called the Freedom Foundation proclaiming what we already know: that Oregon’s educator unions and DSA are in a committed relationship!”
While OEA has yet to comment on its own devotion to the socialist group, Portland DSA has reaffirmed its commitment to “building a socialist current in the working class” through union organization.
Through its Labor Working Group, Portland DSA trains “rank-and-file organizers to energize existing unions to organize the unorganized, and to build the socialist movement in their workplaces.”
DSA’s influence within teacher unions, however, extends far beyond the Pacific Northwest.
Last year, the Young Democratic Socialists of America, an affiliate of DSA, held its annual conference at the Chicago Teachers Union headquarters in Illinois.
In California, the United Teachers of Los Angeles shuttered classrooms during a strike over a list of demands taken from DSA’s “Green New Deal” platform.
Shortly after, a Bay Area DSA chapter coordinated a “solidary working group” to plan and fund a strike for the Oakland Education Association.
At least seven major teachers unions across the nation have close ties to DSA.
Further, according to a DSA-penned pamphlet titled “Why Socialists Should Become Teachers,” there is a “growing national network of educators in DSA working to transform our schools, our unions and our society” from the inside out.
But given the “rigid hierarchies of decision making” typical of union leadership, DSA is willing to play the long game.
“Young teachers must be willing to dig in for a while, grow our credibility and become organic leaders among our coworkers,” continued the DSA playbook.
In OEA’s Salem office, it’s clear that DSA’s ploy to gain credibility has gained traction.
But Oregon’s public school teachers, protected by the First Amendment right to walk away from union membership, have the ability to break up the “committed relationship” between OEA and DSA, diminishing the standing of DSA’s ideology for the sake of fellow teachers, students and all those who have suffered under socialism’s grip throughout history.
