‘Climate change ... is a world war aimed at all of us.’ — Bill McKibben

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SOCIALIST ACTION SEPTEMBER 2016 7 present crisis becomes irreversible disaster.

If we have the science, technology, and material means to win this war, then why are we still losing? McKibben’s failure to recognize the role of classes in society prevents him from drawing some essential conclusions. Through a combination of education and protest movements, he seeks to convince the present decision makers in government and the economy to do the right thing.

But those in charge are selected by the ruling class. The capitalists became the ruling class through the In­ dustrial Revolution they led. In this country they also had to fight a bloody Civil War to eliminate their slave­ holder competition. And their Industrial Revolution, first fueled by coal, later adding oil and natural gas to the mix, also launched global warming.

Swedish scientists postulated global warming caused by what we now call greenhouse gases in the 19th century—though they thought it would take centuries to develop. Shortly after World War II, oil company scientists became concerned not only about smog-producing car exhausts but possible long-range damage from carbon emissions accumulating in the atmosphere.

In 1964, government scientists briefed President Johnson on the basics of global warming. LBJ told them to keep their theories to themselves and soon proceeded to launch the Vietnam War. His former Air Force Chief of Staff advocated bombing Vietnam back to the Stone Age—and American jet fighters and bombers, one piloted by Lt. Commander John McCain, dropped more tons of bombs on that small country than were used by all sides throughout World War II.

At least the inner sanctum of the class that rules were well aware of their climate-wrecking ways long before science teachers had even heard the term glob­ al warming. Of course, destruction of our biosphere is not their goal. But they see that as a collateral dan­ ger for future generations. In the here and now, fossil fuels and the industries that depend on them are the linchpin of the global economy that has made them the richest elite in history. Rational arguments for change are not persuasive. Like Simpleton in the Ger­ man fairy tale, they will never voluntarily surrender their Golden Goose, to which so many have become stuck—even if in the end we all get our goose cooked.

While McKibben likely understands how ruthless some capitalists may be, he has been a slow learner about those who serve them in government—and as he acknowledges, it’s only governments that can mo­ bilize on the scale needed.

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Socialist Action convention sets ambitious goals T Action was held Aug. 19-21 in Kansas City, Mo. he Seventeenth National Convention of Socialist The convention was preceded by the party’s tradi­ tional three-month pre-convention discussion period, which included some 50 written contributions from SA members.

Delegates from across the country presented re­ ports of their work in many movements—including struggles against global warming and for climate justice, Black Lives Matter and ending racist cop vio­ lence, women’s and LGBT rights, the $15 minimum wage, the antiwar movement, and in the trade unions.

A project that will take center stage in the next few months is the Socialist Action election campaign of Jeff Mackler for U.S. president and Karen Schraufnagel for vice president. Both candidates will be speaking in some 20 U.S. cities during the lead-up to the elections. Socialist Action branches and at-large areas will or­ ganize distributions of campaign material at political meetings, transit stops, and door-to-door in working-class neighborhoods.

Jeff Mackler, who noted Socialist Action’s recruit­ ment of Black and Latino youth and its expansion to a number of cities, summed up what is at stake in the 2016 elections: “There is no doubt that the ruling class is well aware of the mounting discontent bub­ bling up in broad sectors of the population—and es­ pecially among youth and in the working class and op­ pressed nationalities more generally. Both the Clinton and Trump campaigns are aimed in different ways at channeling the disgust over declining opportun4ties Tony Savino / Socialist Action for decent jobs, capitalist austerity, institutionalized racism, sexism, environmental destruction, and more back into safe channels. The two-party charade, in which voters are cajoled into supporting the ‘lesser evil,’ is the major device that this country’s rulers use at election time to divert and dilute this discontent.

“Our job is to present a working-class alternative and to pose the most important question of all: the need for working people to reject capitalist politics and politicians and rely on themselves politically. The working class and its allies among the oppressed, act­ ing in their own interests, have the power to win real and substantial victories.”

The convention opened with discussion that high­ lighted some of the major aspects of the political situation around the world. The Political Resolution approved by convention delegates described the situ­ ation this way: “Eight years into the world capitalist crisis—the Great Depression of the modern era—no nation on earth can boast anything resembling a re­ covery. Stagnation and continued decline are the norm the world over, with the broad imposition of austerity measures taking an ever-increasing toll on the work­ ing masses and oppressed, while imperialist wars for domination and plunder in all their manifestations proceed seemingly without end on every continent.”

At the same time, the report pointed to opportuni­ ties in the emergence of important struggles of work­ ing people and minority communities against many aspects of capitalist oppression. It listed, for example:

• The fight against increasingly harsh austerity and union-busting attacks on U.S. workers, re­ flected in the strike of Verizon workers, the on-going fight around a new Chicago Teachers Union contract, and other struggles. • The battles of low-wage workers for a $15 minimum wage and a union. • The fight against racist cop murders and the growing strength of the Movement for Black Lives and other anti-racist groups and coalitions emerging in Black and other com­ munities of oppressed peoples. • The growing struggle against climate change and for a quick and just transition to 100% renewable sources of energy—a strug­ gle that includes the demand for an immediate ban on fracking. • The movement against deportations and extending the rights of immigrant workers. Socialist Action supports and participates in all of these struggles and plans to deepen in­ volvement in the coming year.

In discussion on the Organizational Report, the delegates outlined plans for this fall and beyond. A series of tasks were outlined that project Socialist Action “outward” towards heightened engagement with radicalizing workers and students engaged in struggle against capitalist oppression. The report and discussion encouraged SA members to obtain unionized jobs in the industrial workforce where possible.

The convention approved a National Sales Drive designed to make sales of the paper a central part of the activity of every SA branch and at-large area. Also approved was an effort to improve the newspaper’s content and quality by adding staff and encouraging local areas to make frequent contribu­ tions that feature involvement of SA members in lo­ cal struggles. An important national fund drive of $25,000 was also planned.

In regard to Socialist Action’s antiwar work, discus­ sion was devoted to evaluating the course of the war in Syria. The convention re-affirmed Socialist Action’s major positions adopted over the past several years and summarized as follows in an article in the January 2016 issue of Socialist Action newspaper:

“In the wake of virtually all U.S. Middle East wars over the past decade and longer, “failed states” have been the inevitable outcome. In Libya, Iraq, and Af­ ghanistan, death and destruction and endless interne­ cine wars waged by competing tribal-based reaction­ ary groups are accompanied by almost unbelievable human suffering—poverty, disease and starvation— U.S. imperialism’s trademark and legacy for whom­ ever it conquers.

“Again, unconditional support to the right of self-determination of all oppressed nations, free from all imperialist intervention in all its manifestations, is a central and strategic component of revolutionary socialist politics. Having affirmed this fundamental (continued on page 10, in “News and views from SA Canada Green Party puts BDS on political agenda”)