A Socialist Campaign for the Presidency to Win an Arms Embargo and Advance the Movement for Medicare for All

This program by Carnation is being syndicated from their website; the original can be read at the following link. https://sites.google.com/view/carnation-program/home

The following is a new edition of the program, with an exclusive introduction written for Geese Magazine:

Introduction

The recent successful primary elections of four DSA Congressional candidates – Chris Rabb, Claire Valdez, Darializa Avila Chevalier, and Melat Kiros – has shown that the socialist movement is offering Americans the opportunity to fight back.

Our organization now has over 120,000 members, making it the largest socialist organization in U.S. history (in absolute terms, but not yet adjusted for population). Soon, practically 20,000 new members will have joined in roughly the last month.

What next for the socialist movement, when the far right is in power, attacking governments in the Western hemisphere, working hand-in-hand with Netanyahu to further the genocidal Greater Israel rampage, infringing on Americans’ democratic rights, and stealing our public services?

A recent internal debate on what at first seems like a minor difference of opinion on specific procedures has broken containment and reached the most prominent media outlets in the country. But behind the controversy about whether or not to send out a non-binding poll to all DSA members in addition to chapter-based deliberations and voting is a significant political question. We should always foreground political questions and make our case about what we should collectively attempt to accomplish together.

Really, the political question underlying this debate is whether or not our organization should throw its weight behind a socialist campaign for AOC for President. Because there is no other prospective candidate who would satisfy DSA members, the only choice currently on offer is “AOC: yes or no.” 

We get to choose how we campaign for AOC. We can talk to our friends, family, neighbors, and coworkers about the necessity of an arms embargo, Medicare for All, and dismantling ICE – but this requires us to make a political choice. 

Below is an article attempting to cut through the noise of procedural factionalism that the informal structure of political caucuses within DSA obscures and has prevented our organization’s elected leaders from taking up directly. The thrust of the argument is that we can use a socialist presidential campaign to build our power to accomplish our shared goals, as happened with the two Bernie Sanders runs and as happens with city- and state-wide and Congressional races.

That this debate has become tense, toxic, and widely publicized is understandable. Our decisions have real stakes; our movement is experiencing a tremendous upswing, the results of years of organizing by tens of thousands of people; and the overall political situation becomes more dire every day. DSA’s democratic culture is what sustains the organization, teaching socialists the skills of strategic thinking, tactical organizing, leadership development, and persuasive communication. 

Our debates reaching a mass scale is one of the main ways we politicize broader and broader numbers of people – which is why it’s so important that we squarely focus on politics and make the most compelling cases possible for our positions.

Regardless of the course of the Democratic presidential primaries, a DSA that is more organized – with more members who are more active – has more power to press our demands on national politics. Every passing day is an opportunity to build our coordination infrastructure and start talking to the supermajorities of Americans who agree with our core issues – ending U.S. military shipments to Israel; establishing a universal healthcare system; and abolishing and prosecuting ICE – about our plan to win. This is why the question is urgent. Join DSA at dsausa.org/join.

Last year, the authors of this article co-wrote the Carnation Program, laying out a plan for DSA to build the socialist movement and union power by campaigning for federal seats on a platform that uses majoritarian issues to articulate the connection between anti-militarism, our political system, and our living and working conditions.

Carnation's 2024 Proposal

On March 31st, Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, at an Electoral Working Group meeting of DSA’s New York City chapter, confirmed that she supports an arms embargo against Israel. When asked by a comrade if she would vote no on U.S. funding for so-called defensive capabilities, she answered correctly with one word: “Yes.”

This means that we have the opportunity to lead an inspiring campaign, powered by DSA members, that will engage and grow the base for socialist politics, as we did with the two campaigns supporting Senator Bernie Sanders. There is currently no other known candidate who may run who a majority of DSA members support who supports an arms embargo.

We get to choose how we campaign for AOC. We can talk to our friends, family, neighbors, and coworkers about how we can put an end to our money being used to bomb hospitals and schools abroad instead of building and fully funding them here. A credible and exciting campaign about bringing down the cost of living and ending political corruption can activate union members and energize the labor movement. An army of organizers – of doorknockers, phonebankers, fundraisers, houseparty hosts, and political artists – is the only thing that can build the power to dismantle and prosecute ICE, beat back our authoritarian government’s attacks on our democratic rights, and enforce our demand for an arms embargo. 

Running a socialist campaign for AOC will generate opportunities to maximize the impact of our bloc in Congress. Unlike in 2016 and 2020, DSA’s high-profile surrogates for AOC could now include socialists like Claire Valdez and Oliver Larkin, positioning our party’s leaders to attain the highest level of programmatic influence in Congressional committees and the AOC administration post-election day.

The broader Palestine solidarity movement, of which the socialist movement is a part, has contributed to the reality that a supermajority of all Americans now support ending U.S. military shipments to Israel. This number is even higher among Democratic voters. We are the supermajority. U.S. military aid is the decisive variable that enables Israel’s genocide against Palestinians and its regional war of annexation and regime change in pursuit of Greater Israel.

In the absence of a disciplined and principled nationwide organizing campaign, how exactly our government can and will enact an arms embargo will not be brought up on debate stages. But a national movement promoting and demanding an arms embargo can force the presidential primary campaign to focus on the U.S.-Israel relationship alongside our other majoritarian pro-worker demands. Our undemocratic Constitution and the decisionmaking authority that has been accumulated by the Executive Branch means that who is President is especially decisive for foreign policy generally and for issues like arms shipments and abiding by and enforcing international law in particular.

The same way that DSA chapters have used city- and state-wide election campaigns to identify new bases of support to build our power in, a socialist campaign for president will expand and diversify our membership, setting us up for many more future victories in new strongholds. New members will attend their first chapter meetings, learn how to speak to acquaintances and strangers about politics, and become canvassers, field leads, chapter leaders, prospective candidates for office. We get to decide how soon we reach 200,000 members, whether or not we surpass the Socialist Party of America’s per-capita membership density, when there will officially be half a million dues-paying socialists in the United States. Politics begins when we orient toward the millions of Americans who know that we need an alternative political system.

Abraham Lincoln did not support abolishing slavery when he was first elected president. Active organizing led to the Militia Act, allowing African-Americans to fight for the Union; to the Emancipation Proclamation, declaring freedom for slaves, who had been engaging in sabotage and walking off plantations in large numbers; to equal pay for Black soldiers and former slaves who were marching against their masters; and ultimately to the defeat of the Confederacy.

Where will our movement be in 2027, 2028, 2029, 2030?

If you are not yet a member of DSA, you can join the largest socialist organization in U.S. history at dsausa.org/join.

Solidarity and freedom,

Abdullah Farooq, National Political Committee member and Carnation Program co-author