James Connelly
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Statement
on Electoral Politics
The centennial convention of the Socialist Party, reaffirms our commitment to the creation of a democratic socialist society based on cooperation, equality, worker control of the production process and decentralizedcoordination through democratic planning. This new society must transcend every form of hierarchy and oppression, including those based on gender, race and ethnic origin. We join with others around the world in building a global movement for a democratic socialist alternative to the corporategreed of a market economy.
A socialist transformation will not occur by simply electing socialists to office. On the contrary, socialism can only be won through mass-based direct action, at the workplace, in the community and on the streets. By putting forward socialist candidates, we can reach out to working people who might not otherwise come into contact with the Socialist Party. During election campaigns, our candidates will present a cogent vision of an alternative society, while advancing a set of demands that prefigure critical aspects of a new society.
Electoral politics highlights the close ties between both mainstream parties and their corporate sponsors. The Socialist Party believes that an essential prerequisite to fundamental change is a total break with the two-party system. In particular, our campaigns will stress the necessity
for working people to jettison their illusory hopes for the liberal wing of the Democratic Party.
In accordance with these principles, and as concrete steps to further the electoral activities of the Socialist Party, the centennial convention
adopts the following program:
1- Local and state affiliates are urged to nominate candidates when-ever this is feasible. The Socialist Party expects that its candidates will be in basic agreement with the principles and platform of the Party.
2- The national committee is instructed to establish a committee to encourage members to come forward as candidates for president and vice-president in the 2004 elections. This convention
hopes that several candidates will emerge so that
the next convention will have a choice of nominees.
3- The national committee is also instructed to explore fundraising proposals for the Socialist National Committee, so that socialist candidates in the 2002 elections will have access to the
necessary resources. In line with this goal, funds generated by the 100/100 campaign for 2001/02 will be directed to the SNC.
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No More Victims Anywhere
Statement on the Recent Tragedy
We can not allow our collective shock at the recent events in New York and Washington to be used as an opportunity to further militarize U.S. society. The Socialist Party rejects terrorism of any sort, whether undertaken by state agencies or paramilitary organizations. Terrorism, that is thedeliberate use of violence against civilians, can never be justified. It can only lead to an unending spiral of attack and counterattack. We oppose the bombing of Afghanistan and the launching of commando raids within that country. From Dresden to Vietnam to the Persian Gulf, the United States has consistently demonstrated a flagrant disregard for the lives and welfare of innocent civilians. The bombing raids inside of Afghanistan are yet another instance in this recurring pattern.
The Socialist Party opposes any acts of retribution that are aimed at any other countries suspected of giving aid and sanctuary to those responsible for the recent attacks. The individuals involved in planning and aiding these attacks must be held accountable for their actions. This should be undertaken through international agencies, rather than by the unilateral actions of the United States.
In our efforts to gain greater security in the future, it is essential that we defend our civil liberties. The current law permitting the federal
government to hold those suspected of serious crimes for an indefinite period as "material witnesses" must be repealed. This provision has enabled government prosecutors to circumvent constitutional guarantees of a fair and speedy trial.
The Socialist Party also rejects racial profiling and ethnic stereotyping. Most Arab-Americans, and indeed most Moslems around the world, deplore the
recent events. They should not become the convenient scapegoat for the fear and anger that we all feel.
The corporate controlled media has deliberately whipped up war hysteria. Dissident voices are marginalized, while the mass media present an endless series of commentators shrilly repeating the call for vengeance. We need an alternative media that can open the political discourse to those who challenge the established powers and call for peace not war.
The recent tragedy has provided the administration and Congress with a further rationale to greatly increase military spending. Our security as Americans will not be secured by even more missiles and fighter planes. The United States already spends far more on arms than any other country. The
terrorist attacks in New York and Washington were not prevented by our immense arsenal of weapons. We need to institute an immediate cut of 50% in the military budget, and we need to use the hundreds of billions of dollars thus saved for vital domestic social services and for humanitarian aid to those in less developed countries.
We also need to confront the unpleasant reality that the United States is hated and feared in much of the world. U.S. foreign policy has been
designed to prop up brutal dictatorships, while undermining movements for social reform. Decisions have been made for short-run strategic advantage, r>
with no consideration given to the long-run implications of these policies. Afghanistan has become the primary target for U.S. military operations. There can be little doubt that the Taliban faction that controls most of Afghanistan has shielded some of those responsible for the recent attacks.
The Taliban has also imposed one of the most reactionary and dictatorial regimes in the world, based on violence and the oppression of women. Yet
the Taliban came to power with weapons provided to Afghan guerrilla units by the United States. Indeed, the CIA found it useful to arm Islamic
fundamentalist forces against Soviet occupation troops, although the Agency
knew of the reactionary held by the fundamentalists. The Northern Alliance,
the current recipient of U.S. military aid, is nothing more than a regional
coalition of warlords, notorious for their corruption and their contempt
for democratic and human rights.
U.S. foreign policy has had a devastating impact throughout the world, but the impact on the Middle East is of special relevance to the recent
tragedy. The United States has aided corrupt regimes such as Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, allowing a tiny elite to waste billions of dollars in lavish r>
spending. U.S. decision makers have looked favorably on these regimes as friendly allies willing to protect the interests of U.S. oil companies. For more than a decade, the United States has imposed a crushing blockade on Iraq. Yet Saddam Hussein had been viewed as an ally until the invasion of Kuwait. The U.S. blockade has lasted for a decade, causing the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Iraqi civilians, many of them children and the elderly.
The confrontation between Israel and the Palestinians has been the flash
point for conflict in the region. The Israeli government's attacks on
Palestinian civilians have been met with terror attacks on Jewish civilians
by Hamas and other paramilitary organizations. This conflict will not be
resolved by violence. We condemn the use of terror by both sides, and we
call for Israel to immediately withdraw from the Occupied Territories.
The Socialist Party will continue to work toward a new and very different foreign policy, one based on promoting social justice and democracy rather
than corporate profits and short-lived strategic interests. In the Middle East, we call for an immediate end to the blockade of Iraq and the cessation of all aid to Israel and the termination of military aid to all Middle Eastern countries.
In Washington, both Democrats and Republicans have rushed to embrace a military response. This is hardly new. U.S. foreign policy has been based
on a bipartisan consensus since 1941. We need a very different political
system where dissident voices, including that of democratic socialism, can be heard. It is high time that those opposed to militarism break with both
of the corporate parties.
We need to also address the connections between the globalization of the capitalist market economy and the current crisis. The growing gap between rich and poor both within the United States and around the world fuels the desperation that drives the fundamentalist fervor of bin Laden and his
associates.
Throughout the peace movement there is a call for a radically different alternative society. This is a call that we share. It is our firm belief that the creation of a just and humane society can not occur as long as a few gigantic corporations control much of the world's resources. Only a democratic socialist transformation of the United States and the other wealthy countries can provide the basis for a new world without war and injustice.
The Socialist Party remains committed to its century long opposition to U.S. military interventions around the world. We will work with others to build a strong, vital grass-roots movement to oppose the current drift toward war and toward the militarization of American society.
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Statement
on the Trade Unions
The Socialist party USA considers the working class, as an organized class,essential to the fundamental transformation of capitalism, and a key force in building a new democratic socialist society.
We as socialists must work in the unions, labor organizations, and other labor-oriented bodies, to organize them towards an anti-capitalist, democratic socialist perspective, and to help fight for a revolution from below. We see that the working class itself, not its representatives as union officials or other representatives, must
emancipate itself from capitalism, towards the creation of this new society. Workers who are organized into unions form the beginning base for class consciousness, in developing the understanding of their role in the capitalist system, and the beginnings of a socialist movement based on that organization. The crisis in U.S. labor is intolerable. The falling rate of union density and organization in industry is at an all time low. All socialists must support the labor movement in their communities, regions, and nationally. The globalization of capital supported by the Democrats and Republicans, two parties of global capital, have made the transnational corporations all powerful in the face of a weakened labor and socialist movement.
Nationally, the Sweeney administration of the AFL-CIO has brought a certain revitalization to the dead-end, collaborationist policies of Meaney and Kirkland. New organizing methods, commitments of resources, and organizing staff, have focused on the need to organize the unorganized, and to bring
in and support the new immigrants. Nevertheless, Sweeney and the current AFL-CIO leaders have not challenged the fundamental defects of business
unionism. They still look to top-down maneuvers to wrest limited concessions, rather than seeking to strengthen rank and file democracy to mobilize direct action at the workplace, and in the streets. They are also committed to the capitalist market economy, and seek to win narrowly based gains without looking for the need for a fundamentally
different social system. We work with other radicals to promote a militant opposition to the current union bureaucracy, from the level of the union local to the bureaucratic sanctuaries of Sweeney and his cohorts. We also call on the AFL-CIO and all of its affiliates to break with the Democratic and Republican parties.
New movements from below in the labor movement are needed to bring about this radical change. Working with radical caucuses in the AFL-CIO unions, and with such groups as the IWW committed to democratic, revolutionary change in the workplace, the SP will work towards these ends:
1. The Socialist Party USA will work to build democratic, militant, worker-controlled trade unions and labor organizations, with militant, democratic, rank and file caucuses towards winning broader union democracy and worker control of unions;
2. Our aim is to bring socialist ideas, principles, and political program, to workers in their local unions and to unions at large; we will work to urge unions to commit themselves to independent political action, to break from the corporate-dominated two party system of Capital, and build a radical democratic socialist movement;
3. We will support organizing of the unorganized: all workers and employees need to fight for and have the support of a democratic and militant union.
4. We therefore urge SP Locals and members to activate these principles in the labor movement, to study the labor movement, make labor work part of
their local action programs, organize unions at their workplaces, and/or support unions in their industry, do strike support, and other labor support activity where possible.
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