Equal Time for the Socialist Party of the USA

[D. Allan]

To make the best decisions the American people need to be informed about ALL the candidates and ALL parties.

Quote:

from the SPUSA Statement of Principles....

THE SOCIALIST PARTY strives to establish a radical democracy that places people's lives under their own control - a non-racist, classless, feminist socialist society... where working people own and control the means of production and distribution through democratically-controlled public agencies; where full employment is realized for everyone who wants to work; where workers have the right to form unions freely, and to strike and engage in other forms of job actions; and where the production of society is used for the benefit of all humanity, not for the private profit of a few. We believe socialism and democracy are one and indivisible. - from: http://www.sp-usa.org/

Statement on Religious Freedom

Party Platform

interesting, hmm?

/dAb

[John317]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Socialist_Workers_Party_(United_States)

Socialist Workers Party (United States)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Socialist Workers Party

Party Chairman Jack Barnes

Senate Leader N/A

House Leader N/A

Founded 1938

Headquarters N/A

Political ideology Communism, Trotskyism

Political position Fiscal: Far-left

Social: Far-left

International affiliation Pathfinder tendency; formerly Fourth International

Seats in the Senate N/A

Seats in the House of Representatives N/A

Website N/A

The Socialist Workers Party, or SWP, is a communist political party in the United States. Once it was well known as the largest active promoter of Trotskyism in the United States. In recent times its membership has declined along with the rest of the revolutionary Marxist groups prominent in the 1960s and '70s, and it has lost much of the importance it once had.

The SWP claims that most of its members are industrial workers and trade union members. It places a considerable priority on participation in, and solidarity work to aid, strikes and other labor disputes. One of the SWP's main priorities is supporting Pathfinder Press, which publishes titles by past and present SWP leaders (James P. Cannon, Farrell Dobbs, Evelyn Reed and Jack Barnes) as well as by revolutionaries from Vladimir Lenin and Leon Trotsky to Malcolm X and Che Guevara.

[John317]

Marxism

Marxism is the political philosophy and practice derived from the work of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. Any political practice or theory that is based on an interpretation of the works of Marx and Engels may be called Marxism. A theoretical presence of Marxist approaches in western academic fields of research is present in the disciplines of anthropology, media studies, theatre, history, economics,literary criticism, aesthetics and philosophy. The constitution of some Communist Parties and Communist states was grounded in Marxism.

[John317]

2008-2009 Platform -

The Socialist Party stands for the abolition of every form of domination and exploitation, whether based on social class, gender, race/ethnicity, age, education, sexual orientation, or other characteristics.

We are committed to the transformation of capitalism through the creation of a democratic socialist society based on compassion, empathy, and respect as well as the development of new social structures. Socialism will establish a new social and economic order in which workers and community members will take responsibility for and control of their interpersonal relationships, their neighborhoods, their local government, and the production and distribution of all goods and services.

For these reasons we call for social ownership and democratic control of productive resources, for a guarantee to all of the right to participate in societal production, and to a fair share of society's product, in accordance with individual needs.

As we pursue a socialist transformation of society, we join with others in making radical demands on the existing system: demands that challenge the basic assumptions of a capitalist market economy while pointing the way to a new society. Although reforms will not in themselves bring about socialism, the fight for them will advance the cause by demonstrating the inherent limitations and injustice of the capitalist system. As we build the socialist movement, we organize around a platform committed to our common and interdependent struggles and aspirations.

[John317]

http://rwor.org/rcp-e.htm

About the Revolutionary Communist Party, USA

1995 Leadership Resolutions on Leaders and Leadership:

Part I: The Party Exists for No Other Reason than to Serve the Masses, to Make Revolution

Part II: Some Points on the Question of Revolutionary Leadership and Individual Leaders

New Draft Programme of the Revolutionary Communist Party, USA

Of all the tyrants and oppressors in the world, there is none that has caused more untold misery and committed more screaming injustices against the people of the world than the rulers of the U.S.

Writings of Bob Avakian Chairman, RCP

Carl Dix National Spokesperson, RCP

Revolutionary Internationalist Movement

Marxism-Leninism- Maoism ideology of RCP

Points of Discipline for RCP members

Books available online

Damián García esta presente

Comrade Damián García, a much-loved member of the RCP, was assassinated by police agents in Los Angeles on April 22, 1980.

Why do we need a vanguard party?

One of the main points raised by anarchism is that there is no need for, no positive role for, a vanguard party--that such vanguard parties constitute elite and unnecessary hierarchical structures which stand in the way of liberation, and where they come to power such vanguards inevitably become new oppressive and tyrannical ruling cliques.

[John317]

Is This What America Wants? America must decide.

Socialism'

- 2 definitions - The American Heritage® Dictionary

socialism (n.) Any of various theories or systems of social organization in which the means of producing and distributing goods is owned collectively or by a centralized government that often plans and controls the economy.

socialism (n.) The stage in Marxist-Leninist theory intermediate between capitalism and communism, in which collective ownership of the economy under the dictatorship of the proletariat has not yet been successfully achieved.

Or:

Free Enterprise or Capitalism

Capitalism is the economic system in which the means of production are owned by private persons, and operated for profit and where investments, distribution, income, production and pricing of goods and services are predominantly determined through the operation of a free market. Capitalism is usually considered to involve the right of individuals and corporations to trade, incorporate, employ workers, and use money, in goods, services (including finance), labor and land. By definition, production and distribution in a capitalist system are governed by the free market rather than state regulation,though this does not exclude the state defining and enforcing the basic rules of the market and may include the provision of a few basic public goods and infrastructure. Classic unrestrained capitalism is currently confined to theory, as "all of the capitalistic societies of the West have mixed economies that temper capitalism" with interventionist government regulation and social programs.

Capitalist economic practices became institutionalized in the United Kingdom between the 16th and 19th centuries, although some features of capitalist organization existed in the ancient world, and early forms of merchant capitalism flourished during the Middle Ages.

Capitalism has been dominant in the Western world since the end of feudalism. From Britain it gradually spread throughout Europe, across political and cultural frontiers. In the 19th and 20th centuries, capitalism provided the main, but not exclusive, means of industrialization throughout much of the world.

The concept of capitalism has limited analytic value, given the great variety of historical cases over which it is applied, varying in time, geography, politics and culture, and some feel that the term "mixed economies" more precisely describes most contemporary economies. Some economists have specified a variety of different types of capitalism, depending on specifics of concentration of economic power and wealth, and methods of capital accumulation.

The capitalist mixed economy is the main capitalist system, where the state intervenes in market activity and provides some services. Other systems include laissez-faire, where the state plays a minimal role and anarcho-capitalism where the market and private enterprise are completely free from the state which is nonexistent. During the last century capitalism has been contrasted with centrally planned economies, such as Marxian economies.

[John317]

Senator Obama has campaigned for at least two socialists, one in the US and one in Africa. Obama campaigned for the current leader of Kenya, Raila Odinga, who is a Marxist. This leader claims that Obama's father is his maternal uncle.

Obama has been voted as the most "liberal" member of the United States Senate.

[D. Allan]

Thanks for your input, John. Much of it is not relevant to the SPUSA, a socialist-democratic style party.

I think you have collected information about other parties and lumped it in here, to wit, the RCP (revolutionary communist party) and the SWP (socialist workers party). They each deserve a thread of their own or we will become totally confused. We shouldn't lump all the socialists together any more than we should lump all the capitalists together.

Here is a link to the bio. of the SPUSA candidate for 08: Brian Moore bio.

and another for his VP: Stewart Alexander bio.

/dAb

[Dr. Shane]

All political parties have access to the internet and can advertise on television and radio. None should have any problem getting their message out.

[John317]

All of those various parties have the same goals. They differ in the way to arrive at their goals. The RCP, and most of the communist factions, favor the use of violent revolution.

However, they all aim at the abolition of private property, the nationalization of the means of production, and the planned distribution of goods and services.

[John317]

Compare a socialist party in Australia--

http://www.sa.org.au/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=139&Itemid=113

General principles

Socialism = workers' power

Throughout the world, people are divided into two main classes. There is a tiny number who reap huge profits, through their control of private and public industry. And there is the vast majority who bear the brunt of a system in which profits are more important than human lives.

We stand for production for human need not for profit. Workers create all the wealth in society but have no control over its production or distribution. Capitalism cannot meet the needs of ordinary people because it is based on the continual exploitation of workers by the capitalist class for profit.

So workers should have control over what happens to the wealth created. The working class is the only revolutionary class. Even in less developed countries, where the workers are not as yet a majority of the population, only the working class can lead the struggle for socialism.

We agree with Karl Marx that socialism is about working class self-emancipation. Socialist revolution is not the act of an elite seizing power, but of the mass of working people democratically organising society based on workers' councils elected in the workplaces.

The society that existed in Russia after Stalin's rise to power was not socialist. Nor are those in China, Cuba or Vietnam. Such regimes, which are merely a statised version of capitalism, are essentially no different from the West. Just as here, a small minority benefits from the labour of the majority. Whether that minority control is exercised through the state, private corporations, or a combination of the two, makes no difference to the fundamental dynamic of the system.

We support workers' revolutions to overthrow the remaining Stalinist states in, for example, China, Vietnam, North Korea and Cuba. We support the replacement of these bureaucratic regimes, not with other forms of capitalism, but with genuine workers' governments based on workers' councils.

Revolution not reform

In countries like Australia, our rulers say they support democracy. Yet most people have only a minimal say in what goes on. We elect a government every three years or so, but in between, we have almost no control over what it does. More importantly, the most significant decisions in society are made by unelected people. The heads of big corporations decide what products are produced, who they will employ and what those jobs will be. Socialists want a new form of democracy. We are for a society in which ordinary people control every aspect of life, a democracy that's economic as well as political.

There is no parliamentary road to socialism. Bitter experience has shown that mere tinkering with our society will not end oppression or exploitation. The attempts of parties like the ALP and the Greens in Australia to reform capitalism have always ended in disappointment.

The capitalist class controls the state, i.e. the army, the courts, the police and the parliament. The capitalist state resists attempts to reform the system and meets challenges to its power with violence. For workers and the oppressed to liberate themselves, revolution is necessary to overthrow this rotten system and to create a new one.

A successful revolution will involve workers taking control of their workplaces, dismantling existing state institutions (parliaments, courts, the armed forces and police) and replacing them with an entirely new state based on genuinely democratic control by the working class. Such a revolution will not be achieved by a coup or the heroic efforts of a minority. We are not anarchists, who argue against all states – even one democratically controlled by the working class. Nor do we support terrorism, guerillaism, or any variant of so called "revolutionary" politics that conceives social change as coming through the actions of anything other than the conscious self-activity of the mass of workers.

Internationalism and anti-imperialism

Capitalism is an international system of exploitation. Replacing it must also be an international effort. The defeat of the 1917 Russian revolution by the Stalinist bureaucracy shows that socialism cannot be built in a single country; socialist revolutions must be spread if they are to survive. Workers around the world, from Australia, to South Korea, to Iraq, have more in common with each other, than they do with the governments and capitalists of their own countries. We are internationalists, opposed to Australian nationalism.

Australia is not an oppressed country, but an imperialist power in its own right. We oppose imperialism and support struggles for self-determination against imperialism by oppressed nations, national minorities and indigenous peoples all over the world.

Against oppression

We oppose all forms of racism, sexism and homophobia. We recognise Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders as the first occupants of Australia and support their struggles for land rights and liberation. We oppose immigration controls and all forms of racism.

The fight for freedom from exploitation and freedom from all forms of oppression includes the liberation of lesbians and gay men, an end to sexism, and reforms to bring about the full equality of women. We support free abortion on demand, the right to full child care, and are against all forms of sexist discrimination.

All these forms of oppression are used to divide the working class. Combating them is an essential part of building a united working class struggle that can create a socialist society. Only a socialist revolution can bring about the genuine liberation of the oppressed.

The revolutionary party

Socialist Alternative stands for building a revolutionary organisation that can participate in mass struggles, draw lessons from past victories and defeats and convince the working class of the way forward to socialism. Such a revolutionary party must be built in opposition to reformist parties like the ALP and organise the most advanced revolutionary workers.

Socialist Alternative is not now that party. We aim to build such a party, democratic, participatory and active, out of the struggles that workers, students and oppressed groups are waging today. History shows that revolutions are inevitable. The question is whether they will succeed, and that depends on the level of political clarity and organisation. This is why building an organisation around clear, revolutionary Marxist politics is so vital today.

****************************

These are the basics, the fundamentals that everyone who becomes a member should understand and agree with. There are also a number of political positions that Marxists have worked out over the decades and which flow from the fundamentals:

Australian imperialism and racism – a colonial settler state

Australia's origin as a white, colonial, settler state in Asia, founded on the genocide of the Aboriginal people, has meant that racism has been an even more virulent component of nationalism than in Britain, the major imperialist power from which it sprang. As an imperialist outpost initially, and then as the main imperialist power in the region, Australia has often been more aggressive than the great imperialist powers. For example, it was the Australian ruling class that tried to get Britain to take over New Guinea in the 19th century, and the Australian government who organised their own "invitation" to intervene in Vietnam in the 1960s. There is no sense in which Australia is an oppressed nation, or that its leaders are forced into wars by other imperialist powers.

Nature of the ALP

The Labor Party is a capitalist workers' party. The ALP defends the interests of capitalism. However, because of Labor's base in the union bureaucracy, many workers look to Labor to defend their interests through parliament. Relating to this class-based sentiment, while trying to win workers away from reformism, means that it is not unprincipled to call for a vote for the Labor Party in elections.

Role of the trade union bureaucracy

Full-time union officials form an intermediary layer that balances between capitalists and workers. The circumstances of union officials encourage a commitment to compromise, the pursuit of harmony in industrial relations, and attempts to use the state as an instrument for achieving these and a "fair deal" for unionists. While socialists support left-wing officials over the right, we see the interests of the union bureaucracy as different from those of rank and file workers, whose struggles are central to changing the world. Therefore our support is for workers' struggles, against any strategy of negotiation with the bosses, or change through simply electing more left-wing officials. An alternative revolutionary leadership has to be built, counterposed to the union bureaucracy, and based on the organisation and struggles of rank and file workers.

United front

Revolutionary socialists need to work with other workers and students fighting for reforms, and attempt to win them over to a revolutionary standpoint in the course of joint struggle. The united front tactic involves revolutionary socialists with workers belonging to other parties and groups, and unaligned workers, in a common struggle to defend the immediate needs of the working class, students and the oppressed against the capitalists. By organising independently but working together with others, socialists aim not just to advance the struggle but to win workers away from reformist ideas.

Against identity politics

While we oppose all forms of oppression, we do not accept that oppressed groups can overcome their oppression in isolation from the broader class struggle. For example, feminism, which sees a counterposition of interest between women and men, argues that women should organise separately around "women's issues". Marxists, on the other hand, argue that working class women and men have a common interest in fighting women's oppression, both because of its immediate effects on their lives (e.g. low wages, unavailability of childcare) and its effects in dividing the working class in the face of the common enemy, the capitalist class. Ideas such as feminism, or other forms of identity politics which argue that only those who suffer from particular forms of oppression can organise to end them, are ultimately an obstacle to liberation.

[John317]

Part of the statement of the socialist party on religious freedom:

We see no reason why a hullabaloo arose regarding Barack Obama's relationship with Jeremiah Wright and his church membership, as we support religious freedom for all. Obama's pastor was celebrated for preaching liberation theology [i.e., Marxism] at the largest church in the denomination to which he and his family belonged. Proclaiming a message of freedom from bondage and discrimination and liberation from oppression—be it on the basis of race, class, culture, nationality, or any other characteristic—is a powerful testament to the positive use of religion that unfortunately led to a negative media stereotype that drove him to abandon his congregation and to his denunciation of Wright.

However, we are alarmed by Obama's decision to leave behind the church where he was married and where his children were baptized. Did he leave because he disagreed with its proclamation of liberation theology, even though he belonged to the congregation for about 20 years? Or, did he leave because it was convenient for his Presidential campaign? Did he ever bring his concerns to Wright's attention during any of the 20 years? If Obama were not running for the nation's highest office, would he still be a member?

It is a shame that politicians' personal religious beliefs must be played out in the media and that religious leaders' endorsements are sought during election campaigns. We commend Socialist Party Presidential candidate Brian Moore for leaving his personal religious beliefs in his home, where they belong, and for not preaching them on the campaign trail. In addition, when he disagrees with the clergy of his local church regarding important issues, he visits them in person (as an individual and not as a Presidential candidate) to address his concerns without allowing 20 years to elapse!

To avoid repeats of the McCain-Hagee and Obama-Wright controversies, we call for a complete and total separation of church and state. We do this by supporting religious freedom for all, including Presidential candidates, but we oppose the involvement of religion in our electoral process. Our party currently has and has had many clergy in its ranks, including some who sought the White House. For example, Norman Thomas was a Presbyterian minister (ran for President six times [1928-1948]) and Sister Diane Drufenbrock is a Catholic nun (ran for Vice President in 1980).

In keeping church and state separate, we call for the removal of all state-supported forms of religion, including those that are found in our courtrooms, in our governments, in our legislatures, in our classrooms, in taxpayer-supported public displays, on our coinage, on our paper currency, at school board meetings, on state flags, on license plates, in the military, and anywhere else it is to be found. We oppose "intelligent design" and any other efforts aimed at sneaking religious dogma into our nation's public schools.

In reaffirming our commitment to freedom of religion, we reiterate that the Socialist Party believes in freedom of religious choice, freedom from religion, and is welcoming to people of all faiths and to people of no faith.

[John317]

Do you consider yourself a socialist or are you simply out to give people information about socialism? I think it's good to let people know what these political philosophies are and what they would mean for our society. I used to be a socialist, a member of the Socialist Workers Party, a communist organization, but I am one no longer.

Do you read much Marxist/Socialist literature? Have you read the Communist Manifesto, Das Kapital, and Marx's writings on religion?

[D. Allan]

No I don't consider myself a socialist. I admire many of their positions and principles but they go just a little too far for me when they want to abolish the FBI etc. I think people should be exposed to their ideas however.

I believe the principle of the Democratic party lean a little in that direction and the rightists of the Republicans toward economic,& social anarchism.

Marx was too heavy (boring)reading the last i tried him.

[John317]

Yes, many of the overall goals of socialists are idealistic and sound wonderful-- no exploitation, freedom for all, a classless society, fully employment, wipe out poverty,etc. Some of them, such as the democratic socialist, also promise religious freedom.

It all can sound wonderful on paper.

The abolition the FBI under socialists would only be the beginning. They would eventually also take away your right to preach Jesus Christ openly on the street. If anyone does not believe this, let them study history and see what happens wherever socialism/Marxism is the ruling political force. Marxism cannot accept any power higher than itself. It dispenses rights and freedoms and it can therefore take them away. For Marxism, there is no God who gives people inalienable rights and freedoms. That's a myth. All rights and freedom proceed from the state, the workers state.

The main reason I got out of the socialist movement is that they favor things that I could not favor as a Christian.

Virtually the entire socialist/Marxist world-view is based on dialectical materialism. It also uses force and violence to bring about the changes they advocate. From their standpoint, violence is only wrong when it is used by the capitalists against the workers. If it is used by workers against the owners, they are all for it. If fact, Marxism says that violence in necessary to overthrow the capitalist system. Marx anticipated the death of all the capitalist class.

[John317]

Marx was too heavy (boring)reading the last i tried him.

Yes, parts of his writings can be very dull, but there are parts of Das Kapital, even, that are very good reading, such as the description of the work-day of England's poor. We have come a long way since then. It is a good chapter to read before you read Charles Dickens' stories about the London poor.