Today, the National Political Committee will deliberate and vote on MSR-12: Making DSA an Anti-Zionist Organization in Principle and Praxis after the membership voted to table it to the NPC at the 2023 DSA Convention. The NPC must pass this resolution with its intent intact, lest we further compromise the soul of this organization.

We acknowledge the context for our present situation. Michael Harrington founded DSA as an expressly Zionist organization. Harrington was an unapologetic Zionist. In a 1975 interview, he supported the Zionist entity’s right to exist, claimed that the United States should provide the Zionist entity with weaponry, and said that anti-Zionist Jews exhibited internalized antisemitism. A condition of the founding merger of the Democratic Socialist Organizing Committee (DSOC) and the New American Movement (NAM) that formed DSA was that NAM submit to the DSOC line that the Zionist entity has a right to exist. By the mid-1990s, this was one of a set of reformist stances that led DSA into political and organizational stagnation.

In 2016, the Bernie Sanders presidential campaign revitalized the organization, injecting it with new life and a younger, more radical generation of members. Although DSA moved on from the Zionist politics of Harrington in the decades since its foundation, and from the Zionist politics of Sanders since 2016, the history of the chauvinism evident in the DSOC position remains a stain on DSA that has not properly been addressed. Some in DSA prefer to ignore the past, but a refusal to acknowledge it will not cause it to disappear.

Regrettably, DSA has failed to meet the moment in our struggle for Palestinian liberation on multiple occasions, tangibly felt by organizers on the front lines of the struggle against American aid for genocide. Even before October 7th, LSC organized and agitated against DSA’s tolerant culture toward Zionists, an attitude that makes DSA’s spaces hostile toward Muslim and Palestinian organizers. This issue culminated in both the departure of DSA’s Muslim Caucus over disagreements on Zionism, and a convention vote to disband the BDS Working Group after months of institutional conflict between DSA leaders and working group organizers.

As two examples, hostility to Palestinian solidarity organizing within DSA resulted in Zionist infiltration of the Lower Hudson Valley chapter, as well as data hijacking and harassment against BDSWG members. The Zionist who infiltrated the chapter was suspended and referred for expulsion to the NPC due to their conduct, but because the NPC decided not to expel them, they remained in the chapter. This member continued attempting to spy on meetings until they got bored and left of their own accord. At the 2023 DSA Convention, leaders of the BDSWG faced attempts to remotely hijack their phones and to access their social media accounts. One leader was subsequently approached by a stranger after returning home from the Convention, who gave them a threatening letter discouraging them from organizing for Palestinian liberation. These actions strongly indicated someone who had access to both internal DSA communications and the DSA convention hall carried them out. We must remain aware of the grave security and safety concerns presented by allowing Zionists to remain in DSA. There are organizations, such as Canary Mission, which document and broadcast information about anti-Zionist organizers online in the name of “combating anti-Semitism”. Without clear expulsion criteria for Zionists, we are placing our comrades at significant risk of being harassed and persecuted in their daily lives.

Further, our electeds, some of our most visible members, have consistently been party to Zionism. Jamaal Bowman, endorsed by NYC-DSA, despite surface-level criticisms of AIPAC, has positioned himself as an advocate of liberal Zionism. Nithya Raman, endorsed by DSA-LA, actively sought and gained the endorsement of the Zionist lobby group Democrats for Israel, and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, endorsed by NYC-DSA, has signed on to a statement stating she would vote in favor of military aid to the Zionist entity and condemned campus protests as antisemitic. When our electeds fail to lead on anti-Zionism they do profound damage to the reputation of both DSA and democratic socialism.

As a result, DSA members have had trouble recruiting Arab and Muslim comrades due to these organizational failures, and many continually express a general feeling that DSA is an unsafe space for them. We must dispel this notion immediately, and we must listen to our Arab and Muslim comrades who have underlined their expectations of our organization as an ally. Palestinian-led and Palestine solidarity organizations have shared with us the exact reasons why DSA is ill-suited to lead in this struggle. Our caucus has listened—we sincerely thank organizations like the Palestinian Youth Movement, Students for Justice in Palestine, and Within Our Lifetime for recognizing the efforts of anti-Zionist comrades within DSA to organize for stronger opposition to Zionism and for demonstrating their support and understanding in our endeavor. We now call on our NPC to make the right decision for the good of this organization, and follow the lead of numerous local DSA chapters who have passed similar resolutions.

Others fear that the expulsion clauses in this resolution would lead to a “purge”.  However, the expulsion process outlined in this resolution is already outlined in the national DSA bylaws. The resolution lays out highly specific circumstances under which expulsion procedures would take effect, and provides for political education on the Palestinian struggle before expelling a member. This is not a purge, but a means of ensuring organizational safety and accountability. The resolution also provides for a restorative justice process to readmit the member following proper restitution and political education. Expulsion in DSA also requires a high bar; this resolution would use the existing procedure which involves a ⅔ vote of the NPC to expel, and a hearing where the accused members may defend themselves. The only difference is that other expulsions are punitive, while expulsion under MSR 12 is the only expulsion that would follow a restorative justice practice.

Along the same lines, there is a concern that a binding commitment to anti-Zionism means we would be expelling people who have incorrect views on Zionism and the BDS movement. DSA members who simply have inadequate or less than ideal stances on Zionism would not meet the expulsion criteria in MSR-12. In order to qualify for expulsion, someone must consistently oppose BDS “as a legitimate form of struggle, even after receiving fair and ample opportunity for education”, be affiliated with the Zionist entity government or a Zionist lobby group, or knowingly provide material aid to the Zionist entity. Some members believe it is better to work alongside such individuals and slowly convince them to take up a firmly anti-Zionist position instead of expulsion. However, DSA is not a Zionist rehabilitation project, we are a socialist organization. Allowing committed Zionists to maintain DSA membership severely compromises the safety of Arab and Muslim comrades, and hinders our ability to demonstrate true solidarity with the Palestinian liberation struggle.

DSA members must be unafraid to take a stand against white supremacy and Zionism. If our organization is to play a part in either the Palestine solidarity movement or the American socialist movement at large, there must be coherence in its stated principles. Zionism is an ideology that embodies many of the principles that we socialists most strongly oppose; it is a colonial, imperial, racist, and fascist ideology that not only defines a particular state on ethnonationalist terms, but explicitly excludes a broad segment of its own population from their freedom to exist within its borders. In redefining Palestinian lands as a “Jewish homeland” under Zionism, that land no longer remains a home for the people within its borders but is instead repurposed for a colonial project that continues to uproot, displace, and genocide its indigenous population to this day.

While DSA has had a national political platform for some time, it has never been binding on its membership. By taking a principled and explicit stance against Zionism, DSA will form a true ideological red line: if you are against our comrades’ values in organizing to end the oppression of the Palestinian people, you are not welcome in our organization. LSC unequivocally believes that expelling members who tangibly support Zionist causes is necessary to demonstrate DSA’s commitment to organizing against imperialism and genocide, as well as to ensure our organization is a safe space for our Palestinian comrades.

YDSA has already shown their broad support for the base version of this resolution after passing it at the 2024 YDSA Convention this month with a margin of 64.8% in favor. It is our responsibility to follow through on our claim of unwavering support for this cause. We cannot effectively oppose Zionism and imperialism if our organization allows members sympathetic to Zionism, no matter what equivocations we choose to make. It is our hope that the NPC recognizes that both DSA’s national membership and our Palestinian allies are calling for this decision. We urge the NPC to pass this resolution with this core mechanism retained.

If you want to join us in fighting for an anti-Zionist organization in both principle and praxis, then you can join LSC here. You can also discuss this article on the forums here.