SA convention shows growth in youth members and leaders

by Dave Bernt

Socialist Action members, supporters, and friends gathered here on July 23-25 to attend the party’s Eleventh National Convention. Delegates debated, discussed, and voted on the party’s program and perspectives, based on written resolutions that were presented to the convention following a three-month written and oral discussion open to SA members across the country.

The July 23 sessions included an International Report by Gerry Foley, the international editor of Socialist Action newspaper. Foley’s presentation focused on the key political and programmatic questions confronting revolutionary socialists throughout the world, especially those affiliated to the Fourth International. He discussed the mass upsurge against neoliberal policies in South America, and the key role of Trotskyists, especially in Argentina.

The situation in Brazil, where Socialist Action’s sister party, Socialist Democracy (DS), functions as a tendency in the mass Workers Party (PT), was also discussed. Foley reaffirmed Socialist Action’s strong opposition to the DS’s participation in the capitalist coalition government of the PT, led by President Inacio “Lula” da Silva, and the Liberal Party.

Foley described the efforts of some DS members and other revolutionaries to build a new party in opposition to the right-wing direction taken by the PT leadership. Foley also discussed the work of Fourth International groups in Europe—in particular, the Revolutionary Communist League (LCR) of France, which has seen significant growth in the recent period.

On July 24, Socialist Action National Secretary Jeff Mackler presented an oral report on the draft Political Resolution, which summarizes the basic positions of Socialist Action on world and national issues.

The report explained the fundamental cause of the war as increased economic competition among the imperialist powers, especially between Western Europe and Japan on the one hand and the United States on the other. Increased inter-imperialist rivalry comes in the context of a worldwide economic crisis. Profits in almost all industries throughout the world are in decline, and world markets are glutted with products that few can buy.

In this context, the imperialist powers fight with each other to dominate global markets. The U.S. invasion of Iraq, with the help of Britain and lesser powers, was an attempt by the United States to gain total or near total control of capitalism’s most important resource—oil. With direct military control over the second largest oil reserves in the world, the U.S. has a decisive bargaining chip hanging over the heads of its imperialist competitors.

The resolution emphasized the central importance of the worldwide opposition to the occupation in Iraq. Mackler’s report affirmed Socialist Action’s support to the Iraqi resistance against U.S. occupation, despite the contradictory and often reactionary nature of the resistance leadership. The report also recounted the incredible achievements of the antiwar movement in the United States and elsewhere, which drew millions into the streets.

Mackler noted that the antiwar movement was able to mobilize bi-coastal demonstrations that exceeded more then 100,000 people on both coasts on five separate occasions. The international mobilizations of Feb. 15, 2003, when a million people hit the streets in the United States and some 10 million mobilized worldwide, was a major challenge to the efforts of the war makers.

Socialist Action played a key role in organizing the West Coast demonstration on Feb. 15. Although ultimately unsuccessful in stopping the invasion and occupation of Iraq, these mobilizations were an important experience for many who saw first hand the power of mass mobilizations. The death and destruction reigned down by the shock and awe bombing campaign and the brutal occupation was a major defeat for the Iraqi people and workers and the oppressed everywhere.

The report noted, however, that the bold and brave Iraqi resistance has challenged the U.S. occupation and has stalled and may yet defeat U.S. plans for total domination in the region. In the meantime, the antiwar movement in the United States has continued to organize mass mobilizations, though generally smaller then those that preceded the war—due in large part to the fact that some antiwar coalitions have subordinated mass organizing to support to the Democratic presidential ticket.

In the afternoon, Michael Schreiber, editor of Socialist Action newspaper, presented a report reaffirming Socialist Action’s position of independent working-class politics and opposition to support for the Democrats and all other pro-capitalist politicians.

While Socialist Action understands the revulsion of many working people toward Bush and his administration’s policies, the report exposed the Democrats and their nominee John Kerry as not a lesser evil, but rather a an attempt to forge illusions in the electoral process and blunt the efforts of building independent mass action.

The report noted the overwhelming, but mistaken, wave of support to the anybody-but-Bush movement among leftist circles. The report also rejected support to the pro-capitalist campaigns of Ralph Nader and other “third” parties. While Nader is running a nominally independent campaign, he has often said that he favors defeating Bush and electing Kerry.

Nader has also endorsed Democratic congressional candidates and says he hopes to help elect a Democratic Party-controlled Congress. Also, while Nader rails against big corporations, his program calls merely for the reform of capitalism into a smaller, kinder, gentler system of exploitation. Socialist Action rejects this as utopian, and seeks the replacement of capitalism by a revolutionary society run by and for working people.

Schreiber outlined Socialist Action’s long-term perspective of building a mass labor party controlled by a revitalized and democratic trade-union movement as a step toward class independence and revolutionary struggle of workers and their allies. Given that such a labor party has not yet developed in the United States, Schreiber presented our view of using the elections as a means of promoting socialist ideas.

He noted that the Socialist Workers Party, Workers World Party, and the California Peace and Freedom Party are each putting forth candidates as alternatives to the Democrats and Republicans in this election.

Schreiber said that although Socialist Action has major programmatic differences with each of these parties, we should call on working people to cast a vote for one of them as a socialist protest against the politics of the big-business-dominated Democrats and Republicans.

Schreiber’s report was followed by a lively debate. Some delegates called for SA to abstain from the elections altogether. Others called for a vote for only the SWP, citing the past support for Democrats by the WWP and PFP. Delegates who supported Schreiber’s report said that all indications are that the WWP and PFP are running this year as socialists in opposition to the Democrats and Republicans.

Schreiber’s report was approved by a majority of the delegates, and adopted as Socialist Action’s official election position.

On Sunday afternoon delegates gathered to hear two reports. The first was the organizational report that summarized Socialist Action activities and discussed the perspectives and goals of SA in the coming period. The report noted that the majority of Socialist Action members are young people under 30 years old, a product of Socialist Action’s sustained efforts to recruit new people to the party.

The report discussed SA’s recruitment efforts, noting the success in building two new party units in Mansfield, Ohio, and Minneapolis. Preceding the convention, Socialist Action held a week-long educational retreat (called the Trotsky School) with youth members from across the country. The school, held at a seaside camp north of San Francisco, included 10 classes on different topics—including Marxist economics, the history of the Russian Revolution, women’s liberation, and the ideas of Malcolm X.

The delegates approved an ambitious two-month fall subscription drive, to increase the circulation base of Socialist Action newspaper. Beginning next month, teams of SA members and supporters will go door to door in neighborhoods and on campuses and will set up tables at shopping centers and political events in an effort to introduce people to the revolutionary press.

In addition, readers can now subscribe by credit card to Socialist Action, through Pay Pal, which can be easily accessed from our web site, www.socialistaction.org.

The organizational report was followed by a report on the building of Youth for Socialist Action, a group of young socialists in solidarity with Socialist Action. The report was presented by YSA national organizer Adam Ritscher.

Ritscher reported that the YSA has continued to grow and now has 106 members. YSA has played a major role in the antiwar movement, campus struggles, labor struggles, gay liberation and feminist struggles, among other social movements.

Ritscher reported that the YSA will attempt to consolidate its organizing across the country and that the group plans to hold its founding convention in the spring, possibly in Minneapolis.

The youth report was followed by the election of the National Committee, the highest decision-making body in Socialist Action until the next convention. The incoming NC includes many new young leaders of the party.

The convention received greetings from Socialist Action (Canada) Federal Secretary Barry Weisleder, Jaime Gonzalez of the League for Socialist Unity in Mexico, Freedom Socialist Party National Secretary Henry Noble, and radical attorney Lynne Stewart (see below), who has been falsely charged with supporting terrorism. Socialist Action (Canada) and the Freedom Socialist Party also sent delegations to observe the convention.

Greetings from Lynne Stewart:

It is the best of times and the worst of times. Best because Corporate America has been unmasked to the people in a matter so obvious that it now gives us new opportunity to speak up and educate.

It is the worst of times because of the toll the class system is exacting on the workers and the defenseless at home. Abroad the merciless Empire of Greed marches on—its vicious multinational grasp is only exceeded by the terror it spreads by Imperial wars.

Your organization has always stood for the People, of the People and by the People. I am proud of your endorsement of my struggle for justice against those who would Big Brother us all into ignorance and fear.

I salute Socialist Action in convention in 2004. There is an opportunity to build and organize as never before. As stated by the legendary James P. Cannon, one of you and one of us all, when he was placed on trial for Sedition in 1941: "We believe that the wealth of the world, the raw materials of the world, and the natural resources of the world are so distributed over the earth that every country contributes something and lacks something for a rounded and harmonious development of the productive forces of mankind.

"We visualize the future society of mankind as a socialist world order which will have a division of labor between the various countries according to their resources, a comradely collaboration between them, and production eventually of the necessities and luxuries of mankind according to a single universal world plan.

"We do not give any support to any imperialist war. We do not vote for it; we do not vote for any person that promotes it; we do not speak for it; we do not write for it. We are in opposition to it."

Then as now we are marching to Victory. I salute you! -Lynne Stewart

The article above first appeared in the August 2004 issue of Socialist Action newspaper.