The online version of the DSA Convention, as one might expect, didn’t have the kinds of large crowds, side debates, and raucous noise one might expect at a leftist convention with more than 1,000 delegates. But it wasn’t too far off. I’ll collect here a few thoughts about my experience as a delegate from Iowa City.
The first thing I’ll say is that the DSA Convention was still huge and a bit overwhelming. Delegates received tons of emails and discussion options. We had dozens (hundreds?) of pages of material to read on resolutions, bylaws changes, NPC candidates, and so on. Yes, it was pretty chaotic. But DSA staff did an excellent job putting materials into shape and organizing the online experience.
Proposals on the Table
The proposals we saw and debates we had reflected many of the divisions in the org itself. We saw proposals to standardize technology and voting procedures, improve grievance processes, expand (or contract) internal democracy, set guidelines for DSA work on labor, elections, housing, and so on. Resolutions ranged from mostly uncontroversial (‘childcare for all’) to (surprisingly) unpopular (‘strengthening YDSA,’ a resolution that would’ve massively increased YDSA funding).
A few resolutions stood out as sectarian or based on ‘party discipline.’ One called for strict criteria on endorsing candidates, while another called for the election of the DSA’s National Director. While I thought both (R6 and CB4, respectively) were bad ideas, I’d call them misguided attempts to solve real problems (lack of accountability of DSA elected officials to DSA members and too large a public role for DSA staff, respectively) rather than anything nefarious.
Growing Pains of a Mass Organization
Whenever there’s a DSA Convention, some complain about ‘procedural motions.’ Did that happen in 2021? Yes. Did it block us from getting things done? For the most part, no. I’ll highlight in the next section a few things we did.
For the most part, delegate behavior at the DSA Convention improved as the show moved on. Many people attended it as their first major political event. Many didn’t have a background in Robert’s Rules. And, of course, DSA members (and delegates) come from a wide range of starting points – from the intellectual classes to the unemployed or precariat.
None of this differs too much from the kind of growth the Socialist Party of America saw in the early 1900s. Back then, we saw a split between the Milwaukee trade union bloc of Victor Berger, semi-organized workers in the West, East Coast ‘elite,’ and tenant farmers in the Plains and Southwest.
So, these are old tensions. In many ways, the DSA reproduces old SPA issues.
DSA Convention: What We Got Done
Despite the early struggles, and the issues I’ll mention below, the DSA Convention got a lot done! We passed a broad consent agenda that did everything from: fund the DSA’s housing justice work, fund the DSA’s climate change work, establish size inclusiveness at the DSA’s merch store, establish a committee on reparations, set out a plan for the DSA’s abolition working group, establish a voting rights campaign, establish a national committee of grievance officers, provide Spanish translation of DSA materials, etc.
With a bit more of a dust-up, we also passed a resolution for international solidarity work. We passed one amendment to DSA bylaws. And we passed resolutions on DSA’s electoral work, childcare for all, immigrant rights, and other issues.
And, finally, we rejected a number of proposals. We rejected the items I mentioned above. We also rejected a wide range of bylaws changes. And we made one major mistake: we rejected R20, the class struggle housing resolution. That latter failure gets at a lot of the mistakes the DSA makes, e.g., taking shortcuts by putting policy and electoral work before class formation.
Overall, we did a lot. It was a successful DSA Convention.
A Final Word on Factionalism
I mostly ignored the issue of factions in this post. In the past, I’ve written about the DSA caucuses. But from my view, our local Iowa City chapter sees little factionalism. So, I tend not to think much about it. More speculatively, I suspect an analysis of our members would reveal a rough split between people whose views fall closest to Socialist Majority and those whose views fall closest to the Communist caucus. Probably a few Libertarian Socialist and North Star types.
If nothing else, factionalism puts the lie to the absurd charge from liberals that socialists practice ‘purity politics.’ The fact of the matter is that there’s far more internal diversity within the DSA than within the Democratic Party. As I’ve pointed out before, the ‘purity’ charge seems to come from liberals engaging in projection.
But there’s one point to make. Some people at the DSA Convention carried out factional struggles by proxy through rules, procedures, and the NPC campaign. Mostly this hurts efforts to build the DSA. It erupted through some ugliness, but delegates mostly got past it. It didn’t need to be a major focus of this post.
