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Where We Stand
In contrast to the Democratic and Republican parties, the Socialist Party has an underlying philosophy that is both coherent and radical. It is coherent in the sense that members of the Socialist Party differ on details, but are united on certain fundamental principles. It is radical in the sense that all members of the Socialist Party recognize the need for fundamental change in our society. Socialists believe that the problems facing America and the world, such as environmental despoliation, the systematic waste of public resources for private profit, persistent unemployment concentrated among women and racial minorities, and the maldistribution of wealth, power, and income, are not mere aberrations of the capitalist system - they are the capitalist system.
This is why Socialists are not impressed by political appeals based on the personal qualities or "charisma" of any individual politician. Socialists believe that it is the system - and the institutions which make up that system - that must be changed. Socialists differ fundamentally from liberals in this regard. Socialists critically support liberal reform measures (such as increases in the minimum wage) not as ends in themselves, but as guideposts pointing to the need for a fundamental transformation of our society.
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The Socialist Party Statement
on The Bombing of Afghanistan
10/7/01
National Action Committee
The Socialist Party U.S.A. stands in complete outrage at the actions of the US Government to bomb Kabul and other cities and towns in Afghanistan. This retribution is not and cannot be just. Instead this military aggression will only lead to more violence; endless cycles of retribution and war will again be in all our lives; innocent people will die; and we will be no better than the September 11 hijackers. Never in history has peace been obtained through war.
We are sorely disappointed, though hardly surprised, that the U.S. government's campaign of so-called "Infinite Justice" has not and probably will not be conducted in a court of international law. To do so would open the possibility of true justice, where all crimes against humanity - those conducted against the U.S.A. and those conducted by it - are prosecuted fairly.
We join socialists, anti-war and peace organizations, labor unions and all others worldwide in declaring our firm and passionate opposition to policies and actions that lead to war. The people of Afghanistan have never been, and will never be, our enemy.
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We are the Party of Eugene Victor Debs
Socialist Party Presidential candidate, co-founder of the IWW
"Years ago I recognized my kinship
with all living things,
and I made up my mind
that I was not one bit better
than the meanest on the earth.
I said then and I say now,
that while there is a lower class,
I am in it;
while there is a criminal element,
I am of it;
while there is a soul in prison,
I am not free."
- Eugene Victor Debs
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