Blog Archives - Red Clay Comrade

Gwinnett Begins Organizing!

Atlanta DSA Interest Meeting Held in Lawrenceville

Around 60 attendees attended the Gwinnett Branch interest meeting.

In July of 2024, the metro-Atlanta county of Gwinnett officially became the second county in the state of Georgia to cross the mark of one million residents, behind only Fulton County, home to Atlanta itself. This growing population indicates that Gwinnett needs an Atlanta DSA branch of its own to promote socialism and to act as a vehicle for the voice of Gwinnett’s working class in metro Atlanta’s political sphere. Thus, on the afternoon of Sunday, March 7^th, 2026, Atlanta DSA organizers, with the help of Georgia Gwinnett College’s YDSA (GGC-YDSA), held a Gwinnett branch interest meeting, which was attended by well over 60 people at GGC. A petition to formalize a Gwinnett branch has been underway since.

The meeting began with attendees sharing what drew their interest in the DSA and a few common sentiments rang throughout the 60+ gathered. Some of those sentiments included healthcare costs, taking political action for Palestinian liberation, wanting to act against growing right-wing power, and making life affordable in Gwinnett. Another common sentiment was that of a previous desire to be involved with Atlanta DSA, but distance to the city made that desire difficult to actualize.

Following introductions, the meeting changed gears to explaining the DSA structure to attendees. Much of the emphasis was put on the DSA’s nonprofit, volunteer-run system and how it functions bottom-up rather than top-down, as is the status quo for political organizations in this country. The meeting leaders also highlighted the DSA’s electoral strategies, with focusing on grassroots level matters, as exemplified by the recent successes of Kelsea Bond and Gabriel Sanchez in the state of Georgia. Following that, information about Atlanta DSA’s different committees (labor, political education, electoral, etc.) and identity-based sections (Afrosocialists and socialists of color, feminist socialists) was shared with the attendees.

As the meeting came to its conclusion, the group discussed how DSA works with other working-class organizations in the Atlanta area to advocate for the improvement of working class life, emphasizing DSA’s collaborative structure, especially during this period of right-wing fascism attacking the working class and the country’s minorities. Finally, at the meeting’s end, the petition to start a Gwinnett branch of the Atlanta DSA was introduced.

The structure of the DSA was discussed at length with the group present.

I spoke to the two co-chairs of GGC’s YDSA, Josue EC and Hannah B, who worked to host the Gwinnett interest meeting. Josue worked to arrange the meeting location, design the flier, and to promote the meeting on the GGC campus and through social media. When asked about what he hopes to see happen through a Gwinnett branch of Atlanta DSA, he expressed that he feels that the current system of elitist American politics pushes members of the working class away from engaging politically. Thus, through a Gwinnett branch of ATLDSA, he hopes to energize leftists across the county to become politically engaged and bring about positive change in the lives of Gwinnett’s working class. Hannah B, who also helped in organizing the interest meeting, spoke about how she hopes a Gwinnett branch will work to bring socialism locally to Gwinnett, not just limited to the city of Atlanta. One specific goal she she shared is for a Gwinnett branch to push for low cost/free public transportation in Gwinnett, which would include the expansion of MARTA.

The meeting had a very positive and optimistic outlook to it, as the people of Gwinnett are hungry for real, meaningful change and are excited to engage with DSA to bring about such change. The people of Gwinnett are hopeful that in the face of right-wing fascism and elitist politics, a future Gwinnett branch of ATLDSA will advocate for immigrant rights, affordable housing, free healthcare, and local support for Gwinnett’s working class.

May the future of the DSA in Atlanta be prosperous and may the people of Gwinnett carry their hope towards a future of well-being, safety, and health.

Juneteenth And the Capitalist Origins of Slavery

Yesterday was Juneteenth, a day that is properly celebrated as the true day of liberation for black peoples in North America from the scourge of chattel slavery. Originating in Galveston, Texas, on June 19th, 1865, the holiday commemorates the emancipation of black peoples held in bondage across Texas, years after the Emancipation Proclamation was actually ordered. Though chattel slavery would persist in two union states for several more months, the people of Texas were liberated from those slave owners who sought to preserve their property and profits—taking advantage of their remote location to withhold information from enslaved people about their legal emancipation. Along with this day comes the tried and true profiles of the Black Wall Street massacre, Maroon rebellion in the Caribbean, white supremacy’s permanence, and Nat Turner—as he and his comrades barnstormed from one plantation to another, liberating those in bondage with a bloody vengeance. That sense of vengeance has given new fire and breath to certain corners of the black population, and I’d beg to state that that sense of racial vengeance—being reminded of the cruelties and inequities overcome by our forebears—is the dominant way in which we as a nation consume and internalize this newly official national holiday. From this comes flarings of cultural nationalism and entreaties to buy black to support black businesses, regardless of whether that business empowers their workers or even provides a living wage.

Banning Abortion is Class Warfare

Atlantans rally for abortion rights outside the Georgia State capital.

Tuesday May 3rd, one thousand working-class Atlantans took to the streets in defense of abortion rights. Below is a transcript of a speech from an Atlanta DSA organizer outside the Georgia State Capitol building. To stay up-to-date on DSA’s protest mobilization efforts, follow us on social media at @atldemsoc and subscribe to our weekly newsletter. Become a member and organize with us at atldsa.org/join.

The Training of a Long-Distance Runner

I am taking on the challenge David Duhalde laid out in the Spring 2021 issue of the Democratic Left “Socialists Across Generations: We Need to Talk.” Duhalde contended that a vibrant DSA needed discussions and exchanges between younger and older comrades. In such a dialogue, newer members would learn from veteran comrades what it takes to be long-distance runners and older comrades could learn about new styles of organizing from younger activists.

Atlanta Was Already Broken

Recently I stumbled upon a link to an AJC op-ed, published August 2021: “The Wendy’s fiasco: The one that broke the city?” The piece—authored by notoriously pro-police AJC contributor Bill Torpy⁠—sought to portray Atlanta as a city rife with gang activity and lawlessness. Throughout the piece, Torpy paints a picture of a “Mad Max Atlanta”. In particular, he references the events occurring at the protester-occupied Wendy’s at which Rayshard Brooks was murdered by police during the summer of 2020. Torpy laments the position in which the Atlanta Police Department found itself during a time of increased scrutiny towards policing, and attempts to connect the violence which occured at the occupied Wendy’s to the larger “crime wave” of 2020—specifically citing the tragic murder of 8-year-old Secoriea Turner on July 4th, 2020 to make his case. Well, I was there too.

The Atlanta Opera: Rewriting the Precedent on Independent Contractors

With the Starbucks unionization effort and the recent strikes at John Deere and Nabisco, labor activism in the Atlanta area has been extremely hot over the last few months. However, the upcoming union election for makeup artists at the Atlanta Opera attempting to organize under the International Alliance of Theatrical and Stage Employees (IATSE) will potentially have the most wide-ranging effects for workers and contractors nationwide.

Celebrating Martin Luther King’s Radical, Pro-Labor Politics

Last Monday Jan. 17th, Atlanta DSA members gathered to celebrate the life and legacy of the Reverend Doctor Martin Luther King Jr., an iconic leader of the mass movement for civil rights in the 1950s and 60s. King was a radical, working tirelessly as a community organizer for decades– leading boycotts, marches, and campaigns to win desegregation and voting rights for millions of Black Americans. King was also an adamant advocate of labor rights, and spoke many times on the interconnectedness between the evils of capitalism and other forms of exploitation.

A Socialist Perspective on Atlanta’s Mayoral Election

The following article includes and expands on passages from the 2021 Voter Guide written by Atlanta DSA’s Electoral committee. For a comprehensive perspective on all city council elections, we recommend reading the guide in its entirety at www.atldsa.org/21guide

What should Socialists make of the upcoming election for Atlanta mayor? Many working people are skeptical of elections in the United States. Voting in this country is needlessly complicated. Difficult voting restrictions disenfranchise large numbers of working-class people, while campaign finance laws have rendered our political system an effective oligarchy. Still, if we want to transform our society into a real democracy, we must understand the current system, corruption and all.

The Radical Must Be Possible

I remember my first days as a politically-conscious young person. In 2015, I was a high school student, tinkering around with Minecraft utopias and science fiction; at the same time, Bernie Sanders was ramping up his first run at the US Presidency. I recall key parts of the platform he spoke on that year, ranging from free public higher education, Medicare for All, and a comprehensive plan to address climate change in favor of working people. That last point in particular opened my mind to the possibilities of politics, as I realized the answer to Jim Inhofe’s infamous snowball-in-Congress denialism was not better science communication, but political power. Now, 6 years later, the most recent in a long history of American socialist upsurges is still fighting to save our planet and our people from our government and our ruling class.

The 2021 DSA Convention: Many Steps Forward, and Many Lessons Learned

The 2021 DSA convention has come to a close. This weeklong event with nearly 1500 socialists around the country participating represents a massive moment for DSA. The Atlanta chapter elected 19 delegates and 4 alternates, and many of us had the chance to speak and voice our views on different topics.