Two years ago, Aziz Rana published The Constitutional Bind, a sweeping historical investigation meant to aid progressive and radical movements in the United States. How was it, Rana asked, that the relatively vibrant constitutional critique found in socialist, progressive, and intellectually honest circles in the early 20th century had been effectively silenced? How had the ruling class built a persuasive narrative of “American democracy” and convinced so many people to “idolize a document that fails them”? Where had the demand for a democratic constitution gone? More importantly, when would it return?
Constitutional criticism of all stripes was submerged in a toxic brew of World War jingoism, Cold War nationalism, and state-sponsored terrorism. Stalinism obscured Marxism’s historically longstanding commitment to democratic republicanism and universal and equal rights, which led to immense ideological and theoretical confusion, like the Communist Party USA’s embrace of “Bill of Rights Socialism.” During the mid 20th century, a handful of scholars and activists, including W. E. B. Du Bois, Harry Haywood, Afeni Shakur, Tom Hayden, and Martin Luther King Jr., offered passing critiques. But these voices were a dime a dozen and did not center the need to replace the undemocratic constitutional order in the struggle for freedom and autonomy.
Today, the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) is bringing constitutional politics back into the national spotlight. Our program proclaims that: “We are workers fighting to transform society, to win the battle for democracy, draft a new constitution, and create a democratic socialist republic.” Establishing that new republic, the program continues, will entail abolishing the Senate and replacing the President and Supreme Court with an executive and judiciary entirely subordinate to Congress, now unicameral and elected by proportional representation. This is the bold strategy for political power that the Left has lacked for more than a century. It’s precisely this struggle for popular, centralized government—for democracy—that will unite the working class and be our North Star during the trying times ahead.
The new program and resulting media attention have placed DSA into the vanguard of the developing movement for a Third Reconstruction. The struggle for democracy is now ours to win or lose. How can we make sure this movement will continue to grow, both in power and ambition?
Force the Issue
First, we must take a page from the Antebellum abolitionists and force the issue. We demand a democratic government and a democratic society. From the floor of Congress to a picket line or a rally against ICE—every struggle is a platform to connect the denial of equal rights to institutions like the Senate, the President, the Electoral College, and the Supreme Court. Every election from here on out can become a “referendum on the question of universal and equal suffrage.” No politico or talking head will be able to spout off about the alleged “miracles” of America’s government without being jeered and laughed at. No politician will be able to say they are seriously addressing important issues without being challenged about their plan to fix our rotten institutions.
When we take a bold stand, others follow. In the days after the release of Workers Deserve More, Bhaskar Sunkara and Ben Burgis, two of the more public intellectuals on the American Left, both expressed support for abolishing the Senate. Of course, like almost everyone on the Left, both of them know perfectly well that the Constitution is designed to stifle the will of the majority, which therefore makes the “democratic road to socialism” impossible. But it took DSA forcing the issue—pointing to the elephant in the room and saying, “There, look!”—for others to speak up.
Bernie Sanders isn’t pointing to the Senate—let alone to the Constitution. Neither is Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez nor Zohran Mamdani. DSA member and then-Wisconsin gubernatorial hopeful Francesca Hong retracted her previous calls to abolish the Senate under pressure. These political superstars might come around in time. But if they do, it will only be because DSA made the issue impossible to ignore. When we lead on bold demands for a democratic reconstruction of society—and specific constitutional proposals to bring that transformation about—other people follow. After all, who likes the Senate? And if someone doesn’t support our demand, all the worse for them. Up and over we go, pushing aside the equivocators and naysayers. As King knew well, “wait” almost always means “never.” The time is always right to fight for democracy and demand that others do the same.
Tie It All Together
We have far more friends than enemies in the struggle for equal rights. Over this July 4 weekend, DSA members attended the Spirit of Mandela’s Mobilization Against Genocide in Atlanta. National DSA endorsed the event, stating that the Declaration of Independence’s “ideals of universal and equal rights—since broadened beyond white property-owning men—have never been fully realized,” and that “We will not let the bourgeoisie control the narrative. We will struggle against ongoing oppression and tyranny.”
DSA was joined by dozens of other organizations, including the Jericho Movement, the Southern Workers Assembly, the Peoples Power Union, and Black Workers for Justice. These organizations are incredibly diverse, both in membership and in politics. Yet, universal and equal rights were on the tip of everyone’s tongue, especially after the Supreme Court’s decision in Louisiana v. Callais stuck another knife into the Voting Rights Act. Everyone knows that a handful of wealthy individuals—not the people—make the laws that shape the country’s direction and spread destruction across the world. Everyone at least can intuitively understand King’s declaration that, without an equal vote, “I do not possess myself. I cannot make up my mind—it is made up for me. I cannot live as a democratic citizen, observing the laws I have helped to enact—I can only submit to the edict of others.”
We are all united by our lack of equal political power. Donald Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill” is one example. It slashed funding for Medicaid, lined the pockets of the military and ICE, expanded opportunities for oil and gas development, and made it harder to pay for college. There was something in it for everyone to hate, and a significant majority of the population opposed the law. But the Senate does not represent majority opinion. Thanks to equal state representation, the 50 Republican senators who voted for the bill represented roughly 25 million fewer Americans than the 50 Democrats who voted against it. The Vice President—a position won through the undemocratic Electoral College—cast the tie-breaking vote. And voilà, the ruling class has its law. Not because Americans wanted it, but because the Constitution was designed to ensure that the rich and powerful grow more rich and powerful.
DSA is still only a fraction of the national population. As the Mobilization Against Genocide in Atlanta made clear, we are one part in a vast panorama of political organizations struggling for change. Amid all this complexity and competing ideas, a political program that centers the demand for a democratic republic can cut through the noise and grab people’s attention by providing a clear strategy. What unites the working class is our shared exclusion from property and political power. We want this power because we understand that it is intolerable to live without it, and impossible to achieve our goals for a liberated world. Our lack of power enables repression at home and imperial plunder abroad. The demand for democracy brings everything together.
No Shortcuts
Can some of DSA’s more modest programmatic demands, say, winning Medicare for All or transitioning to renewable energy, be won under the existing Constitution? Unlikely. Both have already failed in Congress, and face incredible opposition from capital. But even if we win a few of our major demands, the political playing field will not have changed. We would need to constantly look over our shoulder, scanning the horizon for the next filibuster, veto, or judicial review. Our wins would “never be stable, secure, or complete without full democratization,” as we find ourselves forced to fight a never-ending rearguard battle.
Some argue that there is a constitutional path to universal and equal rights and an end to the tyranny of the minority through an Article V Convention. Again, this is unlikely. So unlikely, in fact, that entertaining it would be to miseducate the working class by sowing illusions about what’s possible. The demand to abolish the Senate has attracted particular attention. It’s also one that clearly demonstrates the need to break free of the constitutional cage, since Article V expressly forbids changing the Senate’s allocation of representation among the states unless every single state agrees. This unanimity of agreement is what political scientists call “interpretive unamendability.” In layman’s terms, don’t hold your breath.
As Jane McAlevey taught a generation of labor activists, there are no shortcuts. The same is true of the struggle for a radically transformed political playing field. There is no constitutional or reformist path to achieve equal suffrage, nor is leaving the Constitution untouched a viable option. The struggle for democracy must therefore take the revolutionary road. This means uniting millions behind a political program committed to convening a sovereign, popular assembly to draft a new constitution. That draft must then be submitted to the nation for ratification on the basis of one person, one vote. With political power in our hands, the working class will, for the first time, have a government of, by, and for the people.
Run It Up the Flagpole
Five years ago, DSA’s 2021 program took a modest but meaningful step toward confronting the Constitution, declaring that “the nation that holds itself out as the world’s premier democracy is no democracy at all,” and that “democracy is necessary to win a socialist society,” which is also the “complete realization of democracy.” Two years later, YDSA’s national convention passed Winning the Battle for Democracy, an homage to a similar resolution put forward at DSA’s 2023 National Convention. YDSA identified the “liberal-constitutional regime outlined in the Constitution” as the “specific form” of capitalist-class rule, adding important theoretical clarity to the question of how the capitalist class rules. It also broke necessary ground by calling on DSA electeds to indict the Senate, the Supreme Court, and the other minoritarian checks on popular will. In 2024, the first Workers Deserve More program stated that “working-class majority rule” would be secured “through a democratic constitution that establishes a political system with universal and equal working-class voting rights,” and with political power vested in a single federal legislature elected by proportional representation. That brings us to today, where the new version of Workers Deserve More has brought us one more step forward, and DSA’s programmatic positions are capturing the attention of the country more than ever.
Asked recently about the demand for a democratic constitution, Richard Wolff responded, “run it up the flagpole and see who salutes… then you know who you got.” This is the right attitude. Slowly but surely, DSA is raising the flag for a democratic constitution and embracing its newfound position at the forefront of a developing Third Reconstruction in the United States. The demand for democracy drives everything else forward. All those who stand for universal and equal suffrage and against minoritarian obstacles to majority rule should join DSA. In turn, DSA should center its demand for a new constitution in the Workers Deserve More program. We aren’t the only ones with democracy in the name—but we are the only ones prepared to fight to the end to achieve it.
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