Base and Superstructure

Thoughts on production, alienation, and ideology

Category: DSA (Page 1 of 7)

An image of two members of DSA having a discussion in front of protest signs.

Is DSA a Sectarian Org?

August 26, 2024 / / 0 Comments

In my last couple of posts, I charted out some of the deep tensions within DSA. I charted some of its issues with post-pandemic social anxiety and psychological safety a couple of weeks ago. And then last week, I analyzed its position with respect to progressive activism.

In that post, I presented DSA as an org for activists and enthusiasts rather than for a working-class base. And in that regard, DSA looks more like one node in a broader progressive activist network rather than a grassroots working-class movement.

But some people within DSA argue that the org is descending into a sectarian one. I took up this question a couple of years ago, where I denied this view.

But since the election of a new NPC that contains multiple democratic centralist factions, have things changed?

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A poster with the headline The Working Class Takes the Wheel, with a UPS truck under it promoting unionization.

Is DSA a Working-Class Org?

August 19, 2024 / / 0 Comments

DSA is an org that professes to organize the ‘multiracial working class.’ It presents itself as a site for the building of working-class power across lines of race, gender, sexuality, and other identity categories. Indeed, these things allegedly set DSA apart both from the sectarian left and the progressive NGO space.

The trouble is that just about everyone to the left of Joe Biden tells some version of that story. It seems like they all love the ‘multiracial working class’ now. This complicates how DSA uses this story to set itself apart.

At the end of the day, I think we can separate DSA from the sectarian left. I’ll say a bit more about that in a future post. For this one, I’ll point out that DSA’s use of the magic phrase looks the same to me as the one we find in the progressive NGO space.

Read on to find out why.

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A photo of Representative Jamaal Bowman (D-NY).

Jamaal Bowman and the DSA Electoral Project

July 1, 2024 / / 0 Comments

Jamaal Bowman lost last week’s primary to moderate Democratic challenger George Latimer. Coverage of the loss – both in the mainstream press and on the left – focused on his shifting positions on Israel and Palestine.

That’s fair enough. Israel and Palestine turned out central both to the campaign and its funders, in light of the ongoing Israeli invasion of Gaza. But this leaves out a broader ideological struggle within the Democratic Party between a more moderate and a more progressive wing. Latimer might have run on foreign policy issues, but he’ll also join Congress as a voice against ideas like Medicare for All.

However, the struggle between Democratic moderates and progressives typically doesn’t involve foreign policy.

Indeed, that fact is highly relevant to internal struggles within the Squad and the Congressional Progressive Caucus. Most progressives don’t see foreign policy as central to their political project. They’re often willing to vote in favor of the foreign policy consensus on most issues, so long as those issues don’t involve U.S. troops literally on the ground. They give ground on foreign policy because it’s not central to their political vision. It’s not very important to them.

AIPAC exploited this very division in the ways it heavily poured funds into the Bowman vs. Latimer race.

But I’m getting a bit ahead of myself. Let’s start by talking about why Bowman lost. And then let’s ask what his loss means for DSA and the electoral left.

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A high altitude photo of Chapel, North Carolina. Intended to represent a college town for the purpose of college town activism.

The Frustrations of College Town Activism

January 8, 2024 /

I turned 40 last year, and I’ve reached a moment where I’m looking back at my activist history and thinking about my activist future. Among other things, that involves looking back at the frustrations of college town activism. And since I’ve spent the last 6 years as a member of Democratic Socialists of America, that means the frustrations of organizing with a socialist group in a progressive college town.

The landscape in our progressive college town features lots and lots of community activist groups. What frustrations could there be here? In a town full of progressive activist groups with goals broadly compatible to those of DSA, especially in the short term?

Oh, a few…

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2023 DSA Convention Reaction

August 14, 2023 /

I wanted to check in with a quick post laying out a few reactions to the 2023 DSA Convention. This isn’t meant to substitute for a more in-depth analysis of the Resolutions passed and the changes to the NPC. But I’m laying it out as an overview of the big picture.

1. By electing a ‘left’ NPC majority of 10-6 (with ‘left’ in quotes because it’s a contested term in DSA, to put it mildly), delegates signaled dissatisfaction with the 2021-2023 NPC. Particularly with the Socialist Majority and GND/Groundwork coalitions.

2. Delegates offered some clarity around key debates, e.g., BDS Working Group and Palestinian liberation, but they did so via compromise rather than by settling the issues for one side or another. This shows, I think, political maturity.

3. Finally, I think that by funding all current priority campaigns (Electoral, GND, Housing, International, Labor, M4A) and adding yet another priority campaign, i.e., trans liberation and reproductive rights, delegates punted on important political debates about prioritizing work. The org simply doesn’t have the money and capacity to run all these campaigns, so the NPC will ultimately have to decide which of these to prioritize. More importantly, the Convention locked in the current ‘issue’ strategy rather than switching to a more advisable ‘class’ strategy.

I suspect readers already know which campaigns I think we should prioritize: Housing, International, and Labor.

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