• DNC chairman Tom Perez said Democratic Socialists of America member Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez “represents the future of our party.”
• DSA chapter chairs have agreed that “communism is good.”
• One DSA caucus calls its members “revolutionary Marxists.”

(Article by Peter Hasson and Joe Simonson republished from DailyCaller.com)

A far-left group behind rising Democratic star Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is rife with Marxists and other far-left radicals.

The Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), which includes Ocasio-Cortez, is creeping its way into the mainstream of American politics.

Ocasio-Cortez’ shocking primary upset of Democratic New York Rep. Joe Crowley on June 26 elevated both her profile and that of the DSA, which helped boost her to victory. DSA member rolls have skyrocketed since President Donald Trump’s victory in the 2016 election, and Ocasio-Cortez’s victory appears to have accelerated that trend.

Democratic National Committee (DNC) chairman Tom Perez said the 28-year-old socialist “represents the future of our party” on Tuesday.

What Perez didn’t mention is that the group behind “the future” of the Democratic Party is teeming with radicals openly dedicated to dismantling and overturning the economic and social foundations of the United States.

“As a DSA chapter co-chair I just wanna set the record straight for a minute: communism is good,” Portland DSA co-chair Olivia Katbi Smith wrote on June 30. Other DSA chairs quickly followed her lead.

The DSA’s Charlottesville chair quoted Smith’s tweet and wrote, “as a DSA chapter co-chair, I would like to cosign this pro-communist statement.” DSA chairs in Seattle and Hudson County, New Jersey added their support as well.

The tweets were first pointed out by Far-Left Watch, a website that tracks left-wing extremism. (RELATED: ‘ABOLISH ICE’: Vandals Throw Brick Through Window Of GOP Office, Leave Graffiti Message)

The Daily Caller News Foundation reached out to the DSA for a statement on the chairs’ endorsement of communism, as well as for clarification of the DSA’s position on communism, but a DSA spokesperson declined the request.

A deeper look into the beliefs of the DSA’s members reveals that a communist faction isn’t an outlier in the group.

Members of the DSA espouse a kind of radicalism that has not been represented in mainstream American politics for generations.

A review of various subgroups, or caucuses, within the DSA and statements by its members show an organization more closely aligned with extreme Marxist views rather than Nordic social democracies.

The constitution of the DSA proclaims its members are “socialists because we reject an economic order based on private profit, alienated labor, gross inequalities of wealth and power.”

Ocasio-Cortez is a dues-paying member of the DSA’s New York City arm, which demanded an end to national borders and private profit during a June 29 march — just three days after her victory.

TheDCNF called Ocasio-Cortez campaign spokesman Corban Trent on Thursday to ask if he was willing to answer a handful of questions in relation to this report.

“No, have a good day,” Trent said and immediately hung up the phone.

Read more at: DailyCaller.com