My name is Mike Rodgers, and as a lifelong member of the working class, I joined the Democratic Socialists of America to change my community for the better, instead of watching it be changed for the worse. I didn’t join to become a leader; in fact, I was looking for some kind of leadership myself, hoping more experienced socialists would illuminate the way. Instead, what I found was a group of comrades who shared my vision of socialism, one based in building communities and empowering people and in expanding the power of the working class and addressing the real critiques that lie at the heart of our modern, capitalist crises.

Who I Am:

I learned my lessons about capitalism early, growing up in Oklahoma and hearing the stories of radical labor activists while “right to work” laws destroyed workers’ collective power. I learned organizing on the fly by assembling an anti-war group, resisting the rightward political lurch and war frenzy after 9/11. I had my first taste of protest standing down a shouting crowd, my comrades and I isolated and outnumbered on a tiny Oklahoma campus. Human moments of solidarity like these lit my fire for socialism. I then witnessed firsthand the cruelty of the status quo while working and rebuilding in post-Katrina New Orleans. Working hand-in-hand with undocumented laborers and the forgotten underclass of the city, I saw the systemic theft, abuse, and dehumanization of modern capitalism written in mud stains and spray paint across the drowned neighborhoods. In a city under military occupation, the guns protected retail overstock and were pointed at the people. Folks learned to do for themselves what no one else was going to do, with like-minded people helping each other along the way.

My Work in DSA:

In our local DSA, we also learned how to build something together from almost nothing, tackling each new problem as it arrived. We learned the kind of self-reliant hard work it takes to organize something new. We needed funds to afford toiletries for our outreach drive, so we formed a committee. I designed shirts for the chapter and coordinated printing, and so we were able to raise enough money to supply our homeless support program and prepare for our brake light clinic. When the Teachers Strike happened in Oklahoma City, we all scrambled to build a donation network and food distribution location to prevent food insecurity among students. I attempted to carve out new partnerships, approaching local businesses and municipal agencies for community support, but found deep resistance to a socialist message. When the bourgeois methods of support failed, we mobilized our members to collect community donations, deliver food and water to the striking workers and add our voices in solidarity with those marching for their collective rights. With only the power of a small group of dedicated socialists we were able to forge connections, learn valuable insights and galvanize our chapter’s core.

When our chapter’s Treasurer resigned, I took on their responsibilities without hesitation, not because I wanted a position of leadership but because I am dedicated to a principled socialist project based in solidarity and democracy amongst the working class, the abolition of social hierarchies and a marxist critique of capitalism. With the DSA, I found what I believe to be the best opportunity to achieve those goals: an organization that combines the drive of dedicated individuals with the power of a mass movement. However, a truly organized party of collective working class and oppressed peoples’ power requires both the ground level work of individuals and also a national support system which nurtures, strengthens and connects our movement across the field.

Why I’m Running:

I am running for the NPC because I believe that in order for the DSA to continue to grow its ranks into a mass coalition of the working-class while still retaining it’s socialist values, our national framework needs to improve its working models and be more responsive to the changes, diversity and expansions within the organization while being open to accountability and reform. In my small rural chapter, we faced a hostile external environment and many challenges attempting to grow our base, and were offered no extensive support or guidance from the NPC. Within our local we had to create our own structures and tools from scratch, all of us working overtime to build something we could use. Thinking of the time and energy wasted by this process across our membership, I can’t help but believe there is a better way.

As DSA rapidly grows its ranks, connecting members and chapters across the map should be an NPC priority. The national committee should function as a network, connecting resources, information, education and experienced organizers to the chapters that need them. Direct and secure communication platforms are also necessary for an organized mass political movement to thrive. Providing this kind of framework through programs like an internal directory, an official internal discussion forum and regional representatives would greatly strengthen the local impact of chapters as well as lessen the workload of the national organization and allow for a less centralized decision making process while still providing overarching support. All too often ideas created and enacted at the local level are not shared, promoted or supported by the NPC. A direct connection between chapters would go far in creating a network of organizers and helping to develop new programs that address the diverse needs and situations across the DSA.

In order to be effective at base building and educating new members, the DSA must commit itself to efficiently and quickly directing resources to local chapters. By helping locals organize and prepare their outreach programs the DSA can engage more quickly and effectively with the needs of the people. By providing material benefits for communities, our DSA chapters can engage a mass constituency in a direct manner and build our base wider and deeper into the community than a sole focus on electoral politics ever will. Freeing more people from the oppressions of modern capitalism can only increase the strength of the DSA and its ranks. Allowing DSA members the time and energy to get more involved in our programs by providing material gains in their lives is indispensable in developing a base of power from the masses up.

As an NPC member I would push for the DSA national bodies to focus attention on the local chapters where the bulk of the DSA’s work is accomplished. By redirecting national focus onto the ground level work our comrades are doing the NPC can shoulder some of those burdens of promotion or visibility. By voting to open up the decision making process at the national level to greater visibility and accountability the NPC will more naturally reflect the ideas of all our comrades. And by voting to use our massive national membership gains to provide our newer and smaller chapters with program funding and guidance I believe the NPC can facilitate great gains under the leadership of the masses. I will best represent those members clawing their way to organized power. Focusing on labor organization, tenant unionization and other bottom up mobilizations of the working-class and poor not only builds our political base but also creates parallel systems that supplant capitalist models and tangibly grow popular power. The material benefits to the community, the indispensable experience gained working with ordinary people to create something beneficial and the real voting constituency based on material gains for the many will build the DSA into a force within each community and in turn redirect that passion and knowledge back into the national collective experience. Empowering locals both within their base and within the democratic process of the DSA will ensure that the NPC remains committed to acting as a platform for socialism from below as opposed to a bureaucratic body.

With the increased profile of the DSA it’s important to welcome new comrades with open arms while always maintaining focus on the anti-capitalist, theoretical underpinning of a socialist revolution. Sectarianism is counter to the united front necessary among committed leftists in the face of rising reactionary politics, but a big tent approach within the DSA must always be direct about the goals and philosophy that guide our actions. Our underlying theory is what separates socialism from reformism, and maintaining that focus through shared resources and tools would be another of my duties as NPC member. Many chapters have created their own introductory reading lists, or coordinated study groups to cover theory and historical context. Chapters have created incredible artwork, information packets and other impressive work that could be spread throughout the DSA. Other chapters have run successful localized efforts that, while not being applicable on a national scale could benefit other chapters. And still others have been at the forefront of tackling sexism, transphobia, ableism and the other interpersonal problems that threaten to crack open working groups; taking the lessons those comrades have learned and providing a platform for their suggestions would be an amazing resource for ensuring new chapters grow in inclusive, productive ways. The creation of a centralized resource of tactics, theory and information available to chapters across our organization would be one of my goals for the NPC.

Accountability is one of the most important responsibilities of a worker representative. As an NPC member I would be elected to give voice to the rank-and-file members of the DSA. This means first and foremost giving all of our comrades an equal place at the table and using the national platform of the DSA to magnify those concerns often left unheard. The party of the masses is built from the ground up and any serious socialist movement cannot afford to ignore the voices of those most dismissed by bourgeois society. Intolerance, discrimination, and harassment have no place in DSA. Transparency and open communication between rank-and-file members and the NPC along with adherence to a responsive grievance procedure and serious consideration of all reforms proposed by our internal working groups would go a long way in building the environment for a truly diverse mass movement. The current tolerance of toxic behavior must end.

Finally, I’m running for the NPC because I believe in the DSA and it’s potential to become the mass workers party needed to confront the dangers of modern capitalism. As a father trying to build another world free of the pain of exploitation, one based in equality for the masses and grounded in the spirit of cooperation, I’m reminded everyday of the enormity of our project. But I’m also reminded that the conflicts and cruelties of this world aren’t human nature, but are instead the vicious methods of capitalism and its distorting effects on human relations. In order to confront the ongoing inhuman exploitation and systemic violence of our world, it’s going to take a connected, motivated, organized and educated party of mass working class, poor and oppressed empowerment. Unlike the individualistic leadership I was expecting, the kind of leadership that the DSA needs is one that facilitates and promotes the efforts, strategies and ideas of it’s working rank and file. Our movement should be led by all its members, generating energy and ideas from the masses, and nurtured by a strong framework of central support in an NPC that leads the DSA into the future.