[ A recent conference brought together democratic socialist
elected officials from across the United States—including Bernie
Sanders—to collaborate and strategize on advancing progressive
public policy.]
[[link removed]]

U.S. ELECTED SOCIALISTS JUST HELD THEIR LARGEST GATHERING IN NEARLY
40 YEARS  
[[link removed]]


 

David Duhalde
June 29, 2023
In These Times
[[link removed]]


*
[[link removed]]
*
[[link removed]]
*
*
[[link removed]]

_ A recent conference brought together democratic socialist elected
officials from across the United States—including Bernie
Sanders—to collaborate and strategize on advancing progressive
public policy. _

Democratic socialist conference attendees outside Gallaudet
University in Washington, DC. on the weekend of June 16, 2023. ,
Polina Godz / Jacobin

 

Over the weekend of June 16, 80 democratic socialist elected officials
and their aides from across the country came together for the first
U.S. socialist policy conference since the 1980s. The event, titled
​“How We Win: The Democratic Socialist Policy Agenda in Office,”
was held at the Gallaudet University in Washington, DC and was hosted
by _Jacobin_,_ The Nation _and the Democratic Socialists of America
(DSA) Fund, an educational sister nonprofit of national DSA that is
focused on pushing progressive policy, preserving socialist history
and supporting left-wing activism.

The gathering was an in-person continuation of DSA Fund-led ​“How
We Win [[link removed]]” series which explores how
democratic socialist lawmakers, DSA chapters and their allies enact
public policy to advance the lives of working people. Previous topics
have included victories (and some failures) that have come through
legislation and referendums such as right-to-counsel in housing,
minimum wage increases, paid sick leave and much more. The audience
for that educational series was largely made up of progressive
activists, whereas this conference was hosted solely for the socialist
lawmakers and their staff. 

As chair of the DSA Fund, I was involved in organizing this in-person
socialist policy gathering that was partly inspired by the Democratic
Agenda conferences
[[link removed]]
hosted by one of DSA predecessors — the Democratic Socialist
Organizing Committee — in the early 1980s to build resistance to
then-President Ronald Reagan’s agenda. 

Democratic socialists came from nearly 20 states plus the District of
Columbia. They were state legislators from New England and the
Midwest, county and school board officeholders in the mid-Atlantic,
and mayors and city councilors from California to Massachusetts. While
DSA hosted a meet-up for elected officials before the
organization’s national convention in 2019, this was a standalone
gathering for elected officials and their staff to focus on public
policy around topics such as labor, housing and the environment. 

The conference also included panels on Socialist in Office formations
(formal groupings that coordinate between the DSA chapters and elected
officials) and messaging to working-class constituents. The event,
which myself and others had first proposed for 2021, was delayed for
two years by the Covid-19 pandemic. The inability to meet in-person
meant most attendees had only known each other through online
interactions. Yet the bond of shared governing experiences fostered
a reunion-like atmosphere, even if many of the elected officials
started out strangers.

In addition to _Jacobin_, _The Nation_ and the DSA Fund, the event was
also supported by Local Progress — a progressive network of
municipal lawmakers including socialists — and the Center for
Working Class Politics, a left-wing think tank whose members gave
a presentation on their new report ​“Trump’s Kryptonite
[[link removed]].”
That report documented the appeal of working-class elected
representatives and found that prioritizing messaging on economic
justice, as well as differences with the political establishment, is
highly popular with constituents. 

New York Assemblymember Phara Souffrant Forrest reflected on the
practical communication advocated by the study, saying ​“don’t
sleep on turkeys,” a reference to the tradition of elected
officials handing out free food to residents around Thanksgiving. She
added: ​“It is critical we provide good constituent services as
well as push big change.”

On opening night, Friday June 16, guests heard remarks from Rep. Cori
Bush (D-Mo.) and a dialogue with Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) hosted
by _The Nation_ contributor John Nichols. Bush thanked the organizers
for creating a ​“progressive, democratic socialist and anti-racist
community.” She also provided guidance for her fellow socialist
officeholders about their approach to service: ​“Voters have told
me they do not care if you love me or not, just serve me. And I’ll
say, ​‘Actually, that’s what you’re used to.’ You’re used
to someone doing something for you then moving you out of the way.
Next. But that’s not who you get when you have folks that actually
love humanity. We do not care if you voted for us or not as
a condition to whether we help you.”

The Missouri congresswoman went on to discuss unacceptable aspects of
the political status quo such as police killing civilians with
impunity while working-class communities receive insufficient funding,
the United States supporting the oppression of Palestinians, low
worker wages in the face of ​‘greedflation,’ anti-transgender
legislation, and the fact that unhoused people are treated as a stain
when the current system does not allow them access to housing.
Reflecting on the Juneteenth weekend, Bush said ​“I refuse to
accept the status quo where Juneteenth is a federally celebrated
holiday but reparations are a non-starter for the elected officials
who will gladly go and attend those Juneteenth parades.” 

Sanders followed and gave some good news, saying that the current U.S.
Congress includes ​“far more strong progressives than have existed
in the modern history of this country,” adding that there was
​“nothing like it” when he started his congressional career in
1991. He also discussed the current landscape of the U.S. labor
movement, saying ​“we are seeing a significant growth in the
trade union movement… It is Starbucks, people at Amazon, [adjuncts]
on college campuses, and just today, 97% of UPS [Teamsters], gave the
to signal to leadership that they are prepared to strike if they do
not get a decent contract.” (Many DSA elected officials already
have signed [[link removed]] onto a Strike
Ready pledge initiated by the organization in support of UPS
Teamsters.) Sanders then noted the new United Auto Workers
rank-and-file leadership was ​“prepared to take on corporate greed
in the auto industry.”

The Vermont senator assured attendees ​“you’re not the
radical,” jokingly adding, ​“I don’t want to hurt your
feelings.” He continued: ​“The views that you are expressing
about economic justice, social justice, and racial justice, those are
the views shared by the majority of the American people. The real
radicals out there are the ones who say we need more tax breaks for
billionaires, more military spending and that we should ignore
climate change.”

Sanders contended that while labels do not matter as much as doing the
work of politics and organizing, democratic socialists are special in
understanding the long sweep of social change. He told the audience:
​“When we talk about being democratic socialists, we have
a vision. It’s a vision that says that every man, woman, and child
can have a decent standard of living. That instead of pushing wars,
we can use that money to improve life for our people and people all
over the world. That human solidarity, bringing people together for
common goals to improve life for all, is what we are about.” 

The all-day Saturday programming was led by the municipal and
state-level legislators. When John Nichols asked during an ice breaker
how many panel attendees had joined DSA and the socialist movement
since 2016, nearly everyone raised their hands. Two of those in
attendance had been delegates at the 2017 DSA convention in Chicago,
including Dylan Parker, an elected official in the small Illinois city
of Rock Island who joined DSA in 2015. He said: ​“Like many
others, I was broken hearted after Bernie’s loss in 2016. However,
I listened to him and ran for local office in 2017, where I’ve
served as an Alderperson in Rock Island since.” Parker added,
reflecting on Sanders’ legacy: ​“This weekend was a pleasant
reminder that people just like me, from all across the country,
similarly listened to Bernie and are running for local office and
winning. Watching the number of socialist elected officials growing in
this country is enormously rewarding and empowering.” Parker,
a member of DSA’s National Labor Commission, is one of the
socialist officeholders heavily focused on worker power. 

One of the panels focussed on the U.S. labor movement and brought
together three city councilors — Carlos Ramirez-Rosa of Chicago,
Robin Wonsley of Minneapolis and Ross Grooters of Pleasant Hills,
Iowa — along with Chris Townsend, a retired union staffer for
the United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America.
Ramirez-Rosa explained how his deep relationships with progressive
labor unions in the city, especially the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU),
helped create the political conditions for a wave of left-wing
alderpeople to win office earlier this year, and for CTU alum Brandon
Johnson to win the mayor’s race
[[link removed]].
After starting out as a lonely left-wing voice on the Chicago City
Council in 2015, Ramirez-Rosa is now considered
[[link removed]]
one of its most powerful members. Wonsley said that her movement
experience included organizing workers through the Fight for 15
[[link removed]],
and she highlighted the importance of socialists being a bridge
between organized labor and non-union workers. Along with serving as
an Iowa councilor, Grooters is also an active rank-and-file union
railroad worker, which he said allows him to provide real world labor
perspective and knowledge while governing — and highlights the
importance of having actual workers, not just allies, in elected
office. Townsend brought decades of experience dealing with
recalcitrant union leaders. He advised the officeholders to hold labor
leadership’s feet to the fire and to meet with rank-and-file workers
directly by visiting work sites to learn about their issues and
advocate for them through their positions of power. The panel
concluded with a group discussion including practical ideas such as
sharing template resolutions in solidarity with unionized Starbucks
workers
[[link removed]].

While conference attendees discussed the challenges of legislating and
how to build better governing practices — as the labor panel
illustrated — the event also served as a space to collaborate
and build relationships with fellow elected socialists. Many did not
have Socialist in Office formations in their home districts, much less
other socialist colleagues. Justin Farmer, a member of Town Council
in Hamden, CT, reflected: ​“This conference was restorative,
I’ve been elected for 6 years and this was the first time I felt
like I am really part of a bigger movement.”

Since 2020, the U.S. Left has faced a paradox. As its success at the
ballot box and in other areas grows, the victories are becoming less
surprising. Whereas the election of local socialists made national
news in the late 2010s, those wins have now become more of the norm.
And as socialist power incrementally increases, the backlash has
strengthened. In June, Republican Florida Sen. Rick Scott issued
[[link removed]]a travel
warning for socialists to avoid the Sunshine State. Former President
Donald Trump, for his part, recently proposed
[[link removed]]
to keep Marxists out of the United States. These types of edicts,
while currently not enforceable, are the kind of precursors to red
scares that the broad Left is increasingly taking seriously. This
tense political landscape formed the backdrop of the conference, but
attendees appeared undeterred. 

The closing plenary, entitled ​“How We Win Tomorrow: Next Steps
for Building Together,” was moderated by Nichols and featured DSA
Fund Executive Director Maria Svart, Maryland Delegate Gabirel
Acevero, New York State Senator Julia Salazar and Wisconsin
Representative to the Assembly Ryan Clancy. The panelists stressed
that while this was a domestic gathering, attendees could take
inspiration from the successes of socialists abroad, with an
understanding that they are part of an international movement. Salazar
explained that last year she and her fellow New York socialist
legislators toured social housing complexes in Vienna, Austria that
were built by Social Democrats in the 1920s and 30s—examples
[[link removed]]
of ​“municipal socialism” that remain in operation today.
​“The varieties of social housing we see in Vienna demonstrate
what is possible when a government and society have the political
will to create high-quality housing for people instead of for
profit,” she said. Acevero noted, ​“we are building
a foundation for a democratic socialist future. We cannot have
democratic socialism, however, without political power.” Clancy
found the weekend’s ​“conversations moved quickly into policy,
and into sharing our own struggles and victories to make those
premises like ​‘housing should be a human right’ and
​‘people should have food’ a reality.”

This long-term vision echoed Sanders’ remark that ​“when you
have the courage to say you’re a democratic socialist what you’re
saying is incremental change is not enough… and that we need
transformational change.” The conference served as evidence that
such transformational change can only happen democratically if
socialist officeholders work closely with the membership of their
socialist organization and other mass organizations. Sanders advised
the elected officials that the ​“banner of democratic socialism
should be taken on proudly” and when they do their work well
​“we will have tens of millions of people marching with us.”

 

_[DAVID DUHALDE [[link removed]] is
the chair of the Democratic Socialists of America Fund, DSA’s sister
educational nonprofit. He is the former political director of Our
Revolution and former deputy director of DSA.]_

_Reprinted with permission from In These Times
[[link removed]].
All rights reserved. _

_xxxxxx is proud to feature content from In These Times
[[link removed]],
a publication dedicated to covering progressive politics, labor and
activism. To get more news and provocative analysis from In These
Times, sign up
[[link removed]] 
for a free weekly e-newsletter or subscribe
[[link removed]]
to the magazine at a special low rate._

_Never has independent journalism mattered more. Help hold power to
account: Subscribe to In These Times magazine
[[link removed]],
or make a tax-deductible donation to fund this reporting
[[link removed]]._

 

* Democratic Socialists of America
[[link removed]]

*
[[link removed]]
*
[[link removed]]
*
*
[[link removed]]

 

 

 

INTERPRET THE WORLD AND CHANGE IT

 

 

Submit via web
[[link removed]]

Submit via email
Frequently asked questions
[[link removed]]

Manage subscription
[[link removed]]

Visit xxxxxx.org
[[link removed]]

Twitter [[link removed]]

Facebook [[link removed]]

 




[link removed]

To unsubscribe, click the following link:
[link removed]