By Chris W.

At the 8/7 Steering Committee meeting, a new set of guidelines for our Detroit Socialist newspaper was brought forward, including number five on internal debates:

5. We should strive to keep internal debates and disagreements internal. We should not make it a habit to air our proverbial dirty laundry. At the end of the day, we are all comrades and we all want to achieve socialism. There is no reason to give our enemies ammunition to use against us. Internal debates are important and are critical to the democratic process, which is why they are better suited to our chapter’s internal discussion platforms and processes.

This guideline was met with pushback from Steering Committee members Jon Mukes and Mohamd Z., as well as other chapter members in attendance. Comrade Mo suggested that such a contentious issue should be referred to a General Membership meeting, but that proposal was not taken up and it was sent back to the Newspaper Committee while the rest of the guidelines were passed. At the newspaper Zoom meeting on 8/13, it was proposed that articles labeled “internal debates” would be placed in the chapter Discord, rather than in the Detroit Socialist, so that they are not available for public consumption. Any debate article could be published in the Detroit Socialist only with a hidden link not visible on the site, or it would have to be published with an accompanying counterpoint article as part of the same post.

After yet more pushback from Mohamd Z., myself and others, around what constituted an “internal debate,” an extra newspaper meeting was scheduled for 8/20. That meeting was attended by nearly every Metro Detroit member of the Groundwork caucus, as well as members of Bread and Roses, Marxist Unity Group, the Detroit Democracy Coalition, and independent members. Newspaper meetings average about five attendees, including the editors. The Groundwork members favored the guidelines; the Bread and Roses, Marxist Unity Group, and Detroit Democracy Coalition members opposed them. At the August 30th Steering Committee meeting, the committee voted to adopt the updated internal debate guideline. It’s difficult to parse the actual guideline from the agitation for the guideline (full text here), but the most relevant portion is this:

For the purposes of this proposal, internal debate and discussion will be defined as follows: “Discussion that directly affects a strategic decision taken by the membership imminently.”… Should a member still wish to publish their work on an internal debate in The Detroit Socialist, they will have the option to either publish it on an unlisted link on The Detroit Socialist’s Medium page — meaning that only individuals with the link may access the work — or, members may publish in The Detroit Socialist, but it will be published on the same page of an article with an opposing view.

These guidelines would turn The Detroit Socialist into nothing more than a promotional brochure — a place to “celebrate our victories” but not to tackle any difficult political discussions. Taking political debate out of The Detroit Socialist, or trying to hide it away in a Detroit-only Discord server, will prevent uncaucused comrades from influencing national DSA politics, cut off our chapter from the national DSA movement, rob this chapter of its best forum for political discussion, and debilitate the political development of our membership and the wider working class.

The Detroit Socialist is the only place for uncaucused comrades in our chapter to set out their own political positions for a broader public audience. Whereas caucused members of our chapter (a very small minority) will be able to publish under their caucus letterhead, those without a caucus who want to publish something on internal Detroit politics will be relegated to a quiet cul-de-sac where no one in the broader organization, or the wider working class, will be able to read it. This will force chapter members to join a caucus if they want to have a voice in the wider national discourse and create a built-in privilege for chapter members who are already part of a caucus.

There is no “local issue” when DSA is involved. Many other chapters are likely engaging in similar debates as Metro Detroit, or they likely soon will be. Issues like: the adoption of email voting, how to rewrite bylaws, whether or not to endorse a candidate with only a tenuous connection to the chapter. It is important that every member of our chapter has an opportunity to write and be published in a paper that can be shared nationally, because as DSA members we are part of a national party, and as socialists we are part of a global movement. Decisions taken by Metro Detroit DSA will change the local and national political situation, influence the way DSA is perceived as a whole, and hopefully provide a guide for how other chapters can organize in their area. Internal debate in The Detroit Socialist is a vital stream of information for other chapters to understand the political conditions within our chapter and we have an obligation to openly share this discourse with them.

Transformation of the working class from political objects to political subjects is one of the most important tasks of DSA as the nascent party of the working class. We need to show people that when they are collectively organized, they can enact their will on the world. This political development requires that workers can articulate for themselves what our party is fighting for. The Detroit Socialist is a training ground for members of the working class to build themselves into political thinkers who can construct nuanced arguments in long-form articles. The current political and cultural situation shows a dire need for long-form writing to be defended as a necessary skill for human flourishing. With AI slop becoming a blight on everyday life, it’s our socialist duty to defend and develop the human ability to think for oneself (The Detroit Socialist expressly forbids AI-written articles). Writing is a unique and edifying form of thought, and by writing I mean setting down one’s thoughts in a long piece, not slapping a quip in a discord chat. There’s a reason Elon Musk spends all his time posting on Twitter: he’s a moron. And we will be condemning our chapter to moronhood if all we have for internal discourse is a Slack or Discord forum that’s essentially constructed the same way as a Facebook comment section.

We already had an online forum for political discussion: the Slack channel, which many members already avoid because the level of discourse was usually low, poorly constructed, and at times devolved into ad hominems. This is not necessarily the fault of the participants. The medium is simply unsuited for intellectually rigorous debate. The Discord will likely experience all of the same problems. I challenge anyone to say they gained more intellectually from reading a 100+ reply Slack thread than from reading an article. I can say as the Political Education Co-chair, we do not ask people to read forum posts before attending New Member Political Education; we ask them to read articles.

The writing in The Detroit Socialist comes from the same intellectual tradition as the pieces we do read as part of the curriculum. Marx, Lenin, Luxembourg– take your pick. They developed their thinking and the politics of the working class as a whole by debating political points in publications that were freely available to the masses. These were not writings that were hidden away for only party members to be able to view (as long as they weren’t censored by the state); they were shared and discussed by members of the working class who were not necessarily formal members of a socialist party. These writings are still read and discussed today. The great socialist theorists never feared airing their “dirty laundry,” because there’s nothing dirty about disagreement in a democratic organization. We should be proud of a robust culture of political debate and of our transparency as an organization. A pair of articles debating a political point are not a pair of dirty socks, they are red banners. It is not shameful that we debate, it is our socialist honor.

There is concern that allowing certain points of view to be expressed in The Detroit Socialist will make our chapter look bad. For example, when Anthony D. argued against endorsing Donavan McKinney, it was said of the article, “It was bad for Donavan and it was bad for us.” The article was shared by a Metro Phoenix DSA page. Critics argued that this article confused readers and made it seem as if the chapter opposed Donovan’s endorsement. I think that confusion was cleared up when we voted to endorse him. But, if that doesn’t assuage these concerns, perhaps The Detroit Socialist can do what literally every other newspaper does and put a big “OPINION” above articles that aren’t meant to reflect the views of the chapter.

If there is still concern over disagreements in this chapter making Metro-Detroit DSA look bad, I encourage the supporters of these restrictive guidelines to address disagreement the democratic way: make your case to membership and win your comrades over to your point-of-view through well-reasoned arguments.

Maybe write an article in The Detroit Socialist?

Chris W. is a law student and an uncaucused member of the Democracy Coalition.

The Detroit Socialist is Not Dirty Laundry was originally published in The Detroit Socialist on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

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Let’s ETOC: HJC on the Class podcast!

HJC Steering Committee members, Sebastian of Triangle DSA and Triangle Tenants Union, and Kelly of Boston DSA and the Boston local ETOC branch join the crew of the National Political Education Committee’s own Class podcast. They discuss the Emergency Tenant Organizing Committee (ETOC) and the exciting rise of tenant unionization on the socialist left.

How does it fit into the broader scope of working class organizing for the crucial fight for decent housing? Listen here and find out!

Apple podcast link

NPEC Class Podcast link

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Portland DSA resolutely denounces the political coercion by Texas State police of DSA member and Austin City Council candidate Misael Ramos, who was wrongfully arrested the morning of September 26. Ramos had recently attended a protest decrying ICE brutality, particularly the violence against Venezuelan immigrant Wilber Rafael Garces Perez who still remains critically injured after being shot by immigration police.

Misael is one of many people in Texas being targeted for exercising their free speech in rightfully condemning state violence against the immigrant community. What we’re seeing is a racheting up of state repression, now targeting citizens and socialist political candidates.

We will stand by our people, immigrants and poor alike, against this violence. Portland DSA demands the charges be dropped against Misael and that Wilber be released to his family. We also echo calls by DSA to the following:

No one is free until everyone is free.

In solidarity,
Portland DSA

[[{“value”:”

By: Andrew S

BOSTON COMMON – On September 14, sex workers and allies gathered at Brewer Fountain under a canopy of red umbrellas for Boston’s historic first March for Sex Worker Pride. Led by organizers Rita Romero from Red Light Disco, Amanda Rodriguez from FemMenThem, and Jessica Van Meir from Boston Sex Workers and Allies Collective (BSWAC), the march both centered the public celebration of sex worker pride and the ongoing fight for decriminalization.

Several sex workers, community organizers, and local politicians spoke to a crowd about the importance of the event before participants marched from the Common to Jacques’ Cabaret, the oldest continuously operating gay bar in the city.

Speakers at the rally spoke on decriminalization, the importance of protecting bodily autonomy, and the contributions sex workers have made to the feminist and queer rights movements. The march was the first in Boston history, creating an opportunity to publicly recognize sex workers and their allies. Save Our Selves (SOS), Sex Worker Pride Boston, and Protect Trans Futures were all crucial supporters of the event.

For some participants like Savannah Sly, the march marked a huge milestone:

I have been a sex worker since 2003, and I am so ecstatic to see sex workers and allies visibly marching through Boston and demanding our rights be respected. I wish something like this existed when I was eighteen and was first getting started.

Members of Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) and the Communist Party, USA (CPUSA) in attendance supported the same. Rat, co-chair of Southern New Hampshire CPUSA chapter, said:

This is another step toward destigmatization, decriminalization, and collective liberation, and to be recognized for who we are in public.

Decriminalization vs. The Nordic Model

The question of decriminalization has long been a battleground of policy for sex workers. One side favors the Nordic Model (also known as “end-demand”), where prostitution is a phenomenon manufactured from societal gender inequality, understanding buyers in the sex trade as the main culprit. Nordic Model organizations seek to illegalize commercial sex trade from the consumer side by targeting “Johns,” or customers of sex workers who are customarily presumed to be men. Nordic Model supporters believe that if the consumption of the commercial sex trade is made illegal, trafficking in the trade and the exploitation within the industry will effectively diminish.

But advocates for full sex work decriminalization actively see the Nordic Model as a dangerous misstep that leads to more restriction on sex workers. Case studies of legalization have typically resulted in more restrictions of sex workers than protections, as the government requires sex workers to register within rigid regulations. The Nordic Model has likewise proven to restrict health care access in places like Canada, greatly increasing the number of health issues that sex workers there suffered as a result.

Organizations such as the ACLU and Human Rights Watch have advocated for full decriminalization of sex work.

Protection of sex workers’ right to bodily autonomy was a center pillar for many in attendance at Boston’s first Sex Worker Pride March. Beyond keeping them safe from wrongful discrimination or safety in their profession, autonomy plays an inevitable role in sex worker earnings, too. Zachary Flynn, a sex worker in the area, spoke on his own experience:

In late-stage capitalism, autonomy is important. If you would rather judge someone for sex work than pay them a livable wage, then what else do you expect us to do? I work three to four jobs on top of sex work, and that is barely keeping me afloat.

Zachary continued, speaking on how sex work builds wealth through labor: 

I think the fact that even with sex work being one of three to four jobs someone can have and even then not being able to support themselves financially says a lot on its own, but not everyone’s story with sex work is strictly about survival. It’s a chosen (and needed) profession for a fair amount of society. The point of the march is autonomy. All forms of work are selling your mind or body through means of labor, so why is it different in this context? If you have ever watched or rented porn, visited a strip club or advocated for women/queer rights, that means you support sex work, whether you realize it or not.

From Origins to Pride

Carol Leigh was the first to coin the term “sex work” in the 1980s to provide a term that described work different from prositution. According to Mary Carol of the Boston Sex Workers and Allies Collective (BSWAC), an important part of that was the emphasis on work and labor.

BSWAC organized around the community around this foundational concept in the run-up to the Pride March. On September 7, BSWAC hosted a screening and panel on Working Girls (1986), independent filmmaker Lizzie Borden’s movie about a day in the life of a woman working in a brothel in New York City. An overbearing manager forces her to stay beyond her hours, while displaying glimpses of interaction between workers and clients throughout the entire day. Working Girls is a representation of sex workers and their connection to labor in the view of Mary Carol.

The Pride March also took the time to remember what sex workers have contributed to and suffered historically. The red umbrellas ubiquitous across the march were not coincidence, but rather the universal symbol of solidarity that has called attention to poor working conditions faced by sex workers since 2001. Further, sex workers’ contributions far outdate the symbol. Sly stated:

Sex workers helped start Pride. Sex workers are in the canaries in the coal mine for how people are treated. They are at the forefront at the advancement of human rights and bringing home the bacon for their communities at the same time. Pride is sex workers claiming their own unique space and being the focus for collective liberation.

Many steps remain to make in order for sex worker pride to be fully enjoyed.

Rat claimed that more needs to be done legislatively and culturally: “we need to challenge elected officials on their decriminalization stance, and we need people to speak up for sex workers even when they’re not in the room.” BSWAC’s Legislative Priorities include legislation for full decriminalization, safe reporting, and mechanisms to protect workers from sexual assault by cops.

Andrew S is a member of Boston DSA and associate editor of Working Mass.

The post Red Umbrellas: First Sex Worker Pride March Organized in Boston History appeared first on Working Mass.

“}]]