There’s nothing more socialist than arguing about how to spend our money. When money is tight, debate over how to prioritize it can become fierce, sometimes lasting for weeks before a consensus can be reached: purchasing expensive software subscriptions, renting office space, or recently whether to spend ⅓ of our entire budget on union-made t-shirts to replenish our merchandise. I am a member of DSA North Texas, a chapter with ~600 members. After spending one term on the Steering Committee, I currently serve as chapter co-chair. In these roles, I have seen our chapter’s finances up close and personal.
State repression is at an all time high in Texas. As the genocide on Gaza continues, ICE runs roughshod across the state, ripping families apart and invading our communities. Our Republican-dominated legislature threatens to expand their gerrymandered political strongholds, and trans people, myself included, will see a new cruel wave of oppression come September when new laws are set to take effect.
Recently, I have taken a leading role alongside my co-chair in fleshing out a local electoral strategy for our chapter. Having witnessed electoral successes in larger, nearby chapters like Austin and San Antonio, we have been inspired to get in the ring. One of the first things I learned about electoral campaigns is that they are expensive. The reality of living in a political system dominated by moneyed interests is that dedication, perseverance, and good strategy can only take you so far.
In order to compete in the electoral arena, you have to spend substantial funds to run a good campaign. In this evaluation, the math concluded that if we spent more than half of our chapter’s reserves (around $12k), we might have a shot at running a winnable campaign for a city council seat. And there lies a dilemma: is it worth potentially risking the financial health of our chapter on a campaign that might result in a loss? Win or lose, a large-scale campaign can strengthen your chapter. Experience running a field program, fundraising at scale, and engaging in robust leadership development are great upsides. But failure can result in a significant loss of morale and burnout — a death knell to your ability to organize when combined with a dramatic shortage of funds.
This conundrum isn’t unique to the electoral project — most chapters can only afford one truly robust priority campaign a year, and a large percentage of those chapters run out of members’ garages and off personal donations. As organizers, we have all footed the bill for printing costs, or a meal at an event.
With the rise of fascism in the US and a groundswell in the movement for Palestinian liberation, DSA is experiencing sustained, historic growth. While we continue to refine our recruitment, onboarding, and retention practices across the organization in hope of extending this upward momentum, we must simultaneously recognize that DSA has historically experienced periods of membership decline in the aftermath of large bumps. During a membership plateau, my chapter will become even more averse to taking on ambitious campaigns, and even less likely to sustain major organizing projects on the scale that is needed to meet the current moment.
What my chapter and other small and mid-size chapters need is breathing room. Taking bold political steps shouldn’t mean risking the very solvency of your chapter. DSA needs to give chapters a buffer, and allow us to take more significant risks and carry out deeper organizing. Now is the time to empower chapters and standardize our dues share policies in line with best practices adopted by major socialist organizations and labor unions across the US and internationally.
Going into our National Convention, it is no secret that ‘R43: Locals-First DSA: Increase Dues Income for Locals and Stabilize National Budget’ is hotly contested. This resolution, proposed by Springs of Revolution, would double the percentage of members’ dues that chapters receive, from 20 to 40 percent. The thinking behind our resolution is straightforward — chapters are the beating heart of our organization, where our efforts to build a socialist future coalesce and are put into action.
We must synthesize the lessons learned from budgeting across the organization, from our smallest chapters to our largest chapters and national bodies, in order to lay the groundwork for a DSA in which every local is able to work towards financial self-sufficiency. For larger chapters, an increase or decrease in dues share disbursements are less likely to cause dramatic change in their ability to organize. Many larger chapters hire staff or have local member dues that help sustain their operating costs and ability to undertake earmarked fundraising. But in the current phase of our organization’s development, smaller chapters and our capacity to organize, recruit, and serve live or die by the total amount of dues we receive.
One reasonable concern often voiced in the face of increasing dues share is that redistribution will weaken the national organization. As a leader in the Trans Rights & Bodily Autonomy and Stop Fueling Genocide campaigns, I know firsthand that our national bodies, supported by DSA’s staff, contribute deeply to important organizing taking place across our organization. National DSA has a key role to play — supporting, coordinating, and equipping all chapters with the necessary resources to grow DSA’s membership and throw down for the working class.
R43 encourages chapters to maintain open lines of communication with staff and national bodies like the Budget & Finance Committee and more aggressively prioritize recruitment and retention by offering chapters a higher share of new dues. By increasing dues share across the board we offer a simple, uniform incentive to all DSA chapters: grow our movement, strengthen your local chapter, and you will see a far greater return on that investment. Spend more time organizing impactful campaigns that activate and politicize the working class and less time fundraising to keep your chapter alive.
For years, DSA has operated on a model that understands small and mid-sized chapters as a constant flow of cash and labor, as numbers on a spreadsheet. But by shifting our thinking, we can unlock the potential of a well-funded grassroots organization where our collective resources are shared fairly across the country, and members, even in red states, are entrusted and empowered to make difficult, democratic decisions about how best to spend our money and organize our communities.
Saya is a co-chair of DSA North Texas, a member of the Springs of Revolution organizing committee and the Trans Rights and Bodily Autonomy steering committee. A leader in her chapter, she has written and lobbied for the passage of trans sanctuary legislation in Dallas County, organized rallies and has worked to build a strong coalition of Palestine solidarity with organizations in her region.
