Socialist Action Newspaper celebrates 20th anniversary

By Jeff Mackler

SAN FRANCISCO—A standing-room-only crowd of 120 Socialist Action members, supporters, and friends filled the Socialist Action Bookstore on Jan. 31 to celebrate the 20th year of uninterrupted publication of the revolutionary socialist monthly newspaper, Socialist Action.

Over a dozen speakers recounted their collaboration with Socialist Action in a broad range of social struggles ranging from opposition to U.S. wars to defense of civil liberties, democratic rights, labor struggles, and the freedom of framed-up political prisoners.

Radical musician and performing artist Michael Franti joined the celebration with a medley of his antiwar and political protest songs. He expressed his appreciation to Socialist Action members for their long-term collaboration and solidarity.

Robert R. Bryan, chief counsel for innocent political prisoner and death row inmate Mumia Abu-Jamal, presented greetings from Mumia, an eight-year subscriber to Socialist Action. Bryan considered Socialist Action to be “the paper of record” of Mumia’s struggle for freedom. “Mumia asked me to express his appreciation for your honest and revolutionary journalism,” he said.

Bob Hernandez, a founder of the Nicaraguan Solidarity Committee, recounted his 10-year, 1981-91, collaboration with Socialist Action in organizing national mass mobilizations and other actions that demanded an end to U.S. intervention in Central America and the Caribbean. Hernandez also pointed to Socialist Action’s regular coverage of the struggle of the Nicaraguan people for self-determination and the efforts of the U.S. government to thwart it.

“Even though we [the Sandinista movement and government] knew there were important differences of evaluation in regard to the course of the Nicaraguan Revolution,” said Hernandez, “we knew that your paper was always objective and that we could discuss our differences with you at the highest level, without interfering with our common fight against U.S. intervention.”

Derrell Myers, a leading spokesperson against the death penalty and the founder of the Jo Jo White Solidarity Project, discussed the critical importance of socialist politics today in the context of a society heading for disaster. “The maxim ‘socialism or barbarism,’” said Myers, “is perhaps obsolete. In today’s mad world the choices are rather socialism or annihilation.”

Myers’ son Jo Jo, who had devoted his energies to supporting the Cuban Revolution and to the defense of Mumia Abu-Jamal, was killed eight years ago by a deranged youth, who fired into Jo Jo’s heart at point blank range as Jo Jo and his friends had stopped their car late at night.

Myers has since devoted his energies to opposing the death penalty, rejecting capitalism’s right to take anyone’s life. He sees the supposedly inexplicable individual acts of murder that are commonplace today, as well as state murder in the form of imperialist war, as a product of capitalism itself.

Riva Enteen, past program director of the Bay Area National Lawyers Guild, detailed the mounting dangers to civil liberties today and expressed her admiration for Socialist Action’s “consistency and long-term dedication” to Mumia’s struggle for freedom and to the defense of beleaguered New York progressive attorney Lynne Stewart, who faces 45 years in prison on frame-up charges of aiding and abetting terrorism.

Stewart was one of the two keynote speakers of the evening, along with Socialist Action Editor Michael Schreiber.

Stewart reported on the reactionary legislation used to prosecute her as well as the secret FBI wiretaps and videotaping of her meetings with her client, the blind Egyptian cleric Sheik Abdel Rachman. Her public release of a press statement from Rachman was the pretext the government employed for its indictment of her on charges of “aiding terrorism.”

The government’s twisted logic holds that Stewart’s “terrorist instrument” was her client, Rachman himself, whose views were made public by Stewart, contrary to government restrictions placed on his communications. The original “terrorism” indictment of Stewart was dismissed as “unconstitutionally vague.” But the government re-indicted her on the same charges, with a slightly modified “theory.”

Stewart is currently free on $500,000 bail pending the outcome of her scheduled May 17 trial. Socialist Action, along with the Lynne Stewart Defense Committee and the National Lawyers Guild, played a leading role in the organization of Stewart’s six-day five-city Bay Area tour in early February that raised $11,000 for her defense. At the Jan. 31 rally, Socialist Action supporters presented a check for $1000 to Stewart as a contribution to this effort.

Iranian political activist Kamran Nayere reviewed the need for revolutionary Marxist analysis and praised Socialist Action newspaper in this regard.

Greetings from the National Network on Cuba, representing some 75 U.S. organizations in solidarity with Cuba, were presented by Karen Wald, who had worked as a journalist in Cuba for 20 years. Wald singled out Socialist Action for its defense of revolutionary Cuba when it was shunned by U.S. liberals and social democrats who attacked the measures taken by the Cuban government against 75 U.S.-financed counterrevolutionaries and three hijackers.

The secretary-treasurer of the San Francisco Labor Council, Walter Johnson, recounted his decades of collaboration with Socialist Action in defense of labor and human rights. “Where we agreed,” said Johnson, “we worked together in common struggles for labor’s rights. When we did not agree, there was always room for reasoned discussion.”

Johnson thanked Socialist Action for its support to the 70,000 striking Southern California grocery workers and appealed to the audience for their continued solidarity.

Howard Wallace, a leader of the AFL-CIO’s Pride at Work, recounted Socialist Action members’ long history of defense of gay and lesbian rights, including mobilization of opposition to the reactionary anti-gay Briggs and La Rouche statewide ballot initiatives. Wallace recently retired as a long-term organizer for the city’s largest union, Hospital Workers Local 250.

The rally was chaired by Socialist Action National Secretary Jeff Mackler, who read special greetings (see page 11) from San Quentin death row inmate Kevin Cooper, scheduled for execution on Feb. 10. Socialist Action has long campaigned for his freedom. Its offices have been used in the past month for the large meetings of the Kevin Cooper Defense Committee.

Greetings were sent to the rally from Laura Herrera, co-coordinator of the Northern California-based Mobilization to Free Mumia Abu-Jamal. Greetings also came from the Freedom Socialist Party and Socialist Organizer as well as from the United Secretariat of the Fourth International and FI affiliates in England, Canada, and Mexico.

Several organizations with whom Socialist Action has collaborated in united-front-type formations over the years were also present and recognized. These included the Peace and Freedom Party, Prison Radio Project, the Irish Republican Socialist Party, and the Revolutionary Communist Party.

The evening was brought to a close by Adam Ritscher, organizer of Socialist Action’s fraternal youth organization, Youth for Socialist Action. Ritscher, also a member of Socialist Action’s National Committee, which had met during the weekend, reported that YSA, with chapters across the country, had just recruited its one hundred and first member.

“Our youth are learning about the socialist program quite fast,” said Ritscher. “They have the courage and dedication to challenge the status quo and participate in building a revolutionary new world.”

[Socialist Action's 20th Anniversary Page]