An Emergency Election Response for Portland DSA
How do we fight Trump? With a united front of working class organizations.
On November 5, Donald Trump was elected, again. How did this happen? At the heart of the disaster is the failure of the Democratic Party. For decades, Democrats have operated as just another party of big business, corporate policies, and the status quo.
While corporate Democrats fell to crushing defeat, socialists won elections across the country. Portland was a bright spot. We elected two endorsed city councilors after an incredible campaign of door-knocking and organizing — and voted in four democratic socialists to city council. Five of the twelve winners signed our Renters’ Bill of Rights.
But our victories exist against the context of a wider victory for the right-wing. What to do now? In Portland DSA we passed an emergency election response with a clear goal: build a coalition to fight for left-wing policies in Portland, and to oppose Trump, and the hard right, conservative, capitalist policies of the Republican Party.
To build a strong coalition, we will invite unions, Palestine solidarity organizations, sympathetic local and state officeholders, and labor solidarity groups to an activist conference to discuss our strategy.
This plan is unified around a set of demands: No abortion ban, no genocide, no deportations. DSA chapters across the country are already making these demands. In Portland, we are also looking ahead to a socialist vision for city council: A Green New Deal for Portland, a Renters’ Bill of Rights, and a jobs program for Portland.
Together, we will work with a coalition of Left organizations to plan a joint forum on the strategy for Portland’s Left, an inauguration day protest, and a longer term left-wing, anti-Trump coalition.
Portland DSA is calling on other chapters to pass the same resolution! We are experiencing an enormous moment of opportunity, as liberals and progressives question their approach of the last 8 years. The strategy of lesser-evilism, and running within the two-party paradigm has left us without a clear response to Trumpist populism. As people begin to question the role of the Democratic Party, it is the job of socialists to convince them of the need for a new party for the working class.
Our chapter is asking DSA to convene the same sort of coalition nationally. The Left is growing, workers deserve more, and together we can build a party and defeat the Right!
