I’m excited to support Resolution 2: For a more Robust, Democratic, and Powerful Twin Cities DSA for its emphasis on internal organizing. In a member-led socialist organization, this is fundamental. We’re continually faced with these same questions year after year, because it’s at the very heart of organizing: How do we get more people involved? How do we develop new leaders, recruit new members, and grow our organization?
This resolution returns us to the basics. In a membership-driven organization, the Steering Committee (SC) needs to take members along with it. The resolution doesn’t imply any bad intentions or secrecy – just that some of these habits have fallen by the wayside and need to resume. Announcing meetings, inviting agenda items, and posting minutes on Slack after each meeting are all important for keeping members informed and involved in decision making. Not doing these things can have unintentional chilling effects. It’s hard for members to stay engaged or consider the jump into leadership if we don’t know what the SC does or what decisions they make on our behalf. As socialists with a love for small-d democracy, we need to recommit to these basic democratic norms.
The Internal Organizing Committee is small but mighty. Our task is to initiate and sustain members’ active and healthy participation in chapter work. This takes many different pieces, including onboarding new members, making a wide range of asks to get them further involved, organizing trainings, planning socials and creating spaces that people will want to return to. This work is essential for growing our org, making DSA more welcoming and accessible, and changing the makeup of DSA to encompass the whole multiracial working class. There is so much work to do, and we aren’t at full capacity on the IOC when we don’t have all three At-Large SC members on board. Per our chapter bylaws, the At-Large members should participate on the IOC, co-chairing it optionally. We need the SC’s full support and prioritization in order to do more than call a new member on the phone. I strongly support this resolution for identifying the Internal Organizing Committee as a priority, and invite all members to join the IOC for our next meeting on October 11!
From Mara K