These Principles lay out the common understanding of Worcester DSA for how we approach electoral work. They form what we consider to be a principled and disciplined socialist approach to elections and combine it with strategic and tactical positions that account for the specifics of our Chapter. They are intended as a foundation and guide for the Chapter’s electoral work, and they are complemented by our Bylaws article on electoral work.
Elections in the United States, as in any capitalist democracy, are largely a sham. It is a process that decides which faction of the ruling class will take charge in the years to come. This misleads people into believing they have agency in the country’s governance and obscures the identity of those who actually do. The system is undemocratic from its inception — evidence of such can be seen with the Electoral College, U.S. Senate, non-proportional representation, gerrymandering, judicial review, and lifetime judicial appointments. But even in its supposedly most democratic forms, the equality of participants in any bourgeois democracy is a superficial and purely legal one — the main effect is that the illusion of democratic participation integrates workers into the capitalist system.
The source of this inequality is economic. Even under the most democratic rules, the intense concentration of wealth that capitalist property relations result in ultimately and critically impacts the decision-making process. Of course, campaign contributions, PACs and super PACs, lobbying, and shaping the cultural landscape and information sphere we all exist within all impact elections. However, it is only once the means of production are no longer privatized, and labor power is no longer a commodity, that the path to the emancipation of the human race can be taken.
While we are clear about the nature of elections under capitalism, we nonetheless do not shun the electoral process. Engaging with elections does not equate to legitimizing the system, so long as we are clear and deliberate in our intervention. Campaign season attracts heightened political attention from the masses — including from those otherwise politically disengaged — and we view this as an opportunity that allows us to broadcast our politics, lambast capitalism, and make the case for socialism.
We must lead struggles for reforms, while still acknowledging that reform offers no path out of capitalism, and achieving elected office can provide socialists with a megaphone to distribute our message even more widely, allowing us to point out the limitations of capitalism to audiences who may otherwise have never encountered this perspective before. The Chapter will not aim to run candidates for executive positions, as there would be significant inducement to opportunism in order to win and take office, which would itself only offer the prospect of administering a part of the capitalist state. Instead, we will focus on seats in legislative bodies and on ballot questions. These restrictions notwithstanding, we may support DSA candidates running on a socialist platform for any statewide office or for federal or state legislative office in districts overlapping our jurisdiction and that of another chapter or chapters as appropriate and in a solidaristic manner upon consultation with the other chapters and deliberation within our own.
Given the nature of bourgeois democracy, our engagement must avoid demonstrably failed paths, especially those that have latched onto left-leaning candidates only for them to buckle to the corrupting forces of capital and the capitalist parties, with our support tainted by that endeavor. This does not help build understanding of or lasting support for socialism.
Worcester DSA does not utilize resources for nor endorse candidates who independently decide to run for office and then seek our support. Such individuals often treat our organization as a mere afterthought and can be some of the worst to run, as they are not committed to serve a collective, but rather use our endorsement of their candidacy as an endorsement of their idealistic and opportunistic individualism and as a source of volunteers and donations. Instead, we will democratically develop our own program and nominate cadre candidates, which for our chapter we take to mean core members who are politically educated, committed to promoting DSA as their political home, and in agreement with these Principles, who understand that campaigning and serving openly as a principled socialist under the direction of our chapter may be a trying, miserable, and potentially even dangerous mantle to take up.
Our chapter will democratically decide its political strategy and set a public-facing political program. We expect the candidates who we nominate to advance our program and to demonstrate comprehensive alignment with these Principles. Any income derived from this political position that exceeds the median workers’ income in their district will be donated to vetted organizations that directly support the self-organization of the working class and oppressed people. Because campaigns are labor-intensive and costly, the membership must demonstrate a willingness to commit substantial time and resources before we can launch a campaign. Without member buy-in, a serious and respectable campaign will not be achievable.
To center the campaign platform set by the Chapter and minimize campaign costs, whenever possible we will run candidates as a slate utilizing common campaign materials. While some personalization is necessary to help voters connect with a given candidate on their experiences, background, connection to the community, and life, the core purpose of campaign materials will be to present a consistent critique of capitalism alongside our socialist vision for a better world in relation to the elected body we are campaigning for.
Our program will compile a scaffolded list of demands that can — in theory — be achievable under the current system. The demands will range from issues that, while a nuisance for capitalists, might be embraced by some to secure their power over those that challenge the existing system, to those that are likely impossible under the current mode of production as they challenge the hegemony of the bourgeoisie. In this way not only can tangible reforms for people be won, but the mechanism by which capitalism precludes a better life for the working class can by example be illustrated.
When we canvass, phone bank, table, or hold an event for a candidate, we must understand that winning the election is not our top priority. Instead our primary goal should be engaging with working class people to discuss their politics and living conditions. We should inspire and allow others to share their disappointments and hardships and connect these important issues directly to capitalism, while drawing people toward DSA and our collective politics. This is something that can be easy to lose sight of, and therefore should be emphasized and re-emphasized throughout the campaign to all of our volunteers as the core objective. This is meant to serve our goal of spreading class consciousness and building a mass political force that fights for socialism. To meet these ends we must prioritize campaigning in working class neighborhoods over more affluent liberal ones where support may be short-term and unreliable.
Another priority above winning the election itself is to develop campaign skills of our chapter membership. Thus, the campaign must be organized so as to give members hands-on experience with conducting and leading all aspects of an electoral campaign. Rather than letting a few career-focused campaign professionals dominate the process, development of the varied skills that are required will better serve our organization as a whole in the long term.
Members in public elected office must be clear that they are not independent activists, but representatives of a collective socialist program they were elected to advance. The Chapter will make democratic decisions of its own on implementation of this program through its general meetings and subcommittees; we expect our nominated candidates to remain in continuous communication with the Chapter on our program and will withdraw support from candidates who fail to live up to the Chapter’s Principles and program.
In viewing electoral work as a means for us to advance our program — rather than the failed method of building around a particular one-off election or the celebrity of a given candidate — we will run our candidates as independents so as not to muddle our profile as socialists with the profile of other parties or falsely suggest that it is our aim to realign or capture one of the capitalist parties. Candidates nominated by our chapter will distinguish themselves from bourgeois parties and be clear that they come from DSA and represent and serve the working class. While serving in office, our chapter’s electeds will never caucus with non-socialists, instead only joining or forming explicitly socialist caucuses. The specifics of organizing the Chapter’s electoral work will be codified in the Chapter Bylaws.