DSA Must Seize the Moment
The onslaught on basic democratic freedoms and economic rights that was foreshadowed in Project 2025 is now being carried out against the US working class. ICE is targeting political dissidents with illegal deportations, and the so-called “Department Of Government Efficiency” (DOGE) is tearing through the federal government under the direction of Elon Musk, an open fascist and the world’s richest man. These attacks are provoking an urgent and important popular response.
The tasks for socialists in the US in this moment are to mobilize popular support and organization against DOGE and the Trump administration, build whatever coalitions are necessary to stop their agenda in its tracks and win working-class people and popular movements over to the socialist cause. We must do so under the genuine and terrifying reality that lawfare or state repression may be turned on our own organization at any moment. These tasks are by no means easy, but they are necessary and possible. Unfortunately, at the national level, DSA is late to the game and failing to meet the moment.
Democratic Leadership has No Real Plan
When DSA members were debating our approach to the 2024 election last year, one common argument we heard was that DSA was simply too small to matter in the fight against Trump. The Democratic Party was set to spend hundreds of millions of dollars on behalf of Biden and Harris—candidates we wouldn’t and couldn’t endorse. People argued that our organization was too weak and marginal to wage a struggle against Trump, and might as well just leave the fight to the Democrats.
“The corporate Democratic Party leadership has lost control of the political moment and their ability to shape the political character or direction of this popular response is at an all-time low.”
Whatever the merits of that argument in the run-up to the election, it is manifestly not true today. The failure of the nominal leaders of the Democratic Party to organize a meaningful opposition is obvious everywhere. Millions of people are being politicized by the Trump administration's attacks and hungry for ways to fight back, but Democratic congressional leaders have nothing to offer them. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Speaker Hakeem Jeffries are disoriented by Trump's victory, discredited by the failures of Biden and Harris, hobbled by their fealty to donors and “good” billionaires, and unable to imagine a form of opposition that goes beyond the most minimal congressional maneuvering. The corporate Democratic Party leadership has lost control of the political moment and their ability to shape the political character or direction of this popular response is at an all-time low.
We know what kind of leadership is needed. We need leadership that can integrate the many emergencies of the Trump era, such as the attacks on civil liberties, immigrants, trans people, and federal workers into a single message of solidarity, and integrate the many types of opposition, in the form of mass mobilizations, labor organizing, and electoral work into a single mass movement. It is obvious to us, and to working people, that the likes of Chuck Schumer cannot provide that leadership.
Where is DSA?
The two most popular democratic socialists in the country, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Bernie Sanders, have stepped into the breach, barnstorming across the country and receiving a historic outpouring of support from tens of thousands of working people at rally after rally. The people attending those events aren't necessarily democratic socialists—not yet, anyway. But they are mad enough to fight and they can see that democratic socialists are uniquely capable of leading that fight.
We are in an explosive political moment where the socialist movement has an opportunity to grow explosively. We won’t win by spending our time carefully differentiating ourselves from other tendencies, but we can by demonstrating to millions of ordinary people that socialist analysis and mass, democratic organization are the keys to fighting the right.
It's not surprising that AOC and Bernie are drawing audiences in the tens of thousands, but, as many have pointed out, they are not bringing people into any mass organization. Our urgent question is why DSA isn’t playing that role at the necessary scale. Part of the answer is that DSA’s National Political Committee (NPC) is passing up too many opportunities for us to demonstrate actual leadership. In doing so, they are letting liberal and progressive groups like the Working Families Party, Indivisible, and MoveOn lead where socialists have a historic opportunity, and obligation, to do so.
Missed Opportunities for Leadership
The NPC’s hesitancy to take leadership in this moment is a continuation of the path charted in the run-up to the 2024 election. More than a year ago, in February of 2024, SMC helped bring forward a 2024 Organizing Plan to prepare for the election including the possibility of a Trump election. This plan stated that:
DSA needs a clear orientation towards (1) defending socialist legislators, who will face millions of dollars in dark money to defeat them; (2) fighting the right and preventing a fascist takeover of the state, including through organizing for voting rights and against right-wing efforts to steal the election; and (3) preparing to defend itself against state repression in the event of a Trump victory
The proposals in the resolution reflected SMC’s political commitment to driving class conflict in the Democratic coalition as open socialists—in this case, through endorsing the Uncommitted Campaign and launching an effort to “defend the Squad” against AIPAC attacks. They would also have started preparing, well in advance, for the real possibility that a stolen election or outright Trump victory would produce a dangerous slide toward authoritarianism. Starting this work a year ago could have better prepared DSA for this moment, and positioned us to take leadership now that working people are again in motion. But at the February, 2024 NPC meeting, this proposal was voted down 9.5 to 6.5 with the NPC members of Bread & Roses, Marxist Unity Group, and Red Star voting against.
“But even with the election looming, the NPC majority remained resistant to preparing for the possibility of the Trump election. ”
Instead, at the same meeting, the NPC majority passed a resolution calling for a series of “discussion circles” to debate an abstentionist position on the 2024 election put forward by Marxist Unity Group—discussions that got only modest engagement and resulted in no substantive change in DSA’s orientation or preparation for the coming election. Instead of mobilizing nationally to protect AIPAC’s top target, democratic socialist congresswoman Cori Bush, or preparing for the existential threat of a second Trump administration, the directive from the NPC was to turn inward and conduct a debate that wouldn’t, couldn’t and didn’t contribute to increased unity or effective political action by DSA.
DSA did do important work at the national level throughout 2024, especially through the Uncommitted Campaign that mobilized voters in Democratic primaries against the genocide in Gaza to put pressure on the Biden administration—pressure that likely contributed to his collapsing popularity and decision to drop out. But even with the election looming, the NPC majority remained resistant to preparing for the possibility of the Trump election.
In October, SMC brought forward a proposal to join the Election Suppression Response Network (ESRN), a coalition that included representatives from AFL-CIO and major international unions including UAW as well as more liberal and progressive groups like the Working Families Party, Indivisible, and MoveOn, which formed in advance of the election to mobilize against a possible coup attempt. The NPC rejected joining in a 8 to 6 vote, with members of Bread and Roses, Marxist Unity Group and Red Star again voting against or abstaining.
Indecision is a Decision
It was only after the disastrous 2024 election that DSA’s national leadership finally turned its attention to the now-imminent Trump presidency, but not without more missed opportunities. The ESRN that DSA had declined to join in October morphed into the Fightback Table and took steps to begin mobilizing against Trump. While the popular response to Trump’s second election was not as immediately explosive as it was in 2016, the Fightback Table hosted calls that attracted literally tens of thousands of people—an audience that DSA had the opportunity to quite literally speak to directly, except for our NPC’s decision not to participate.
At the November NPC meeting, the leadership did pass two SMC proposals: to create a Trump Administration Response Committee (TARC) and an Organizational Security Committee. The NPC also passed a Groundwork proposal to prioritize mass mobilizations at the Trump inauguration. The only substantive post-election proposal that came from the NPC majority was an internally focused resolution from the Red Star caucus. It did include some necessary work such as preparing for a possible membership bump—work that had been proposed nine months earlier in the 2024 Organizing Plan but rejected by the NPC majority. Failing to adequately prepare ourselves politically and organizationally for a second “Trump bump” before the election was a missed opportunity that diminished our ability to seize the moment.
“Yet, even now, the NPC continues to display ambivalence toward any decisive action.”
By last month’s March 2025 NPC meeting, DOGE’s cuts and the Trump administration’s increasingly brazen acts of state repression were in full swing, and the outlines of the popular response had begun to take shape. This opposition has featured familiar elements from the 2016 “Resistance” like mass marches and pressure on mainstream Democrats from groups like Indivisible, but also some new dimensions that are even more promising for socialists. Within the labor movement, formations like the Federal Unionists Network (FUN) and Higher Education Labor United have put targeted workers in the public sector academia organizing in defense of the public good at the center of the struggle. Through the Fighting Oligarchy Tour, Bernie Sanders and AOC have helped to crystallize a class-struggle message that names that a coup by the billionaire class is underway.
Yet, even now, the NPC continues to display ambivalence toward any decisive action. A large portion of the March meeting was devoted to discussion and political analysis of important developments in electoral politics and the labor movement, but without concrete proposals for national action or coordination. The only relevant resolution was a set of recommendations brought forward by the Trump Administration Response Committee (TARC) based on its mandate from the November meeting. One of the recommendations, to join the Fightback Table that DSA had passed on last October, was once again delayed. The TARC resolution also proposed activating the use of DSA’s VAN in key swing Republican districts—the same areas being targeted by the Fighting Oligarchy Tour—so that DSA could independently or jointly mobilize people in these areas against the DOGE cuts and put pressure on the most vulnerable Republicans to block them. The NPC rejected this authorization as well.
“There are many ways DSA could be leading right now, but doing so little in the face of rising fascism represents a failure of leadership by the NPC. ”
The response to the Fighting Oligarchy Tour is instructive. The perspective coming from the NPC majority’s political tendencies have ranged from critiques and questions levied from the sidelines to more explicit efforts to position DSA in opposition. The focus has been on the figures of Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, what we think they should do, and how DSA should relate to them. Our focus should be on what we can do to relate to the masses of people they are putting into motion. It was only this week that the NPC Steering Committee took up the question of formally relating to the tour at all, based on a proposal from Frances of Groundwork.
Months into the Trump presidency, the NPC majority is offering very little in the way of national guidance to chapters about how to respond to urgent and rapidly changing events on the ground, and sometimes delaying or blocking efforts to do so. DSA chapters are doing excellent work at the local level around the country and democratic socialist elected officials are taking leadership nationally, yet DSA national has not developed a coordinated campaign or real orientation to how members should fight back against an administration that poses an existential threat to our own organization and so much more.
In a big tent organization like DSA, we should expect and accept that there will be legitimate differences in what approach to take. DSA could join an existing coalition to fight the Trump-Musk agenda, try to form our own coalition, or launch an independent campaign. We could work with Bernie and AOC to target Republicans in swing districts, or focus on mobilizing Democratic voters in blue districts against the failures of Democratic leadership. We could decide to prioritize engagement with the Fighting Oligarchy Tour, or the new mobilizations within labor like FUN, or the Fightback Table. Ideally, we would be developing a much-needed plan to bring these various protests and rallies into better alignment to spark a nationwide popular mobilization.
There are many ways DSA could be leading right now, but doing so little in the face of rising fascism represents a failure of leadership by the NPC.
The Stakes Could Not Be Higher
The NPC’s inaction is ultimately driven by a political disagreement about whether DSA should become a mass organization rooted in popular struggle, or whether the risk of cooptation is so great that we must prioritize remaining ideologically pure and orient toward recruiting from the ranks of radical activist groups and revolutionary cadre organizations. A focus on distancing DSA not just from the Democratic establishment but even from popular democratic socialists like AOC and Bernie is causing us to miss the moment when millions of people are in motion and desperately looking for leadership.
“As DSA’s 2025 convention approaches, members should take stock of DSA’s enormous potential as well as where and why we are falling short.”
Democratic socialists can unite diverse social movements seeking to confront the rise of authoritarianism. We can offer a socialist perspective that guides us to shared avenues of struggle. With more than 60,000 members, DSA can demonstrate leadership, but can’t dismiss or replace the broader political currents moving millions of people that will be essential to dismantling Trumpism and defeating the corporate Democratic Party leadership.
As DSA’s 2025 convention approaches, members should take stock of DSA’s enormous potential as well as where and why we are falling short. We must all think about which proposals, resolutions, caucuses, tendencies, and NPC candidates are most committed to doing the work necessary to make DSA an effective democratic socialist core of the opposition to Trump and Musk, a leader of the nationwide popular mobilizations we desperately need, and an effective vehicle for working people to take power. The stakes could not be higher.