by DSA’s National Convention is fast approaching: August 1 – 8, 2021. A major issue facing the DSA Convention is how we should relate to the Democratic Party.
DSA has helped elect over 155 DSA-endorsed candidates, usually using the ballot line of the Democratic Party, which has put DSA on the map and increased the legitimacy of socialist politics. However, this “dirty break strategy” of getting our hands dirty by working within the Democratic Party also constrains DSA’s ability to stand out and chart an independent course for the working class. Although Democratic politicians pay lip service to the needs of working-class people, the party is ultimately loyal to its ultra-wealthy donor class. The capitalist media and the party establishment put intense pressure on DSA-endorsed Democratic candidates to water down their demands, and DSA’s attractiveness is tarnished by our association with career capitalist politicians like Joe Biden and Nancy Pelosi.
The last DSA National Convention in 2019 passed a resolution committing DSA to the goal of working toward building an independent working-class party. While this “dirty break strategy” can include running on the Democratic Party ballot line where necessary, we must also begin taking the necessary steps to prepare to break free from the Democratic Party, or else we run the risk of reinforcing the Democratic Party’s and the capitalists’ control over the working class and our social movements.
That’s why we in the Reform & Revolution caucus are encouraging DSA convention delegates to support the two amendments to Resolution 8: “Toward a Mass Party in the United States,” below. These amendments will help us take concrete steps to begin building an independent movement outside the two-party system and begin providing working people a pole of attraction for socialist politics. If you agree with these amendments, please vote for them at the convention, and/or encourage other convention delegates to vote for them. And please share this link on social media!
Amendment to Resolution #8 “Toward a Mass Party in the United States (Electoral Priority)”
Amendment Title: “Run 10 Candidates Independent of the Democrats in 2022”
Authors: Ramy K (Seattle), Eve S (Boston), Stephan K (Seattle)
You can find the original text of Resolution #8 here: convention2021.dsausa.org/2021-dsa-convention-resolutions/#P1H
After the paragraph that says:
“Resolved that the National Political Committee will prioritize regular communication and collaboration with the National Electoral Committee, in line with the role of electoral organizing as a unique priority within the organization; and”
Add the following two paragraphs:
“Resolved that DSA’s National Political Committee, in consultation with DSA’s National Electoral Committee, local DSA chapters, and national staff, is tasked with identifying the 10 most promising 2022 races around the country in which to run strong DSA candidates independently of the Democratic Party ballot line (DSA candidates may still run on the Democratic Party ballot line in other races, but these will not count toward the 10); and
Resolved that these 10 independent candidacies will be nationally promoted by DSA (not to the exclusion of promoting candidates running as Democrats as well), and the National Political Committee and the National Electoral Committee will ask all DSA members elected to public office to endorse and actively support these candidates; and”
Then continue with the following paragraph which remains unchanged:
“Resolved that DSA commits to devoting the time of two full-time organizers on national staff and to substantial resources over the next two years to build DSA’s independent socialist electoral infrastructure at the national level and in as many chapters as possible.”
Rationale for the amendment (This is not part of the amendment):
The workers’ movement achieving political and organizational independence from the capitalist political parties is a key strategic goal along the path to winning political power for the multiracial working class and transforming society along socialist lines.
This independence cannot be artificially created overnight, and therefore socialists must find creative and flexible tactics to make headway toward this goal where openings exist.
Having some socialists run independently from the Democrats has not impeded the efforts of other socialists to run on the Democratic Party ballot line. Socialist candidates have employed different ballot line tactics and have still been able to work together and support one another.
There are many one-party dominated races for local, state, and Congressional offices in which general elections are routinely uncompetitive due to the low level of support for the other capitalist party in that district, which sometimes doesn’t even field a candidate.
While the majority of socialist candidates in the recent period have run on the Democratic Party ballot line, there are also recent examples of socialists winning office as independents, such as DSA member Rossana Rodriguez-Sanchez’s election to Chicago City Council in 2019 as an independent, Kshama Sawant from Socialist Alternative winning her Seattle City Council seat the last three elections in a row, Gayle McLaughlin and the Richmond Progressive Alliance winning multiple mayoral and City Council elections, as well as Bernie Sanders’ history of successful independent mayoral and Congressional campaigns in Vermont.
The idea of trying to recruit and support 10 independent candidates is a ballpark number. Nonetheless, this figure allows the convention to provide political direction to the National Political Committee and the National Electoral Committee. The number 10 is a guideline to work with that helps clarify what this convention wants to see achieved over the next year.
Amendment to Resolution #8 “Toward a Mass Party in the United States (Electoral Priority)”
Amendment Title: “DSA Candidates’ Political Message about the Democratic Party”
Authors: Philip L (Seattle), Rosemary D (Portland), Alex S (Phoenix)
You can find the original text of Resolution #8 here: convention2021.dsausa.org/2021-dsa-convention-resolutions/#P1H
Delete the following paragraph from Resolution #8:
“Resolved that DSA will continue its successful approach of tactically contesting partisan elections on the Democratic ballot line while building power independent of the Democratic party apparatus; and”
Replace the deleted paragraph with the following paragraph:
“Resolved that DSA will urge DSA candidates to clearly promote a socialist message about the Democratic Party, regardless of which ballot line the candidates are running on (Democratic or independent). Key components of a socialist message about the Democratic Party include: (1) openly identifying as a socialist running against the Democratic Party’s corporate establishment, (2) openly criticizing the Democratic Party as dominated by corporate interests, and (3) promoting the need for a working-class political organization structured as a mass-membership, democratic organization and appealing to supporters to join DSA; and”
Rationale for the amendment (not part of the amendment):
The 2019 DSA national convention adopted a “dirty break” strategy of aiming to eventually “form an independent working-class party, but for now this does not rule out DSA-endorsed candidates running tactically on the Democratic Party ballot line.”
For socialists, which ballot line to run on is a tactical question, but what must be consistent, no matter which ballot line DSA candidates choose, is running as an open socialist. This means advocating a clear socialist viewpoint on the major issues in the election campaign.
This point was registered by the 2019 DSA National Convention when it agreed that a vital task of running as an open socialist is to “popularize a class struggle perspective, one that sees the working class as the agents of change and capitalists and capitalist politicians as the main barrier to change.”
While DSA candidates will continue to run on the Democratic ballot line where this is advantageous, we should still articulate a socialist message in these campaigns. Especially if socialist candidates are running on the Democratic ballot line, they need to make clear the fundamentally pro-capitalist character of the Democratic Party and use the platform of their election campaign to encourage working people to self-organize in their own independent working-class movements and organizations.
Even if socialists make use of the ballot line of a capitalist party, DSA candidates should still use every opportunity to raise people’s consciousness that workers and capitalists have opposing interests and that the multiracial working class needs to form our own independent political organization to fight for our interests against the capitalists and their political parties. Since we have not yet built our own independent workers’ party, DSA candidates should appeal to sympathetic voters to join DSA, which is playing the role of a pre-party formation.
