Mission

The Jewish Solidarity Caucus is a hub for organizing as Jews in the struggle against capitalism and for the freedom and dignity of all. We seek to renew the Jewish socialist tradition, to combat antisemitism, and to forge solidarity between Jews and other oppressed people. Jews have complex individual and communal identities and backgrounds, and it is clear that Jewish liberation is bound to that of all oppressed people. We are an unofficial caucus that does not claim to represent all Jewish members of DSA.

We seek to create the conditions under which barriers to being truly Jewish no longer exist: a society abolished of class; where synagogue membership costs are not exorbitant; where focus and funding does not overemphasize Zionism and Hebrew at the cost of other Jewish political traditions and languages; where the priorities of Jewish institutions are not beholden to a small group of wealthy funders. Jewish life as it currently exists under capitalism is not freedom, and Jewish collective efforts to realize the prophetic vision of a just world will only be fully realized through socialism.

We further aim to:

Provide a community for socialist Jews of all backgrounds to stand in solidarity with others in the fight against capitalism as socialists and as Jews. Build a strong autonomous Jewish identity not based in nationalism. Ground the struggle against antisemitism in a materialist analysis. Build a new generation of leaders in the Jewish community who can organize its members to defend the interests of the working class and other groups oppressed by capitalist society, rather than the interests of an established wealthy elite. Provide a specifically Jewish perspective on socialism informed by our lived experiences as Jews, our historical memory, and our philosophical traditions.

Current Conditions

Neoliberalism has enabled a right wing populist tide, resulting in the election of Donald Trump to the highest office in the United States and producing a wave of disenchantment with the status quo. While conservatives have seized the moment to begin enacting a reactionary agenda, liberals have failed to organize an effective oppositional force or ideology. Although US society has come to generally view open antisemitism disfavorably, such antisemitism continues to animate a large amount of political activity, and the election of the current administration has emboldened those holding such views. This text is written at a moment in which we observe an attack on our collective memory and Jewish institutions executed on an ever-expanding scale. Every toppled gravestone is reminder that even the dead are not safe from the enemy if he wins. And this enemy has not ceased to be victorious. Jews have a long history of engagement with socialism. Unfortunately, this has waned in the past decades. The tremendous growth of DSA and the popularity of Bernie Sanders, himself Jewish, has created an opportunity for Jews to reconcile our socialist past with our present condition.

Guiding Principles

These principles are not intended to be dogma, but rather a starting point for a vision of what Jewish Socialist politics could be. While we feel the issues we set forth are of vital importance for the American Jewish community and the Jewish left to grapple with, at the same time we recognize that the right to dissent is both of paramount importance to the democratic socialist vision of liberation as well as an integral part of Jewish tradition. An atmosphere in which disagreement is welcome and compatible with camaraderie is essential to maintaining a community committed to a potentially life-long struggle for liberation.