Toward a Mass Party in the United States (Electoral Priority)

Author: The DSA National Electoral Committee

Whereas electoral politics is a central pillar of a viable socialist strategy in a formally democratic state;

Whereas the US party system currently does not allow for traditional political parties—private organizations with control over their membership rolls and ballot lines—but rather is made up of coalitions of national, state, and local party committees, affiliated organizations, donors, lawyers, consultants, and other operatives;

Whereas the US political landscape is dominated by two such coalitions, the Republican Party and the Democratic Party, whose ballot lines are controlled by state law and not by any particular party apparatus;

Whereas the Republican Party has an anti-democratic coalition consisting of overt white supremacists, the most reactionary wing of capital, and a growing reactionary minority of working-class people;

Whereas the Democratic Party coalition has the historical support of a multi-racial working-class base, has been trending toward higher-income middle-class voters, and is dominated by the political preferences of its capitalist donor class;

Whereas socialists need a political party to organize the working class in order to contest elections, to act as a vehicle to organize the millions of working people who are not yet socialists, to win democratic socialism, and to function as a political pole for democratic socialism; and

Whereas the unique nature of the US two-party system requires that socialists continue to contest partisan elections chiefly on the Democratic ballot line; now, therefore, be it

Resolved that DSA commits to making electoral politics a priority for the next two years; and

Resolved that DSA and its local chapters commit to the project of building a working-class party: a mass democratic political organization capable of taking state power with a strategy for social transformation; and

Resolved that DSA will continue its successful approach of tactically contesting partisan elections on the Democratic ballot line while building power independent of the Democratic party apparatus; and

Resolved that DSA commits to developing state-level organizations and orienting toward running candidates for state legislatures, both as a means to contest the power of state government and to build capacity for statewide and federal races; and

Resolved that DSA chapters commit to building the organization and skills necessary to recruit candidates and win campaigns through member-led mass outreach and to build chapter-level electoral working groups or committees that persist beyond a particular campaign or election cycle; and

Resolved that DSA commits to defeating the reactionary, anti-democratic right wing of capital represented in the Republican Party while opposing the dominant corporate and neoliberal Democratic establishment; and

Resolved that DSA commits to building a multi-racial working-class base, electing Black socialists and other socialists of color, advancing racial justice, building coalition with organizers of color, and diversifying our membership; and

Resolved that DSA commits to a strategy of using elections to win reforms that materially advance the interests of the working class and aim to democratize our economy and society; and

Resolved that DSA commits to a strategy of class-struggle elections that polarize the working-class majority against the ruling-class elite; and

Resolved that DSA commits to electing socialists who will act as organizers in office and use their offices to grow our movement, contest for state power, and develop working class self-organization and activity; and

Resolved that DSA commits to electing socialists who will deliberate with DSA members and act in concert with DSA to carry out a member-driven political and legislative strategy; and

Resolved that DSA chapters will work to develop a labor strategy for campaigns, including seeking union endorsements, developing campaign events and outreach to rank-and-file workers including union caucuses, identifying and encouraging union members to run for office, supporting pro-labor policy demands, and articulating the importance of a mobilized and militant labor movement in campaign outreach, in coordination with the DSLC or chapter-level labor groups; and

Resolved that the National Electoral Committee will continue to coordinate and support electoral activities across DSA chapters, with access to national promotional resources upon request; and

Resolved that the National Political Committee will prioritize regular communication and collaboration with the National Electoral Committee, in line with the role of electoral organizing as a unique priority within the organization; and

Resolved that DSA commits to devoting the time of two full-time organizers on national staff and to substantial resources over the next two years to build DSA’s independent socialist electoral infrastructure at the national level and in as many chapters as possible.