Groundwork NPC Reflections on One Year: Frances G.
The National Political Committee of DSA is the organization’s highest political body, elected every other year by delegates at DSA’s convention. 23 at-large members join 2 National Co-Chairs and 2 YDSA Reps to manage DSA’s day to day affairs, direct resources, and set the organization’s political direction. This 27 person body forms the organization’s legal board and is tasked with representing the breadth of political opinion and experience in DSA . Despite this extraordinary responsibility, NPC members are often at a distance from the general membership of the org- their work is frequently behind the scenes or only visible to those members who opt in. Groundwork, who holds the largest bloc on the 2025-27 NPC, tasked our NPC members with providing report backs on the first year of their term, a milestone we hit this August. We will be publishing their responses as a series over the coming days. Next up is Frances G. from DSA Los Angeles:
What I’m reading: Mammoth by Eva Baltasar
Current Earworms: Keep Ya Head Up by Tupac when I want to cry and Dr. Psiquiatra by Glori Trevi when I want to dance
What I’m working on right now: I am very, very proud to have been a co-chair of the Workers Deserve More program drafting committee, and we are just wrapping up our work now. Drafting WDM was one of the more rejuvenating political experiences of my time across two NPC terms. We talk a lot about DSA being “big tent” and “multitendency” but when you are in the thick of NPC drama, sometimes that just feels like a euphemism for “extremely messy” and “so factionally divided that we can’t function.” But on the program committee, we really dug into our political differences -- in a friendly, mutually respectful way -- and synthesized them into a politics that unifies us. The process taught me about my own perspective and helped me see where others are coming from, too. Obviously, there are parts of WDM that wound up controversial -- and how we incorporate a program into our electoral work is still being hashed out, to say the least -- but at the Socialist Summit and at Socialism Conference, I talked to so many DSA members who were excited to have something like the program to orient our work around. I’m really grateful to have been a part of this process. And shout out to my WDM committee co-chair Michaela B!! None of this could’ve happened without her steady leadership.
The other big area of my focus on NPC is much more inward facing but equally rewarding -- building out the national grievance program. I have learned so much doing this work! I really wish that every DSA leader could spend a little time working on grievances or serving as an HGO; it is SO informative. The divisions and conflicts that we all face in our day-to-day work are replicated across the organization, across political conditions, and across different levels of the org. We can learn so much from each other in our efforts to resolve them, and we can strengthen ourselves and sharpen our politics, too. We often see emergent political divisions coming up through interpersonal conflict, and sharpening our ability to address them in clear ways through political debate and open, frank discussion helps us minimize conflict. Also, we know that exacerbating and inflaming conflict (we see you CIA) or failing to address misconduct and harm can take an organization down. The HGOs across the org who are working to address these issues promptly and decisively are truly keeping the org afloat, and I love working with them and supporting them to do so!
For the second half of my term, I want think about what we can do for 2027 Convention. We are in the midst of such a critical political moment. We know that only socialism can beat fascism, and I want us to have a really successful, strong, inspiring, and energizing Convention that leaves us all feeling unified and ready to fight! I have been to five DSA National Conventions, and, to be totally frank, I have often left past Conventions feeling drained and worried about the future of the org. But even when we have deep disagreements or difficult fights, that doesn’t need to be the sentiment that we leave with -- we are 125,000 members strong, we have a powerful political vision, and that vision is resonating with people all across the country! I’ll never forget the feeling of singing Solidarity Forever for the first time at the 2017 National Convention, and I want every DSA member who comes to the 2027 Convention to feel similarly empowered.
Also, AOC should run for president, DSA should endorse her, we should run a campaign for a democratic socialist for president all across the country, we should use that as a vehicle to organize for socialism more deeply and more courageously in places we don’t already have a strong foothold -- like the South! Then we should win control of the US government and begin to dismantle the empire from within. That’d be my #1 priority if I run for and am elected to a third NPC term.
