Overview:
As we approach a full decade of building and sustaining power, NYC-DSA is confronted both by increased opposition and internal disputes as well as a crisis of legitimacy at all levels of government. Despite winning some legislative elections and passing bills that have encountered judicial and regulatory roadblocks, we can no longer claim to be in the Bernie moment of rapid internal growth and social transformation.
We are members of the multi-tendency coalition represented by the Brick by Brick Slate–which includes Emerge, Communist Caucus, the Libertarian Socialist Caucus, Reform and Revolution, and other comrades focusing on Palestinian liberation and abolition at the 2024 NYC-DSA Convention. As individuals, we offer some recommendations for voting and shared reflections on the democratic organizing project we envision for the chapter. We must be honest about how these challenges require democratic institutions and multi-front work to develop a stronger base if we wish to overcome them. Only through a new strategy can we consistently win elections and develop the counterpower outside of the state necessary to defend our gains and transform the field of contestation.
Our Situation:
As recent elections, legislative cycles, and battles over Palestine and police abolition demonstrate, we face twin paradoxes that require us to adopt more oppositional strategies rooted in deeper forms of organizing. We have run and continue to run, first, on a Democratic Party ballot line and aligned with ruling liberals who, when not motivated by outright corruption, have attempted to destroy our electoral ranks and repress and disorganize our militants on behalf of reactionaries. Second, and partly for lack of a deeper and diverse base, we have partnered with organizations indifferent to or simply distant from popular and democratic movements.
These difficult conditions must occasion reflection on our social base and trajectory–and indeed lack of a program or even a public policy platform. We have run from one mobilization to another, while dependent on a small group of largely white organizers. This facilitates our characterization as outsiders, somewhat ironically, by POC and Black politicians funded by real estate and Israel lobby money. Two conditions precedent to winning electoral races and having the ability to defend our legislative victories, then, are to foster an organic and diverse social base and train members in democratic and organizing practices as well as the analysis necessary to develop power inside and outside the state. We cannot win without building trust among fractions of the working class that broadly align with the left but are not well represented in NYC-DSA.
By embedding ourselves more deeply in the struggles of workers, tenants, and marginalized communities, we can expand our connections to build trust and solidarity. These relationships will strengthen our organizing and help us create a broad, diverse base that can support future campaigns and actions rooted in collective power.
A Program for Movement Power:
If we want to build and sustain power, we must acknowledge our role within a broader movement ecosystem as a forum in which electoralists, autonomists, and democratic actors engage while building coherence. For all the discussion of developing an independent working class or radical party, DSA should not simply have a distant organizing horizon of partyism or concede that a reformist or realignment model of largely electoral organizing is the only viable possibility under current conditions. In following the latter course of action, we would simply replicate a strategy of vying for incremental legislative and electoral advances that other top-down party and leadership cadre NGOs champion. This strategy has not delivered much in the way of tangible victories and is associated with an increasingly unpopular liberal project.
Instead, we can and must unite heterogenous and extra-parliamentary forces everywhere from campuses to city hall in order to overcome hostile state and liberal forces and foster deeper and more significant advances. If we want to avoid the sclerosis we’ve criticized in worker and movement organizations as well as political parties, there’s no substitute for building democratic structures everywhere. There is potential to bridge the divides within DSA by focusing on shared goals and struggles. By fostering collaboration and open dialogue, we can unite our members around the common objective of building a democratic and grassroots movement, despite tactical differences. These are historically the only viable alternative to mediation by and errors from unaccountable politicians and leadership.
Internal Democracy:
While NYC-DSA has not conducted regular membership meetings that follow normal and democratic parliamentary order since expanding in 2016, it has been able to avoid typical organizational hollowing out by reliance on a cadre of dedicated organizers. What it has been less capable of achieving is the development of new lead organizers, especially those not simply aligned with leading factions. In a chapter this large, it’s worth considering why most citywide races are uncontested and citywide leadership committee debates are so opaque. We urgently need members capable of deliberating and deciding on campaign matters and strategy, whether in the branches or in working groups, and shaping the direction of the chapter. We need to invest in training new leaders. Developing members’ organizing and strategic abilities will ensure that more people are equipped to take on leadership roles, making our chapter stronger and more democratic at every level. If we wish to develop our own agency and power, the experience of other chapters and the national organization shows that members cannot simply be responding to mobilizations or straw polls that leadership designs and can disregard at its will.
Insurgent Politics in NYC:
What these conditions require are an intervention in city and state issues as, befitting our political position, an insurgent force capable of opposing and not just conciliating largely corrupt or incompetent social forces. Each campaign should serve as a tool to strengthen our movement, deepen political education, and engage with the working class to organize around broader struggles, ensuring that elections are part of our longer-term strategy for systemic change. We can’t ignore how certain points of division, including over BDS and abolition, within our movement undermine our political clarity and ability to work with class-independent forces. Nor should we pretend that the repressive, imperial, and oligarchic forces opposing us in the Democratic Party and aligned organizations will simply relinquish the fight if we avoid polarizing rhetoric or moderate our stances. In this moment of despair and distrust, we must demonstrate both our oppositional vision and our willingness to fight for material gains.
By incorporating autonomous forces and taking the lead from existing community groups like mutual aid federations and tenant unions, we can win respect and develop effective forms of counterpower. We can ensure solidarity and a united front with left forces by anticipating the risks of cooptation and opportunism in alliances, especially those led by unaccountable elected officials, with left-liberal forces.
Each comrade should focus on the work they are passionate about, while supporting others in their areas of strength. By creating an environment of mutual trust and collective effort, we can empower everyone to contribute in ways that best serve the movement and build lasting change. Strengthening our ties with autonomous groups and local organizations will diversify and grow our membership, broaden our influence, and create a foundation for future campaigns. These partnerships will also enhance DSA’s reputation as a grassroots force committed to building long-term, working-class power across communities.
Conclusion:
In order for us to be a successful, long-term organizing project, the unstable political situation and the needs of our own internal organization require new strategies rooted in democratic, member-led organizing efforts and expanding and diversifying our social base. While this short overview cannot address more specific organizing and theoretical questions, we hope that this will be the first of many cross-tendency observations that lead to a more democratic and powerful chapter as part of a unified NYC left.
Nik S. is a member of Emerge and Libertarian Socialist Caucus and Alex R. is a member of Reform & Revolution, both organizing in NYC-DSA and part of the Brick by Brick slate for the 2024 city convention.
