NYC Democratic Socialists of America

At the upcoming June 10 meeting of the NYC DSA Local, members will have the opportunity to decide what will be the organization’s political and activist priorities for the next year. At the Local convention in May, working groups formed to begin formulating ideas concerning four possible areas of local activism: the economic crisis, labor and immigration, universal healthcare, and electoral politics/Working Families Party organizing. Each working group will post a short statement here explaining the possible goals and activities their respective initiatives so members can be informed of their options going into next week’s meeting. Comments and questions are welcome.

Economic Crisis Group

The NYC DSA Economic Crisis Group seeks to study the reasons why the current economic crisis happened and possible ways in which the local, national, global economies can be restructured along more democratic and egalitarian lines.

It will attempt to use such understandings to conduct economic organizing in New York City, produce a small number of short pieces of popular literature on the crisis, and conduct public educational fora that will advance an analysis and program of action that reflects the ideological and political orientation of DSA in the broad left, which could use an infusion of the kind of visionary yet pragmatic radicalism that is our organization’s hallmark. Such activities will also be aimed at recruiting new members who are interested in gaining a deeper understanding of the causes and consequences of the crisis and who are open to embracing the particular intellectual and political contribution DSA can make. We believe that these goals are achievable, and that any socialist organization worth its salt should have a theoretical and practical program concerning the deepest crisis of capitalism in 80 years.

DSA member Rob Saute was the primary mover behind the establishment of this group, which has since attracted the active participation of Karie Gubbins, Jason Schulman, Mike Hirsch, Itzhak Epstein, Peter Frase, and Chris Maisano. Other DSA members that might be interested in taking part in the activities of this group can expect to further develop their understanding of the crisis, ways of articulating the political and economic perspective of the organization in relation to the crisis and the broader political economy of capitalism, and perhaps their public speaking skills if they choose to participate in any future public educational forum. The commitment level of each present and future member of the group will likely vary. New members who only want to attend semi-regular meetings of the group and participate in discussions would be welcome, as will members who want to be involved in reading numerous texts, developing literature, and organizing public events. Local support in the form of new members and resources, combined with the already existing cadre of group members who seem to be committed to making this group active and effective, make the chances of success in such an initiative rather likely.

Healthcare Group
1.  What is the initiative/campaign that you are suggesting DSA work
in support of?
NYC DSA should continue to work as a member of the Metro NY Health
Care for All coalition until national health care reform has
(hopefully) passed Congress and been signed into law, sometime this
summer or fall.  Specifically, we should engage in activities
(educational events, pressure events with elected, etc.) around the
following points:
•    Urge Senators and Representatives to co-sponsor H.R.676 and S.703
(single payer bills);
•    Support the right of Single Payer proponents to have their position
be heard in the Congressional debate;
•    Insist on the inclusion of a strong  public component in any health
care reform legislation;
•    Insist on the inclusion of a State opt-out so that individual States
can enact their own single payer plans.

2.    What are the concrete goals of this initiative and are they achievable?
Change in the U.S. health care system is very likely in the next five
to six months.  The question is what type of change will occur.  The
goal would be to have the DSA perspective on health care (public good,
private bad, if you boil it down) be part of the important debate.
Concretely, we should push Senators Schumer and Gillibrand and the
members of the House Progressive Caucus on the points above, possibly
focusing our efforts (as far as the House) in districts where DSAers
are concentrated.

3.    What are the organizations already involved in this effort?
Health Care for All is a coalition that NYC DSA has joined.  NYC DSA
should encourage active participation in this coalition, since it has
many left, community, labor and other organizations already part of
the coalition.

4.    Who are the DSA members already involved in this campaign and in
what capacity are they involved?
Jeff Gold is active and would know other DSA members who are active.

5.    What connections do DSA members have (professional or personal)
with the leaders of this campaign?
Jeff Gold is personally connected to many of these leaders, Maria
Svart knows some of them through her work with the resident union, and
we have a good relationship with Mark Hannay, leader of Metro NY
Healthcare for All.

6.    Would leaders of this campaign be welcoming of DSA’s participation?
Mark Hannay has given presentations to NYC DSA in the past, and would
be very supportive of more active DSA participation.

7.    What would be the value-added of DSA participating in this campaign?
The campaign for a strong public health care plan provides an
excellent opportunity to present DSA’s perspective on the role of the
public sector as contrasted to the role of private health care
insurance companies.  An incredible amount of money is wasted on
administrative costs of private health care insurance plans, and an
incredible number of people go without care because it is
prohibitively expensive.  Talking about why this is the case would
enable DSA to critique capitalism explicitely.

8.  How does this campaign express DSA’s political perspectives and priorities?
As noted above, the campaign for a strong public health plan provides
an opportunity to present the case for well-run public services, and
the idea that a profit driven system should not dictate who receives
some essential goods and services.

9.    What are the public socialist educational events that DSA could run
within or parallel to this campaign?
NYC DSA could sponsor events presenting the DSA perspective,
explicitely socialist.  We could invite DSA members and friends who
are well-versed in the health care debate to participate in public
events.  Victor Sidel, a prominent doctor in public health, wrote a
pamphlet on health care for DSA some years ago, and could be invited.
Michael Lightly, who was in the national DSA leadership, now works for
the politically active California Nurses Association.

10.    How could recruiting new DSA members be integrated into this campaign?
New DSA members could be recruited as DSA presents its perspective on
health care through its coalition work and its own public meetings.
For example, we could have people sign petitions to elected officials,
whether on the street or via email.  People who agree with the
perspective on health care could well want to be part of a group that
applies this perspective to other issues.

11.    What would be the leadership development opportunities for DSA
members should they get involved in this campaign?
There are many opportunities for DSA members to develop leadership
skills, both in presenting DSA’s perspective on health care for DSA
events, and through participation as a DSA liason to Health Care for
All meetings.  In addition so public speaking and coordinating with
the coalition, DSAers can learn how to lead teams of petitioners,
teach others how to write letters to the editor or informational
leaflets, and organize events.

12.  How much time and commitment from DSA members would be necessary
to ensure our participation in this campaign is successful.

Since DSA member Jeff Gold is already active on the issue, and DSA is
already a member of Health Care for All, additional participation over
the next five to six months would be valuable, but manageable.  We
could have a committee of Jeff, a steering committee member and
another active chapter member to head up activities, and recruit
additional DSAers to get involved.

13.    What else should we consider before deciding whether to adopt this campaign?
An important political issue is what is winnable at this time, and how
DSA should present its perspective given that we want something even
more radical than single payer.   The proposal is for DSA presenting
the rationale for single payer, if not that a strong public program,
and generally advocating for the left of the possible in the current
political environment.  Furthermore, the National Political Committee
of DSA has a position paper that can be used by the local, which is an
important resource.

Labor and Immigrants’ Rights Group

NYC DSA ought to initiate a committee in Brooklyn in support of the striking Stella D’Oro workers of the Bronx. The strike is now entering its tenth month and it is clear that tangible support must begin to extend beyond the Bronx and Manhattan. This would involve reaching out to Brooklyn members of such organizations as the Professional Staff Congress (PSC) union, the Working Families Party, Brooklyn for Peace, independent and reform Democratic Party groups, Make the Road New York, La Union de Comunidad Latina, and others.

The concrete goal is to assist the workers towards their victory, i.e. the regaining of their jobs under a good contract. Various organizations have been lending their support to the strike, most notably unions such as the PSC and NYSUT, though those who attend the weekly support committee meetings in the Bronx are mostly representatives of socialist organizations, including DSA. (Many are also in unions – DC37, TWU 100, the UFT, etc., but are not elected officers.) The DSA members who have been most involved in this struggle are Jason Schulman, Jay Mazur and Luke Peavey. Mazur has mainly been involved as a representative of the Working Families Party. The strikers and the Bronx/Manhattan support committee would surely welcome another committee setting itself up in Brooklyn.

The value-added for DSA in participating in this campaign is to prove our activist bona fides to the strikers and non-DSA members of the support committees, though this is not the primary reason for being involved; the main reason is to help make the strikers’ victory possible, which would help to enervate the labor movement in NYC and beyond. Teach-ins might be set up which connect the strike and its immediate causes to the global economy and the particularly vicious and parasitic role which equity firms such as Brynwood Partners (owner of Stella D’Oro) have played. Participation in this struggle would help to assemble a Brooklyn branch of the DSA local, something which existed in the past and should exist again. Presumably there would be weekly meetings of the Brooklyn support committee, as there are in the Bronx.

It is our duty as socialists to be directly involved in the struggles of workers against capital. This proposal, if implemented, will enable us to make a meaningful contribution towards the successful resolution of this long strike.