Socialists have a long history with political cartoons. In 1912, Eugene V. Debs predicted that “the true art of the untrammeled cartoonist is now being developed, and he will be one of the most inspiring factors in the propaganda of the revolution.”
A century later, a cartoon Debs narrates Democratic Socialists of America: A Graphic History. This comic book crash course into DSA history was released by the National Political Education Committee (NPEC) online for free download and distribution.
The work was a collaboration between three graphic historians. Writer Raymond Tyler, author of Black Coal and Red Bandanas: An Illustrated History of The West Virginia Mine Wars, oversaw the script and Noah Van Sciver, author of Joseph Smith and the Mormons: A Graphic History, contributed illustrations. Historian and longtime DSA member Paul Buhle (who co-authored Eugene V. Debs: A Graphic Biography with Van Sciver) helped to organize the project with editorial contributions made by members of the NPEC. The DSA Fund, DSA’s sister 501c3 educational nonprofit, provided an education grant and additional funding was contributed by Tyler and Buhle.
Democratic Left spoke with Tyler, a DSA Lower Hudson Valley chapter member, about creating the comic by committee, surprises in DSA history, and the need for socialist media as counter-propaganda against capitalist messaging.
Comics are a collaborative art form between writers, artists, colorists, and letterers, but DSA: A Graphic History extended this idea. Documenting an organization committed to democracy through a democratic process.
“I usually write comic scripts panel by panel in Excel. But this one was different. I wrote in prose in a Google doc that everyone could collaborate on. Then, I sent it to the NPEC, and members left comments. I began the project wondering if it is possible to write a comic democratically,” Tyler said. “It’s actually shockingly possible.”
“One of the joys of writing this with so many DSA members, people in the organization for a year or since its founding [was that] there were so many tidbits of information that one wouldn’t generally get in just a narrative history, the tidbits that would get edited out.”
Members might see some familiar faces, “cartoonified” and fictionalized. Archival photos were used for artistic reference. “Noah has a remarkable talent for capturing the subtlety in haircuts and facial hair from different eras,” Tyler said.
Much of what was included was decided by the democratic process, including selecting five founding DSA members to highlight. “We wanted to include people in DSA with unique perspectives to shape the organization,” Tyler said.
“Barbara Ehrenreich and Michael Harrington are probably who most people would name as the founding two DSA members,” Tyler said. “Dorothy Ray Healey is a remarkable Marxist and activist, and many people in DSA like her. Harry Britt, an officeholder on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, was influential in putting LGBTQ rights front and center in American politics. House Rep. Ron Dellums, who people know from the film Born on the Fourth of July (1989), is a very popular character who played a prominent role in the anti-apartheid movement.”
Space limitations required choosing which members to highlight. “We couldn’t fit everybody into the book or panel. At one point, we had ten names of important founders, but there wasn’t enough room. If it were text, it would be easier to fit all the founders.” Some other members the creators considered highlighting included the Rev. Cornel West, educator Deborah Meier, professor Irving Howe, activist Richard Healy (Dorothy’s son), and William W. Winpisinger, the president of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers.
Many current DSA members joined during the membership expansion of the 2010s. But it took five decades of relentless organizing to see this growth.
DSA’s opposition to the Iraq War and support for Occupy Wall Street are two events highlighted in the comic. Tyler sees DSA’s engagement with both issues as emblematic of DSA’s multi-tendency organizing strategy. DSA’s New York office was located near Zuccotti Park, center of the Occupy Wall Street Movement.
“In my opinion, these events took DSA into the more radical spaces that would become a melting pot with the more left-wing people,” Tyler said. It was helpful for DSA to participate in these movements and welcome more radical ideas and perspectives. I attribute a lot of the growth in DSA to there being a space.”
Tyler hopes the comic allows readers to gain a foundational understanding of DSA history.
“It took around 30 hours to read through books to see the basic history of DSA in this concise way,” Tyler said.
In addition to increasing members’ knowledge of organizational history, the comic is meant to stand up to false narratives about American socialism propagated by capitalist media. The comic is unabashedly a piece of socialist propaganda. “It’s certainly propagating the idea that you can join DSA and find your place within it, and countering the simplistic, unhelpful narratives from corporate media or other left-wing organizations,” Tyler said.
“One of my favorite things about comics is they’re one of the best mediums for countering narratives, because you get to insert words and images into people’s minds to combat the words and images fed through a corporate media machine,” Tyler added. “I think that’s why political cartoons have been so valuable in socialist movements and bringing about a greater collective consciousness.”
The authors encourage members to read the comic and circulate it among members and potential members. Tyler hopes the comic can help recruit new members into DSA. “I sent this to a friend of mine in a left-wing book club who was looking for an organization, and they sent a message back saying they could see themselves in the organization. They wanted something they could directly contribute to. So that’s my personal victory.”
Democratic Socialists of America: A Graphic History is available free online.
Democratic-Socialists-of-America_-A-Graphic-History