Socialism for the Suburbs
Tony from the Lakefront Free Press sat down with one of Lakefront’s co-chairs, Cameron, to talk a bit about why socialism is important in America’s suburbs as well as it’s big cities.
Watch the full video on YouTube or see the transcript below.
-Can you start by briefly explaining what DSA is and your background with the organization?
DSA stands for the Democratic Socialists of America, we are the largest socialist organization in the US with over 85,000 members in all 50 states.Democratic Socialists believe in a better world for the working class and plan to achieve that goal through a democratic transition from capitalism to socialism. This transition will be achieved through educating the working class and enabling us to exert the power that we inherently hold through our labor. power that the ruling capitalist class has done so much to make us forget that we have. I have been on the steering committee of the Lakefront Chapter for the last 5 years. I personally believe that in order to see socialism succeed at the national level we need to develop it here at the local level first.
-How do you feel about the state of the current political system, especially as it relates to our two-party system?
I believe that our current political system is rotten, the deck has been stacked against working people since the signing of a constitution that explicitly allows slavery and implements checks on the common rabble through undemocratic institutions such as the senate and an unelected supreme court. The two-party system exacerbates the rot by allowing the mechanisms of change to be gatekept by two parties that are not responsive to their members let alone the people as a whole. While both parties like to masquerade as “the party of the people” they are in reality corporate parties that will cave to the pressure of their capital interests.
-How do you feel this affects things at the local level?
Often in local politics we don’t even have the false choice of the two parties as machine politics are even more at play. This is evident in Waukegan where elected officials run as democrats without actually having any democratic leanings. In order to break the two party system, I believe the work has to start at the local level. I believe that it is time for the formation of a new party, one that merges socialist political thought with the strength of organized labor. Historically DSA candidates have hitched themselves to the wagon of the Democratic party but this year democrats have shown their inability to stand up for the working class, now more than ever I believe that wherever it makes sense we need to be running for office on socialist platforms as independents to show that the grip of the machine isn’t as strong as people think it is.
-You were talking a bit about DSA candidates, and speaking of, DSA has been gaining a lot of traction recently. It had a lot of electoral victories earlier in November 2025, but a lot of the success that DSA has had has been in America’s major cities. So what role do you feel that DSA and then socialism as a whole has to play in our suburbs?
I think that if DSA is only focused on the big cities then we are doomed to failure as a political movement. Socialism is definitionally for the working class and the working class can be found everywhere, in Urban, suburban and rural settings. Suburbs know first hand the harm that Capitalism can do to a population, many suburbs were started around a specific plant or industry and when capitalists decided that they weren’t making enough profit those industries abandoned the city and their former employees, note that I didn’t say that they weren’t making any profit just not enough to satisfy their unending greed. Socialism will bring dignity back to the working class and will usher in an era where none will have to go without simply because one decided that they didn’t have enough.
-What unique challenges does this work pose in the suburbs, and how do you feel that local organizations tackle those challenges?
I think that a challenge that we face that may not be explicit to, but is definitely exacerbated by the suburbs is our sense of isolation from each other. This isolation is experienced by people in urban settings for sure because, however I think that it is especially felt by those of us in the suburbs as we do not have the forced interactions with our neighbors and our community that those in the city have and capitalism has been hard at work destroying the places that we would naturally gather. In the suburbs most people are forced to own a vehicle where in the city you might take the bus, train or even walk, in the suburbs we have traded our neighborhood parks and apartment courtyards for fenced in yards and gated communities.
-And what advice do you have for those who are feeling isolated either socially or politically?
I think that because isolation is in some ways forced onto us the solution is to make an active effort to find and join a group that is organizing in your area to join, and in some cases that means we will have to make our own. If you are in an apartment building join or help form a tenants union to protect your rights from your landlord. Get involved in your workplace’s union or if you aren’t unionized reach out to the Emergency Workplace Organizing Committee to get help starting one. And of course, if you are in an area that is covered by one of the 250 DSA chapters or on a campus with one of the 120 YDSA chapters nation wide reach out to them and they will get you plugged in with a group of people who want to make change just as much as you. The most important thing to remember is that no matter where you are, you are not alone.
-Is there anything else you wanted to let the people know before we close out?
I just want to reiterate that the feeling of isolation and helplessness that so many are feeling today is a tool of capital interests to make you feel like fighting against the status quo is pointless, but a better world is possible if you get involved in building up your community and your fellow man.