Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) are facing an internal bloodbath as they beg staff members to volunteer to lose their jobs amid a funding crisis.
The organization said Bread & Roses members on the National Political Committee (NPC), which functions as the board for DSA, asked for volunteers among staff and directors to step down and take a severance payment. The organization says it’s a “necessary but hopefully temporary measure” to keep the DSA afloat.
The DSA said they “should be thriving,” but they instead are seeing a “decline in revenue, membership, and overall excitement.”
“We’re living in a moment when revived labor struggles and the fight for a free Palestine are galvanizing so many Americans,” the organization said, adding it’s “treading water” and things will continue to be tough.
NEW YORK, NY – JULY 12: Congressional nominee Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (L) stands with Zephyr Teachout after endorsing her for New York City Public Advocate on July 12, 2018 in New York City. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)
The DSA accused “top directors” of mismanaging “our dues by withholding essential information from elected leaders for years and imposed their own political objectives that would keep DSA in the model of a progressive non-profit rather than a mass party that is capable of getting us closer to a rupture with capitalism.” (RELATED: Watch College Kids Get Utterly Destroyed By Hispanics Over Socialism)
DSA 2023 Wrap
“No one would be considering layoffs if the deficit weren’t so extreme,” the organization continued. “But now that we are in this crisis, we can’t fix it by hollowing out the organization.”
NEW YORK, NEW YORK – MARCH 02: Democratic Presidential candidate U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) speaks to supporters at Brooklyn College on March 02, 2019 in the Brooklyn borough of New York City. Sanders, a staunch liberal and critic of President Donald Trump, is holding his first campaign rally of the 2020 campaign for the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination in his home town of Brooklyn, New York. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)
The DSA says the situation is “too big to fundraise our way out of” due to a lack of volunteers to recruit new members who pay dues and other donors.
The DSA said they are hopeful the organization will be able to thrive again but that in the interim, there must be cost-saving measures put in place to keep the organization afloat.