The Little-Known Democratic Socialist Plan to Reshape the American Left Through Labor Unions

The Democratic Socialists of America is quietly building a network of activists to influence unions that are central to the Democratic Party.

The organization’s plan encourages young socialists to select jobs where they can either unionize or join existing unions and move them further to the Left. While most Americans are aware of DSA-backed officeholders Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Zohran Mamdani, the strategy of placing members in unions may actually yield more important dividends to the organization’s long-term goals.

From 2018 to 2021, the Young Democratic Socialists of America adopted a “rank-and-file” strategy as a national priority, emphasizing that “socialists must enter the labor movement on the shop floor as rank and file members of labor unions.”

The goal, as the group explained it, was “to reconnect the labor movement to the socialist movement in order to strengthen the militancy and class consciousness of the multiracial, multigendered working class to fight capitalism.”

“We aim to turn the unions we join into strong, militant, democratic organizations that can win major gains for workers, by workers,” the rank-and-file project’s website stated.

Why infiltrate the unions? To leverage them for the Left’s omni cause, the group explicitly stated.

“We want to forge real alliances between unions and other social movements, like the climate justice movement, the racial justice movement, the movement for Palestine, and the movement for LGBTQ+ rights,” the website states. “And we think unions must serve a vital role in forging a political alternative to the hard-right, authoritarian Republican Party and the fake, corporate-friendly ‘progressivism’ of the Democratic Party.”

The YDSA added that it was organizing members to enter “strategic industries—such as logistics, education, and health care.”

DSA released a pamphlet titled “Why Socialists Should Become Teachers,” urging socialists to enter the teaching profession not just to make more schools

Teachers’ unions direct between 94% and 99% of their political contributions to the Democratic Party and left-leaning causes, making them one of the party’s largest financial backers.Data tracked by OpenSecrets and analysis from recent accountability reports highlight the scope of this political funding:Total Contribution Breakdown: During the 2024 election cycle, teachers’ unions contributed $47,739,074 overall, directing 98.46% of their partisan funding to Democrats and only 0.83% to Republicans.Historical Spending Trends: In the 2022 election cycle, unions spent $55,991,553, with 99.46% supporting Democratic candidates and committees.Direct Party Payouts: A report by Defending Education found that the nation’s two largest teachers’ unions—the National Education Association (NEA) and the American Federation of Teachers (AFT)—funneled a combined $85 million+ directly to federal, state, and local Democratic Party entities and their PACs. This does not include direct donations to individual candidate campaigns.Super PAC and Advocacy Funding: Between mid-2022 and mid-2024 alone, the NEA and AFT directed $43.5 million to liberal political action committees and aligned progressive advocacy groups, including the Democratic Governors Association and the Democratic Senate and House Majority PACs.State-Level Influence: The partisan pattern mirrors federal spending; for example, data on the California Teachers Association (CTA) reveals that 98.4% of its federal-level political donations go exclusively to Democratic organizations and candidates.

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