We Need Integrity in the DSA National Political Committee

I’ve been a member of the DSA National Political Committee for the last two years and Steering Committee chair for most of that time. I am writing thi because I am concerned about the direction of DSA, and, in particular, the upcoming election for a new NPC. The last two years on the NPC have been grueling — they have taken a significant emotional toll on me and on other NPC members. I’ve got a T-shirt that says, “I thought getting old would take longer.” The last two years on the DSA National Political Committee have sped up that process, draining me of the energy needed to exercise political leadership. I’ve been on the NPC before — in the 1980s and 1990s, I’ve participated in difficult, sometimes angry discussions about the direction of DSA, but the last two years have robbed me of the ability to think and work politically. Another NPC member has reportedly said that these have been the worst two years of their life. I couldn’t agree more.

More importantly however, these last two years have taken a toll on the organization, robbing it of the leadership it should expect from the NPC. I do not want to recreate the acrimony that this NPC has experienced. I do not want the organization to endure another two years without leadership.

But why have these last two years been so bad and, more importantly, what can be done to change things for the next NPC and for DSA.

There are, of course, many reasons –

• growing pains as the organization not only increased its membership ten-fold, but increased its visibility in the media, something no one was really ready to deal with
• inexperience among the NPC members — few members really understood the idea of collective leadership or the role of the NPC in guiding the organization
• constant sniping on social media

to name just a few. And these were exacerbated by the NPC having to deal immediately with the Fetonte situation, which happened before the NPC had met for the first time. As did the situation with the GoFundMe crowdsourcing campaign that got dropped on the NPC without warning. The first four months of our term were spent dealing with one crisis after another.

All of these things would have made for a difficult few years, but the NPC could have worked through these issues. But three members of the NPC made it impossible. Starting at the first full meeting of the NPC in October 2017, Ravi Ahmed, Zac Echola, and RL Stephens created an atmosphere of distrust and discord on the NPC and, in the process, undermined the work of DSA.

RL is, of course, no longer on the NPC, but Ravi and Zac are and are running for reelection. I urge delegates to the DSA Convention not to support them. Here’s why.

• First, starting at the October 2017 meeting Ravi and Zac undermined the work of the NPC making it all but impossible for the body to act as collective leadership of the organization.
• Second, they have used their position on the NPC to create a shadow organization. They are building ‘Build’ instead of DSA.
• Third, they have used social media to spread gossip and discord on the NPC and in the organization.

I have intimate knowledge of the first issue which I will detail, and more indirect information about the latter two.

Undermining the NPC. Starting at the October 2017 meeting Ravi, Zac, and RL created incidents at the NPC meetings designed to divide members and create havoc in the meetings. At the October meeting RL and Zac staged a ‘test’ for other members of the NPC — a ‘test’ to determine if the rest of the members were sufficiently anti-racist. RL also staged a confrontation with other members, a confrontation we later learned (at the July 2018 meeting) that Ravi had instigated.

This behavior of dividing the NPC and creating discord has continued throughout our term. In December 2017, based on reports forwarded to the Steering Committee, the SC (including Zac) voted to establish an investigation into the allegations of sexual misconduct and bullying by RL. Much of the discussion following the start of the investigation (at NPC meetings in January, April, and July of 2018) was held in executive session because of the confidential nature of the investigation. Thus, I won’t go into detail on those meetings, but suffice it to say that Zac and Ravi repeatedly used those executive sessions at NPC meetings to try to impede the investigation and to wreak further havoc.

Shortly after the investigator released the report, which was adopted by the NPC, the allegations against RL were raised in social media. Ravi and Zac, after months of defending RL, quickly turned against him. He then resigned from the NPC and DSA.

Even after this episode came to a conclusion Ravi and Zac have used NPC meetings and SC meetings to sow discontent and division. Their reelection would mean another two years of discord, negativity, and acrimony. And it would result in two more years where DSA’s collective leadership is disfunctional.

Building Build: While the disruption of the NPC is important, more important is the way Ravi and Zac have used their position to build a shadow organization — Build. Rather than build national DSA they have gone out of their way to undermine the national organization. They have sown discord through their constant statements disrespecting national leaders and staff.

In doing this they have used the good faith of the many members who want to build strong locals to undercut the work of the national organization. Zac has openly said at a recent meeting of the NPC that when members ask him why they should be part of the national organization, he can’t answer them. This attitude is part and parcel of the effort to undermine the national organization and is one more indication that he is unfit to be in national leadership — anyone who can’t say why we need a national organization should not be on our organization’s leadership body. [See Chris’s take on why we need a national DSA here.]

Misusing Social Media: I am not active on social media; I have a Facebook account which I look at a few times a week and a Twitter account that I rarely look at. I, on occasion, look at posts in the now mostly toxic DSA discussion board. Even with this limited social media presence I am aware of how thoroughly negative are the things posted by Zac and Ravi. Throughout the last two years Ravi and Zac have used and abused social media, encouraging an atmosphere of suspicion and distrust. Countless tweets, posts on Facebook and the DSA discussion board have accused the NPC and individual members of lying, spreading rumors and not doing our jobs. A simple issue like getting out the minutes of NPC meetings in a timely fashion becomes a major crisis and a reason for members to suspect that something nefarious is going on.

The recent brouhaha over the voting process for the next NPC is an example. Zac has posted on the discussion board a lengthy discussion of how undemocratic the process decided on by the Steering Committee is and suggests that only the Single Transferable Vote (STV) is democratic. I disagree on what voting method should be used, (largely because the quotas DSA requires related to race and gender make STV a cumbersome method of election). While I disagree on this and other issues, I believe that democracy requires respect for those one disagrees with, not sniping and spreading falsehoods.

There are organizers across DSA who want to strengthen the organization at the local and national level — and both are vitally important. But the emotional, political, and human price for trying to do so is high when faced with these kinds of assaults. These organizers should be able to look to the NPC for leadership and direction. If Zac and Ravi are reelected to the NPC, they may irrevocably break members’ trust that our organization can truly deal with issues of harassment, build a national organization, and encourage comradely behavior within DSA. Their election would significantly undermine any effort to achieve democratic socialism.