Labor
Since most of the prosperity of our society comes from labor, and all profit comes from exploiting labor, strong worker organizations are the key to a just future. We work to support all unionization efforts in our community. We are currently supporting the Charles County librarians who unionized in 2024 as they struggle against union busting and for a fair contract, by pressuring the CCPL Board of Trustees from the outside. We are currently working with the Greater Baltimore and Frederick chapters in a campaign to end the ban on public sector worker strikes. Additionally, many of our members work within unions like the Teamsters and the Maryland State Education Association. Need help organizing your workplace? Let us know!
MD-05 Pressure Campaign
The working class needs more than progressives in congress, we need a disciplined socialist bloc dedicated to our liberation. Of the 27 candidates vying for Steny Hoyer’s vacant seat in our district, not a single one is up to the task. But this high-profile race gives us an opportunity to advance demands that are necessary in fighting the Trump regime, and to agitate around the fact that the Democrats are not up to the task of doing so. This is why we are pressuring all 27 candidates to adopt the following platform planks:
- Medicare for All
- Abolish ICE
- Free Palestine
We are also publishing a report card for the top candidates, grading them from A to F on these issues, as well as on their opposition to US imperialism, and their support for Working Class Democracy.
Trans Rights and Bodily Autonomy
Capitalism needs the working class to reproduce itself exponentially, so it promotes strict gender roles, a gendered division of labor, and the subjugation of women. One of our goals as socialists is to break those chains, protect the rights of LGBTQ people to exist as our true selves, and safeguard bodily autonomy. We are currently working on a campaign to pressure the St. Mary’s, Calvert, and Charles County Boards of Education to adopt a bill of rights protecting LGBTQ staff and students.
Housing Justice
Under capitalism housing is an investment commodity hoarded by landlords, instead of being a basic human right. In Southern Maryland we suffer from a shortage of affordable housing. We focus on organizing and empowering tenants to stand up for their rights, and on legislation that will bring us closer to social housing for all. In 2024 we worrked with the tenants of Lord Calvert Mobile Home Park in Lexington Park. First to prevent their neighborhood from being redeveloped, then to build a Tenant Association to fight for their interests in the neighborhood. If you want to organize your neighborhood, contact us and let us know!
Additional projects:
We do other important work, outside of our priority campaigns:
Our Community Defense Working Group is our chapter’s iteration of the DSA Red Rabbits, and its members are all involved in local ICE-watch networks. It consists of members trained in first aid, de-escalation, and marshaling. We attend local progressive events and protests to ensure the safety of all attendees. We also moderate a group of Facebook called Hate Watch SoMD, where community members can keep each other informed about far-right activity in the area and respond accordingly.
Our Palestine Solidarity Working Group was formed at the beginning of the Uncommitted Campaign and convinced hundreds of Southern Maryland voters to join the campaign to pressure Biden to call for a ceasefire in Gaza. We are now a partner in the Break the Bonds campaign.
Mutual Aid: we work closely with our sister group, Feed the People SOMD, to provide food, toiletries, and fresh produce to people in the community for free, with no means testing. Donations come from other members of the community. Our Facebook group, additionally, is a space where members of the community can give and ask for help from others. FTP organizers work hard to model an alternative to capitalist distribution, to build institutions and networks capable of sustaining people in times of crisis, and to educate the community about the need to replace economic structures that lead to disparity and poverty.
Help us with our work!
If you want to join or support these campaigns:
Southern Maryland DSA 