Series I. Organizational History, 1955-1983, inclusive

This series chronicles the events leading to the founding of DSA. It documents Michael Harrington's early years with the Young People's Socialist League and his later role as chair of the Socialist Party, USA (which changed its name to Socialist Party-Democratic Socialist Federation, USA, or SP-DSF, around April 1972), through his resignation from the party and the formation of the Democratic Socialist Organizing Committee (DSOC) in 1973. Additionally, materials cover the early negotiations between DSOC and the New American Movement (NAM), their eventual merger, and the formation of the Democratic Socialists of America (1982) through notes, resolutions, meeting minutes, negotiating instructions, and the merger agreement. Materials also include notes and meeting minutes from the Coalition Caucus, the precursor to DSOC; correspondence (most of which is from Michael Harrington and Carl Shier, Regional Director of the United Auto Workers and co-founder of DSOC with Harrington); Socialist Party, USA/SP-DSF mailings, resolutions, publications (such as New America), press releases, and Harrington's resignation letter; correspondence, memos, a proposed constitution, and the publication Socialist Reporter (a special report on the founding of DSOC) from the early days of DSOC; and early versions of DSA's constitution and bylaws. Michael Harrington's early published and unpublished writing is included here since it reflects the directions and views eventually adopted by DSOC. Published writing includes American Power in the Twentieth Century (published by the League for Industrial Democracy, 1967), and various articles for The New York Times and New York Herald Tribune, among others. Uunpublished writing includes a speech on youth and the labor movement, delivered at the 22nd Annual Central Labor Union Conference at the University of Illinois (December 1971), and an article draft on Vietnam (August 1971).