How's it going, America,
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Let's get into it:
The Democratic Socialists of America, LA chapter, is holding a prom, with the theme being Y2K throwback. Three women in slinky, satiny prom dresses open their video invite, standing on a set of stairs in a suburban-looking home, hair done up with sparkly clips, eyeshadow shining.
"Do you hate capitalism but love to dress up?" Asks one Angelino socialist.
"Do you believe that the government should work for the people?" Asks another, standing before a front door in classic prom pose.
"And also miss the days of grinding with your crush at the school dance to Lil Jon?" Asks the third, looking out over the rims of her purple sunglasses.
"Come to prom," they say in unison, in a voice so bored and disinterested that it would make Baudrillard proud. This languid, lackadaisical attitude
permeates the video.
"Do you wanna shake it like a Polaroid picture with your girls, but all your girls believe in a Free Palestine? Come to prom. Do you want to support DSA LA's work fighting for fair housing? Fighting against ICE? And working to get more people like Zohran Mamdani elected, but with dancing? Come to prom. Come to DSA LA's Y2K Prom."
The era they are calling back was one of capitalist optimism, where tech companies were booming and making millionaires overnight. The Dot-Com economy meant anyone could strike it rich. Democracy was rising. America was resilient. And it came to an end because of incredibly poor policy that put the government at the center of the housing market in an attempt to make sure everyone got a piece of the property pie, whether they could afford it or not. It is this between-the-boom-and-the-bust era that DSA LA is nostalgic for—a time when no one in America would declare their open support for socialism.
The party kicks off Friday at 8 pm at the Friendship Auditorium, an LA Parks and Rec. venue. The event is touted as "the biggest socialist party of senior year," sure to be "a night of grinding to early 2000s R&B, scream-singing along to the best of pop-punk, and slow dancing with your sweetheart. Come in your sparkliest dresses and most ill-fitting suits as we hearken back to a time when tips were frosted and clips were butterflied."
The event, of course, is a fundraiser and tickets range from $15 up to $100. Undoubtedly, it will be a cash bar except for the DSA VIP, who will likely drink for free. There will be a photo booth, DIY glitter tattoos, and they even plan to crown a prom king and queen—even though they are all in for "No Kings."
Local DSA members include City Councilmembers Eunisses Hernandez, Hugo Soto-Martinez, city attorney candidate Marissa Roy, and city council candidates Estuardo Mazariegos and Faizah Malik. Mayoral candidate Nithya Raman, who beat Spencer Pratt to face off against incumbent Mayor Karen Bass in the general election after a slew of late ballots turned up to be counted, is also a member of the DSA.
The party is well in the tradition of socialism, where party leaders throw lavish soirees while telling everyone else to live meagerly. Karl Marx, founder of the theories now being espoused by the prom-dress-wearing women, had servants and lived in the Modena Villas in Maitland Park, London. He threw parties. He lived off inheritance and wealthy benefactors while saying inheritance, for everyone else, should be outlawed.
The DSA, like their predecessors, want to take from the rich and give to themselves. They are angry about their own student loans, promises they feel society broke, and their disinterest in doing the kind of work that it would take to actually create things that result in revenue, so they get angry at those who have done that and seek to abscond with it.
And their goal, once in power, is to create laws and systems that prevent them from ever losing it. Packing the Supreme Court, abolishing the Senate, implementing massive wealth taxes, forcing land owners to give up their properties and hand them over to the government, these are all promises made by DSA and DSA-adjacent candidates.
Tuesday night in Wisconsin, the favorite-to-win gubernatorial candidate, Francesca Hong, was defeated by a more moderate Democrat candidate, David Crowley. Hong hates Thanksgiving, complains about the whiteness of her husband and biracial son, backs abolishing the Senate, the police, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, supports wealth and corporate wealth taxes, tuition for illegal immigrants, government-run grocery stores, and "86[ing] Trump."
While these plans and policies win on the coasts and in the Pacific Northwest, perhaps we're starting to see pushback from the Midwest, which has given us Abdul El-Sayed's Senate candidacy in Michigan and Peggy Flannagan in Minnesota, but dashed hopes for a socialist takeover of Wisconsin. Now that Hong is out, perhaps she'll have time to attend the DSA LA prom this Friday and get her sparkle on.
Libby