FTV & DSA: How it Started Pt. II
Highlighting more interesting internal discussions within the DSA Healthcare Worker's Collective.
HOW IT STARTED PT. II:
On Dec. 28, 2020, the DSA Healthcare Worker’s Collective set up an internal communications channel was set up to discuss M4A strategy. The silence was a bit awkward—until someone finally brought up Dore’s recent push for #FTV. What followed, as described in my previous article, was just as telling as the initial silence to FTV on the part of the DSA leadership. I give credit to the outspoken DSA members of the Healthcare Worker’s Collective for pushing their own leaders to take a stand.
December 28, 2020
DSA Medicare for All shares an “official statement” with the DSA Healthcare Worker’s Collective (HWC), asking members to vote on whether or not HWC should support the official statement in regards to M4A and FTV. We know that there were technical issues with the email itself, as well as “the typo”, which may have led to delays in voting.
The general consensus, according to one HWC leader, was that there would be “lite support” for FTV and more support for continued long-term strategies.
December 29, 2020
One very active HWC member announced the success he’d found with a petition containing 420 signatures from doctors and other healthcare professionals in favor of forcing the vote. In fact, an HWC leader mentioned that they’d been in contact with Brihana Joy Gray as BJG offered to share the petition to help out the cause. Leadership made it clear that they were fine with BJG’s efforts to share the petition, but because it hadn’t been voted on internally, no mention of DSA was allowed while sharing. When asked why things were operating like an “oligarchy”, leadership provided dismal and antagonistic responses to the gentleman, even with all of the work he’d done so far. Why? You guessed it. They didn’t like his tone. Additionally, members from Physicians for a National Health Program and Students for a National Health Program who are also members of HWC could not officially sign on as neither organization had officially endorsed it yet. Confused yet?
December 31, 2020
This is where it starts to get interesting. One member asked:
“Do we know when DSA m4a is getting this statement out? There is a perception (on Twitter) that it’s only media types — Jimmy Dore, Brie Joy Gray, Krystal ball, etc — for it and “grassroots” m4a organizers and DSA members against it. I think this is totally bogus like most things on Twitter. Asking our representative leaders to take a principle stand on healthcare as a human right in the middle of a pandemic shouldn’t be so controversial. Especially with 80% of dems supporting it. We aren’t stupid. We know it will be voted down. But it’s time we drew a moral line in the stand, it’s time we held obstructionist democrats accountable. I think a DSA m4a statement supported by DSA healthcare workers would go far in convincing people this is a serious tactic endorsed by rank and file organizers. What do you all think?”
Aside from a few reactionary emojis, he was met with silence. Having said that, let’s give them the benefit of the doubt with the timing around the holidays and move on.
January 1, 2020
Leadership provides a brief update on the topic, citing the “heated” debates that ensued on Twitter and other platforms on the FTV issue. In summary, she outlined the voting process, how it went down, and provided the reasoning for the delays.
This is where the divide between leaders and members starts to show. Below are some of the comments from leaders and members discussing FTV, the delay in response, and engaging with separate FTV communication. channels not related to DSA.
“What we’ve lost here is the potential for a United hardline M4A position led by DSA. We will have to do a lot of work to overcome this. I know you’re excited about the state initiatives but they could have benefited from this movement too. It would have been easy for us to say “now that the floor vote has failed, let’s organize at the state level.” DSA should NEVER be outflanked on M4A again. If we lose our purity on this we lose our value as a socialist organization. M4A is our signature issue and not one we should ever cede ground on.”
One member noted the missed opportunities by not acting sooner, even citing the Movement for a People’s Party as the “co-opting” force, essentially taking away future DSA members:
“FTV movement is limited in its scope and it’s broader strategy, and is being co-opted by the Movement for a People’s Party. Unfortunately by getting outflanked on FTV, DSA is losing on an opportunity to organize these people.”
I understand they are a dues-paying organization, so I can’t fault them for wanting to capitalize on new DSA prospects. Yet still, there was no real mention of any urgency other than taking control of the narrative that was quickly outpacing the leadership’s inaction with respect to DSA’s “signature issue.” Let’s fast-forward to where things really got heated.
January 5, 2021
HWC leadership asks the group about their thoughts on DSA's official FTV statement. One member pointed out this particular section in response to the overall message, and what followed exposed the bureaucratic issues within DSA. Below are some of the responses to the initial complaint made at this particular section, and eventually, the response as a whole.
“Pure garbage. If I wanted to hear this sort of shit I’d join the local Democratic Party. It’s also disingenuous. They suggest it would have been procedurally impossible to force the vote since it hasn’t gotten out of committee and has no funding mechanism. Whether you agree with FTV or not, you have to admit this just isn’t true. At least be honest about your reasons for not supporting it. They talk about being hard-lined. But they’ve given no indication that they are willing to pressure representatives to buck the dem party establishment. I feel like DSA no longer represents me.I understand that FTV wouldn’t have brought us M4A, but it would have been a “power move” the likes of which the left has never pulled in Congress.”
“It is ridiculous that the ISC overturned a 20-6 vote to ask politicians who ran on Medicare for All to leverage their votes for a corporate hack like Nancy Pelosi. It was gutless and poor judgment. That this is coming from the Health Workers Collective is deeply disturbing.”
“Has the NPC put out a statement about the rationale for their vote? I'd like to understand what their rationale was for not taking a stance regarding how to leverage the speakership vote and what the plan is to capitalize on opportunities like that moving forward. The statement does not address DSA's inaction. I disagree that FTV would've impaired the fight for M4A because it would've likely earned news cycles for M4A rather than an under the radar temporary PAYGO exemption without any media attention for M4A.”
“The current M4A strategy guide is very long on pages but short on substance. There are three “planks.” first, anti-racism. Second, state wide campaigns. Third, support for the emergency health guarantee act. There is a link for a “congressional pressure campaign” in the third plank but this explicitly refers to 2019. So my point stands.”
“I am one of the authors of the 2021 organizing guide, so when you say that this is calculated, absurd, outdated, wonky shit, it hurts. Not asking for you to withhold criticism but just asking for good faith debate and real engagement, not dismissal, and for you not to talk about me like that - I’m not your enemy, nor is anyone on the DSA m4a campaign. Will respond to the substance of your critique later, I have thoughts for sure!”
“It seems like DSA's current political line/theory of change is liberal parliamentary maneuvers with socialist aesthetics.”
I want to make it clear that anything I’ve shared from DSA’s internal discussions on matters regarding their FTV approach is not an attack on any specific DSA member—most of them are in support of FTV. My hope is that by sharing this information, I’m able to shine a light on the need for true reform within the DSA so that they can better provide information to their dues-paying, card-carrying members who want to see these changes. For the sake of privacy, I’ve not included specific member names but am happy to provide more information to those who are interested.
More to come—including DSA’s revamped approach to handling this issue after last weekend’s meeting on restructuring FTV and M4A.
I can't believe leadership's takeaway was that they couldn't get more sign-ups. GTFOH