MUG on the NPC Vol. 1
Welcome to Volume 1 of MUG on the NPC! We’re excited to join the post-NPC report-back party started by Bread & Roses, followed by Red Star, and then Socialist Majority Caucus.
What to expect from MUG on the NPC
We will put politics in command by framing reports around our slate platform: ensuring DSA is leading the battle for democracy, transforming into an independent mass party, and following its anti-imperialist platform.
We will produce a concise report in 1,000 words (~3 minutes read) or less because a) we know you have limited time, b) we have limited time, and c) we want to leave space for rank-and-file members to write recaps and opinions through our soon-to-be expanded publications.
We will publish within a week of each full NPC meeting, covering highlights from the period, including Loomio, steering committee, and full NPC meeting votes. We will also share what’s ahead for us on the NPC.
How are we positioning DSA to lead the fight for democracy?
Highlight from this period: Rashad took the lead on drafting the political strategy components of the resolution to implement MSR21: A Fighting Campaign for Trans Liberation and Reproductive Justice that passed at Convention. The underlying strategy helps us lead the battle for democracy in three ways:
An inclusive strategy that goes beyond short-term legislative reforms, allowing more chapters to participate despite our uneven political terrain.
Prioritizing membership recruitment and development of socialist organizers, which will increase our capacity across the organization.
Calling on our elected officials to champion the campaign.
Looking ahead to the next period: While Rashad joins the Steering Committee of the Trans Rights and Bodily Autonomy Campaign Commission (TRBACC) to implement MSR21 using the strategy above, Amy will be one of the co-chairs of the For Our Rights Committee to implement MSR2: Defending Democracy Through Political Independence. Our goals include:
Continuing the shift away from the defending democracy slogan that contradicts the DSA platform’s declaration that the US is no democracy.
Introducing the political and practical opportunities provided by pursuing a minimum-maximum program, which outlines what it means for the working class to govern through a democratic republic and to struggle toward a socialist horizon, rather than reducing our goals to a list of policy reforms.
Ensuring the committee unites independent working-class organizations around our program, including tenant and labor unions.
How are we transforming DSA into an independent mass party?
Highlight from this period: We voted against a resolution that would have made maintaining current staffing arrangements the primary budgetary priority as we navigate the serious financial deficit we inherited. Here’s why:
The NPC does not currently have access to all the information we need to make decisions with a future deficit in mind, including the current budget and the 2021-2023 NPC’s Google Drive.
When making decisions, our primary consideration will always be what will help advance the socialist movement towards taking political power to begin a socialist transition. While this includes staff, the NPC has yet to deliberate thoroughly on other budgetary factors, including dues share for chapters.
Looking ahead: We will continue to be on the front lines fighting another NGO influence DSA needs to shed: information asymmetry, including pushing for access to the previous NPC term’s data drive and for NPC meeting recordings to be published to the membership.
How are we ensuring DSA follows our anti-imperialist platform?
Highlight from this period: We voted against endorsing a candidate who did not demonstrate a solid commitment to the abolitionist planks on our platform, including open opposition to police budget increases. Since the endorsement vote passed, we look forward to working with the candidate in question to fight police occupation of working-class and oppressed neighborhoods.
Looking ahead: Los Angeles DSA has voted to endorse Nithya Raman, who, among several other conflicts with DSA’s political positions, voted for the city to adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance definition of antisemitism, which actively restricts the civil rights of millions of citizens by classing criticism of Israel as antisemitic and instructing city departments, staff, elected and appointed officials, and contract agencies to “familiarize themselves with the IHRA definition of antisemitism…and incorporate their use when appropriate,” by extension limiting DSA and our movement allies’ ability to fight for Palestinian liberation free of legal repression.
At a minimum, we will be voting no on national endorsement for Raman if she were to seek it, following our Convention mandate from NPC Recommendation #8, which calls on the National Political Committee and National Electoral Commission to consider a series of expectations for nationally endorsed electeds, based on our platform commitment to Palestinian liberation, when making “national endorsement and re-endorsement decisions,” including support for the IHRA definition of antisemitism.
What’s going on in the caucus?
To end every volume, we’ll shed some light on what’s happening in Marxist Unity Group. In this volume, we’re excited to share that the caucus passed a proposal to create an NPC Kitchen Cabinet, which will support us on the NPC and develop more national political leaders. We are thankful for our Red Star comrades, whose NPC support model inspired ours.
