This statement was prepared by comrades of our cell in NYC-DSA, which are heavily involved in anti-imperialist organizing and the AWWG. We encourage DSA comrades to sign the open letter prepared by the comrades of the AWWG, which is facing suppression and persecution by the rightist clique in NYC-DSA. It can be found here: bit.ly/defendawwg

Read the full statement of the AWWG here: bit.ly/awwgocstatement

To all DSA members, NYC and nation-wide,

Over the past two weeks, right-wing elements of the NYC-DSA chapter have taken control of the chapter’s Anti-War Working Group (AWWG). This effort has been carried out by the chapter’s Steering Committee (SC) in clear violation of the chapter’s and organization’s bylaws. The SC has illegally invalidated the recent AWWG leadership election results, removed both outgoing and incoming group leaders from their roles, and created a new election process that violates the AWWG’s bylaws. They are doing this not because of problems within or misbehavior by the AWWG or its leadership, but because of long-running political disagreements between the chapter segments that engage in anti-imperialist work and those who view it as a liability and distraction.

The following statement lays out the history behind recent events, the events themselves, and the problems with the SC’s actions.

HOW DID WE GET HERE?

A year ago, in February of 2025, the AWWG held its annual Organizing Committee (OC) election using the candidate and voter eligibility rules and election format specified in the working group bylaws. Members of the working group were permitted to run for OC if they had attended a working group activity within the past six months. This is a very low bar to clear, and all the candidates who stood for election cleared it easily. After all, they were people who were interested in anti-imperialist organizing, committed to helping the working group grow and thrive.

During the voting, several dozen blank ballots were cast. These ballots were cast by chapter members who were opposed to the AWWG’s continued operation and political orientation. None of these people ever openly expressed their opposition to any of the candidates. They did not attend the candidate forum, post in the working group chat, publish a statement anywhere, etc. These ballots were immediately recognized, both by the outgoing AWWG OC and the chapter’s then-current SC, as a bad-faith brigading effort that sought to disqualify the entire slate of candidates by forcing their overall “approval level” down below the bylaws-delineated threshold. They were not counted in the election, and the incoming candidates were recognized as the new AWWG OC for 2025-2026.

Over the past year, that OC has helped the AWWG function and grow in response to the all-too-common imperialist outrages committed by the US and its allies. The working group has held meetings, mobilized for protests, established sub-committees for smaller projects, hosted events and political education sessions, and coordinated with other anti-imperialist groups in the tri-state area. There have been no allegations that members of the OC have engaged in any wrongdoing. No grievances, no misuse of funds, no violations of chapter or organization rules. Business has proceeded smoothly, to the extent that anti-imperialist work ever could.

With one exception. At every possible turn, the SC has obstructed and impaired the AWWG’s ability to pursue crucial anti-imperialist projects. Major examples of this include:

• Passing a chapter-wide “coherence resolution” that prevented the AWWG from issuing timely statements and mobilizing around about breaking news, including developments in the Zionist genocide in Palestine.
• Frequently failing to respond to meeting requests, requests for event endorsement, and other important administrative matters from the AWWG OC.
• Refusing to pass Break the Chain as a priority campaign, thereby denying it funding, comms access, and other crucial resources.
• Privately drafting a chapter-wide resolution discouraging criticism of chapter-endorsed elected officials and limiting the chapter’s priorities to local economic matters. During the chapter-wide meeting to discuss this resolution, SC members referred to the genocide of Palestinians as a “wedge issue” and otherwise dismissed the necessity of anti-imperialism as a core element of the chapter’s politics.

In short, the past year has seen a consistent pattern of interference and antagonism from the SC directed towards AWWG leaders and members.

WHAT IS HAPPENING NOW?

In early February of 2026, the AWWG announced its upcoming annual OC elections. The rules for running remained the same as in the previous year: you simply had to have participated in at least one working group activity in the past six months. Several candidates met this threshold and were placed on the ballot. One would-be candidate, however, did not meet this threshold, having never attended an AWWG event in their tenure as a DSA member. They were not placed on the ballot, in accordance with the longstanding, publicly available working group bylaws.

The election then ran between February 19th and February 26th. All of the qualifying candidates received broad, near-unanimous approval, with the exception of another block of completely blank ballots. Once again, before and during the election, there was no discussion of the candidates themselves as suitable or unsuitable for office. No one, from any corner of the chapter, came forward to argue against their candidacy or qualifications. A block of blank ballots, similar in size to the 2025 block, was cast as an attempt to disqualify the entire slate.

This year, however, SC deemed those votes legitimate. There have been no changes to the bylaws, no discussion or debate, just an arbitrary reversal of the existing precedent for how to handle this type of harmful behavior. Following the election, the SC pressured the outgoing AWWG OC to take various actions, including re-running the election under new rules. Working group bylaws are not controlled by the SC, however, or even by a working group’s OC. They can only be altered via a democratic process involving the working group’s membership voting.

Therefore, the AWWG OC offered to re-run the election in accordance with the bylaws, noting that with increased awareness and participation, the existing, qualified candidates would likely receive more approving votes and the issue would be resolved. On March 3rd, the OC sent out an email to the working group membership explaining the situation and announcing the new election.

On March 4th, however, the Steering Committee privately, unanimously passed a resolution disqualifying both the outgoing and incoming OC slates from administering the working group any further. The resolution states that the AWWG currently has no OC and hands complete control over the working group to the SC. That includes its basic administration, its member outreach, and its social media presence. It also authorizes the SC to run a new AWWG OC election under their own terms. As per the SC’s recent chapter-wide email, “any member in good standing of NYC-DSA who joined on or before December 4, 2025, is eligible to run for OC, and all members in good standing of NYC-DSA are eligible to vote”. That means that chapter members who have never participated in a single working group event are now eligible to lead the working group, and members who have never participated in the group’s work can elect them.

In summary, the SC has determined that a recurring, bad-faith attack on a working group’s electoral process is grounds to seize control of the entire working group and remake its leadership as they see fit. They have done so in spite of clear rules prohibiting them from doing so, and without any apparent reasonable motivation. There has been no grassroots outcry against the outgoing or incoming AWWG OC members. There have been no debates within the chapter about their performance, or concerns about their behavior. Not a single “opposition” candidate came forward in this recent election who could meet the comically low standard of “attending a single working group event in the past six months.” This is not a case of opposing factions debating and competing to take leadership of a group on their respective merits. Instead, it is an active, functional working group proceeding as normal, doing its job, and then being tossed aside by chapter leadership for no valid reason.

WHAT IS ACTUALLY HAPPENING HERE?

Why is the SC doing this? In NYC-DSA, there is a strong cultural prohibition against discussing motivation. To state, or even imply, that a chapter member(s) is acting “in bad faith” is a ghastly offense, tantamount to physical violence. To even mention that the chapter has internal political divisions, that elections and votes are hotly contested, and that caucuses work to maximize their own influence and minimize others’ is frowned upon. In the public words of the chapter’s leadership and their associates, discussing such things openly is “disorganizing” and “empowers our enemies by exposing divisions within the chapter.”

In spite of these performances, NYC-DSA remains a political organization. It is made up of human beings. People within the chapter seek power and influence, and when they do so in violation of basic rules and principles, they must be criticized and opposed. Capitalism will not be defeated by a conspiring clique, unaccountable to membership and the masses. In order to succeed, this chapter (and organization) must develop a culture of open, honest struggle.

Nineteen out of twenty current SC members belong to one of two caucuses: Groundwork (GW) and Socialist Majority Caucus (SMC). These caucuses promote social democracy. They argue that DSA can elect away an empire, vote away the cops, and legislate away capitalist wealth. At the previous national convention, these caucuses opposed the anti-Zionist resolution, among other anti-imperialist priorities. In their intra-chapter organizing, they consistently emphasize the importance of supporting endorsed elected officials, regardless of those officials’ conduct. To the social democrat, anything that steps too far outside the bounds of “electability” is a problem. And the solution to that problem is never open political debate and the establishment of a strong chapter line. It is, time and again, bureaucratic manipulation and deceit.

So where does this leave us? If you are reading this and think that the AWWG has been misled, come forward. State your claims. Attend a meeting, literally just one single meeting, and explain how you would run it better. Get involved in the work, even minimally, before you try to run for leadership. And then, when an election comes, you can campaign on your own merits and the material failings of your opponents. You can advertise your position, whip votes, and earn a spot. Until then, we invite you to do something that may feel unnatural: nothing. Don’t interfere, don’t scheme, just leave well enough alone. This is the biggest DSA chapter in the country and there is plenty of work to be done. If you don’t want to do anti-imperialist work, that’s fine. Just stay out of the way. You will be surprised not only at how safe your precious elected officials’ seats remain, but doubly so by how popular real anti-imperialism can be here in NYC.

And if you are reading this and think that the AWWG has been functioning well, you should come forward too. Speak out against the nonsense that Steering is doing among your friends, in group chats, at meetings, wherever you like. Support the AWWG’s current leadership and membership in every way that you can. You can’t kill the revolution via honest criticism; you can only strengthen it. And while you’re speaking out, keep an eye on who responds. What type of politics do the people who support Steering in this maneuver express? What solutions do they offer to the problems of the chapter, the nation, the world? Simply put, what do they stand for?

Now and always, Liberation Caucus stands for openness and honesty, because we know that good ideas emerge from line struggle. We stand for humility in official leadership, because we know that real leadership belongs to the masses. We stand for revolution within ourselves as individuals and within our organizations, because we know that the culture and behaviors of capitalists can never lead to freedom. And no matter what happens, we stand against the American empire in all its evil, and will fight it with every tool we have.

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