At our March 3rd meeting the members of Charlotte Metro DSA engaged in the debate facing all of our fellow 60,000 comrades: whether to affirm the demands of the National Political Committee (NPC) and provide financial and labor support for Bernie Sanders’ presidential campaign, and more broadly, what Bernie Sanders and his bid for president means to the burgeoning and resurgent Socialist movement in the United States. Naturally, as good Socialists, we held a structured and comradery debate about what our role nationally is in relation to electoral politics and what our capabilities as a chapter are to affect change locally through elections and campaigning. Our conversation about local needs and capabilities transitioned to why the national debate was happening so early in the 2020 election cycle, and was seemingly predetermined by the NPC, when an opportunity to decide this more democratically and transparently is only months away.
Regarding the endorsement for Bernie Sanders for President set forth by DSA NPC, Charlotte Metro DSA decided to delay our decision whether to endorse in order to better focus on issues that affect our local communities and allow us to build a broader working class movement in the Charlotte Metro area. We also call on the NPC not to endorse at this time, especially under the current conditions of the endorsement presented. This endorsement is too important and impactful to be decided by so few individuals and without the transparency necessary for a democratic organization. Additionally, we are concerned that in its current form the endorsement will pull too much money away from other more necessary DSA-led endeavors to continue to build our movement, particularly by chapters outside of major metropolitan areas. Due to the lack of horizontal participation and likely cost to Charlotte Metro DSA, we cannot at this time and in good conscience endorse Bernie Sanders for President, and we ask for the NPC to call off its vote for an endorsement and to instead let it be determined at the General Convention this August in Atlanta.
In Solidarity, CLTMDSA