DSA Should Lead the Charge for a Democratic Constitution

By Luke Pickrell

Three new chapter resolutions authored by Marxist Unity Group (MUG) members argue that DSA should lead the charge for a democratic constitution. Chapters in Houston, Boston, and New Jersey will vote to adopt versions of “Winning the Battle for Democracy,” which calls on DSA to expand its agitation against the Constitution by “openly indicting it as antidemocratic and oppressive.” Alongside denunciations of the existing system, DSA must put forward a democratic constitution as the only viable alternative. The resolutions are below. Similar resolutions were passed last year in Cleveland and San Diego.

Houston

Whereas, the United States is run by and for the capitalist class, and this class rule takes the specific form of the liberal-constitutional regime outlined in the Constitution; and,

Whereas, the Constitution was originally imposed undemocratically by an alliance of slave owners, settlers, bankers, merchants, and landlords to secure their property in opposition to the democratic principle of “one person, one equal vote,” and,

Whereas, the political institutions established by the Constitution are intended to be an obstacle to democracy at every step, including, but not limited to, the outrageously unrepresentative Senate, Amendment provisions, Electoral College, and the Imperial Presidency and military; and,

Whereas, DSA’s Platform affirms that DSA is an antiracist organization dedicated to the abolition of white supremacy and equal rights for all, yet the Constitution to this day serves to deny equality and self-determination to Black, Indigenous, and other oppressed people by placing inordinate power in a handful of predominantly white, low population states; and,

Whereas, the US constitutional order similarly stands in the way of achieving any of the Platform’s other goals, and a socialist transformation cannot occur under the existing Constitution; and,

Whereas, the DSA Platform declares “the nation that holds itself out as the world’s premier democracy is no democracy at all” and that “Democracy is necessary to win a socialist society. Socialism is the complete realization of democracy.”; and,

Whereas, DSA’s 2024 Program, Workers Deserve More, declares, “Our goal is to put workers in charge of the government through a new democratic constitution that establishes civil, political, and democratic rights for all, is based on proportional representation in a single federal legislature, and ends the role of money in politics”; and,

Whereas, the undemocratic nature of the liberal-Constitutional order has enabled the expansion of State powers used to violently repress and surveil any perceived opposition with no accountability; and,

Whereas, the existence of our own authoritarian, reactionary state government in Texas is facilitated under the framework of our highly federalized Constitutional order, which disproportionately empowers an overwhelmingly white landowner and capitalist class to act with impunity within state borders under the pretext of “states’ rights”.

Therefore, be it resolved, Houston DSA affirms that the demand for a new and radically democratic constitution, drafted by an assembly of the people elected by direct, universal and equal suffrage with proportional representation, is a principal demand of the Chapter; and,

Therefore, be it resolved, Houston DSA shall agitate for the reconstitution of our own city and state, resting ultimate political authority in the will of the majority- the working class; and,

Therefore, be it resolved, Houston DSA urges DSA as a whole to take up a stance of opposition to the Constitution, openly indicting it as antidemocratic and oppressive and taking concrete actions to advance the struggle for a democratic-republic, such as agitating against undemocratic judicial review, fighting for proportional representation, delegitimizing the anti-democratic Senate, and advancing the long-term demand for a democratic constitution. We declare that to be a socialist is to fight for an expansive working-class democracy in which the state and society are democratically managed by the majority. In the US, this means demanding a new constitution; and;

Therefore, be it resolved, this resolution shall be published on the Houston DSA website and social media platforms.

Boston

Whereas,

1. The United States is run by and for the capitalist class, and this class rule takes the specific form of the liberal-constitutional regime outlined in the Constitution;

2. The Constitution was originally imposed undemocratically by an alliance of slave owners, bankers, merchants, and landlords to secure their property in opposition to the democratic principle of “one person, one equal vote;”

3. The political institutions established by the Constitution are intended to be an obstacle to democracy at every step, including, but not limited to, the outrageously unrepresentative Senate, Amendment provisions, Electoral College, unelected Supreme Court, and Imperial Presidency and military;

4. DSA’s Platform affirms that DSA is an antiracist organization dedicated to the abolition of white supremacy and equal rights for all, yet the Constitution serves to deny equality and self-determination to Black, Indigenous, and other oppressed people by placing inordinate power in a handful of predominantly white, low population states, and endorses slave labor for those ensnared by the criminal legal system;

5. The US constitutional order similarly stands in the way of achieving any of the Platform’s other goals, and a socialist transformation cannot occur under the existing Constitution; and

6. The DSA Workers Deserve More program declares, “Our goal is to put workers in charge of the government through a new democratic constitution that establishes civil, political, and democratic rights for all, is based on proportional representation in a single federal legislature, and ends the role of money in politics..”;

Therefore, be it resolved,

1. Boston DSA affirms the demand for a new and radically democratic constitution, drafted by an assembly of the people elected by direct, universal, and equal suffrage with proportional representation. Suffrage shall not be limited by immigration status or criminal legal history;

2. Additionally, Boston DSA urges DSA as a whole to broaden its opposition to the Constitution, openly indicting it as antidemocratic and oppressive and taking concrete actions to advance the struggle for a democratic republic, such as agitating against undemocratic judicial review, fighting for proportional representation, delegitimizing the anti-democratic Senate, and advancing the long-term demand for a democratic constitution. We declare that to be a socialist is to fight for an expansive working-class democracy in which the state and society are democratically managed by the majority. In the US, this means demanding a new constitution;

3. Additionally, Boston DSA recognizes the urgency of fighting for political and democratic freedoms, but these demands must be taken up without reference to the undemocratic Constitution for their justification; and

4. Be it finally resolved, this resolution shall be published on the Boston DSA website.

New Jersey

Whereas, the United States is run by and for the capitalist class, and this class rule takes the specific form of the liberal-constitutional regime outlined in the Constitution; and,

Whereas, this Constitution was imposed undemocratically by an alliance of slaveowners and capitalists in order to secure their property against popular democracy, and yet the working-class majority who would not even have been eligible to vote on it at the time of its ratification have been forced to live under its provisions ever since; and,

Whereas, the political institutions established by the Constitution are intended to be an obstacle to democracy at every step, including, but not limited to, the outrageously unrepresentative Senate, Amendment provisions, Electoral College, and Imperial Presidency and military; and,

Whereas, the Constitution has allowed for further usurpations of popular sovereignty, including, but not limited to: judicial review by a panel of unelected judges who serve for life, the establishment of a repressive standing army, and the sale of elections, public officials, legal services, and the press to the highest bidder; and,

Whereas, the process the Constitution provides for its own amendment is intentionally very difficult, stultifying, and anti-majoritarian, and the historical tendencies towards the concentration of capital in few hands and concentration of people in few states has rendered any constitutional paths that may once have been open to the socialist movement forever closed, obstructing progressive reform and leaving those reforms already won through historical mass struggle defenseless as the political servants of the capitalist class conspire to strip them away; and,

Whereas, DSA’s platform affirms that DSA is an antiracist organization dedicated to the abolition of white supremacy, yet the Constitution was written by slaveowners and to this day serves to deny self-determination to Black, Indigenous, and other oppressed populations; and,

Whereas, we understand that the fight for socialism is the fight for democracy but, with no democratic means of reforming the undemocratic Constitution, we must follow the revolutionary path to democracy in order to take the democratic road to socialism.

Therefore, be it resolved, New Jersey DSA affirms, from the DSA Political Platform, that “the American political system was not made to serve the working class” and that “the nation that holds itself out as the world’s premier democracy is no democracy at all” by officially raising the demand for a new and radically democratic constitution, drafted by an assembly of the people elected by direct, universal and equal suffrage for all adult residents with proportional representation of political parties, and rooted not in the legitimacy of dead generations of slaveowners and capitalists, but that of a majority consensus of the working masses.

Additionally, New Jersey DSA urges DSA as a whole to take up a stance of opposition to the Constitution, openly indicting it as antidemocratic and oppressive, encouraging all DSA members in elected office to do the same, taking concrete actions to advance the struggle for a democratic republic such as agitating against undemocratic judicial review, fighting for proportional representation, delegitimizing the anti-democratic U.S. Senate, and advancing the long-term demand for a new democratic Constitution. We declare that to be a socialist is to fight for an expansive working-class democracy in which the state and society are democratically managed by the majority. In the U.S., this means demanding a new Constitution.

Be it finally resolved, this resolution shall be published on the New Jersey DSA website.