by a comrade
On July 8th, chapter members of MADSA met for the monthly general meeting at the First Unitarian Society. While the agenda for every chapter meeting differs, July’s meeting carved out some time for some much needed discussion on how chapter members are feeling about our current political climate. Many members voiced their feelings about what it is like to be a socialist in Madison and how best they can start speaking to members of their community about socialism.
For many MADSA members (and socialists in general), the task of raising class consciousness is a topic that is frequently discussed. Madison has a large population of folks working in academia, tech, and the government. This particular makeup of highly educated individuals presents its own unique challenge in the arena of developing class consciousness. How do we as socialists build class power when a majority of people we speak to don’t have a full grasp on their role as a member of the working class? How do we engage in these conversations with our friends, family, and community members? How do we open the minds of others to the existence of class struggle and the need to be an active participant in the fight against the ruling class?
Some members expressed different points of view on how to tackle these unique issues that socialists are faced with. Comrade Will P, who recently attended the Socialism 2025 conference in Chicago, mentioned how there was discussion about the importance of taking action. Specifically, the idea that action dictates belief. Instead of focusing on talking to community members in order to change their mind, we can also operate in the reverse. Instead of just engaging in debate with someone, we can take them to an action and see how their minds change when they find themselves actively participating. According to Will P, they are much more likely to continue doing actions after they show up to their first one.
Halsey H, co-chair of the MADSA chapter, spoke about the importance of building class power by focusing any discussions we have as socialists on bread and butter issues. Madison is home to many liberal protest movements, and Halsey stressed the need to center class struggle and socialism as an alternative to liberalism. MADSA members (and the general public alike) have been reinvigorated by the Democratic mayoral primary win of Zohran Mamdani, a NYC-DSA member. According to Halsey, one key lesson to take from Zohran’s campaign is the centrality of his class messaging.
In recent years, DSA electoral work has been focused on participating in Democratic primaries, which traps us in engaging constantly with liberal voters who vote Democrat. Rather than get stuck in this cycle of only trying to appeal to liberals, Zohran’s campaign went beyond to activate new voters. These were voters who had previously not voted at all, and were not aligned with the Democratic party. Firing up this base of former non-voters by focusing on class issues turned out to be a winning strategy.
On August 12th, chapter members of MADSA met again for the next monthly general meeting. August’s meeting agenda was full of report backs from different ongoing efforts from chapter members, including the power mapping committee, the abolitionist working group, and the delegates who traveled to Chicago for the 2025 DSA National Convention.
The power mapping committee, which was formed after the Doing Politics in Public resolution was passed by the chapter during the yearly chapter convention in March 2025, presented their work on creating different maps that highlight the political makeup of the MADSA chapter. Further, the committee expressed their future goals to challenge certain districts in Madison, with the intention of running independent socialist candidates in the future. This work will involve canvassing, speaking with neighbors, and searching for the right candidates to run or endorse. Electoral efforts within the MADSA chapter have been on hold in recent years, but anyone interested in flexing their campaign skills or working with data are welcome to join the power mapping committee and work to put socialists in office.
The abolitionist working group presented on the current battle to block Dane County from accepting a new county jail communications contract with Smart Communications, a private business that seeks to generate profit from charging incarcerated individuals and their families for phone calls, video calls, and emails. The abolitionist working group detailed their successful efforts to organize other MADSA members, local abolition activist groups, and concerned community members to show up and express dissent on the contract. This resulted in two county board committees voting to deny the contract!
Member of the abolitionist working group, comrade Ally B, spoke on their work to fight the contract: “This really is a testament to the ongoing steady work of not only our working group but also all abolitionist organizers who’ve shown up. We began researching this contract and working on our strategies against it last summer so when the county made the contract public only one day before it was supposed to be voted on in committee, we were ready to take action quickly.”
The fight is not finished! The final vote on the contract by the Dane County Board of Supervisors is on September 4th. The abolitionist working group urges everyone to express their dissent via email or by attending the meeting. Further information about the contract, including an email template to send to your local county board supervisor, is included here.
Lastly, MADSA delegates to the 2025 DSA National Convention spoke briefly on their experience at the convention. These delegates, voted on by MADSA members to represent the chapter at the convention, traveled to Chicago and met with over 1,300 other socialists from around the country. They heard a keynote speech by Representative Rashida Tlaib, a member of the Metro Detroit chapter of DSA. Key issues discussed and voted on were related to fighting Zionism, labor organizing, democracy within DSA, and more. MADSA delegates all spoke briefly on their feelings about attending, what they learned, what they wished went differently, and how we should move forward as a chapter based on what passed at Convention.
These discussions at our general meetings serve as a positive way for people to vent in a safe space and engage in proactive conversations that can influence our organizing work going forward. During these tumultuous times, chapter general meetings remain a place where like minded comrades can get together and spend some time in each other’s company, knowing that we are all united in our belief that socialism is the best path forward for this country. How do we get everyone else in Madison on board? We ask for anyone reading this to consider attending the monthly chapter meetings, even if you are not a member. Feel free to discuss politics, the future, and important history with your neighbors in MADSA!
Red Madison 