Apologies in advance for this being part rant.
I have a group of people who, in theory, are pumped up to go out and fight ICE. My local org is full of people who claim they want to do things, but what they actually do is endlessly bicker about theory minutae, criticism of other orgs or politicians, but rarely showing up.
I mean the org has turned out for some things but the most activity was one anti-ICE protest and then tagging along to a bunch of PSL events.
So we had a minor win with our immigration campaign the other day and were trying to pick a next action. I suggested several low-lift activities like canvassing local Hispanic businesses, handing out whistles and getting to know our community, or showing up to yell at Lib candidates to do better on fighting ICE. Doing more advocacy at local city council meetings. Going door-to-door in a local Hispanic neighborhood and getting to know people... and instead I get people saying we need a "mission statement" and wanting to plan out something perfect.
I feel like my local org doesn't know how to do anything! They mean well but I'm tired of sitting around waiting for buy in to do things I thought we should have been doing for six months now. Every little event is a huge ordeal and feels like pulling teeth!
IDK what to do. Am I personally being a poor organizer? Is there something I can do to convince people to start doing things and stop just talking about them? I could go out alone but I'd rather build a group that will go out together vs. my awkward ass walking into some Panderias.
Is there a manual for how to do this that actually works? I believe we had a reading group for No Shortcuts a year ago, but I guess that either didn't apply or people didn't learn anything from it.
When I was in the DSA this was pretty common. I realized by the end of my time there that you kinda just need to force things through yourself and nine times out of ten all the detractors will just follow you anyways. If they have complaints about something set a deadline for them to fix it themselves otherwise it isn't changing. You should be helpful and friendly to your comrades especially if they're actually going to participate but that doesn't mean they should hold you back if you have vision. It's like Lenin's analogy about the soldiers marching through the swamp from What is to be Done.
Edit: more specifically, pick an action, set a time and a place, and then solve the details. Without deadlines you'll never get anything done.
Edit 2: the reason the right wing of the DSA is so effective is because as individual or in their small groups they're competent enough to get the ball rolling on the things they want and then the great mass of the rest of the org just falls in line. Meanwhile the "left" of the org is constantly bickering over every little detail while actually contributing very little to enacting a program. Be like the rightists in carrying out work.