Should women form a third political party

Scan page 10

onstration was a preview of the 600,000 strong march in Washington, D.C., one week later on April 9. 30,000 demonstrated in San Francisco, Calif., on April 2, 1989, to protest the impending Webster decision. This dem'A genuine political alternative would be at one and the same time, a labor party, a women's party, The following speech was given by Socialist Action staffwriter Sylvia Weinstein on Oct. 20, 1989, at a San Francisco Socialist Action forum titled, "Should women form a third political party?" The speech has been edited for publication.

Since the earthquake of Tuesday, Oct. 17, we have witnessed a side of human nature repressed by the "normal" world created by capitalism. All of a sudden, people all over the San Francisco Bay Area were helping others in need, many times risking their own lives to do so.

It is events such as this earthquake that gives the lie to the myth that people are, by nature, selfish and unfeeling. Selfishness and greed are inherent, not in human nature, but in the system of capitalism. The worst in human nature is created and fostered by a social environment that pits human beings against each other.

But although human beings are conditioned by their environment, they also have the power to shape and change their environment-and thus change human nature. All of us sitting in this room tonight could probably sit down and work up a pretty good world together. Most of us would agree on the need to clean up our environment, end global pollution, and insure world peace. We certainly could also agree that we need to provide the basic necessities for all people-food, clothing, clean water, decent shelter, universal healthcare, and quality education from pre-kindergarten to college—as a basic right in a society in which human needs come before profits. Then we could also agree on the need to end national boundaries-that, in fact, we are all one people, regardless of race or national origin.

I know too that we would readily agree to end all manifestations of racism, sexism, and ageism. And we would want a society that is democratic and open—with the full participation of all its citizens. That's not a bad start for a world I believe all of us here would like to see.

I think I can go further yet. I believe that we here would also agree that the majority of the population of the United States know that they are not getting a fair shake. Their standard of living has gone down, they are caught in the killer web of steadily rising prices, while their paychecks are taking a beating. Whereas it used to take one to support a family, it now takes two-and it's increasingly harder to keep up.

I think we can also agree that the majority of people have no faith in the present political process. In fact they are convinced that the politicians are crooks and sell out to the highest bidder.

Outrage at NOW convention Most people, however, can see no way out. That's why we're having this discussion. What can we do about the declining quality of life? How can we find our way to build the kind of world I'm talking about-a better world, where people come first?

Those were my thoughts at the National NOW convention in Cincinnati earlier this year. A workshop led by Molly Yard and Eleanor Smeal expressed a sense of outragedirected against the Democratic Party especially.

That outrage crossed all lines—new and old members, independents, socialists, and even many long-time supporters of the Democratic Party. They had been betrayed on the ERA and they were being betrayed on the issue of abortion. Liberal Democrats, in national and state legislatures, and locally in city after city, have been working hand in hand with the Republicans to destroy women's right to Choose.

It's this sense of outrage that impelled over 600,000 women and supporters of women's rights to march in Washington, D.C., last April 9. Just plain old outrage. They needed to yell it in the streets.

Both Molly Yard and Eleanor Smeal were shocked at the intensity of feeling expressed at the workshop. They ended the conference with a promise to investigate the possibility of the formation of a "third political party." It was a shot heard around the world. The media immediately came out with quote after quote from so-called friends of women's rights about how impossible this was. They worked overtime to urge NOW that its only hope lay within the Democratic Party.

What about a "women's party?" Some women at the workshop expressed support for the idea of a "women's party." This idea, which has surfaced whenever the anti-woman bias of both Democrats and Republicans becomes particularly glaring, is a symptom of the growing distrust of these capitalist parties.

But a political party must take positions on all political questions—not just women's issues. A political party must take a stand on all political questions such as unemployment or military spending versus spending for social needs (housing, education, medical care, old age pensions, etc.).

All of these issues can be decided either in favor of the rich or the poor-but not both. Not all women would see the necessity to place human needs before profits. (Would a Mrs. Rockefeller or a Mrs. Donald Trump put human needs ahead of their profits?)

A political party representing the genuine interests of the great majority of women must also be representative of the great majority of the people, all of whom, in one way or another are victims of capitalist society.

Socialists have been urging the formation of a third party in this country for many years. But the only real alternative to the capitalist parties would be one based on working people and their allies—-women, Blacks, and other oppressed nationalities. A Joseph Ryan/Socialist Action genuine alternative would not be just a feminist party, it would also be a Black party, a labor party.

Jesse Jackson and the Rainbow A third capitalist party would do none of us any good. It would do no more good than Jesse Jackson's Rainbow Coalition. Jackson and his Rainbow both base their program on the capitalist status quo. That's why Jackson supported Dukakis for president in 1988. Capitalists had confidence that Jackson represented no real threat to their system. On the contrary, they saw Jackson's demagogy as a way to allow the increasing discontent to dissipate harmlessly.

Thus, Jesse Jackson was given broad coverage by the capitalist news media as one of seven major candidates for the Democratic Party presidential nomination. It merely resulted in the dragooning of Blacks, workers, and other oppressed sectors (who would have abstained) into voting for Democrats. We need a party that is completely independent of the financial and institutional support of the capitalist class. In sharp contrast, it must be dependent for its financing and mass support on the institutions created by working people, feminist organizations, and those of the oppressed nationalities. A genuine political alternative would be at one and the same time, a labor party, a women's party, and a Black party. We need a party that is based on a program developed by workers and that is in the interests of all those who are relegated by capitalism to the bottom of the heap.

Workers and capitalists

When I say the working class, I mean all of those who must work for a living. Whether they work with their hands and brains or their brains and hands makes no difference. And by capitalist class, I mean all those who get the lion's share of this wealth by the right of ownership of the means of production.

Workers are the people who produce all of society's wealth: everything, from food, and a Black party?

clothing and shelter to the means of transportion and communication. Just look at who's on top of the I-880 freeway, which collapsed during the earthquake, risking their lives to take it apart! But the ones who wind up with the wealth are those who own the productive forces of our country.

Capitalism is a system that depends on profits. If a product doesn't make a profit, the capitalists won't produce it. Whether it is AZT or some miracle cure for cancer, if they can't make a profit it will not be made. And if the capitalist can earn a bigger profit by paying women, Blacks, and other minorities less in wages-that's even better.

If they can earn bigger profits by risking the destruction of the environment, rather than take measures to safeguard the ecology of the planet, then so be it. Just a look at the disastrous oil spill in Alaska tells the whole story. And don't expect the political parties and the government (which is owned lock, stock, and barrel by these giant corporations)

Joseph Ryan/Socialist Action to do anything to prevent a repetition of such disasters— not if it will cut into profits.

Why a working-class party? Why do socialists say that a political party based on working people and its natural allies-women, Blacks, and other oppressed sectors of the population-would be the right kind of party? It's not some mystical belief. First of all, the working class in the United States constitutes the overwhelming majority of the population and objectively has material interests that tend to unite workers into a cohesive force. Furthermore, in addition to its numbers, the working class has the power to exert an economic force even more potent than its great numbers.

Second, the working class is organized into fighting institutions with great potential power-trade unions. We shouldn't underestimate this force. The setbacks that have been dealt working people and their unions over the last 20 years are a result of misleadership. The labor bureaucracy has followed the fatal policy of relying on their "friends" in the Democratic Party to protect them from the corporate profiteers. This is the same mistake being made by leaders of the women's movement, the Black movement, and the other exploited and oppressed members of society. Third, the working class does not need to exploit anyone to defend its interests. In fact, workers are the chief victims of the capitalists, who have been increasingly driving down living standards in their unremitting greed for higher profits.

This means that working people are a powerful potential force standing in the way of the attack by the capitalist class on the living standards of the great majority of the American people. More than that, the working class is the only force capable of leading the majority in a fightback to regain lost ground and make new gains.

Fourth, on the economic plane alone, the capitalists are stronger than the workers. The working class is stronger only if it mobilizes all its members and its natural allies for a political struggle in its class interests. These class interests include abolishing Joseph Ryan/Socialist Action Sylvia Weinstein speaking at Oct. 15, 1989, rally in San Francisco, Calif.

sexism and racism. The reason is simple. Sexism and racism are used to compel women and oppressed nationalities to work cheaply. The lower wages systematically paid these oppressed layers of the population are also used to depress the wages of all other workers as well.

Fifth, the 20-year-long attack on the living standards of American workers is not going to end. It will intensify, as the ruling class seeks to solve its problems by lowering real wages, cutting social services, and increasingly shifting the tax burden from the rich to the poor.

And this is only the beginning. All signs are pointing to a major collapse of capitalist equilibrium-and with it, a qualitative worsening of living standards.

The collapse of the savings-and-loan institutions and other manifestations of a developing global economic crisis are like the recent earthquakes in California. They are warnings of the Big One to come-the result of a basic flaw in the earth's crust. In the same way, these economic quakes are a result of a basic flaw in the capitalist system of production.

"An injury to all!"

In order to win the coming battles, working people in unions will be forced to fight to defend their living standards. They will quickly learn that they need the help and support of their natural allies-women, Blacks, and other oppressed people. They will again become the champions of the cause of all the victims of capitalism.

In the 1930s, when the American workers were on the move, they became the social conscience of this nation. The new industrial union movement absorbed the lessons of previous defeats.

Big strikes had been defeated because of the prevailing labor practice of going along with the employers' exclusion of Blacks and women from higher paying jobs. The militant new democratic unions went further than merely opening their doors to those who were previously excluded. Their progressive social policies flowered and sprouted seeds in general social life.

But this progressive trend was not really new. Once taking the road of class struggle, workers have historically embraced the cause of all victims of capitalism. It was the working class which led the fight against child-labor and for the bill of rights, public schools, public health, unemployment insurance, social security pensions, and other public services.

Despite the present domination of the unions by the conservative bureaucracy, the working class has a proud history of honoring KEEP NOURORA EA its early slogan, "An injury to one is an injury to all!"

Call a national conference A genuine alternative to the Democrats and Republicans can only come from the working class. Their fighting institutions-the unions-have millions of members in every city of this country. They have vast resources in money and rank-and-file activists as a base to build a powerful political party. And most important, they have enormous economic power to back up electoral victories. The National Organization for Women could set into motion the process of building a working-class party. NOW could call a national conference of labor, Blacks, women, and all our allies. They could begin a united movement to fight on the issue of the defense of democratic rights for all, for the Equal Rights Amendment, for a massive construction program to combat homelessness. The conference would be against racism, sexism, unemployment. It would be for affirmative action and against the destruction of our environment. And the right of women to control their own reproductive functions would be high on its agenda.

I am certain that such a national conference would get an immediate hearing. It would put enormous pressure on the labor bureaucracy and make it difficult for them to continue the fatal policy of relying on the so-called friends of labor. It would inspire rank-and-file unionists, Blacks, and other oppressed nationalities to press their organizations to participate in such a national conference.

No matter how far an initiative by NOW could go toward achieving a genuine thirdparty alternative to the status quo, it would give a realistic perspective to progressive forces for a practical solution down the road. That alone would justify such a conference. Unfortunately, the NOW national leadership is already pulling back from its call for an investigation into a third party. In any event, we must remain in the streets, independent and militant. We must do just as we have done this past year with the massive abortion rights marches.

The Wat Bonnet Abortion 905 S Rights 97480 8 < 017**** Our independence, our militancy, has accomplished more than was achieved in all those years of sending telegrams, endorsing Democratic Party hacks, and giving wine-andcheese parties for our enemies in hopes they might throw us a bone. That didn't work, it can't work, it won't work.

Defending the clinics

In the meantime, we must also continue to fight Operation Rescue (OR) to a standstill. We have prevented them from stopping women at the clinic door. Many times, the operators of the clinics have resented our presence. I feel we have given them the message, however, that although they operate the clinics, all women have the right to use them. And it's our right to defend the clinics and women's choice.

We have been able to out-mobilize and outwit OR at every step. This must continue and increase. We cannot depend on the police to protect our clinics. The police generally bend over backwards to protect the OR lawbreakers. No, the only ones we can depend on is ourselves—in the hundreds, thousands, and tens of thousands-to keep our clinics open. It's most important to understand that supporting our hangmen-the Democratic Party hacks-just makes the rope tighter. We have to continue with massive street actions, nationally and locally, and we must step up our defense of the clinics. Only this will work. It's been proven throughout history that mass, independent action is imperative if we want to win.

History teaches us that if we live right, if we continue the struggle, if we continue to reach out to that great majority who are really with us, we will get our chance to make the great changes necessary to preserve human life-all life—on this planet.

One of the most important things you can do is join Socialist Action. We are a small organization, but we have kept alive the best traditions of the workers' movement. And small as we are, we have made an important contribution to the day-to-day struggle for social, economic, and political justice. Price: $1.65 (includes postage) il order to 3435 Army St., Rm. 308, San incisco, CA 94110. Please make checks payable to Walnut Publishing Co.

Scan page 11

Socialist Action debates

----- pull-quotes -----

ABORT 19 #HE* COURT

The War Against Abortion Rights: How to Fight Operation Rescue' and thi 'Right to Life Movement