YDSA Must Build Mass Working-Class Power Through Strategic Campus Organizing for May Day 2028
Source: Trey Cook. "America’s Next Generation of Socialist Organizers." March 7, 2026. jacobin.com
The Gist
Young socialist organizers need to stop just talking among themselves and start building real power by organizing student workers, preparing for a massive strike in 2028, and training activists who will become lifelong labor organizers. The far right is getting stronger while the left stays weak, so socialists must move beyond symbolic protests to actually mobilize masses of working people.
Conclusion
The Young Democratic Socialists of America must focus on building mass working-class power through strategic campus organizing, student worker unions, and preparation for May Day 2028 to effectively confront rising authoritarianism and create a viable socialist alternative
Premises
- Capitalism's political legitimacy is in crisis, with the far right gaining strength by translating economic insecurity into populist rage while the socialist left has failed to mount a successful alternative
- Mass action requires moving beyond symbolic activism to majoritarian organizing that engages workers who don't consider themselves socialists
- Student worker organizing serves as effective training ground for future labor militants, as demonstrated by successful strikes like the 2025 University of Oregon student worker strike
- Over 65% of YDSA conference attendees pledged to 'industrialize' in key industries after graduation, showing commitment to the rank-and-file strategy
- Electoral campaigns like Zohran Mamdani's mayoral victory serve as entry points into socialist politics and build transferable organizing skills
- Campus organizing must extend beyond universities through international solidarity and anti-ICE sanctuary campus campaigns to build broader working-class coalitions
Assumptions
- Mass strikes can be effective tools for confronting authoritarianism and building political alternatives
- Student activists can be successfully trained and developed into lifelong socialist organizers
- Campus-based organizing translates effectively to broader working-class organizing
- The current political moment presents a strategic opportunity for socialist organizing
- Young people's anger about their future can be channeled into effective political action