From August 1st through August 3rd, I represented our chapter at YDSA’s national convention in Chicago. Held annually, the national convention is the highest authority in YDSA, charged with resolving political questions within the organization, electing the national leadership, allocating resources to various projects, and setting priorities for the coming year. This year, roughly 150 delegates from nearly 200 chapters around the country gathered to carry out the political will of the largest group of YDSA cadre ever. 

Part of what makes DSA one of the most promising U.S. socialist organizations in decades is that we allow the formation of internal factions, which makes our democracy more vibrant by bringing the diverse assortment of ideas included under the umbrella of “democratic socialism” into the light. Factional politics played a major role in the convention this year. I myself am a member of the caucus called Marxist Unity Group, or MUG, but I will try to depict every faction of DSA as impartially as possible in this report.

As a member of MUG, most of my work on the convention floor consisted of whipping votes for the faction’s top six priorities: resolutions R21, R22 unamended, R8, R9, and R17, and bylaws amendment A5. All six of these passed. Below is a brief description of what each one means for YDSA:

“R21: Winning the Battle for Democracy:” R21 raises the demand for “a new and radically democratic constitution” to replace the current one, directs the Youth Political Education Committee to draft political education curricula about the antidemocratic U.S. Constitution, and urges DSA as a whole to take up a stance of opposition to the Constitution. This resolution was authored by MUG and amended by Bread & Roses, another Marxist faction of DSA.

“R22: Anti-Militarism on Campus:” R22 amends YDSA’s platform to include language that denounces military recruitment on college and high school campuses, clarifies YDSA’s anti-imperialist principles, and demands the abolition of the standing military. This resolution was authored by MUG. There was an attempt from B&R to amend R22 to remove the language about the abolition of the standing military, but the convention voted to keep the original language,

“R8: Recommitting to Building an Independent Working-Class Socialist Party:” R8 directs the national leadership of YDSA to curate materials during the 2024 election cycle which emphasize YDSA’s commitment to building a socialist alternative to the Democratic and Republican parties, and also to create a handbook to instruct chapters in running structurally independent electoral campaigns on and off campus. This resolution was authored by B&R and amended by MUG.

“R9: Fighting the Right through Mass Action:” R9 directs national leadership to aid chapters in leading grassroots struggles for racial justice, reproductive freedoms, and LGBT+ rights from a class-independent perspective, and also to conduct political education on the matter. This resolution was authored by B&R.

“R17: For Building the Youth Wing of a Socialist Party:” R17 directs the national leadership to form an exploratory committee which will create a plan of action for approval at next year’s convention outlining how YDSA will transition from a strictly campus-based organization to a broad youth organization in the coming years. This resolution was jointly authored by B&R and Reform & Revolution, another Marxist caucus.

“A5: Programmatic Unity in YDSA:” A5 alters YDSA’s bylaws to make acceptance of our national political platform a condition of membership, transforming the platform from a general statement of principles to a program the entire organization is bound to. This resolution was authored by the Winter caucus, another Marxist faction.

Among the other noteworthy resolutions passed, one which stood out was “R19: For a Mass Socialist Campaign for Trans Rights and Bodily Autonomy,” a proposal from R&R which initiates preparations for a national-level campaign for trans rights and reproductive freedoms. National YDSA leadership will launch the campaign in January and coordinate a national day of protest sometime in the spring.

Between blocs of debate on proposed resolutions and bylaws amendments, the convention elected the 2023-2024 National Coordinating Committee, or NCC, which is the highest authority in YDSA between conventions. Historically, the NCC has been dominated by Bread & Roses, with the caucus holding a decisive share of the seats and at least one of the two co-chair seats every year since 2017. This year, there was a seismic shift in our leadership: B&R failed to secure either one of the co-chairships and only elected two of their candidates to the nine-person NCC overall, becoming a clear minority faction for the first time in years. The composition of the 2023-2024 NCC is as follows:

Constellation: Constellation is a politically heterogeneous caucus formed specifically to oppose B&R. The one common factor among all members of Constellation is a strong emphasis on internationalism. Constellation now has one co-chair and one at-large member on the NCC.

Bread & Roses: B&R believes in the “democratic road to socialism.” They are Marxists, and they want DSA to become an independent labor party, but they reject revolutionary methods for reformist ones. They are known for their focus on rank-and-file labor organizing. B&R now has two at-large members on the NCC.

Marxist Unity Group: MUG is a revolutionary Marxist caucus that wants to transform DSA into an independent socialist party. MUG’s most distinguishing feature is a focus on opposing the U.S. Constitution and centering the struggle for political democracy in the socialist movement. MUG now has one at-large member on the NCC.

University of Central Florida: UCF is not a caucus, but a very large chapter that binds its delegates’ votes and therefore behaves somewhat like a caucus. Its politics are somewhat unpredictable because they vary with the political shifts within the chapter. UCF now has one co-chair and one at-large member on the NCC.

Independents: There are two members of the new NCC who are not currently members of a caucus. Both are known to be sympathetic to B&R.

With this year’s national convention, YDSA has shown what is possible for the socialist movement. We can become a mass socialist party, we can challenge the capitalist state, we can embody the spirit of socialist revolution—but only if we have the courage to champion unpopular positions both within our own organizations and in the world at large, and the resolve to claw our way from the margins to the majority through patient agitation, education, and organization. 

When the last vote was settled and proceedings came to an end on August 3rd, the delegates and staff joined together to sing “Solidarity Forever” to celebrate the unity of our movement. Since then, in every waking moment I have heard the howling of the winds blowing revolution in from the future, and with those winds at my back I now walk a little lighter and stand a little taller than I did before. That feeling is something every one of the many millions who dream of a better world, and the millions more who do not yet dare to dream it, can, should, and must come to feel. It is the joy of hope that comes only from glimpsing the possibilities unlocked by mass emancipatory politics. It is a feeling that I believe in my heart DSA—a stronger, better DSA we are now in the process of building—can be the vehicle for.