{"id":11064,"date":"2023-08-30T00:00:46","date_gmt":"2023-08-30T04:00:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.tempestmag.org\/v01_2020\/staging\/?p=11064"},"modified":"2023-09-12T00:04:06","modified_gmt":"2023-09-12T04:04:06","slug":"did-the-dsa-convention-move-left","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tempestmag.org\/test02\/2023\/08\/did-the-dsa-convention-move-left\/","title":{"rendered":"Did the DSA Convention Move Left?"},"content":{"rendered":"

T<\/span>he last two years have been tumultuous for the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA). The Bowman Affair<\/a>, the suspension of the Boycott, Divest, and Sanction (BDS) and Palestine Working Group (BDSWG)<\/a>, the war in Ukraine<\/a>, the Rail Deal<\/a>, and a serious loss in membership numbers, all posed challenges for the DSA since Biden\u2019s inauguration. There\u2019s plenty here for socialists to discuss \u2013 so what happened at the Convention of the largest socialist organization in the United States? This report will offer a summary of the developments.<\/p>\n

By all accounts, the 2023 convention was a pleasant and comradely gathering. Contentious issues from previous conventions were largely absent. This is likely because even as the membership numbers dropped<\/a>, the threshold of signatures needed to submit a proposal was raised to 300. 13 of 22 main items on the initial agenda were produced by the National Political Committee (NPC, the official leadership of the organization in between conventions) or various national committees (e.g. Green New Deal Campaign Commission, International Committee) that include NPC appointees in their leadership structure. This excludes the package of six items in the consent agenda (half of which were also NPC recommendations). In sum, the bulk of the convention was taken up by items handed down from the upper levels of DSA rather than developed from the membership. By comparison, in 2019 the NPC produced just one proposal to the convention (calling for the creation of a platform) out of a total of 46 total convention proposals; national committees did not officially produce any resolutions that year.<\/p>\n

At the 2017, 2019, and 2021 conventions, members proposed numerous constitutional and bylaws amendments to restructure the DSA in hopes of democratizing the organization. No such proposals made it to the agenda in 2023; the only proposed change was Socialist Majority\u2019s plan to expand the NPC \u2013 which failed. (In fact, no constitutional amendments have succeeded in the arc of new-DSA, save one abolishing \u201chonorary\u201d chairpeople in 2017.) This leaves DSA\u2019s bureaucracy unchanged for at least the next two years.<\/p>\n

Resolutions vowing to maintain the organization\u2019s current relationship with the Democratic Party passed easily and without much contention. The convention\u2019s outlook largely aligned with former NPC appointee Marvin Gonzalez<\/a>\u2019s remarks from 2022: \u201cwe are all electoralists now.\u201d The convention distanced the organization further from pursuing independence from the Democratic Party while reaffirming the primacy of elections and legislation as the primary means of change. A resolution to nominally \u201cact like a party\u201d asserted that DSA should not pursue independence in the foreseeable future, and the proposal<\/a> to create a minimum standard for electoral expectations failed 3-2. Stephan Kimmerle observes<\/a>, \u201cthe majority of the Convention was still not prepared to take concrete steps towards democratic accountability and control over DSA electeds.\u201d The idea of using elections as a tool to build social movements, rather than ends in themselves, is now a relic from a bygone era.<\/p>\n

While the remaining members of the BDSWG continued to hold the line in defense of Palestine in 2022, the Convention voted to dissolve the working group and hand over its duties to the International Committee (IC). The convention agenda did not include the BDSWG\u2019s resolution declaring DSA an anti-Zionist organization. Delegates were able to insert the resolution onto the Convention Agenda, but it was bureaucratically killed<\/a> by putting the item at the end of the convention agenda, ensuring it would never be heard by the convention. One account read<\/a>;<\/p>\n

On Sunday morning, a table of delegates near the front left of the hall slowly began to empty as their members – one of whom draped ungracefully by a huge Palestinian flag – left the room. This was, of course, the table for DSA’s national BDS working group, and they had good reason to walk out: their working group was effectively abolished by the delegation.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The celebrations following the convention were due to the election of a purported majority left leadership<\/a> on the NPC. However, looking behind the rhetoric, the signature policies of many of these groups now constituting the DSA Left were toned down substantially between 2021 and 2023. Marxist Unity Group (MUG)\u2019s agenda had been to turn DSA into an organization akin to classical social democratic parties, tying the platform to membership. The platform<\/a>, which included solidarity with Palestine and the unrestricted right to strike, was inconsequential in the real political events that unfolded for DSA after its adoption in August 2021. Only one amendment was made to change the platform in 2023, and MUG did not pursue tying the platform to membership again as they ran candidates for NPC, nor did they raise anything akin to their 2021 resolution to run a slate of socialist candidates for Congress.<\/p>\n

In 2021, Reform & Revolution submitted a resolution for the creation of a Democratic Socialist Party and another noting that candidates running as Democrats would explicitly state in their campaign materials that they rejected the Democratic Party. These ambitions were curbed or otherwise found no hearing. This time around, R&R tacked right as the sole Left caucus to endorse Socialist Majority\u2019s expanded NPC proposal, which ended up failing narrowly. To their credit, MUG, R&R, and Communist Caucus did play supporting roles in getting the BDSWG\u2019s resolution on the convention agenda, and in passing a resolution for a campaign resisting the anti-trans attacks in the U.S.<\/p>\n