Event Calendar

New to Boston DSA? Not sure how to get started? Not a member yet, but looking to dip your toe in? Or maybe you're a not-so-new member, but haven't been active in a while? Welcome! Join us via Zoom for a Chapter Orientation.

Comrades from our Onboarding & Membership Team will walk you through the chapter's mission and structure, answer questions, facilitate discussion about socialist organizing in Boston, discuss our Chapter's current priorities and projects, and help you get plugged in and involved in fighting for a better world.

*Link to RSVP on ActionNetwork:* https://actionnetwork.org/events/chapter-orientation-sunday-dec-1

Reading group for classic Marxist theory texts

*Link to RSVP on ActionNetwork:* https://actionnetwork.org/events/marxist-reading-group-5

Everyone new to socialist activism and/or Boston DSA is invited to a three session intro reading group on the basics of socialism and DSA.

The group starts on Monday, December 2nd and runs for three weeks (12/2, 12/9, and 12/16). All sessions are 7:00-8:30 PM.

In our first session, we'll cover What is Socialism with a presentation and a discussion based on excerpts of Vivek Chibber's ABCs of Capitalism, Ellen Meiksins Wood's Why Class Struggle is Central, and Neal Meyer's What is Democratic Socialism.

Our second session will cover What is Organizing. For this session, our discussion will be based on the Introduction of Jane McAlevey's No Shortcuts, Peter Camejo's Liberalism, Ultraleftism, or Mass Action, and A Hierarchy of Socialist Political Objectives by Greta Smith and Robert Levertis Bell.

And our last session will cover What is DSA, where we will discuss DSA's national platform Workers Deserve More and The Rank and File Strategy pamphlet from DSA's National Labor Commission.

If you have any questions, please reach out to education@bostondsa.org

*Link to RSVP on ActionNetwork:* https://actionnetwork.org/events/socialism-101-reading-group-session-1

The Administrative Committee is responsible for handling our chapter’s routine administrative functions such as chapter communications, technology infrastructure, membership data maintenance, and new member onboarding. The Administrative Committee is chaired by the Communications Coordinator and the Membership Coordinators of the Coordinating Committee.
Want to do socialism from a computer while in your pajamas? Register to attend an upcoming meeting and chip in: https://bdsa.us/AdComm

*Link to RSVP on ActionNetwork:* https://actionnetwork.org/events/administrative-committee-working-meeting-december

We are in an era of increasing authoritarianism and we can't be sure who is watching, and with what resources. State actors? Angry individuals? Or are you just leaking personal information like a sieve? The DADS Digital Security Training will assist comrades in analyzing potential threats, producing models to understand how they endanger us, how to mitigate these threats and how they can prevent the leaking of sensitive personal information.

*Link to RSVP on ActionNetwork:* https://actionnetwork.org/events/dads-digital-security-training

Join the Palestine Working Group for a strategic planning retreat! We have been doing deep community work through the past few months dedicated to organizing grassroots pressure for a ceasefire and arms embargo, and post-election it's time to catch our breath, regroup, and prepare a workplan going into a Trump presidency.

Interested in learning more about the Working Group but not ready to attend a meeting? Fill out our interest form! bdsa.us/pwg-interest

*Link to RSVP on ActionNetwork:* https://actionnetwork.org/events/palestine-working-group-general-meeting-01

The Boston DSA Coordinating Committee meets semimonthly, usually on the 2nd and 4th Wednesdays of the month.
We use these meetings to brainstorm and address administrative issues in the chapter.

Meetings are typically hybrid.

All CC meetings are open to the general membership, but not to the general public.

On specific occasions where the CC is handling sensitive information, it may go into executive session for a portion of the meeting; this will be made known beforehand.

*Link to RSVP on ActionNetwork:* https://actionnetwork.org/events/coordinating-committee-wednesday-december-4

Join us for the monthly meeting of the Ecosocialism Working Group, on the first Thursday of the month at 7 pm. This meeting will be hybrid - in person at the Somerville Public Library (79 Highland Ave, Somerville, MA 02143) and on Zoom.

*Link to RSVP on ActionNetwork:* https://actionnetwork.org/events/december-ecosocialism-working-group-meeting-2

Join Boston DSA for candlepin bowling, food, soft drinks, and a good time. Alcohol will not be included but attendees should be able to buy drinks if they so choose.

RSVPs will be accepted on a first-come-first-served basis, and there is no cost to attend. However, if you’re coming and can afford it – or if you’re not coming but would like to help out on behalf of those who are – we would strongly appreciate a donation to help us put on this event and ones like them in future. The cost to Boston DSA to host this event is $55 per person. If you want to help contribute to this “strike fund” of a different kind, in any amount you can afford, please do so here: https://secure.actblue.com/donate/bdsa-bowling

*Link to RSVP on ActionNetwork:* https://actionnetwork.org/events/bowling-with-boston-dsa

Celebrate friendsgiving with the Ecosocialist Working Group!

Gather at Finley's house near Porter Square for a vegetarian feast and good company! We'll have all the food and some drinks (beer, wine, some nonalcoholic options, maybe a whiskey cocktail?), but folks are always welcome to bring more beverages and/or chip in some venmo bucks. Also totally acceptable to just swing by and enjoy the food and fellowship!

Feel free to bring plus ones or more.

Food will be served starting at around 6:45.

*Link to RSVP on ActionNetwork:* https://actionnetwork.org/events/comradesgiving-2

Want to help mentor YDSA chapters in the Boston area? Join the YDSA Mentoring Committee to see how you can help!

*Link to RSVP on ActionNetwork:* https://actionnetwork.org/events/ydsa-mentoring-committee-meeting-2

Everyone new to socialist activism and/or Boston DSA is invited to a three session intro reading group on the basics of socialism and DSA.

The group starts on Monday, December 2nd and runs for three weeks (12/2, 12/9, and 12/16). All sessions are 7:00-8:30 PM.

In our first session, we'll cover What is Socialism with a presentation and a discussion based on excerpts of Vivek Chibber's ABCs of Capitalism, Ellen Meiksins Wood's Why Class Struggle is Central, and Neal Meyer's What is Democratic Socialism.

Our second session will cover What is Organizing. For this session, our discussion will be based on the Introduction of Jane McAlevey's No Shortcuts, Peter Camejo's Liberalism, Ultraleftism, or Mass Action, and A Hierarchy of Socialist Political Objectives by Greta Smith and Robert Levertis Bell.

And our last session will cover What is DSA, where we will discuss DSA's national platform Workers Deserve More and The Rank and File Strategy pamphlet from DSA's National Labor Commission.

If you have any questions, please reach out to education@bostondsa.org

*Link to RSVP on ActionNetwork:* https://actionnetwork.org/events/socialism-101-reading-group-session-2

Join us for the third meeting of our reading group series on Kohei Saito's "Slow Down: The Degrowth Manifesto". We will be discussing Chapters 5 & 6. All are welcome to attend, even if you weren't at the first two meetings!

This meeting will be hybrid - in person in Somerville near Porter Square and on Zoom. Please RSVP for the in-person address.

The book is available for purchase here or potentially through your local library.

Book summary from the publisher:

"Why, in our affluent society, do so many people live in poverty, without access to health care, working multiple jobs and are nevertheless unable to make ends meet, with no future prospects, while the planet is burning?

In his international bestseller, Kohei Saito argues that while unfettered capitalism is often blamed for inequality and climate change, subsequent calls for “sustainable growth” and a “Green New Deal” are a dangerous compromise. Capitalism creates artificial scarcity by pursuing profit based on the value of products rather than their usefulness and by putting perpetual growth above all else. It is therefore impossible to reverse climate change in a capitalist society—more: the system that caused the problem in the first place cannot be an integral part of the solution.

Instead, Saito advocates for degrowth and deceleration, which he conceives as the slowing of economic activity through the democratic reform of labor and production. In practical terms, he argues for:

• the end of mass production and mass consumption
• decarbonization through shorter working hours
• the prioritization of essential labor over corporate profits

By returning to a system of social ownership, he argues, we can restore abundance and focus on those activities that are essential for human life, effectively reversing climate change and saving the planet."

*Link to RSVP on ActionNetwork:* https://actionnetwork.org/events/ecosocialism-reading-group-slow-down-meeting-3