DSA SF has released a COVID-19 Program - read about in full here, and sign on below to organize with us to make our platform a reality.

DSA SF recognizes the need for a militant response to this crisis, not just in the near term as our economic system teeters on the brink of collapse but in the long term as we struggle to rebuild a society that is more just, equitable, and conducive to human survival. We are concerned not only with the near-term health risks for a great number of people who live and work in San Francisco, but the ways in which an impending recession threatens our livelihoods and stability.

We propose an alternative path. This crisis shows the necessity of a total social transformation, not merely a return to business as usual under capitalism. The system that brought us to this point has no remedy for the problems it has created. Indeed, we see proposals at the local, state, and national levels that fail to directly address the primary public health crisis that precipitates the rest.

To that end, we offer a platform for immediate Relief for All, coupled with an organizing approach that focuses on delivering these short- and long-term goals. These long-term organizing projects will be centered around the various ways that capital structures society. We will need to organize in workplaces, in our neighborhoods, among the unemployed, and across international borders, for a people's recovery from this crisis.

DSA SF has announced a platform that aims to protect the health and welfare of our fellow San Franciscans in our homes, communities, workplaces, and the world. This platform includes:

• Safe Selves: We demand Medicare for All, widespread COVID-19 testing and the expedient development of a vaccine, the production and procurement of personal protective equipment (PPE), and a massive public investment in our frail, overburdened healthcare system.
• Safe Homes: We demand that all rent and mortgage payments must be suspended, not merely put on hold, all unhoused San Franciscans must be offered housing in vacant hotel rooms, and city resources must be devoted to helping people experiencing domestic violence during the shelter in place order.
• Safe Work: We demand that essential workers must be given hazard pay, and the state of California should enforce AB5, ensuring that gig economy workers are treated and protected like other employees. We demand that Muni be operated safely for riders and drivers alike by making backdoor boarding standard and halting all fare collection and enforcement.
• Safe Community: We demand a moratorium on all ICE raids and deportation proceedings, and demand the release of all detainees in ICE custody and the closure of immigrant detention centers. We also demand alternatives to police enforcement during the shelter in place and the closure of 850 Bryant, as well as a drastic reduction of California’s prison population, and an end to prison labor.
• Safe World: We demand an end to US sanctions on all foreign nations and denounce the belligerent saber-rattling campaign against Venezuela.

In addition to these demands, DSA SF recognizes the need for long-term organizing work that will build working-class power during the upcoming economic downturn. We will need new areas of focus in our labor organizing work: we need to prepare all workers for other peculiarities of the current moment, including “shock doctrine” tactics that are already being used to undermine public education. Similarly, we will need to show solidarity with tenants as the various programs preventing evictions come to an end.

This crisis is shaping up to be a truly historic moment, and socialists must rise to the challenges it brings. DSA SF will fight to protect and empower the working class through this crisis and whatever comes after.