It is hard to imagine how this resolution could pass at the DSA convention. The opposition against it, “looking at the handy guide,” will be organized and zealous. As for the resolution’s content, I like its spirit, but it suffers from formalism in my opinion. A people’s front (or as I prefer coalition) doesn’t need inventing; it’s already a reality and has scored electoral successes against the MAGA movement going back to the 2018 midterms.
The challenge, therefore, for progressives and the realistic left is to deepen and extend this coalition in the lead up to next year’s election. At its center is President Biden and the Democratic Party. While that is anathema to some on the left, serious politics isn’t fanciful. To the contrary, it’s concrete and grounded in a strictly sober look at the balance of political and social power as well as the elaboration of the class and social constituencies that possess the capacity to stay the hand and decisively defeat the main threat to social progress, while moving the needle in a democratic and progressive direction. And in present circumstances, Biden and Democrats are on the ground floor of this coalition whose overarching task is to bring MAGA to its knees. They aren’t alone, but to act as if they aren’t serves no good purpose.
