Critical Thoughts on "Fight Fascism, Build Socialism"

The following editorial was originally published by Left Links and was written by veteran Socialist
Carl Davidson.

This past Wednesday, July 30, we decided to sit through, attentively and sympathetically, a 90-minute round of speeches by mainly young members of the Democratic Socialists of America. There were about 500 on the call overall, so it was mostly listening for those of us not on the panel, apart from whatever anyone posted in the chat.

It was titled "Fight Fascism, Build Socialism" and the speakers included Kareem Elify, Ashik Siddique, Daniel Denver, Olivia Katbi, Megan Romer, Marilia Yishua, Brenna, Kate Royce, Katie Sims, Saya, Lira, Eman Abdulhadi, and Astra Taylor. They all highlighted DSA's successes in organizing against ICE, opposing genocide in Gaza, supporting trans rights, and recent victories in a few electoral campaigns, including the impact of the Zohran Mamdani campaign in NYC.

The call emphasized the need to join DSA for collective action, strategic organizing, and building a powerful socialist movement. The discussion emphasized the strategic nature of the right's policies, particularly the ongoing genocide in Gaza and the massive investment in Homeland Security and ICE, which includes offering student debt relief for recruiting ICE workers. Labor victories and battles were summarized along with Trans activism.

The speakers all highlighted interconnections of issues and advocated for a "solidarity statecraft’ fostering shared purpose and joining DSA. The conversation concluded with a call to action against fascism, urging collective involvement and solidarity among workers and activists.

As among the veterans of much student organizing from our ‘Glory Days’ in the 1960s, we tried to transport ourselves from those years into theirs today. It was a good exercise. Time and again, we could hear the echoes of our voices back then. We could also hear new things that, for better or worse, were not our concerns in those days, like electing a mayor of New York City.

About an hour into the presentation, a long-held motto of ours popped into our minds. To do well in left and progressive politics, you need two things: 1. Clarity and determination on your most closely held values. 2. Knowing how to listen and how to count. Wednesday’s panel was very good at the first, but not so good on the second.

For example, it’s fine to promote the work DSA has done in building the waves of 50501 protest actions. But it not fine to assess that it’s nearly all DSA, and the way to defeat fascism is to win socialism. The mass insurgency against fascism in recent months, for example, has been initiated and led by Indivisible and the Working Families Party. Here in Beaver County, the ‘No Kings’ event was initiated directly by the local Democratic Party, which then sought wider allies.

But the speakers on this panel either ignored these organizations or disparaged them in various ways. In all of the presentations, it’s hard to find any reference to Democrats that doesn’t simply lump them all together with the party’s top leadership. Moreover, they are singled out as the cause and enablers of fascism. While there is some truth to this, it is largely false in fully explaining the overall rise of the ‘new right’ in the 1970s onward, then into the ’Tea Party’ and the rise of New Confederates in the Trump campaigns bloc, which was built around racist conspiracy theories about Obama and Hilary Clinton, then coupling these with demagogy about ‘invasions’ of immigrants.

Why does this matter? Because this more accurate assessment is needed in order to make a better count of all the forces across the full terrain. On that terrain, you’ll find lots of Democrats from the local, statewide, and even national level. One speaker did mention the ‘No Oligarchs’ mass rallies organized by Bernie and AOC, who heads up the unmentioned Justice Democrats, and both of them take part in the unmentioned Congressional Progressive Caucus, also a ‘No Kings’ ally.

Fascism in our country today is going to be defeated by a broad anti-fascist coalition with a variety of viewpoints and constituents. Some will aim to defend the Constitution and restore the status quo before Trump. Others will partially agree with them, but aim for something beyond the old status quo, for a new abolition democracy framed as a Third Reconstruction. And yes, another good number with be with DSAers aiming for an immediate transition to socialism as the way to defeat fascism and capitalism together at once. But if we count well, they will likely be a large and militant minority. That is what we mean by the importance of ‘knowing how to count.’

An antifascist coalition will include many non-socialists and even anti-socialists. They are still welcome to join and express their views. But they will be strongly opposed if they ever try to exclude socialists from the common front, an impossible task in any case.

Finally, we’ll note that there was no call for ‘left unity’ with other socialist organizations, in order to form something new and larger than the sum of all their parts. The panel’s plan for left unity was expressed in two words: Join DSA. While we do not quarrel with that, DSAers with that view need to do a better count of the socialist left. Those groups will vary; some can unite, others will not. And it's not required to include all of them.

The DSA panel also expressed an inaccurate view on the opposition to Gaza and solidarity with Palestine, making the point that ‘Progressive on everything but Gaza’ was simply a term for reactionaries.

Those of us who have labored in the peace movement for many years know this is inaccurate. We know a good number of people who have worked for peace for decades, but still hold flawed views on Israel. We know Catholic Sisters who have been terrific partners, but are internally divided on Gaza. Many of the older sisters still incorrectly view Israel as a refuge from the aftermath of the WW2 Holocaust, while younger sisters are more in tune with Palestinian-American communities and have learned to view Israel and anti-Semitism in a new and more progressive way. And the same divisions that exist here still exist in the wider peace movement as well.

We also know of several Members of Congress who, in the past, could wear the label, ‘progressive on everything but Israel.’ We made it our business to constantly educate and pressure them. The ‘Squad’ has done this in the House, and Bernie has done so in the Senate. This week, we finally saw it erupt when half the Democrats in the Senate signed on to a Bernie-initiated letter calling for a ban on delivering certain weapons to Israel until there was a real ceasefire in Gaza, one that allowed food and other assistance to all Palestinians suffering under the current genocidal state of siege.

The wording and demands of this letter can be considered lame and too minimal by much of the Palestine solidarity movement. We could even agree, but this misses a key point. The Israeli Likud strongly opposes it, while other Israelis are glad to see it. It represents a breaking point, and it's likely to be followed by many more with stronger demands. Some battles are not won all at once, but inch by inch.

We’ll conclude with a strong point about the panel. It was very clear on the need to focus not only on the genocide in Gaza, but also the rise of ICE as a paramilitary fascist force in the U.S. They did well in listing all all ways DSA has fought it, and even educated us on how the Depatment of Homeland Security was offered to dismiss student loans held by new young recruits needed as Trump’s new Gestapo. 

We want DSA to succeed in its own terms. It has several major internal groupings, such as Groundworks and the Socialist Majority Caucus, that are doing good work in that direction. There are others pulling in opposing directions. That is natural for an organization as large as DSA. We are hopeful that its upcoming convention finds common ground that can help it succeed.