‘We’re fighting, and we’re fighting to win’: Interview with Cyn Huang on the DSA National Convention
First published at Revista Movimento.
The DSA National Convention took place two weekends ago in Chicago, Illinois. The event brought together 1,200 delegates and around 1,600 attendees from across the country. Without a doubt, it was the most significant socialist gathering in the United States in recent years, occurring right in the middle of the Trump administration and its threats to both the American and global working class.
Our column spoke with Cyn Huang, a DSA member since 2019, currently active in the East Bay chapter in California. Cyn is part of Bread & Roses, a Marxist caucus within the DSA, a rank-and-file union activist, and an internationalist. He served as a delegate at the Convention and shared his insights with us on the event’s importance, its main resolutions, strengths, weaknesses, and challenges.
Cyn, thank you very much for the interview. Could you start by talking about the contextual background of the convention? At what moment did it take place, considering the situation in the United States, in the world, and also the internal development of DSA?
Thanks for having me! I rely quite a bit on the column “United States Today” in Fundação Lauro Campos and Marielle Franco to understand the world, so I’m glad to return the favor in a small way.
To speak to your question: DSA’s national convention really could not have taken place at a more consequential moment. It’s a moment marked by the growth of the far right, and by the bankruptcy of centrist and center-left regimes that essentially paved the way for that growth. Add to this the various economic, social, and ecological crises that have been increasingly visible since the 2008 financial crash.
Just in the past week or two, we’ve seen the international far right make very violent escalations. Of course, in Israel, with the backing of the U.S. and much of the Western world, we see the takeover of Gaza City, which is sure to result in incalculable death and destruction. In the U.S., Trump is using the power of the state to shore up the US ruling class’s dominance over the world. Domestically, that’s taken many forms: deployment of the National Guard to Washington, D.C., overhauling the judicial system, installing anti-scientific yes-men ready to give cover to the worst of Trump’s agenda. Internationally, the trade war has entered a new phase. Trump has bullied “allies” into crippling deals and issued direct attacks on BRICS countries — Brazil, as you know well, but also India, as a purchaser of Russian oil.
Conversely, though it hasn’t risen to the level of the challenge yet, the broad and fragmented anti-fascist movement has given important responses. Opposition to Trump has been growing both internationally and domestically through Bernie and AOC’s “Fight the Oligarchy” tour, protests at Democratic and Republican town halls, massive street mobilizations on symbolic days like “Hands Off” and “No Kings,” confrontations with ICE, and a lot of union-led initiatives.
This week, Zohran, the winner of NYC’s Democratic Party mayoral primary, has been touring the five boroughs to polarize the city against Trump. In the UK, over 700,000 people have expressed interest in an alternative to the Labour Party, which, like many other European parties of social democratic origin, has administered the most brutal austerity against the British working class and laid the groundwork for the rise of the far-right. In Brazil, a new front for anti-imperialist struggle has opened after Trump imposed a 50% tariff rate as punishment for the prosecution of long-time ally and coup plotter Jair Bolsonaro. And this weekend in the United States, the epicenter of global capitalism, there was a powerful reunion of about 1600 socialists who recommitted to the fight for a better world.
The convention comes at a unique moment in DSA’s growth. The theme and title of the convention –– “Rebirth and Beyond: Reflecting on a decade of DSA’s growth and preparing for a decade of party building” was fitting. The contemporary U.S. left really only began about a decade ago, on the backs of Trump’s election and Bernie’s presidential campaign. It’s been a tumultuous decade, with many challenges, but many lessons and victories to claim as well.
Though DSA is still not a decisive national force, it is a significant player in many meaningful processes, from Zohran’s primary victory in NYC, to union reform struggles, the pro-Palestine student encampments, and much more. Compared to 10 years ago, we are much more rooted and present across a diversity of struggles, which has important implications for recruitment, our political perspectives, the quality of leaders we develop, and our impact on the world. Internally, we have made progress on several questions, including democratic control over staff, the growth of caucuses, and the development of political –– not just organizational –– leadership.
I know a decade may not sound like a lot to Brazilian activists, who inherited a more sustained radical tradition, but it is very significant for us. The generation of DSA activists that began between 2016 and 2019 started at a very high point. To go from that to the political confusion and isolation caused by the pandemic and the collapse of the Sanders–Corbyn–Syriza-Podemos moment was very difficult. It was never inevitable that the left would survive and still have victories to claim on the other side.
The fact that we have an organization that is still fighting and growing against all odds is a very precious thing.
What were the main resolutions approved at the Convention?
The convention took important stances on many critical questions. I’ll try to summarize them using four main themes: Palestine, internal organizational questions, and the horizon of 2028, which can be analyzed either with an electoral or a labor emphasis.
Let’s start with the latter. The year 2028 had a lot of significance at this convention. It’s the year of the next presidential election, and it’s become a horizon that many elements of the left and labor movement have set their sights on, especially after UAW President Shawn Fain called for coordinated action and aligned contract expirations on May Day.
The debates around May Day and the 2028 elections helped clarify the organization’s thinking on our relationship to the Democratic Party, the role of DSA as an alternative, expectations for elected officials, and how electoral contests can be used to advance our broader political work. There’s a strong consensus in the organization that building an independent workers’ party is our aspiration, but there are differences about how that will come about. Some differences were explicitly debated; others could be inferred from resolutions that didn’t make it onto the floor.
These differences span a range of questions: how different tendencies read the balance of forces in society, what timeline we expect for a break from the Democrats, what role DSA should play in fostering a new party, and what kind of party that would be — a broad workers’ party or something explicitly socialist. Despite these differences, there’s a huge appetite to play a bigger role in national politics and to use nationally significant contests — like the presidential election, congressional elections, and Zohran’s mayoral race — to grow.
One resolution called for the organization to explore and prepare for a 2028 presidential run by the left. Another amendment to the National Electoral Commission’s consensus resolution proposed identifying five DSA members to run for congressional seats in 2028 with a clear platform centered on five key demands: affordability, Medicare for All, ending political corruption, reducing U.S. militarism, and so on.
It’s worth elaborating a bit on these consensus resolutions, because they’re a major way priorities are advanced in DSA. We have standing committees around long-term priorities — the National Electoral Commission, the International Commission, and the National Labor Commission. These bodies, made up of members from various tendencies, carry the main organizational weight behind national initiatives. They typically draft resolutions expected to have broad support at the convention.
For example, the electoral resolution emphasized running insurgent campaigns, promoting tactics that build DSA — like having elected members endorse each other and use their offices to empower struggles from below. The labor consensus resolution was also comprehensive and ambitious. It promoted more labor solidarity actions, standing on picket lines with workers, supporting members who are organizing in their workplaces, and pushing union reform struggles in more democratic, militant, and solidaristic directions. This is especially important since the union reform movement hit some roadblocks after the strike against the Big Three automakers in North America. The resolution also emphasized educating coworkers and moving unions to make 2028 a big priority. Right now, that call is mainly coming from leading elements of the labor movement, not yet from a broad grassroots campaign — so this was a welcome step.
Palestine was a dominant theme throughout the convention. It wasn’t just reflected in the votes and debates, but also Rashida Tlaib’s keynote speech, the self-organized breakouts, the experiences of the delegates. In terms of resolutions that passed, many focused on discipline, expectations for officials, red lines for expulsions, and the like. These are not unimportant matters, given the urgency of stopping genocide and the disappointing actions of figures like AOC on funding for the Iron Dome. But the strategic, outward-facing elements of the discussion were a bit lacking. Another resolution debated what Palestinian self-determination ultimately looks like. The convention affirmed a more ambiguous proposal that stopped short of advocating a secular, democratic, one-state solution. This outcome is consistent with longstanding debates in DSA: the organization easily affirms the primacy of fighting U.S. imperialism “in the belly of the beast,” but it has been more hesitant to engage critically with other international processes.
Lastly, on internal organization, many ongoing improvements were crystallized at this convention. Delegates supported efforts to subordinate staff to the will of the convention and membership, and to provide stipends so elected leaders can carry out priorities full-time. We defeated a proposal to move to a one-member-one-vote system, which would have depoliticized our national elections. And importantly, we accepted organizational reforms proposed by the Democracy Commission — a cross-tendency body that studies the internal democracy of parties, organizations, and social movements worldwide, drawing lessons to make DSA better. The overall trend is a desire for a more democratic and militant political culture.
Of course, approving resolutions is just the first step. Prioritization and implementation depend on the direction of the new leadership and the self-organization of the membership. Questions like our overarching strategy to confront Trump, our orientation toward Zohran’s campaign in New York City, and how we update DSA’s program are still under construction.
Sixteen hundred attendees, including twelve hundred delegates, is quite a large number. Could you tell us who these people are in general? Who are the DSA activists — what is their background, and how do they organize to fight for socialism?
The convention was a big affair — the biggest since DSA’s revitalization — with about 1,600 people in the building that weekend. Around 1,200–1,300 of them were elected from their local chapters as delegates to the National Convention. Those are the people with the power to deliberate and vote on resolutions on the floor.
But there was also a broader set of participants who contributed to the dynamism of the event: staff, volunteers, international guests, representatives of allied organizations, and DSA members who weren’t delegates but came to promote projects — like the National Electoral Commission or the Labor Commission. Others were there on behalf of initiatives aligned with DSA’s mission, such as the Emergency Workplace Organizing Committee, the Rank-and-File Project, and important voices in the left media ecosystem — Jacobin, Haymarket Books, and so on.
The number of delegates each chapter could send was proportional to chapter size, so we saw a big concentration from New York City, Los Angeles, and Chicago, the host city. But delegates also came from places beyond the metropolitan centers — I had conversations with delegates from Memphis, Tennessee, and Nebraska.
Organizers brought a wide range of experiences. Some are active in the labor movement as workplace activists, union reformers, leaders of solidarity actions. Others were deeply involved in the Palestine movement, whether on campus, in unions, in the streets, or on city council. There was also a visible layer of former student activists — reflected in important NPC candidates like Alex, Cerena, and Eleanor. And there was a big chunk of delegates mainly focused on building DSA itself: leading their chapters, running new member cohorts, organizing political education events, etc.
With the power of hindsight, you can see distinct “generations” or layers within the organization. The 2016–2018 generation, people who have been active since DSA’s revitalization, were there. Then there’s a middle layer that came in through Black Lives Matter, UAW strike solidarity campaigns, or the wave of workplace unionization at Starbucks and other retail stores. A new wave of growth can be attributed to Palestine solidarity and the excitement around Zohran Mamdani’s campaign for mayor of New York — although the delegate elections took place before his victory, so its full impact on DSA hasn’t played out yet.
Another important trend is ideological polarization. A decade ago, it was almost taboo to organize tendencies inside DSA. But this convention saw the largest number of organized formations since our rebirth, with a very complex balance of forces shaping the new national leadership. Many noted that more delegates this time were affiliated with a caucus or influenced by a caucus. That made outcomes more predictable, and it was harder to find persuadable delegates.
As for the balance of tendencies, people often describe three main blocs. There’s a more moderate or “right-wing” current, which has an electoral emphasis and is agnostic about breaking from the Democrats. On the other side, a far-left current has cohered around questions of discipline, Palestine, and a campist approach to international politics. And then there’s a Marxist center or center-left. It’s not a simple spectrum from right to left — each bloc is capable of advancing its own politics and polarizing the organization in different ways.
Right now, there isn’t an outright governing majority on the NPC. On each issue, a majority will have to be constructed depending on how different tendencies align. The development of distinct political poles is very valuable, but it is equally important to preserve DSA’s big-tent character and find opportunities for common initiatives in this next period.
What were the main conclusions drawn by Bread & Roses about the convention? From your point of view, what are the main challenges for DSA now?
I think everyone agrees that having a strong, independent, and internationalist DSA — rooted in the diverse struggles of the U.S. working class — is more important than ever. That’s true not only because of the crisis we’re living through, but also because of the opportunities it creates, including the historic unpopularity of the Democratic Party.
Right now, the main challenge is building opposition to the Trump administration on all fronts: in the student movement, the labor movement, Palestine solidarity, the defense of public services, the federal workforce, and LGBTQ rights. Our task is to broaden these struggles as much as possible while helping them develop the kind of independent, mass-action politics, democratic spaces, and solidarity needed to achieve their goals.
The solution isn’t as simple as electing Democrats in the 2026 midterms or just showing up to a protest once or twice. DSA members understand that facing the scale of the attacks will take more fights, more coordination, and more imagination. That’s why initiatives like the cross-organizational Political Exchange at DSA’s convention are so important. The political exchange was a new attempt to build links between DSA, partner organizations, and the broader working class — a big step forward in finding common initiatives for the struggle against Trump and for a better world.
Despite some heated debates, the convention was a powerful and unifying experience. And for me, the most striking impression is that, against all odds, socialists have made it clear: we’re fighting, and we’re fighting to win.
We are facing in Brazil the resurgence of the anti-imperialist struggle, considering the threats Trump has been making to Brazilian sovereignty. The new neofascist far right is organizing worldwide. In conclusion, what message would you like to convey to Brazilian activists at this moment?
Our struggles are connected. All around the world, the working class is fighting for self-determination. That struggle takes on different forms depending on the place, but all of our struggles are linked by that fundamental fact.
From our standpoint in the US, a regime that supports Israel in orchestrating and conducting a genocide, a regime that plunges the world into economic misery through punitive tariffs, is not a regime that works in our interests. If the working class here had the power to rule, we would use it for solidarity and cooperation across the international economy, to strengthen public services, and to improve people’s everyday lives.
That’s why we are laser-focused on bringing down Trump, whose administration poses the greatest threat to people’s autonomy around the world. If we succeed in pushing back against his administration “in the belly of the beast,” it will give working people around the globe more space to fight.
We see your struggles in Brazil. We followed the mobilizations against Trump’s tariffs and the Bolsonarists who do his dirty bidding there. We see you connecting the tariffs to the existential threat of climate change and predatory extractivist mining projects the Brazilian government is considering. Watching you assert yourselves strengthens our struggle here in the U.S., and we are in this fight with you until the end.
