Our working-class and nationally oppressed peoples are in constant crises, and over the last decade or longer we have seen more of our people showing up with depression, anxiety disorders, social phobias, addictions, and more. We have seen some comrades move from the Left to the far-right not because they have changed their politics so much as they have strong emotional reactions to certain people or to conflict. This is political—this happens because capitalism is in crisis and throws people overboard. It would be one thing if we could put empathy into action and build groups to self-manage their care and healing, occupy a hospital or non-profit and put forward demands, and formulate a program and practice based on oppression and liberation to confront these crises. The comrades who criticize us for ableism and for not doing this are not wrong; we are failing to address crises, and we often view these crises as personal. But we do not have the tools, and we cannot get all of the tools needed, to address the crises that confront our people.
In fact, we do not talk much about “our people” and take
responsibility for what is, after all, the country in which we live. Socialist
and liberation movements the world over root themselves in the progressive
national traditions of their peoples as they resolve the contradictions between
their movements and the masses. We are barely in a place where we can talk
about solidarity, but we are caught in a situation where some comrades want us
to---or need us to---talk about and practice empathy and mutual aid instead,
and they damn us when we do not. We need comrade doctors and comrade therapists
badly. We are fighting a war of sorts, and every army needs a field hospital.
But we also need to know and identify with several tens of millions of people
here who are now strangers to us. The particular crises experienced by our
people form material impositions by capitalism and also demonstrate our
shortcomings.
These difficulties do not excuse us from serving the people and putting "serving" in the proper contexts so that it is not understood as charity or as mutual aid. I recently attended a Web event hosted by a militant Kurdish and Turkish socialist organization that had therapists speaking to their audience, calming and hopeful live music, and a compassionate woman comrade who facilitated the event and gave an in-depth political analysis. We can do this.
The DSA chapter problems referred to here have taken place within particular contexts. These events transpired while the fascist attacks were underway in D.C. and Salem, or in their aftermath. They took place as a new political moment is opening, and one that most (but not all) of us worked for. They took place as COVID continued to take an out-of-proportion toll in our community. There are particular crises of capitalism present, one of which is increasing automation (and many fewer jobs to return to) as COVID continues and another of which is the purchasing of corporate debt and the consequences of that. The DSA chapter problems occurred as movements around us began to push back, and perhaps to advance. This push-back gives us new opportunities and challenges.
Those are some of the objective conditions that we work with. But there is a contradictory subjective set of conditions as well to consider. There is an experiential gap between leaders and members, and similar gaps between members, and McCarthyite anti-communism is sometimes present and is allowed. A woman comrade has to steel herself for certain meetings because she experiences mansplaining and sniping comments from other comrades. Chapter leadership does not collectively engage with members when backsteps occur. We have no base in the labor movement or in workplace organizing, although we have many union members. A couple of comrades tend to Marxist-Leninist orthodoxy, a few are anarchists, at least two are close to the Solidarity organization, and others fit well into DSA’s “big tent.” But one comrade opposes new anti-terrorism legislation aimed at the far-right, one wants to leave all political questions to “the workers” to settle after they take power, we are attempting to study the Labor Theory of Value because we do not have similar understandings of exploitation and oppression, we do not have unity around the question(s) of self-determination, we passed a resolution calling on Salem’s conservative mayor to lead an anti-racist effort and exceed his authority in certain areas without much discussion. and the comrade who advanced some caustic criticisms mentioned above was told that perhaps he should leave DSA.
In other words, we sometimes depoliticize ourselves, and this time we did it when having the right political line and practice is of special importance. And if what we do is not political, then it becomes personal and we are struggling with feelings and past slights that cannot be put away. We thus take on some aspects of our opposition.
The opposite of “big tent,” or the answer to it and to the movement-destructive behaviors that sometimes come with it, are neither narrow Left sects nor purges. Just the opposite is true: we need a more politicized DSA, with declared factions and tendencies and deep work among the working-class and nationally oppressed masses. There is a need in the U.S. right now for principled mass social-democratic politics and organizing, so let’s think about redesign. Principled mass social-democratic politics should be the right pole or wall of DSA, and with that being the space where DSA’s politics begin. People who are active every day and sharing leadership and activity and participating in actions find ways to resolve or work with their differences that others cannot. They develop a common rhythm of work, and they set about building capacity for struggle and leadership among workers and oppressed peoples. They do that, or they perish. If the numbers of people so engaged do not increase and do not take leadership---if the quantities and qualities of the peoples’ forces do not change for the better---we lose. A principled, mass social-democratic “big tent” organization is needed, but within that effort there should be room for organizations that distinguish between cadre members (the decisive force who unite, serve, and lead the people) and other members as well as organizations in which people are educated, tested, and given the space and means to evolve politically before they become full members. The contradictions between a “big tent” organization and other forms of organization can work for the good if we assume that clear thinking, unity through shared struggles, and a “no enemies on the Left” policy prevails.
We have some great advancements to point to that illustrate this dynamic of people learning to work together and moving Leftward: Salem DSA’s socialist environmentalism, the Chapter’s abilities in initiating and carrying though on some community projects, our ability and willingness to take part in an important coalition effort despite being a minority within that coalition, participation in some electoral work and an almost-won in a City council race, and a willingness by some comrades to study the Labor Theory of Value and engage with basic Marxism. This inspires and empowers people to do additional planning for 2021. One question that we have to answer is if this forward motion weighs more than our backsteps. Another question is how we deliberately correct backward motion.
The primary contradiction is between the working-class and oppressed peoples and capitalism. The secondary contradiction for us is between ourselves and the working-class and nationally oppressed peoples. You can either love the people or hate the system; the choice you make will put you in one place or another. This is one link between the two separate contradictions. The primary contradiction and how we respond to it with the masses are all that we should have room for dealing with in our movement and in DSA. Our work starts with grasping the contradictions. Our growth comes with understanding the overall nature of contradiction and development—and not just with understanding these, but with working with them and applying what we learn in every aspect of our lives. Expect contradiction and conflict, but look at each situation and ask how it arrived at a specific stage and what is happening within it and around it and is moving it forward or backward. We should not over-emphasize negation, but we should not lead with conciliation either. Apply this to relationships in the here-and-now because all relationships are areas of struggle, and all relationships and struggles are joined.
What does this mean in practice for us? Study, engage in mass work, form political factions within DSA as our mass work moves ahead, recognize and respect differences within a socialist framework, reject liberalism and defeatism within and amongst ourselves, let those who do the work speak first, agree that there is no right to speak without first understanding what is at issue, help people develop within and through the organization rather than quickly place them into positions of responsibility, broaden our base and our leadership more carefully than we do, move people and ourselves to the Left, understand this this movement to the Left occurs in stages, and understand that the contradictions between ourselves and the ruling class are fundamentally and irreversibly antagonistic but that the contradictions between ourselves and the masses are not. These methods of work have been formed and tested in every successful revolution. Political debates and discussions are not arguments, and they should not be sources of bitterness. If differences are handled correctly the discussions over differences should lead to greater unity. And remember what Amilcar Cabral said: "Responsible members must take life seriously, conscious of their responsibilities, thoughtful about carrying them out, and with a comradeship based on work and duty done. Nothing of this is incompatible with the joy of living, or with love for life and its amusements, or with confidence in the future and in our work...." All of this is what we mean when we say that struggle resolves all contradictions.
The working-class and nationally oppressed peoples are our only bastions, our only means of defending ourselves. They are the only forces that can lead a revolution. If it seems that the people are opposed to us, or that they consider us to be their enemy, this is because we have not correctly resolved the contradictions between us.
Further and better reading:
1. Mao's On Contradiction: https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/mao/selected-works/volume-1/mswv1_17.htm
2. Zhou Enlai's Guidelines for Myself: https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/mao/selected-works/volume-1/mswv1_17.htm
3. Stalin on dialectical materialism: https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/stalin/works/1938/09.htm
4. M.N. Roy on patriotism: https://www.marxists.org/archive/roy/1923/06/12.htm
5. Marlene Dixon on the oppression of women: https://www.marxists.org/subject/women/authors/dixon-marlene/class-struggle.htm
6. Fundamentals of Marxism-Leninism:https://archive.org/details/fundamentalsofma0000unse
7. Amilcar Cabral Tell no lies, Claim no easy victories: https://www.marxists.org/subject/africa/cabral/1965/tnlcnev.htm
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