The Debate in DSA about a Special Convention

The following two articles offer different perspectives on how to deal with the current
malaise in DSA: What are the challenges for DSA and how should we address them?

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Empower DSA’s Members to Overcome the Current Crisis

–    For a Special DSA Convention in the fall to discuss the current crisis and elect a new NPC

–   If the NPC fails to organize a Special Convention, Reform & Revolution proposes that different caucuses work together to organize an Activist Conference in the fall to discuss the challenges DSA faces.

By Stephan Kimmerle

On April 5, Reform & Revolution published my article with the above title and the two proposals in bullet points, tinyurl.com/dsa-special-convention. I also posted it on DSA’s National Discussion Board, tinyurl.com/dsa-special-convention-board (you need to login as a DSA member to read the 168 contributions there) and a number of DSA comrades responded on Twitter. Our website, ReformAndRevolution.org, also published an article by other members of our R&R caucus that disagreed with my position, tinyurl.com/not-a-special-convention. The majority of the responses were not very supportive of my proposal. Still, I appreciate the discussion. Here are my thoughts, in response.  

Is DSA in Crisis?

In times of crisis, turn to the members. They should be at the heart of this organization. As a principle in working-class organizations, this is the only way to collectively learn to be able to end capitalism and oppression and build a socialist society, based on the power and self-activity of the working class.

However, some have argued that DSA does not even face a crisis.

After his votes in favor of $4 billion of US support to militarily crush Palestinian resistance, our national leadership, the NPC, failed to hold Jamaal Bowman, a DSA member in Congress, accountable. The outcry of members was answered not with a discussion organized by the NPC, but with bureaucratic measures. These reached an ugly peak with the temporary dissolution of the national BDS/Palestine working group and disciplinary action against the working group’s leaders (with the NPC being the alleged victim, witness, judge, and jury all-in-one). Another outcry of opposition by the DSA rank-and-file led to the NPC taking back half of these measures by reinstating the working group.  

The mess surrounding Bowman and the BDS Working Group  was only one manifestation of a more fundamental crisis stemming from the inability of the NPC to lead the organization over the last eight months since their election. These are the key parts of the crisis:

• There is a lack of willingness or ability to hold elected officials accountable.
• DSA has not found its voice or its activist footing under the Biden administration.
• DSA is trailing its elected officials who are too often trailing the Democratic Party, rather than forming a socialist opposition. The threat of disaster for the Democrats in the midterm elections underscores the need for a bold, socialist alternative to the Biden administration’s failures ($15 minimum wage, PRO Act, climate change, cancellation of student debt, and so on) backed by a mass working class campaign from below. Otherwise, we are leaving it to the right-wing Republicans to be the “alternative” to the status quo resulting in the current disillusionment and resignation of the more politically advanced from any political involvement.
• The Ukraine war shifted the political terrain to the right, and DSA stumbled to a decent position, but has not been visible in the political discussions. Again, elected officials of DSA are not held accountable by any public discussion (such as town halls between them and our members) about what DSA’s positions are and how to promote them.
• While many individual chapters have wholeheartedly jumped into the opportunities provided by the latest upsurge in labor (e.g., union drives at Starbucks, Amazon), not much coordinated action is coming from the NPC.
• DSA is losing members. The level of activity within DSA is low.

Turning Inwards?

Does this mean that we turn inwards with a special convention, as the chair of the NPC, Kristian Herandez wrote on Twitter?

Who do you want to turn outwards? If it’s about re-activating, reenergizing and turning our 95,000 members outwards, yes, I’m for it. The recommitment drive is a good start,  but it has to center the political task of winning the members back – it’s not enough to rain down some nice videos from above. DSA members must be empowered to take their organization forward out of this crisis.

If you want to turn outwards, then let’s not pretend we can push our problems under the rug. Turning outwards requires a lively internal democracy. The NPC has failed in this regard. Where was the town hall organized by the NPC to discuss the Bowman affair and make their case to the members? Where is the bi-yearly activist conference organized by the NPC, allowing members to exchange their views, as demanded in the DSA bylaws?

What Kristian calls “turning inwards” appears to me a necessity, both to unite the organization and to create a leadership with enough organic authority to enable this nearly 100,000-strong organization to finally start punching its weight, or at least come close.

Lack of Resources?

My R&R comrades in their critique of my article wrote, “DSA does not have the funds, and the staff does not have the resources, to commit to this very complicated and time consuming task. It is a fundamentally unserious demand.”

The financial report of the DSA convention 2021 contravenes this claim. DSA’s 2020 total income was $5,312,077. As of June 2021, DSA had $3,882,687 in the bank. DSA has 32 full timers. The in person convention in 2019 cost more than $500,000. The virtual conference in 2021 (my article argued for an online convention in the fall) cost a fraction of that.

I believe it’s clearly a political question whether to spend around $25,000 for an online convention and to ask the chapters to discuss how to move forward as an organization and elect delegates over six months. It’s not a question of resources.

An Activist Conference From Below

Unfortunately, it looks like the NPC will not organize a special convention. However, I still believe that DSA’s membership needs space nationally to discuss the current situation and a way forward.

In response to questions about whether the NPC will organize a DSA activist conference, as the bylaws require in the off-years between national conventions, some pointed to the DSA-endorsed Socialism Conference in Chicago in September as potentially filling this role. DSA comrades should definitely aim to attend; however, this is a convention organized by a single political current from the tradition of the former ISO, a current which is half-inside and half-outside DSA. It will not be seen as a space owned equally by all members across political approaches in DSA, nor as a vehicle for discussing the problems and challenges we face inside DSA. Still, it would be positive if different caucuses could work together to organize a session there to begin discussing the way forward. 

But can we also organize something beyond that, from below? I believe that if the different political caucuses worked together to organize virtual debates representing the full spectrum of views within DSA on the different topics that need to be discussed, either as a virtual activist conference on one weekend in the fall or as a series of monthly discussions, this could open up the necessary space to start to deal with the challenges we face. These organized forums would serve as a critical bridge until the next regular convention in summer 2023, when we will hopefully elect a new NPC that centers active discussion and exchange of ideas among the membership as the primary means of dealing with challenges and crises in our own organization – just as we center the empowerment and self-activity of rank-and-file workers as the primary means of confronting the crises of capitalism.

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For an Activist Conference Not a Special Convention:

Minority Statement of the Reform & Revolution Steering Committee

By Jesse Dreyer and Wallace Milner 

• A minority in the Reform & Revolution caucus oppose the majority’s call for a special convention on logistical, tactical, and political grounds.
• Organizing democratic discussions without the pressures of decisions is the solution and the minority supports using the Socialism Conference as the venue for these discussions.

It is undeniable that DSA and the socialist left are experiencing a severe crisis. The most prominent example was the recent controversy over DSA endorsed Representative Jamaal Bowman’s vote to continue funding the Israeli military occupation of Palestine. Bowman’s actions are a serious violation of the socialist principle of anti-imperialism, and represent major issues with our strategy towards the Democratic Party. Despite this, the National Political Committee of DSA voted not to formally condemn or even censure Bowman. Among other issues, this has led to skepticism over the legitimacy of the NPC exercising their right to fill three vacant seats in the leadership body.

While we disagree strongly with the actions of the NPC on the Bowman issue, and their conduct towards the BDS working group, we believe that the NPC is within their rights to fill the remaining seats and capable of doing so in a way that brings us closer to a democratic resolution of this internal discord. We also believe that a special convention in this situation would in fact seriously hinder the prospects of developing a coherent and coordinated solution to the problems facing DSA. 

Political Concerns — Who Should Choose the NPC Vacancies?

Unfortunately, it is rather common in DSA for serious political issues to be turned into massive factional fights, despite the potential for political disagreements to lead to productive discussions. We do agree with the majority that there must be a serious reflection on the failures to win the PRO Act, gain ground for the Green New Deal, or accomplish many of the goals of our national campaigns. We should be clear-minded in assessing this and other structural limitations of our current political system, dominated by two major parties fully controlled by the interests of capital and the wealthy ruling class.

However it is common for comrades in leadership positions to fail and lose credibility among membership, that is normal in the struggle. This does not mean the NPC should somehow be stripped of its democratically upheld right to appoint NPC vacancies. On the other hand, it would also be undemocratic for the NPC to appoint comrades to fill these vacancies based on factional preferences, without consideration for the current climate in DSA and the previous political beliefs the comrades who resigned held.

We would oppose the NPC simply choosing the three runners up from the last election. Rather, the NPC must represent the democratic will of the convention and the over one thousand people who signed the pro-BDS Working Group statement and appoint comrades who align with those they replace. This would be one comrade close to the Libertarian Socialist Caucus, one comrade close to the Renewal slate, and one comrade close to the Marxist Unity Group, Reform & Revolution, and Bread & Roses, who were the base of Matt Miller’s victory at the last convention. 

While the NPC has undoubtedly taken votes we disagree with, not only on the BDS Working Group, but on other issues, to call for a special convention is to claim that it has lost the support of a majority of membership. A special convention is not just an “appeal to democracy” in the abstract, but a demand for a concrete action which would require a significant amount of money, time, and resources and would intensify existing political fights. While the procedure exists for a reason, and there are certain cases where it would make sense, a special convention is not something to be called haphazardly. We believe the overwhelming majority of DSA membership still recognizes the legitimacy of the NPC, and wants them to finish their term. 

Legitimate Questions — Would this Resolve the Crisis?

Due to all of these concerns, any new NPC that is elected at a special convention would be subject to persistent doubts. At a convention, decisions would not be limited to an election. Whichever side finds themselves with a majority would likely ram through a series of organization changing proposals, aware that this unique opportunity presents a kind of power that may not be repeated again. Every grievance and dispute over the last year would be aired in a disorganized, unrepresentative, and logistically unsound manner. A special convention would not convincingly resolve any of the political fights or the current crisis in DSA, and is therefore not the appropriate answer. So, the question is, what might help resolve this crisis?

A Point of Agreement

A point where we align with the majority is in their call for an Activist Conference. The opportunity to interact in person will help heal the real wounds that our organization has suffered from asynchronous debate on platforms like Twitter or the DSA Discussion Board. An event where the crisis in DSA can be openly discussed and debated without throwing out the previous conventions democratic decisions is a solution towards bringing this crisis to a close. The NPC will sponsor the Socialism Conference in Chicago. Open discussions amongst all caucuses and perspectives can take place there, with four months for comrades of different perspectives to prepare the logistics of attending and the political preparation to come to the debate in good faith. 

While a special convention is not the right answer, there remain serious problems that DSA needs to confront. The NPC has failed to provide the level of leadership DSA needs, and this failure has brought the organization into an unnecessary crisis. In order to correct this, the NPC must engage in a transparent and open explanation of the entire ‘Bowman Affair’. Without clear concrete steps from the NPC to address the crisis in DSA, a breaking point will come.

A special convention at this time, contested between existing factions, could not possibly result in the positive development of DSA, nor could it even feasibly occur. There is only one means by which the organization can be transformed, and its contradictions overcome: that is a steady, rapid project of developing a mass membership rooted in Marxist principles and politics guided by a commitment to international socialism. There are no shortcuts to changing DSA, no single convention quick-fix. Principled Marxist political development with an immediate goal of establishing clear parameters for the conduct of our elected officials should be considered the primary internal task in DSA. 

Co-signers: Jesse D (R&R SC, Portland DSA co-chair), Wallace M (R&R, Portland DSA At Large Steering Committee member), Ruy M (R&R, Austin DSA Electoral Committee Co-Chair), Jordan S (R&R, Austin DSA Electoral Coordinator), Eve S (R&R, Former Boston DSA co-chair), Ben B (R&R, Austin DSA), Nathan G (R&R, Austin DSA)

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Reform & Revolution published an article in favor of a special convention, tinyurl.com/dsa-special-convention. The second article here is a shortened response to that article. It was first published here tinyurl.com/not-a-special-convention.