Points of Unity

We Are Marxist-Leninist-Maoists in DSA: Democratic Socialists of America is the largest socialist mass organization in the United States, with dozens of members holding elected office, and thousands of members engaged in active grassroots participation in movements that have and will continue to shape the world that we live in for the better. However, as Maoists in DSA, we believe that ideological and political struggle can not be shirked and Comrade Mao’s call to combat liberalism must be heeded and taken seriously, otherwise opportunist and revisionist trends will arise and rot the soul of the organization. Therefore, we operate under these principles and call on all revolutionary communists working in DSA to unite with us. 

For A Revolutionary Theory of Change: The Marxist-Leninist-Maoist theory of change, and thus that of DSA-Liberation, is revolutionary. While we do not fundamentally oppose participation in reformist struggles, our engagement in these activities should be to expose the ruling class which steals our wealth and robs us of our happiness. Concessions are not given freely by the ruling class, they are extracted through vicious, bitter struggle. Many in DSA orient towards the “middle class”, union staffers, and Democratic Party workers. This is a fundamentally rightist orientation as the organization will reflect the interests of the professional middle class. Instead, our orientation should be towards the proletariat, the colonized, the masses of queer workers, working class students, the undocumented, prisoners, and other militants who have no stake in this system and work for its end. 

Towards a Party of a New Type: Democratic centralism is a necessity for any revolutionary movement that hopes to win. It is an organizational method by which the masses of the workers’ party participate in a truly democratic process, freely debating and struggling over the political line and methods to implement it and then abiding by the decision reached after engaging in a vote even if individual members disagree. Lines are subject to revisiting, additional debate, and re-vote, but once passed, all members are expected to adhere to them unless they are overturned. This method of inter-formation organizing is essential to ensure that we are able to meet our highly organized, disciplined, and trained enemies with a highly organized, disciplined and trained force of our own.  If DSA is to transform itself into a vanguard formation, it will be compelled by necessity to transform itself into a more disciplined organization based on a Democratic Centralist framework. 

For the Eradication of Chauvinism: A socialist organization of our size and with our demographic composition will undoubtedly have chauvinism of various sorts, with the main manifestations being white chauvinism and male chauvinism. Many non-white and non-male comrades have expressed dismay at the behavior of many of our white and/or male comrades in DSA spaces. The only way to address this inexcusable behavior is to orient ourselves and actively recruit nonwhite and/or nonmale comrades and encourage them to seize positions of leadership within the organization. In a socialist organization which is supposedly oriented around the needs and political power of the entire working class, the fact that much power is still in the hands of white, male, PMC comrades is proof that we have much work to do. Ignorance of nonwhite and women revolutionary theoreticians such as Fanon, Ghandy, Mao, Ho Chi Minh, and Sison is a key manifestation of this chauvinist tendency.

The Settler-Colonial Contradiction is the Primary Contradiction: The United States is a settler-colony. It is not a nation, it is a prison-house of nations, with the Euro-Americans being the jailer. Many comrades commit errors of line and practice because they fail to take this into account, making allusions to the “multinational working class” and flattening the contradictions derived from settler colonialism. This is a disservice to our Black, Indigenous, and Latine comrades, and a major reason why many do not flock to our orientation. Liberation will come only when the prison-house of nations is broken open. We support national liberation for all colonized peoples in the United States. 

Socialism is the Rule of the Working Class: Socialism is not a series of reforms, nor is it a party calling itself “Communist” in power, allowing billionaires to exploit the people while calling themselves “red experts”. As Maoists, we recognize that class struggle continues during the socialist period, and working class revolutionaries must be vigilant about both old and new bourgeois elements that will destroy the revolution and cast the working class back into slavery. Nationalization of industries and utilities is a key part of socialism, but equally important is shifting the relations of production in a communist direction. The party apparatus must continue to submerge itself in the masses and build communist structures while also forestalling the rise of a new bureaucratic capitalist class as happened in the USSR and PRC.

We Are Unequivocally Anti-Imperialist: Communists in the imperial core have as our main duty the destruction of the imperialist system which makes life for our class siblings around the world a living hell. DSA has historically wavered on questions of anti-imperialism, most recently around the question of Palestinian self-determination and national liberation. The time for such wavering is over. Our goal is to ensure that DSA takes firm stances in word and in deed against imperialism.