From The National Director — Our Task This New Year

by Maria Svart - Winter 2023

Biden just recently bypassed Congress to rush 14,000 tank shells to Israel and AIPAC pledges to take out the Squad. Meanwhile, Trump boasts openly of his plans to invoke the Insurrection Act and become a dictator. What is a democratic socialist organization to do less than a year before the presidential election?

DSA operates on many terrains — in the economy through our labor work, in the electoral arena through our candidate and issue campaigns, and in the war of ideas through our ideological work. Through our chapters, and through organizing that systematically engages people outside DSA, we have our ears to the ground. As a national organization we also have an eagle’s eye view. We see the cruelty in Republican controlled states, the complicity and cynicism from centrist Democrats in too many purple and blue states. And from our international ties, we know what happens when authoritarians take power through the equivalent of controlling Congress, the White House and the Supreme Court. 

These are critical avenues to gather and synthesize information so that we can develop our strategy — collectively and with maximum effectiveness. We must utilize that strength because now is the time for hard nosed honest assessment. Serious organizing means analyzing our power, the power and agenda of the ruling class, and the power of the working class whether it is self conscious or not. 

Both leading candidates for President are unpopular, and voters are disgusted with politics in general. So how do we navigate the existing political system while also raising expectations for something better? How do we move while we have a friendly National Labor Relations Board, a tight job market, and rising unions?

Where do we need to be in November 2024 so we can start building towards it now? Where do our unions, our tenant associations, our legislative caucuses and our PTAs need to be? Where do our chapters need to be? How do we as an organization best spend our time to get there? We have a mobilized membership, access to a broader mass working class audience, national elected leaders, and leadership infrastructure in between. 

We look at the structures of society and we know our power comes from the base rather than from tinkering at the top. History is made by mass movements. Let’s make a New Year’s resolution to analyze the moment with clear eyes and then get to work.