Our Theory of Change (ToC) was first developed in 2022 and reworked in 2025. Through collaborative, member-wide exercises, the resulting ToC outlines our organizational vision, preconditions for change, and specific strategies.

The ToC represents a working model of the organization, allowing us to adjust any aspect as needed as we measure our successes and failures. As such, the DSC Theory of Change is a living document meant to be referenced regularly and evolve to represent our member's and communities' material conditions. We encourage all current and prospective members and collaborators to review it to understand our niche in the organizing space.

The following points represent a summary of the full document. If you’re interested in learning more about DSCs political perspectives and strategy, check out our full Theory of Change.

1. Centrality of the Working-Class

   Any socialist political project must place the working class at its heart. The working class is defined by its separation from the means of production—that is, their lack of ownership of the infrastructure, natural resources, machinery, factories, land, and buildings used to produce goods and services. The working class constitutes a large majority of the Canadian population. Our class includes not only the employed, but also the unemployed, and not only “blue-collar” workers, but also workers in a wide array of other fields. Our class’ majoritarian character and separation from the means of production mean it is the only social group with a consistent material interest in fighting for collective, democratic control over political and economic life. 

2. A Democratic and Socialist Canada

   Working people suffer economic insecurity, endless war, and ecological destruction so capitalists can accumulate more money, more assets, and more power for themselves. The only way to end this horror is for the Canadian working class, in concert with the workers of the world, to take power and build different types of societies—socialist societies in which the means of production are controlled collectively and democratically to produce what is necessary to meet the needs of the people.  

3. Self-Determination for All Nations and Peoples

   Capitalism is a global system. Canadian workers need to build international class solidarity to counter the international coordination of the capitalists. Developing this solidarity requires that Canadian workers stand for the right to self-determination—for Indigenous peoples, for oppressed nations all around the world, as well as for the Québécois.

4. Building the Working-Class Movement

   To our class, organization is like oxygen. The erosion of working-class organization has undermined the basis of workers’ power and confidence. Workers need mass, collective institutions to enforce our interests in workplaces, buildings, and neighbourhoods. Class organization develops workers’ recognition of collective class interests and enemies, and demonstrates the possibility of joining together with others to fight for these interests and against these enemies.

5. Political Education

   To internalize the lessons of class struggle, workers need an opportunity to reflect on their direct experiences, and to connect them with history and theory. This requires the development of accessible political education which draws a connection between the struggles we are engaged in, and a broader class and political analysis.

6. Socialist Unity

   The working class can only capture state power, and carry out the societal transformation we so desperately need, where a substantial part of it is organized into a socialist party with genuine leadership and legitimacy among the broader masses. The project of constructing such a party is beyond the capacity of any existing organization in the Canadian socialist movement, including our own. We need to rebuild class organization while also building unity on the socialist left. Both these tasks are essential preconditions to constructing a socialist party worthy of the name. Engaging other socialist groups in coalitions around shared organizing projects, shared social events, and shared discussion and debate can help develop the relationships and mutual understanding necessary to overcome socialist fragmentation.