The official publication of NNJ DSA is back with a brand new name. Formerly known as The Red Star Ledger, this quarterly issued magazine features various stories of our chapter. On-the-ground reporting, organizing updates, opinions, cartoons — Garden State Socialist weaves together the diverse voices and talents of NNJ DSA members as proof of the progress we are making together.
Read on for a brief editor’s note introducing our inaugural issue, followed by links to rest of the digital articles within.
Editor’s Note: Through Solidarity, Progress
By Spencer C.
“The aim of argument, or of discussion, should not be victory but progress.”
The true author of this quote is unknown, but it has often been attributed to Karl Popper, a seminal Austrian-British philosopher. According to the Hoover Institution, the young Popper considered himself a Marxist, and later, a democratic socialist. While Popper grew disillusioned with the left over the course of his life, becoming a harsh public critic of Marxism, he always remained a strong advocate for liberal democracy.
This quote has stayed fixed in my mind since I joined DSA just last year. Now, mere months later, I find myself helping my comrades here in North New Jersey to revive our publication — formerly known as The Red Star Ledger — using whatever skill I possess as a writer and editor to help advance our shared goals.
Shared goals. That is the key phrase. From the Appalachian foothills of Sussex County to the warehouses and ports of Elizabeth to the corporate skyline of Jersey City, our chapter of DSA comprises hundreds of working-class people who, despite our diverse backgrounds, share remarkably similar goals. Equality. Affordability. Community. Democracy.
Together, we are accomplishing these goals within our local communities in ways big and small. Some members sit outside the NJ Transit train station in Elizabeth to facilitate mutual aid, distributing food, clothes, and other goods to those who need them. Others lay in freezing parking lots, protesting the closure of a local hospital so that their community may continue receiving crucial care. Still others liaise with displaced, dejected families outside Delaney Hall as they advocate for the abolition of inhumane ICE detention centers.
Does this mean that every single person within DSA agrees with each other all the time? Absolutely not. It’s no secret that our meetings may be animated by voices raised in healthy debate. But like Popper may have said, progress is what matters — it is what happens when people come together to engage each other on issues that mutually affect them. That connection is where we find common ground. Where we take the first step toward something better.
In a world where the working class constantly struggles for scraps at the banquet of billionaire oligarchs and massive corporations, solidarity is everything. We will always have more in common with each other than we do with them. We must remember that our disagreements will never diminish the progress we can make toward a better life for all of us.
I hope you enjoy reading our inaugural issue of Garden State Socialist, in which we share some stories of the progress that NNJ DSA has made through solidarity and working class action. Looking forward to the future of this publication, we also hope to begin collaborating with the Central and South NJ chapters to cover actions around the entire Garden State.
If you have seen the state of the country or your local community and felt frustrated, shocked, horrified, apathetic, helpless — please know that you are not alone. Take action with us here in the state you call home. Join us. Progress is possible.
Featured Stories
- “Bodies Along the Parking Lot”: Inside the Fight to Save Christ Hospital
- This Warehouse Must Not Become a Concentration Camp: The Push to Abolish ICE Detention in North Jersey
- War is Never for the Working Class
- Death (Budgets) and Taxes in Jersey City
- Candidate’s Corner: Meg for Queen City
- Member Spotlight: Mike V.H.
- Socialist Stories: Labor Theory of Value
- Cartoon: J.D. Vance vs. Pope Leo XIV
Activist Activity
Here are the latest updates on major actions within NNJ DSA, organized by our many different working groups and committees.
- Immigrant Justice Working Group: Training people to know their rights and raising funds to support families in need
- Palestine Solidarity Committee: Organizing three campaigns that aim to sever ties between New Jersey and the apartheid state of Israel (also see this issue’s Member Spotlight for more information)
- Freelizabeth: The campaign to restore the $20 cap on rent increases in Elizabeth is making its way through the court this summer
NNJ DSA members are also organizing in:
- Health Justice
- Housing Justice
- Labor/Union Organizing
- EcoSocialism
- Mutual Aid
- Political Education
- Electoral Work
Thank you for reading
Garden State Socialist is a publication of the North New Jersey chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America (NNJ DSA).
DSA is the largest socialist organization in the United States, with over 100,000 members and chapters in all 50 states. We believe that working people should run both the economy and society democratically to meet human needs, not to make profits for a few.
We are a political and activist organization, not a party; our members use a variety of tactics, from legislative to direct action, to fight for reforms that empower working people.
Join us! dsausa.org/join
Learn more about NNJ DSA
Take action at our upcoming events