Plank 2: Building a Movement & Wielding Power
Capitalism is inflicting violence on working-class communities in Boston. Families from Puerto Rico who have migrated to Greater Boston in the wake of Hurricane Maria find themselves thrown into the streets during the dead of winter after their FEMA vouchers run out. The opioid epidemic is just starting to bottom out after several years of spiraling out of control. Thousands of working-class people have been displaced from their homes because of rampant gentrification.
Socialism is survival. Building a movement and wielding power are not optional. As one the largest chapters of Democratic Socialists of America, Boston DSA has the resources to build an important alliance between working class communities of color and our members, many (but not all!) of whom are young, college-educated people facing precarity in our own lives. This alliance can shift the balance of power in Boston. As candidates for leadership running with the Synthesis slate, we are united in our commitment to building a movement that wields power against the capitalist class and our approach that is rooted in militancy, solidarity, and hope.
As we move forward, we must be cognizant that DSA itself is not the movement. There is no single organization that is the location or nexus of the movement. We must go to the multitude of places where movement surfaces and where people have already been participating in mass struggle. We can create broad coalitions and bolster the strength of working-class struggles to make the presence of socialists in Boston consistent, visible, and strong.
Tensions in our chapter have emerged due to the perceived struggle between internal debate and theory (slow, interpersonally difficult, blocks us from moving forward) and immediate action (blind, easily co-opted, and directionless). Both of these elements must be synthesized for us to realize the change we must have in our world. Respectful, vigorous internal debate and discussion is a key component of our power-building strategy, as well as our members building experience through concrete on-the-ground work.
Because we have many new members who are eager to organize and advance democratic socialism, we have the duty to create a strategic organizing model that goes beyond a single tactic, demonstrates power, aligns our efforts with working class people of color, and is rooted in solidarity and militancy.
We will work with all members of Boston DSA to create and implement an organizing model that includes:
- “Serve the people” programs to build relationships with communities of color and materially improve the lives of working class people;
- Agitprop, such as YouTube videos, graphic novels, and images, that uses a popular education framework to battle in the cultural arena;
- Political education and internal debate to deepen our understanding of the socialist vision for priority issues (housing, healthcare, labor, etc.) and develop the leadership and organizing skills of Boston DSA members;
- Organizing campaigns to wield power in politics, the workplace, and our neighborhoods through coalition-building, labor solidarity, electoral victories, and civil disobedience;
- Electoral campaigns that focus on building Boston DSA’s independent capacity to influence votes and voters, and less on specific candidates;
- Statewide and regional coordination with DSA chapters to take on campaigns that reach beyond Greater Boston.
There are many possible examples of campaigns that could be developed using this methodology. For example, an organizing model that includes these components to win a Medicare for All campaign in Massachusetts in the next five years could include:
- Organizing political education events and internal debates within general meetings to draft a framework for the socialist vision of healthcare;
- Creating a curriculum for medical debt clinics that share important information about relieving medical debt and exposing hospitals that disproportionately sue patients;
- Partnering with community organizations to promote the medical debt clinics among working class people of color and planning direct actions targeting hospitals to collectively negotiate debt payments;
- Moving the single payer advocacy groups toward a socialist vision of healthcare through regular participation in coalition meetings and hosting joint events;
- Building strong relationships with healthcare unions and acting in solidarity with healthcare workers in labor struggles;
- Targeting Governor Baker to make concessions on the opioid crisis before the 2018 election while advocating for socialized healthcare rather than prison as the default for drug treatment;
- Coordinating with DSA chapters to pressure candidates across Massachusetts in the 2018 elections about single-payer healthcare and activating members for a stronger push for single-payer healthcare legislation in the 2019–2020 legislative session.
The possibilities of this model are far-reaching and bold. It’s time to take strategic action to shift power from the capitalist class to the working class. We can win the world we want if we organize with militancy, resilience, and solidarity.
Introducing the Synthesis Slate
Our World to Win: An Overview of the Synthesis Platform
