A group of American Marxists, increasingly disillusioned with the more mainstream Democratic Socialists, have formally splintered from the country’s largest socialist group.

The Marxist group Class Unity announced Sunday that it has officially separated itself from the Democratic Socialists of America and is encouraging members to cancel their party dues. In a statement, the group said that “recent developments confirm that the DSA leadership has been thoroughly captured by middle-class careerists, opportunists, and Democratic Party-adjacent political operatives.”

The conflict stems from the vote last month by prominent Democratic socialists in Congress — Representatives Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Cori Bush, and Jamaal Bowman — to impose a contract on union railroad employees and prohibit them from striking.

Class Unity, which has for years been operating within and in parallel to the Democratic Socialists of America, circulated a petition to “Expel Class Enemies” from the group after the vote.

“We condemn the traitorous actions of these representatives and call for their immediate censure and expulsion,” the petition reads. “The black mark they have left on the name of socialism will be a liability for American socialists well into the future.”

Class Unity is a mostly online organization that has existed since at least 2021, with the stated goal of helping people “gain familiarity with basic concepts of materialist, socialist, and Marxist politics and economics,” according to its website.

The Democratic Socialists of America is a socialist pro-labor political group, once associated with Socialist International, that has existed since 1982 and has chapters around America. Ms. Ocasio-Cortez, elected to Congress in 2018 as a Democrat, is perhaps the party’s most notable member.

The Democratic Socialists of America’s stated goal is to create a political and economic system “where ordinary people have a real voice in our workplaces, neighborhoods, and society.”

The announcement of a split between the two far-left factions dropped as progressives within the Democratic Party found themselves the subject of increasing pressure from some on the party’s fringes following the debacle over the election of a speaker of the House.

A Seattle city councilwoman and member of the Socialist Alternative Party, Kshama Sawant, said in a statement that this was emblematic of the dispute that some Marxists had with House progressives. 

“It’s deeply unfortunate it was the right wing who’ve shown how to fight for something in Congress,” Ms. Sawant said in a tweet. She added that progressives have “utterly failed — refused — to use their leverage to stand up to Dem establishment and win ANY gains for working people.”

Class Unity called on its supporters to “cancel their dues, resign from DSA, and denounce the organization” in a statement pledging to “lay the foundation for an American workers’ party.”

None of the named representatives nor the Democratic Socialists of America have responded publicly to Class Unity’s statement.