The Question Dividing Democratic Socialists

[brooklynite]

The Atlantic

Last weekend, hundreds of members of the Democratic Socialists of America across the country kicked off local efforts to elect Senator Bernie Sanders as president of the United States. But not every DSA chapter is campaigning for the Vermont senator.

With just five months to go until the Iowa caucuses, chapters in the state have chosen to focus on local projects and tenants’-rights work rather than spend time and resources working for Sanders. But some DSA members in other parts of the country think their Iowa comrades are wasting a crucial opportunity. “Early states will be key for momentum and Iowa DSA chapters’ failure to help energize the progressive Iowa voters and new caucusgoers is a giant mistake,” tweeted Honda Wang, a DSA member from Brooklyn, recently, igniting a days-long Twitter spat among DSA members from various regions.

The Iowa chapters’ decision—and the exasperated response from other members—illuminates the divide within the DSA over how best to build a socialist movement: One theory of growth is through a concerted effort around electoral work; the other is rooted in prioritizing local efforts and direct action. The dustup gets at another key question: Does the DSA want Sanders, specifically? Or do its members merely want socialism, with or without the movement’s most visible surrogate? How and whether DSA members can reconcile these tensions could have significant implications both for Sanders’s 2020 campaign and for the success of the socialist movement in America for years to come.

There are currently five official DSA chapters in Iowa, none of which existed before 2016—the year the organization began to see explosive growth nationwide on the heels of Sanders’s first presidential bid. Members in the Iowa chapters have been clear from the get-go about their 2020 plans: “We don’t talk about Bernie,” Caroline Schoonover, a co-chair of the Central Iowa group, told me back in April. “He’s not a factor in our organizing at all.” Individual members would be welcome to volunteer for Sanders on their own time, she said, but campaigning for him as a chapter would distract from their local efforts, which include advocating for tenants’ rights and raising the alarm about so-called crisis pregnancy centers.

[NYMinute]

1. Do they know

that there is nothing like a "Democratic Socialist?" There are only social Democrats with an emphasis on Democrats.

Democratic Socialist has emphasis on "socialist" -- almost like they will support democracy until they have to and after that it will be the imaginary utopia of socialism.

[ritapria]

2. The Atlantic Elites hammer Bernie - for the 40th time and Counting

The elites at The Atlantic despise Bernie ...They believe he's rough, blunt - too crude for their refined tastes …...So they produce one negative hit piece after another to traduce him - and elevate Elizabeth Warren ...Liz is refined, polished and oh so professorial ….She doesn't raise her voice …… She's safe …….

[brooklynite]

3. Is there something factually wrong to point to in this story?

I'm always amazed when people assume that low-information, easily influenced voters are reading The Atlantic, The Hill, Politico.....

[Renew Deal]

6. Speaking of elites, would the millionaire senator from Vermont that graduated from

the University of Chicago be considered "elite"?

[ehrnst]

8. You fear Liz as a real threat to Sanders's chances at the nomination. We get it.

[Renew Deal]

4. Is the millionaire from Vermont the best person to represent the intrests of the DSA?

He's very unlikely to win. No reason to burn capital on him.

[msongs]

5. sounds like a cult of personality. have been many of those over the years nt

[elocs]

7. I'm a Democrat and I don't need to tag anything on to that name to make it better. n/t