Build Power, Not Statements
A Short Criticism of DSA’s Turn Against AOC
Criticism has an important place in socialist history, and it is not without reason that one of Karl Marx’s most often cited quotes is “ruthless criticism of all that exists.” Unfortunately, like many quotes, it is taken out of context. While Marx used the phrase in a number of writings, I feel like the context in his September 1843 letter is pertinent to this piece: “ruthless criticism of all that exists, ruthless both in the sense of not being afraid of the results it arrives at and in the sense of being just as little afraid of conflict with the powers that be.” Many modern socialists only understand the first sense of “ruthless” here — the need to be unafraid of where criticism may lead, even when it could lead to pulling support from an elected official. Too few understand the second sense of “ruthless,” and in fact make their criticism without thought as to the “conflict with the powers that be,” instead only focused on how it figures into inter-factional struggles and partisanship.
Which is not to say that Marx or I am saying that criticism should only be directed at our enemies and not at our comrades. On the question of Palestine I myself wrote a pretty harsh criticism of Bernie Sanders who I devoted countless hours to advocating for. I criticized what I felt was an immature performance by Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in her vote on Iron Dome funding in 2021. As someone prone to crying myself, I certainly would not criticize anyone just for crying, but to do so in that context evinced self-pity rather than any empathy for the Palestinian people oppressed by the U.S.-backing of Israel. But our criticism must always be tempered with a vision of building power and making the change we want. As I said in that criticism of Sen. Sanders:
Ultimately, the short term goal of American supporters of Palestinian liberation remains a ceasefire. Frankly I do not care much about how we reach that goal given the urgency and the stakes. Given the prevalence of anti-Palestinian racism in the U.S., and how entrenched those views are, we need to win over people with those racist views to advocating for a ceasefire (and there are signs that we are doing so slowly). Hell, if President Biden or some Qatari autocrat wants to take credit for turning the current truce into a permanent ceasefire, that is fine by me.
The reason I wrote the piece was to point out a problem in our longer term goal of liberating the Palestinian people, not to call on breaking ties or refusing to work with people like Bernie Sanders for being racist against Palestinians. I do not blame any individual for being angry at people like Sanders in this moment — it would be unreasonable to expect people to regulate their emotions in the face of genocide. But how an individual feels or even acts should not be how a socialist organization acts.
I am a big hater of statements. They are almost always about making empty condemnations. Their writing takes up time and attention and energy from actual work that needs to be done. I try to avoid them when possible even when they really frustrate me because criticizing the statement is almost “taking the bait,” going down a rabbithole of internal bickering that is never productive. And that is why I have generally avoided the endless useless statements put out by DSA chapters about Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a favorite target of criticism for the far left and far right alike as the country’s most visible democratic socialist.
But I have limits, and I have officially reached mine. This morning, the San Francisco chapter of DSA put out a statement “On AOC, Anti-Zionism, and our National Organization.” It “condemns the DSA National Political Committee (NPC) for their recent vote to endorse Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC).” It also “calls on the NPC to commit DSA to anti-Zionism as a principle and policy of our organization.” Lastly, it states as a truism “A socialist world is possible, but not without the liberation of Palestine.” There is a lot more I will not bore you with, especially since you may have read a similar statement from one of the over 25 DSA chapters that have passed similar resolutions.
This statement particularly irked me though for a few reasons. First, it comes after DSA withdrew its national endorsement of AOC. Its demand to “commit DSA to anti-Zionism” makes no concrete references to how it would be done, let alone the work done by the many instruments of DSA regarding Palestine or the prior resolutions passed regarding Palestine. But perhaps the most disturbing aspect of it is the uncorroborated truism that “A socialist world is possible, but not without the liberation of Palestine.”
While certainly less repugnant than racism against Palestinians or complicity in genocide, a chauvinistic view of the primacy of Palestinian liberation is not supported by any Marxist theory of organizing or power. I would certainly never expect a Palestinian advocacy organization to declare the primacy of creating socialism as precondition to liberating Palestine, so it is odd to expect a socialist organization to commit to Palestinian liberation as a precondition to socialism.
More critically, it betrays a clear misunderstanding of power and what the role of socialists in the U.S. should be to support Palestinian liberation. Palestine will not be liberated by every current member of DSA making some kind of loyalty oath to Palestinian liberation (if only it were that easy). That would not work because simply put our organization has little to no power over the military-industrial complex of the U.S. And by rebuking AOC, someone who DSA has even admitted “has taken many courageous positions on Palestine such as co-sponsoring several House Resolutions (3103, 786, 496), naming Israel’s genocide as well as opposing House Resolution 894,” DSA has in fact voluntarily diminished its influence even more. Being principled on Palestine will not liberate Palestine — building the power to liberate Palestine (the power to discontinue weapons shipments to Israel, to boycott, divest, and sanction Israel and complicit corporations, etc.) will liberate Palestine.
I am not arguing that this is an easy calculus to make. But being a socialist organizer has never been easy, and has often meant sitting at tables with liberals and bosses and landlords and racists who you would rather slap in the face than bargain with. And I worry that DSA is increasingly straying from building power to following the path of the many irrelevant other socialist organization in the U.S. that say all the right things with the power to do nothing to make any of them happen. If we want to bring about socialism and support the liberation of Palestine, we cannot treat relationships with our few connections to power as so easily disposable.
