Create Functional State Organizations and Optional Regional Organizations
Build endorses Constitution/Bylaws Change #25: Create Functional State Organizations and Optional Regional Organizations
Affected Items
C/B Change #25 in Compendium
Automatically creates state organizations with a stipend, as well as the option to create regional organizations. These organizations will allow DSA members to collaborate and engage new members more effectively, and allow states to endorse and work on statewide campaigns.
Why Is Build Endorsing This?
Contesting state(-level) power
Automatically creating state organizations allows Locals and at-large members to coordinate on statewide projects and campaigns
States are one of the centers of political power in our current system, and provide clear, objective boundaries for determining organizational jurisdiction. Locals within a single state will have cause to build power to wage policy fights at the state level. However, to allow for flexibility, the proposal does still allow chapters to voluntarily form regional organizations within or across states as makes sense for their particular situations.
The stipend allows state organizations to build and grow new chapters and engage at-large membership.
Frequently Asked Questions
Concern: Doesn’t this force all Locals to follow a system that might not be best for them?
Answer: Locals will vote on state level decisions and are free to not participate in any state organization activity that they feel isn’t right for them, with no pressure or pushback. The proposal itself, and the Standard State Constitution, will include protections against top-down control.
Concern: How do we know the Standard State Constitution won’t be vulnerable to abuse?
Answer: The proposal itself requires that the Standard State Constitution contain protections against abuse, including provisions for proportional representation on State Steering Committees following the one-member, one-vote principle; informing all members of meetings, procedures, and meeting minutes; and prohibiting State Organizations from directing or controlling the work done by their constituent Locals.
Concern: How can DSA afford the $3,000/year stipend?
Answer: Like with the Pass the Hat proposal to pay each chapter a stipend totaling $1,200/year, we need to invest in DSA in order for it to grow! With approximately 35 states that have three or more chartered Locals, this would cost about $105,000 in the first year -- a tiny fraction of DSA’s overall budget.
Concern: Doesn’t making state organizations mandatory reinforce arbitrary colonial boundaries?
Answer: States are one of the centers of political power in our system as it currently exists, and they provide clear, objective boundaries for determining organizational jurisdiction. Locals within a single state will have cause to build power to wage policy fights at the state level. However, to allow for flexibility, the proposal does still allow chapters to voluntarily form regional organizations within or across states as makes sense for their particular situations.