we tried this 4 years ago. we cobbled together a left-wing coalition that included anarchists, MLs, Maoists, Trots, Leftcoms, and serious Demsocs, organized primarily by the original formation of Build. it failed for 2 reasons:
the then leadership of Build literally lied to organizers about the amount of support we could expect for the platform we hammered out and unified around. we were led to believe we had a true majority we could count on for every plank and something like 60% on individual measures. the reality was that we rarely cracked 40% on anything. instead of letting us all know so we could set more modest goals, we were all stunned as we got blown out, measure by measure.
2.the DSA membership sits significantly to the right of what anyone would expect. there's a general belief that electing more "socialist" reps to Congress is an unmitigated good, regardless of all other factors. at least at the time, there was no will to hold electeds to a party line, so to speak. there was no will to return control of the org, or funding, to chapters - many of which sit significantly to the left of the national org. the belief was that taking either measure would harm the strategy of electing as many reps as possible.
so while I hope they succeed - I might return to the org if they do - I won't hold my breath. that defeat was crushing. it literally robbed me of my will to organize for a while, after watching months and probably a thousand hours of work just get pissed away by reactionary forces.
DSA is pushed right, in part, by being a slacktivist org. Someone who does literally nothing other than voooote on things has just as much voting power as people that spend hundreds of hours organizing every year. The slackers are the people most to the right. This translates to the national level as well, as chapters full of slacktivists elect other slacktivists to go there. Add to this the people who only care about electoralism and it's easy to see why that group has more voting power.
Also DSA is disorganized and the people in it largely incompetent. I'm not surprised some folks misled you. If you had learned they did that earlier and pointed it out, there's like a 50% chance they would've filed a grievance against you rather than accept any blame.
The IC is the only good part of DSA and I think it's starting to slip, too.
Highly recommend joining a more serious org that has people in it experienced in praxis, particularly labor and direct action.
Someone who does literally nothing other than voooote on things has just as much voting power as people that spend hundreds of hours organizing every year. The slackers are the people most to the right.
I can attest to the accuracy of this statement. I've mainly seen them drive themselves out when asked to do something as minor as keeping time or taking meeting notes. Even being asked to attend a monthly meeting via zoom at a designated time known about a month in advance is can be a struggle of titanic proportions.
I don't really blame them, much, because we're born in a political society that emphasizes the only viable and required action to perform political actions is simply scribbling on a piece of paper once every four years
A countervailing factor this time might be that this convention is not near a presidential election year. The more lib DSA members who only get involved during election cycles are much less active or have left the org. This leaves a larger number of more Marxist aligned members than two years ago. I've anecdotally observed this.
If the left coalition can succeed in achieving a majority on the NPC, I think it would be a good start. But like I said elsewhere, I don't think the power in the org really rests with the NPC (not that you said it was.) Even if we "win" we really just win a further intensification of the internal struggle. I'm no expert and noone talks to me but this is how I see it
the NPC is hamstrung by the paid staff. as an example, the convention is organized by staff, so they'll put measures they want to pass at the start of the docket, and stuff they don't want to pass at the end, ensuring each block is much too long to ever get to those items. control over administrative positions is critical.
we tried this 4 years ago. we cobbled together a left-wing coalition that included anarchists, MLs, Maoists, Trots, Leftcoms, and serious Demsocs, organized primarily by the original formation of Build. it failed for 2 reasons:
2.the DSA membership sits significantly to the right of what anyone would expect. there's a general belief that electing more "socialist" reps to Congress is an unmitigated good, regardless of all other factors. at least at the time, there was no will to hold electeds to a party line, so to speak. there was no will to return control of the org, or funding, to chapters - many of which sit significantly to the left of the national org. the belief was that taking either measure would harm the strategy of electing as many reps as possible.
so while I hope they succeed - I might return to the org if they do - I won't hold my breath. that defeat was crushing. it literally robbed me of my will to organize for a while, after watching months and probably a thousand hours of work just get pissed away by reactionary forces.
DSA is pushed right, in part, by being a slacktivist org. Someone who does literally nothing other than voooote on things has just as much voting power as people that spend hundreds of hours organizing every year. The slackers are the people most to the right. This translates to the national level as well, as chapters full of slacktivists elect other slacktivists to go there. Add to this the people who only care about electoralism and it's easy to see why that group has more voting power.
Also DSA is disorganized and the people in it largely incompetent. I'm not surprised some folks misled you. If you had learned they did that earlier and pointed it out, there's like a 50% chance they would've filed a grievance against you rather than accept any blame.
The IC is the only good part of DSA and I think it's starting to slip, too.
Highly recommend joining a more serious org that has people in it experienced in praxis, particularly labor and direct action.
I can attest to the accuracy of this statement. I've mainly seen them drive themselves out when asked to do something as minor as keeping time or taking meeting notes. Even being asked to attend a monthly meeting via zoom at a designated time known about a month in advance is can be a struggle of titanic proportions.
I don't really blame them, much, because we're born in a political society that emphasizes the only viable and required action to perform political actions is simply scribbling on a piece of paper once every four years
was looking until my health deteriorated. need to sort that out first, before I lose the ability to work.
Of course, no pressure at all. The "put your own oxygen mask before helping others" rule also applies to organizing.
A countervailing factor this time might be that this convention is not near a presidential election year. The more lib DSA members who only get involved during election cycles are much less active or have left the org. This leaves a larger number of more Marxist aligned members than two years ago. I've anecdotally observed this.
But yeah, I'm not too optimistic.
What are you calling success? If the R&R candidates get elected to the NPC?
a plurality is generally sufficient. the measures to wrest control of the org away from the NGO staff is probably more important.
If the left coalition can succeed in achieving a majority on the NPC, I think it would be a good start. But like I said elsewhere, I don't think the power in the org really rests with the NPC (not that you said it was.) Even if we "win" we really just win a further intensification of the internal struggle. I'm no expert and noone talks to me but this is how I see it
the NPC is hamstrung by the paid staff. as an example, the convention is organized by staff, so they'll put measures they want to pass at the start of the docket, and stuff they don't want to pass at the end, ensuring each block is much too long to ever get to those items. control over administrative positions is critical.