SMC March 2024 Newsletter

Mar 11

Written By Socialist Majority Steering Committee

by THE SOCIALIST MAJORITY STEERING COMMITTEE

There’s been a lot happening in DSA over the past few weeks, so this issue of our newsletter will be focused on recent developments within the organization and ways you can help.

“Vote Uncommitted” campaign

On Tuesday, February 27, Michigan voters sent Biden a message. A stunning 13.2%—over 101,000 voters—declined to rubber-stamp the president’s genocide in Gaza. Instead, they voted for the principled option of “Uncommitted,” signaling their opposition to U.S. aid to Israel and their support for a ceasefire.

This result is thanks to the herculean efforts of the DSA-endorsed Listen to Michigan campaign, which came together in under a month with a budget of just $200,000. SMC’s NPC members played a critical role in shepherding the campaign through the national endorsement process, resulting in unanimous votes in favor by the NEC and NPC, and SMC members including Shabd K. and Renée P. played key roles in the Listen to Michigan campaign itself.

Michigan was a strategic choice for the execution of this campaign. The state has the highest number and percentage of Arab-Americans in the country. Many “Uncommitted” votes came from predominantly Arab- and Muslim-American cities like Dearborn and Hamtramck, whose residents have been outraged at Israel’s campaign of ethnic cleansing and Biden’s full-throated support for their efforts. That is why Michigan’s DSA electeds—from locally-endorsed House Rep. Dylan Wegela to nationally-endorsed Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib—endorsed the Listen to Michigan campaign and encouraged their constituents to vote “Uncommitted.” Michigan’s status as a swing state has also made it impossible for Biden to ignore this result. Biden’s decision to forecast an imminent ceasefire on Seth Meyers, and Kamala Harris’s decision to call for a ceasefire shortly after the vote both indicate that our organizing is having an effect. If Democrats fail to change course on the ongoing genocide, they risk losing the election to Donald Trump. Following the vote in Michigan, DSA’s NPC voted to endorse the expansion of the uncommitted vote into a nationwide campaign in the remaining Democratic presidential primaries.

The Uncommitted campaign has continued in states like Massachusetts, Hawaii, and Minnesota, where the results were even better than in Michigan, showing that the movement will continue. Tuesday’s Washington primary is the next test for the Uncommitted campaign, where Seattle DSA has gone all-out to support the campaign, along with other Washington chapters. After Tuesday, all eyes will turn to Wisconsin, the last big swing state left to vote; DSA chapters and Arab and Muslim organizers in the state are gearing up to make a big splash on April 2nd.

SMC congratulates all the chapters and comrades from across the country who helped make these victories possible, and encourages its members to make calls into Washington, Wisconsin, and future states as the Uncommitted campaign continues to fight for a ceasefire. You can sign up for DSA-hosted phonebanks here, and if none of those times work for you, you can check out the campaign’s phonebanks here.

Report on the February NPC Meeting

At the end of February, DSA NPC members convened in the Bay Area for the second quarterly NPC meeting of the term. Decisions made by the majority bloc led by Red Star/B&R/MUG may have far-reaching consequences for DSA’s programs, impact, and reputation. Here are some key highlights and takeaways:

2024 Elections

What happened?

SMC and Groundwork members submitted a resolution for organizing to and through the 2024 elections. The resolution proposed carrying out parts of the 2023 convention resolution “Defend Democracy through Political Independence,” defending the Squad in primaries, and preparing organizing plans to protect against attempts to thwart election outcomes, in addition to organizing chapters to assess their communities and coalitions and prepare contingency plans for a possible second Trump presidency.

B&R and MUG members presented a competing resolution that calls for DSA to spend months debating and deciding a position on the 2024 presidential election.

The original B&R/MUG resolution called for organizational debate in a few channels:

on the DSA discussion forum
In at least one national all-member virtual town hall
Discussion circles hosted by NPC members with a maximum of 30 attendees each
In chapter meetings (where chapters could “consider taking a membership vote” on what DSA’s position should be)

SMC member Renée attempted to amend the B&R/MUG proposal to add a non-binding all-membership poll, giving every DSA member a clear opportunity to make their position clear, whether or not they can attend a chapter meeting or are one of the less than 3% of DSA members who regularly use the discussion forum, along the lines of the 2019 poll of members about a Bernie Sanders endorsement. Unfortunately, the amendment was voted down.

In addition, although the B&R/MUG debate resolution focused mainly on process, it became clear through discussion in the meeting and over the course of the weekend that their intended political orientation is towards the MUG “No Votes for Genocide” approach, which was linked in their process proposal.

SMC member Renée attempted to amend the B&R/MUG proposal to have the debate framed around the following:

Defeating Donald Trump is an important priority for the socialist movement and we unequivocally recognize that his reelection would be disastrous for working people. Particularly people of color, queer people, and immigrants. DSA commits to work to defeat Trump in the 2024 election, without endorsing the Democratic nominee.

This amendment failed 6-10, with only SMC and Groundwork NPC members voting in favor.

Why does this matter?

First, a Trump presidency is an existential threat to the socialist movement itself. The Trump administration has clear plans to attack socialist, left, and liberal institutions. The threat to the continued operations of socialist organizations alone requires us to oppose a second Trump presidency. But we also have to think about the global and domestic working class. As our international comrades told us on recent delegations to Cuba and Brazil, another Trump term would be disastrous for the left and working people everywhere.

SMC believes as socialist organizers we must clearly assess the conditions of the moment and organize according to those actually existing conditions. The threat of a second Trump term cannot be overstated. Trump and his allies have a clear vision for a second term: where public dissent is violently repressed and socialists are driven out of public life, where trans people are forced to de-transition, where militia violence becomes the rule, where the NLRB is abolished, where abortion and contraception are fully illegal and forced underground, where mass deportations and razor wire become universal, where US support and military aid to Israel would almost certainly expand into a broader war in the region.

Socialists are of course right to recognize Biden’s many shortcomings, and must continue organizing for our priorities. That’s why SMC members have been playing a leading role in the “uncommitted” campaign nationally to voice dissent in the presidential primaries and push for a change to the policy in Gaza. But it is also true that another Trump presidency could open the door to authoritarian repression and potentially institutionalize permanent minority rule in the United States.

SMC’s position is that DSA should continue to organize against the genocide in Gaza, including through the nationwide Vote Uncommitted campaign. We think that the NPC should additionally reaffirm that Republicans pose a major threat to key priorities like trans rights, abortion rights, labor rights and democracy. We believe any departure from this position must be brought to the membership for a vote.

The Budget and Staff Layoffs

What happened?

DSA is currently facing a budget deficit of over a million dollars. The NPC met twice in January and February to attempt to balance the budget in a highly contentious process that resulted in too much toxic rhetoric and misinformation, and unfortunately not nearly enough actual cuts being made. As our summary shows, at the January meeting members of MUG and B&R especially were opposed to most non-staffing cuts.

The February meeting and subsequent events have made clear that a majority of NPC members see staff layoffs as high as 40% as the best or only option to close the deficit. At the February meeting, Frances from Groundwork presented a consensus budget proposal approved by the multi-tendency Budget and Finance Committee, that we hoped every faction would agree to. This proposal would have the NPC decide upon a target deficit number, require all NPC members lay out their pathway to get to that deficit number, and have all NPC members vote yes or no on cuts in various areas and levels based on those plans. Cuts would be made, starting with the highest level of consensus until the numerical target goal was reached. This proposed budget would then be presented for final ratification to the NPC.. The original proposal put forth a target deficit number of $500,000, a number that we believe was too high.

Red Star members brought a set of amendments forward that replaced the concrete numerical deficit target with a vague goal of “cutting further.” They also included language specifying that layoffs would be considered separately from this consensus process. SMC NPC members argued that the budget should be considered holistically, and that each cut needed to be considered alongside staff layoffs, rather than piecemeal. The amendment-to-the-amendment failed and the Red Star amendments passed, with both SMC NPC members voting against. This put in place a “Consensus Budget Proposal” that essentially considered each non-staffing cut as an isolated vote disconnected from the question of layoffs - the same failed process we have been using to date.

Additionally:

SMC member Colleen moved to amend the Red Star amendment to set a deficit target of $250,000. This amendment failed.
Colleen moved another amendment providing that NPC would hold a meeting with bargaining unit staff and a meeting with senior staff before completing the budget cut worksheet. This passed by unanimous consent.
Colleen brought an additional amendment, based on feedback from staff regarding organizational best practices, to impose an expense freeze similar to what was passed in January, until a new budget is passed. This passed.

While the majority of NPC members did not want to set clear goals for our deficit target or other budget cuts, they were comfortable doing so for staff layoffs. Red Star brought a separate resolution forward on staff layoffs at the February meeting to initiate the process for layoffs to meet a specific deficit target.

Colleen attempted to amend the resolution to include language requiring the NPC to meet with staff prior to enacting the layoff process, as was previously agreed to by the NPC. This amendment failed.
Colleen also attempted to amend the resolution to remove language specifying monetary goals connected only to layoffs, which would prefigure the amount of layoffs to be made. This also failed.

In the “Consensus Budget Process following the meeting, NPC members approved only about $250,000 in non staffing cuts. On March 8, this resolution to lay off 12 members of staff (nearly 40% of current staff) was brought to the NPC and sponsored by all NPC members except SMC, Groundwork, and the YDSA representatives. The NPC will consider this resolution tomorrow night, Monday March 11. We think this resolution would be catastrophic for the organization if it passed, and urge members to take the actions outlined by the union–register to attend Monday’s NPC meeting where this resolution will be considered, email the NPC through the union’s tool to register your opposition, and switch to income-based dues to close DSA’s budget gap.

Our position:

As SMC wrote in our statement in response to the proposal to lay off 12 staff:

“These extraordinary layoffs are not inevitable; they are a political choice. Last month, this NPC majority declined to cut hundreds of thousands in non-staff expenses. And at the time of publishing, members of this NPC majority are voting to continue paying themselves co-chair salaries and steering committee stipends. Multiple NPC members are opposing almost every non-staff cut.

“As we wrote back in September, there is no getting around our budget deficit. While we believe avoiding layoffs should be our highest priority, we understand that some layoffs may be unavoidable. But as DSA’s elected leadership, NPC members must not plunge the organization into chaos by laying off nearly 40% of our staff. That means reconsidering cuts to non-staff expenses that they have repeatedly refused to enact.”

What can you do?

Socialist Majority urges DSA members to email the NPC (npc@dsacommittees.org) and tell them to vote down this resolution. The DSA Union has also created this tool to email the NPC. Additionally, members can join the Monday, March 11th at 8pm EST meeting where the resolution will be voted on by RSVPing here.

Take the SMC Solidarity Dues Phonebank pledge and sign up for Solidarity Dues phonebank shifts here.