Our History | DSA Fund

About Us

Our History

Established in 1978

The Fund was established in 1978 as the Institute for Democratic Socialism (IDS). Michael Harrington, who became famous for his 1962 work The Other America, was a founder of IDS as well as its sister organization, the Democratic Socialist Organizing Committee (DSOC). In 1982 DSOC merged with the New American Movement (NAM) to become DSA, and in 1996 IDS became the Democratic Socialists of America Fund.

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Governing As Socialists

The first major IDS event was the “Eurosocialism and America” conference in December 1980 that brought over 2000 activists to D.C. to meet with the leaders of democratic socialist political movements from around the world, including Willy Brandt of Germany, François Mitterrand of France, Olof Palme of Sweden, and Michael Manley of Jamaica. This exchange was critical in nourishing socialist public policy through the desolate Reagan years, laying the groundwork for future socialists in office to advocate for tax the rich, free college and universal healthcare.

Universal Healthcare

In the early 1990s, IDS helped pave the way for the universal healthcare movement. Working together with UAW and other unions, IDS brought trade unionists, doctors, and parliamentarians from Canada to speak at public forums and press conferences across the United States to help advocate for a single-payer health care system. This tour helped put tremendous pressure on the Clinton administration, and led to the later emergence of the Medicare-for-All movement.

Leaders of the Future

Since its inception, the Fund has always been a home for young socialist organizers. From the early days of DSOC’s Youth Service to today’s YDSA, the Fund has helped campus activists connect and learn from each other. In 2022, DSA Fund supported the inaugural Multiracial Organizing Institute, convening young organizers of colors from across the country.

Means of Production

Over the years, the Fund has produced an incredible array of films, books, graphic novels, podcasts and other political education materials to help bring new comrades into the movement for democratic socialism. GET UP set a new standard for political education and training materials. WE OWN THE FUTURE collected the wisdom of some of the leading socialist thinkers of the 21st century. THE BIG SCARY S WORD brought the people’s history of socialism in America to the broader public.

Socialism & Faith

Critiques of capitalism are found in every religion, and some of the most powerful advocates for democratic socialism have come from faith traditions. And yet these connections are often ignored. For 30 years the Fund published a print edition of Religious Socialism, and in 1980 published “The Black Church and Marxism” by James H. Cone, helping revive this critical conversation. Today we are proud to support ‘Heart of a Heartless World’, the podcast of DSA’s Religion & Socialism Working Group.

Board Members

The Board consists of 9 Directors. The DSA Fund Board elects its members to staggered two-year terms. At least four of the Directors are women, at least two of the Directors self-identify as members of racial or national minorities, and at least one was age 30 or under as of the date the director was elected. Standing committees are the Steering Committee, the Budget and Finance Committee, the Grants Committee and the Fundraising Committee.

Yael Bridge

Filmmaker

Yael Bridge is an Emmy-nominated documentary filmmaker. Most recently she directed THE BIG SCARY “S” WORD about the history and resurgence of socialism in the US, now streaming on Hulu. She is currently finishing a short film about the UTLA teacher strike of 2019, WHEN WE FIGHT. She proudly serves as the co-chair of the Labor Committee at the Documentary Producers Alliance. She resides in Oakland, where she works as a filmmaker and film educator.

Bianca Cunningham

Organizer

Bianca Cunningham organized with her Verizon wireless co-workers to join Communication Workers of America in 2014. She alongside others bargained the contract for over a year before going out on strike for 49 days in 2016. She was fired for her organizing and went to work in District 1 while her case was pending at the NLRB. The decision that she was illegally fired and should be returned to work was overturned by the DC Circuit Court. She joined Labor Notes as a staff organizer with a focus on training development. Bianca is the co-chair of NYC-DSA and a co-founder of the AfroSocialists and Socialists of Color Caucus.

David Green

NEUROLOGIST

David Green is a neurologist in private practice in Farmington Hills, MI. He served on DSA’s NPC for many years. He was the Chair of Detroit DSA from 1996-2018; later, became a member of the DSA National Political Committee.

Frank LLewellyn

Board Secretary

Frank Llewellyn was one of the original incorporators of the Institute for Democratic Socialism which later became the Democratic Socialists of America Fund. A lifelong activist and socialist he served Democratic Socialists of America in New York City since the organization was founded. He served on its National Political Committee and as its National Director for more than ten years. He is currently the Treasurer of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez for Congress.

Chris Maisano

UNIONIST

Chris Maisano has been a democratic socialist organizer for more than two decades, and is currently an active member of NYC Democratic Socialists of America. He is a veteran trade unionist, and has served the labor movement in many roles as both a rank-and-file union member and union staffer. He is also a writer and editor, and has contributed to a number of progressive and labor publications including Catalyst, Democratic Left, Dissent, In These Times, Jacobin, New Labor Forum, and Socialist Forum. He lives in Brooklyn, NY.

Maxine Phillips

EDITOR

Maxine Phillips is a former national director of DSA, a former NPC member, the former executive editor of Dissent magazine, and the current volunteer editor of Democratic Left. She is a co-editor of the Religious Socialism site. She joined the Democratic Socialist Organizing Committee in 1977 after hearing about it during a discussion group at church on corporate capitalism. In New York City, she is active with the NYC Religious Socialism Working Group and the New Sanctuary Coalition.

Chris Riddiough

Board Chair

Christine Riddiough was a founding member of DSA. She was an activist in the Chicago Women’s Liberation Union, the first and largest of the socialist feminist women’s organizations of the 1970s. She was a member of the New American Movement and has been active in the LGBTQ movement over the last 40 years. She has served as political director of DSA and as a member of the DSA National Committee. She lives in Washington, DC and teaches computer programming and statistics.

James Tierney

Board Treasurer

James Tierney is treasurer and member of the board of DSA Fund. He is a member of West Suburban IL DSA and previously served as treasurer and steering committee member of Lincoln DSA. He began his volunteering work with DSA Fund helping organize the How We Win series. In his day job as a law professor at Chicago-Kent College of Law (Illinois Tech), he researches and teaches about the law of capitalism. He has also previously taught law at Nebraska and Rutgers, and before that practiced as an attorney at a federal financial regulatory agency and for a private law firm in Washington DC.

Brandon West

VICE CHAIR

Brandon West is a labor organizer, former voting rights advocate, and previous DSA endorsed candidate for City Council in Brooklyn. Brandon has worked to protect and increase access to the ballot and strengthen the political voice of historically disadvantaged communities. He has organized work places, and built coalitions at the State and National level since 2009.

Staff

Max Shaw

Senior Project Manager

Before joining the DSA Fund staff fulltime, Max began his work with the DSA Fund as an intern while pursuing a Masters in Public Administration. He is a member of Philly DSA.

Gabe Tobias

Executive Director

Gabe began his career organizing tenants and home health care workers with ACORN (Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now), then worked on the 2008 Barack Obama campaign before spending a decade managing international development projects. He returned to leftist politics in 2018, helping Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Cori Bush, and Jamaal Bowman win upset victories, co-founding a nationwide organizer training program, supporting a slate of leftist candidates in the 2021 New York City elections, and helping to build The People’s Plan advocacy coalition and the Fellows Program of the Emergency Workplace Organizing Committee (EWOC). Last year, he managed Congressmember Bowman’s 2024 re-election campaign. Gabe has been involved with DSA since 2018 and a dues-paying member since 2021.

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