Days after Bernie Sanders announced that he was suspending his campaign in the 2020 Democratic primary, the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) tweeted its position: “We are not endorsing Joe Biden.” Liberal journalists and prominent Democrats weren’t happy. Two full-length articles soon targeted DSA’s decision, including an open letter by members of the original Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) and a polemic by Harold Meyerson suggesting that non-endorsement was the path to becoming “a sect of blinkered Trotskyists thrilled by their display of callous, moronic rectitude.”

But the decision was democratically decided by DSA after serious deliberation and debate, and it is the stance all socialists should take. Socialists should not endorse Joe Biden.

I say this as the author of the resolution that was proposed and approved at DSA’s 2019 biennial convention, the highest decision-making body of our organization, with over a thousand delegates representing roughly fifty-five thousand members. Leading up to the convention, members submitted resolutions for consideration. Among those resolutions was my own, R15: “In the Event of a Sanders Loss,” which stated: “Be it therefore resolved, the Democratic Socialists of America will not endorse another Democratic Party presidential candidate should Bernie Sanders not prevail.”