Term	Definition
AN	Action Network: The online organizing tool used within DSA to send newsletters, host events, and track invites & RSVPs.
Consent Agenda	A grouping of resolutions ostensibly selected because they would be expected to pass and can therefore be expedited in a single vote to conserve the body's time. Inclusion or exclusion of items in the consent agenda may become a matter of contention.
MIGS	Members In Good Standing: A status that allows members to vote, run for officer or delegate positions. Member dues payment or dues waivers are required to maintain good standing status.
National Convention Delegate	Delegates for the convention are chosen by each chapter from among their membership. There’s no set process to select delegates but national DSA recommends Scottish STV. Each chapter gets 1 delegate for every 75 members and 1 alternate for every 10 delegates. Chapters with fewer than 75 members get one delegate and one alternate.
NPC	National Political Committee: the 16-member collective leadership and the highest decision-making body of the organization. They elects every 2 years and are required to meet 4 times a year.

Term	Definition
AAC	Anti-Abortion Center: aka "crisis pregnancy centers" or "pregnancy resource centers", are typically managed and funded by religious nonprofits that oppose abortion in any and all circumstances. They often use abortion stigma, medical disinformation, and deceptive practices as a way to dissuade people from accessing abortion care.
Abolition	The road to socialism. Abolition is destroying the weapons of the white ruling class. Prisons and police are weapons of the white ruling class. Just like we can’t fight capitalism with Black capitalism, we can’t fight the white ruling class with the white ruling class’s weapons. We gotta destroy their weapons. We gotta destroy prisons, police, patriarchy, poverty, and all the other parts of white supremacy completely to build a better world.
Bodily Autonomy	The right to make decisions about your own body, life, and future, without coercion or violence. This political value prioritizes agency over one's body.
Boot Licker	A pejorative term for an oppressed individual who defends their oppressor. In Marxist theory, this is known as "false consciousness." Current examples of this are supporters of "Blue Lives Matter" and trad wife influencers.
Bourgeoisie	Consists of the "middle class". This term was popularized by Karl Marx, who defined the bourgeoisie class as business owners and the wealthy. They came to own the means of production after the industrial revolution. They rely on the exploitation of the working class.
Canvass	Activism that seeks to obtain political support for something in a specific population. This requires outreach, typically by going in person to districts and neighborhoods and speaking to the residents.
Caucus	A group or autonomous body organized around specific identities or political interests. Caucuses within the DSA aim to connect with relevant social movements and provide a platform for members to mobilize around particular issues
CAUSE	Carolina Amazonians United for Solidarity and Empowerment: A movement of Amazon workers seeking collective bargaining power for Amazon workers across North Carolina. They organize locally in the triangle at RDU1, seeking improved pay, benefits, and working conditions compatible with a dignified livelihood for all workers.
Collective Bargaining	The process where employees, typically through their union, negotiate with their employer to determine the terms and conditions of their employment. This includes wages, benefits, working hours, and other aspects of the workplace.
Communism	Political ideology derived by Karl Marx. It is a form of socialism that it is characterized by common ownership of the means of production rather than private property.
Copaganda	The use of media, including news, entertainment, and public relations, to promote a positive image of the police and their activities while minimizing their abuse of power. Examples of this range from Law & Order, The Marvel Cinematic Universe, and Paw Patrol.
Culture War	Hot-button issues, or divisive political issues selected and further designed by corporate-funded media to increase social division and political polarization. These involve fundamental disagreements about morality, values, and social norms between ideologies. Examples of this include trans athletes, "late-term" abortions, and book bans.
Degrowth	An international movement that recognizes the impossibility of infinite economic growth on a finite planet and seeks to reorganize society and the economy to reflect this reality. Policies commonly associated with degrowth include abandoning yearly GDP growth as the primary measure of economic success in favor of other metrics, dramatically scaling down highly destructive industries, ending planned obsolescence, establishing universal basic services, and fighting for shorter working hours. Degrowth is an intentionally provocative term to prevent its co-opting by capitalists, as was "sustainability" and "eco-friendly".
Dialectics	Dialogue between people of two opposing viewpoints who wish to arrive at a common truth through reasoned argument.
Disaster Capitalism	Describes how governments and corporations exploit vulnerable countries and cities in times of crisis to push for policies that benefit the wealthy, often at the expense of the general population.
Economism	A reduction of political or cultural phenomena and struggles to purely economic issues.
Electoralism	A political tactic which encompasses many strategies centered around voting and elections, from running socialist candidates to “consciousness raising” and exerting pressure on other candidates. The degree to which socialists and their allies ought to do electoralist work is a common debate among leftists
Fascism	Fascism is a far-right, authoritarian ultranationalist political ideology and movement characterized by dictatorial power, forcible suppression of opposition, and strong regimentation of society and the economy.
ICE	Immigration and Customs Enforcement: Operates as a repressive arm of the state, targeting marginalized migrants through raids, detention camps, and deportations. Its actions disrupt families, fuel racial terror, and reinforce capitalist exploitation by maintaining a vulnerable, undocumented workforce that employers can underpay and abuse. By collaborating with private prisons, militarizing borders, and violating human rights, ICE upholds a system of oppression that benefits corporations and the ruling class while harming working-class communities.
Imperialism	The practice of a nation seeking to extend their power and dominance beyond their borders, usually through occupation. It can also be done indirectly by exerting political, economic, or military power over another territory.
Internationalism	Several political theories of internationalism exist. In a socialist or Marxist sense, it refers to seeing your country’s class struggle as part of the global struggle of the working classes against the ruling classes. There is some debate on how the DSA should demonstrate solidarity, or not, with other left wing organizations, both in the USA and around the world. (See the “Bowman vote to send weapons to Israel” section for an example of one major debate which spread across multiple conventions.)
Marxism-Leninism	One of the main ideologies of Communist parties around the world. 'Marxist-Leninist' can also refer to someone who subscribes to the ideas of Marxist-Leninism. The main tenets of Marxist-Leninism include [democratic centralism], [dialectic materialism], maintaining a [revolutionary horizon], understanding the role of the [vanguard] in organizing a revolution, using a [scientific approach to socialism] and more. You can read more about these ideas here and here
Materialism	A philosophical approach to understanding the world according to the material conditions that shape people and societies. This is in contrast to idealism, where the world is understood through more spiritual forces or ideas.
Mutual Aid	An example of solidarity. Mutual aid is when people whose liberation is tied up come together to meet each other’s needs and to build cooperation with one another. Mutual aid isn’t new. It’s how our communities survived throughout history and how we will thrive in the future. Mutual aid is different from charity in that it is based on the fulfillment of specific requests (a bottom-up/horizontal approach) whereas charity will often just heave resources onto people who had no say in what they actually got, oftentimes with that decision resting in the hands of someone they've never even talked to before (a top-down, vertical approach).
NA4A	No Appetite For Apartheid: A campaign upholding DSA's commitment to anti-zionism and solidarity with the people of Palestine, whose goal is to remove products that are produced by or in support of the Palestinian occupation in local businesses. Campaign activities include canvassing of businesses seeking pledges to not import or sell Israeli food products, and pressure campaigns to ensure that businesses which use/sell Israeli food products cease doing so. This action functions in parallel to the Boycott, Divest, and Sanctions (BDS) movement.
Proletariat	Social class of wage-earners who have no ownership over the means of production. Their only means of subsistence is to sell their labor power.
Public Power	A system in which the electricity grid is owned and managed collectively by its customers and their elected representatives rather than by a corporation such as Duke Energy. Public power has taken several forms in US history, including but not limited to public municipal electric utilities, public power districts, and electricity cooperatives.
Reactionary	A position that forms in opposition to something, and does not stand on its own. For example, being anti-police violence but not pro-abolition.
Reformist	Trying to improve or change an existing system through the avenues that are set in place by the existing system. Reformists believe that ideally, enough change can be achieved within the current system to bring about an entirely new political system.
Scientific Socialism	The application of the scientific method and analysis of real economic and social conditions when organizing to overthrow capitalism. Scientific socialists study the examples of successful revolutions to learn from them.
SRA	Socialist Rifle Association: A not-for-profit organization, incorporated in Wichita Kansas and filing as a 501(c)(4) social welfare organization federally. They are an organization dedicated to educating on and advocating for all aspects of self and community defense. SRA recognizes all aspects of self and community defense to include topics such as firearms, disaster relief, medicine, logistics, agriculture, general survival skills, and other pursuits necessary to unify and strengthen communities against the hardships of life under capitalism.
TERF	Trans exclusionary radical feminist: A bioessentialist feminist movement that is built on cis supremacy by rejecting trans identities and reinforcing the so-called gender binary.
TTU	Triangle Tenant Union: A local union organizing tenants in the Triangle, building power for tenants and against landlords. (https://triangletenantunion.org/)
ULP	Unfair Labor Practices: Actions by employers or unions that violate employee rights or labor laws, such as interfering with union organizing or discriminating against employees for union activities. These practices are prohibited under laws like the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) and can lead to investigations and legal action by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). (https://www.flra.gov/cases/unfair-labor-practice)
Zionism	The ideology demanding the forced establishment of a Jewish colonial ethnostate in the Middle East. Movement largely led by evangelicals and big corporations looking to profit off of cheap labor and natural resources.