40 Years Since the Vietnam War: SOCIALIST How the War Machine Was Stopped ALTERNATIVE page 6 Suggested Donation $2 Issue #15 - July-August 2015 END THE RULE OF THE BILLION AIRE CLASS!
Sanders The Campaign Fight for Gains Equality Is Momentum Not Over! page 4 page 5 WHAT WE STAND FOR WHY I AM A SOCIALIST
Fighting for the 99% JJImmediate, unconditional legalization and JJNo budget cuts to education and social equal rights for all undocumented immigrants. services! Full funding for all community needs. JJBuild a mass movement against police Emily Malone A major increase in taxes on the rich and big brutality and the institutional racism of the Milwaukee, WI business, not working people. The federal criminal justice system. Invest in rehabilitation, government should bail out states to prevent job training, and living-wage jobs, not prisons! cuts and layoffs. Abolish the death penalty. JJCreate living-wage union jobs for all the JJFight sexual harassment, violence against unemployed through public works programs women, and all forms of sexism. to develop mass transit, renewable energy, JJDefend a woman’s right to choose whether My first real experience being active in pol- infrastructure, health care, education, and and when to have children. For a publicly itics was during the Scott Walker recall when affordable housing. funded, single-payer health care system with I was a freshman in college. Disgusted by the anti-union legislation Walker got passed, I JJRaise the federal minimum wage to $15/hour, free reproductive services, including all forms joined in this effort that was doomed to fail. adjusted annually for cost of living increases, of birth control and safe, accessible abortions. My proudest moment during the whole cam- as a step toward a living wage for all. Comprehensive sex education. Paid maternity paign was when I got kicked out of a grocery JJFree, high quality public education for all from and paternity leave. Fully subsidized, high- quality child care. store parking lot for circulating petitions. have focused on my own political education pre-school through college. Cancel student This rebellious attitude later led me to and learned to look at society from a new JJEqual rights for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and debt. Full funding for schools to dramatically reject the Democratic Party after I had time perspective. transgender people, including same-sex lower teacher-student ratios. Stop the focus to reflect on its actions – both in the recall Looking at all the social problems we face marriage. on high stakes testing and the drive to debacle and at the national level. I came to today, whether that’s racism or economic privatize public education. Money for Jobs and Education, the conclusion that the social function of the inequality or climate change or any number J JFree, high quality health care for all. Replace Not War Democrats is to crush popular movements of other things, we cannot ignore the role the the failed for-profit insurance companies with like the 2011 protests. This led me to look capitalist system plays in perpetuating them. J a publicly funded single-payer system as a JEnd the occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan. into more radical alternatives. That is the real reason I consider myself a step toward fully socialized medicine. Bring all the troops home now! Earlier this year, I joined Socialist Alter- socialist: because I understand how all injus- JJA guaranteed decent pension for all. No cuts JJSlash the military budget. No drones. Shut native in Madison. I’d heard about Kshama tices are interrelated and how fundamen- to Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid! down Guantanamo. Sawant and the $15 victory in Seattle well tal systemic change is needed to overcome JJStop home foreclosures and evictions. For JJRepeal the Patriot Act, the NDAA, and all before I joined. In Socialist Alternative, I them. J public ownership and democratic control of other attacks on democratic rights. the major banks. Break with the Two Parties JJA minimum guaranteed weekly income of $600/week for the unemployed, disabled, of Big Business stay-at-home parents, the elderly, and others JJFor a mass workers’ party drawing together Big Business Funding unable to work. workers, young people, and activists from JJRepeal all anti-union laws like Taft-Hartley. For workplace, environmental, civil rights, and democratic unions run by the rank-and-file to women’s campaigns to provide a fighting, Opposition to Sawant fight for better pay, working conditions, and political alternative to the corporate parties. social services. Full-time union officials should JJUnions and social movement organizations be regularly elected and receive the average should stop funding and supporting the Democratic and Republican Parties and Kailyn Nicholson Restaurant Association – giving thousands wage of those they represent. to opponents of Kshama. While accepting J instead organize independent left-wing, anti- JNo more layoffs! Take bankrupt and failing From the spreading of the 15 Now cam- these donations, they attack Kshama for companies into public ownership and retool corporate candidates and coalitions as a first step toward building a workers’ party. paign across the country, to being featured being more focused on “global socialist revo- them for socially necessary green production. in The Nation and Democracy Now, as well lution” than issues relevant to voters. JJShorten the workweek with no loss in pay Socialism and Internationalism as endorsements from national figures like Of peculiar note are donations from Plum and benefits; share out the work with the JJCapitalism produces poverty, inequality, Chris Hedges and Jill Stein, it’s clear that Creek Timber Company. Anyone who lives unemployed and create new jobs. environmental destruction, and war. We need Kshama Sawant’s brand of uncompromis- in Seattle can tell you: There is no timber an international struggle against this system. ingly pro-worker, independent leadership is in District 3! There is no timber anywhere Environmental Sustainability NEAR District 3! So why are timber compa- JJRepeal corporate “free trade” agreements, inspiring to people across the country. JJFight climate change. Organize mass protests nies jumping to give maximum donations to which mean job losses and a race to the It is exactly that inspiring quality that and civil disobedience to block the Keystone a candidate in that race? bottom for workers and the environment. makes her such a threat to the corporate XL oil pipeline, coal export terminals, and establishment. They recognize that, if left Because these big businesses DO have JJSolidarity with the struggles of workers and fracking. Massive public investment in unchecked, the movements that Kshama an interest in keeping the minimum wage oppressed peoples internationally: An injury renewable energy and efficiency technologies is helping to build in Seattle – to take back low, keeping political power in corporate to one is an injury to all. to rapidly replace fossil fuels. power and resources from the super-wealthy hands, and in preventing the growth of grass- J JJA major expansion of public transportation JTake into public ownership the top 500 and their corporate politicians – will be roots environmental movements like those to provide low-fare, high-speed, accessible corporations and banks that dominate eagerly embraced by ordinary people all over Kshama has helped build against oil trains transit. the U.S. economy. Run them under the the country and represent a serious threat to and the Shell arctic drilling platform. JJPublic ownership of the big energy companies. democratic management of elected their profit margins. All workers in polluting industries should be representatives of the workers and the Proof that the establishment sees Kshama Donate $20 Today to guaranteed retraining and new living-wage broader public. Compensation to be paid on as a huge threat can be seen in the donation Push Back jobs in socially useful green production. the basis of proven need to small investors, records of her opponents in the current city not millionaires. council race. The corporate elite are not stupid; they Equal Rights for All JJA democratic socialist plan for the economy know a credible threat to their power then JJFight discrimination based on race, nationality, based on the interests of the overwhelming Donations from Big Developers they see it. And that’s why they are flood- gender, sexual orientation, religion, disability, majority of people and the environment. and Bankers ing Kshama’s opponents with cash and cre- age, and all other forms of prejudice. Equal For a socialist United States and a socialist ating PACs to run attack ads against her. J pay for equal work. world. Public disclosure reports reveal a who’s- Will they succeed? Can corporate money who of corporate CEOs, big developers, drown the struggles of ordinary people for Socialist Alternative Editor Tom Crean • Editorial Board Ty Moore, Tony Wilsdon, Jess Spear, Joshua Koritz investment bankers, owners of union-bust- a better world? That’s up to us to decide. ing hotels, and business lobbying groups – Donate to Kshama’s campaign today at • [email protected] like the loudly anti-$15 an hour Washington KshamaSawant.org/donate. J • PO Box 150457, Brooklyn, NY 11215
2 SOCIALIST ALTERNATIVE.ORG • JULY-AUGUST 2015 POLITICS Re-elect Kshama Sawant More than 800 people came together at Kshama Sawant’s kickoff for her re-election cam- Kshama Sawant Column paign. The rally brought together a range of speakers including Abdi Mohamed, one of the organizers My Vision for who led the successful fight for 15 in SeaTac; nurses fighting Swedish Medical Center for a fair contract; Seattle and SEIU leader David Rolf who praised Kshama’s role in winning Twitter: @cmkshama $15 in Seattle. At the June 6 rally, speakers free from discrimination and pov- Follow Kshama Sawant’s highlighted the challenges faced erty, where our city is a leader in campaign in Seattle at by working people in Seattle. While mass transit and environmental KshamaSawant.org construction cranes and luxury sustainability. Where we have a condos increasingly dominate the powerful labor movement, a work- Photo Credit: Clay Showalter skyline, most of us face an afford- ing waterfront, and good paying facebook.com @votesawant /VoteSawant able housing crisis. While our city union jobs across all sectors of our and state are home to some of the workforce. Where young people, world’s wealthiest corporations, we retirees, all people, are able to face underfunded services and the flourish and live in dignity. A city Make Seattle Affordable for All! most regressive tax system in the of equality between people of dif- Seattle's voice for working fam- need Kshama on the council to an hour minimum wage less than nation. ferent colors, gender identities, ilies on the city council, Kshama build relentless pressure to tax six months after she took office. The crisis of affordable housing immigrants and first nations. A city Sawant, is up for re-election. It is the rich to fund mass transit and Based on her movement building and the devastating outcome of where never for a moment forgets up to you to help us to defend the education. skills and ability to bring coali- endless cuts is of course not just a that black lives matter. seat of an unapologetic socialist, Since her election in 2013, tions together, she led the effort Seattle problem but is devastating This is my vision – not just for an outstanding advocate for work- Councilmember Kshama Sawant to win an Indigenous People's Day, working class communities across Seattle but for cities and commu- ing people and the oppressed, a has used her position to help build stopped the planned rent hikes the country. In New York, for nities across the country. I think voice of the 99%. mass opposition to the corporate- of 400% by the local housing example, the median rent is now this vision is worth fighting for. We need Kshama on the coun- driven agenda in Seattle and authorities and won millions in the $2,840 while median income in cil to represent the struggles that beyond. budget debate for human services many parts of the city is well below Kshama Sawant are developing in Seattle espe- Kshama has been a champion based on the people's budget $50,000 a year. I explained at the rally that I is a Seattle City cially the fight for affordable hous- of working people, delivering on her coalition she launched. Councilmember ing, to implement rent control, to campaign promise to make Seattle Find out more, donate and vol- have a different vision for Seattle. and a member of make the big developers pay. We the first major city to pass a $15 unteer: KshamaSawant.org. J A Seattle based on social justice, Socialist Alternative
“Polls now show that nearly 60% of people are Voices from the June 6 Rally to Re-elect Kshama saying that the corporate Wall Street sponsored political parties have abandoned the American “What is happening in Seattle is important people. It’s time for a new force in politics.” not only for the city of Seattle but for the country “It’s time for us to stand up for independent politics and because you are setting an example of what cities the future we deserve, not only in Seattle but all across the across this country must do, and that is wipe out the nation. What happens in Seattle should not stay in Seattle. Democratic and Republican parties and replace them We must nationalize these victories, we must nationalize these with socialists who are antagonistic to the forces of struggles, demand living wages and union rights all across corporate power and will work in every way possible the country, health care, education, and housing as human to drive corporate power back from our prisons, rights, abolish student debt, make public higher education from our schools, from our healthcare service. free, end police brutality and the racist prison state.” “Every single thing we do must be to send the - Jill Stein, Presidential Candidate, Green Party message that we are going to destroy the structures of corporate power and take back our country.” “Here are three reasons why we should re-elect Kshama Sawant: - Author and commentator Chris Hedges 1. She courageously stood up and supported the No New Jail campaign to stop the building of a new detention center “Kshama’s election is an inspiration to you but in Seattle. And I gotta say... she was the only one! it’s an inspiration to us as well, because Europeans 2. She has been a passionate fighter for economic see America as an indomitable force of capitalism… justice in this city…. In this city, low-wage workers… So when lefts and socialists get elected, and and renters are disproportionately people of color.” put forward… uncompromising socialist ideas, 3. She understands this is not about her. This is about all that’s actually vital in Europe for us to see. of us. This is about us building a grassroots anti-racist, anti- “Become a socialist… We need to build capitalist people’s movement to say ‘NO’ to the corporate agenda, an alternative set of ideas to this system to say ‘NO’ to the capitalists who want to make this city only and socialism is the only set of ideas that a city for the rich, the powerful, and the well-connected. are an alternative to capitalism.” “... We will fight together, until we change this city and transform - Ruth Coppinger, member of the Irish this whole city and this whole country. Re-Elect Kshama Sawant!” Parliament for Socialist Alternative’s sister - Dustin Washington, an organizer with organization, the Socialist Party the Black Lives Matter movement
SOCIALIST ALTERNATIVE.ORG • JULY-AUGUST 2015 3 POLITICS Sanders’ Campaign Gains Momentum How Do We Build a Decisive Challenge to Corporate Political Domination?
Bryan Koulouris likely Hillary Clin- ton – in 2016. This article is an edited and adapted As that moment Why We Need a extract of a longer contribution to the debate approaches, the about socialists should intervene in the Bernie Sanders cam- “Political Sanders campaign. For the full text visit paign will be SocialistAlternative.org. thrown into crisis. Socialists must Revolution” The Bernie Sanders campaign for Presi- help the current dent is gaining more traction than anybody Sanders support- “When I talk about a political expected. This reflects the massive hatred ers avoid the trap revolution, what everybody of Wall Street, the frustration at big business of the Democratic here has got to understand domination of the political system and the Party – the grave- is that the billionaire class openness to socialist ideas in U.S. society. yard of social and their representatives in movements. Our Sanders rallies have constantly necessitated Washington are so powerful bigger venues than organizers planned. Thou- energetic inter- sands are being turned away at the doors vention within that the best president in the from New Hampshire to Colorado. Sanders’ audi- world cannot defeat them alone. Socialist Alternative, which stands for ence with propos- Bernie Sanders speaks to 20,000 at a campaign stop in Wisconsin, May 30, 2015. We need a mass movement building a new mass working people’s party, als to connect his to protests and struggles, can gain an echo of millions of people.” disagrees with Sanders’ approach of running campaign to real social movements will lay that can translate, at a later stage, into a big - Bernie Sanders, Minneapolis, in the Democratic primary. However, we also the basis for the strongest possible challenge breakthrough for independent working-class May 30, 2015 see the tens of thousands of people flock- to Clinton and the Republicans in 2016. politics. ing to his campaign, excited to fight against corporate America, many getting involved in Jill Stein and the Green Party Ñ We have record levels of inequality, politics for the first time. Engaging in the Debate debt and poverty, while the 1% The thousands of people getting involved Jill Stein is running for the Green Party Socialist Alternative has acknowledged makes record profits. Wall Street in the Sanders campaign are often new to nomination for President. Socialist Alterna- many times our political differences with got bailed out, but where is the activism and angry at the massive inequality tive supported Stein’s previous campaign for Sanders. We disagree with his support for the relief for working people? in society. They are disgusted with the poten- President and her local campaigns in Massa- Israeli state. We also urge the Sanders cam- ñ Public services are being eroded tial prospect of having former Walmart exec- chusetts. Socialist Alternative welcomes her paign to take a stronger stand in opposition utive Hillary Clinton running as the “lesser announcement and her clearly independent so big corporations don’t have to to racist attacks and police brutality. While pay taxes. In the richest coun- evil” against arch-reactionary Scott Walker or left campaign. these criticisms are important, they will not yet another Bush. Socialist Alternative will support the try in the world, we should have stop us from putting forward our plans and fully funded education, health- We want to engage with these people and strongest independent left campaign in the ideas for how to win the positive things Sand- their efforts in order to win them to building Presidential election in 2016. We want to care, pensions, jobs, and poverty ers stands for. programs. movements that can change society. build maximum pressure from below in the Within the Bernie Sander campaign – for Sanders campaign to encourage him to not example at “People for Bernie Sanders” meet- ¡ Big Oil is running roughshod over Avoid the endorse Hillary Clinton and to run beyond ings – we want to talk about how to win 15, concerns about climate change. Democratic Party Trap the primaries and into the general election to a massive jobs program, guaranteed quality What right does Big Oil have to challenge the corporate elites, or at least to health care, and an end to budget cuts. This drill, mine, and frack every last While building support for Sanders’ propos- support the strongest independent, left chal- can open a discussion about how Democrats bit of fossil fuel no matter what als for a political revolution, to fight for a fed- lenger. This will very likely be Jill Stein, and as well as Republicans carry out attacks on the cost to communities and eral $15 minimum wage, single-payer health we want to get her on every ballot possible in working people and the need to build move- future generations? care and much more, we are very clear: the the election. ments from below in the streets, workplaces, ¿ The criminal justice system is Democratic Party primaries are dominated by This positive proposal for the boldest campuses and communities against all the broken. The U.S. makes up five corporate cash. Sanders will almost certainly possible challenge to Clinton and Bush or injustices of capitalism. We can pose this in a percent of the world’s population lose. He has already said that he will sup- Walker, alongside boldly building the social- positive way by talking about how to build the but has 25 percent of the world’s port the Democratic Party’s nominee – most ist movement and connecting the campaign broadest possible movement to challenge the prison population. Militarized Wall Street agenda. This is the most effective police forces are out of control. way to get an echo in the campaign for inde- Every 28 hours a black person is pendent working-class and socialist politics. shot. And this will reveal, in practice, the limita- #MillionStudentMarch tions of Sanders’ strategy of working within ¤ The vast majority of the media is the Democratic Party. owned by six corporations. Bernie Sanders calls for free “If a million young people If Sanders does endorse Clinton in 2016, £ Big business has stacked the two- march on Washington, [and] then we would want to organize the best college tuition: What’s it going to party system against us. The activists in his campaign and in “People take to win? they say…you better vote to deal Republicans are more blatant, for Bernie” to protest against this move and with student debt, ou better but the Democrats are also Elan Axelbank, Socialist Alternative split from the Democratic Party. Alongside a awash in corporate cash. While member and student leader in the 15 vote to make public universities second election victory for Kshama Sawant they disagree on some things, Now Campaign at Northeastern Univer- and colleges tuition free, in November of this year, this would be a cru- they ultimately come together to sity, explores the next steps towards a that’s when it will happen.” cial step in laying the basis for what is really pass pro-corporate, anti-worker mass student movement to scrap tuition, needed: A mass working-class party that – Bernie Sanders legislation like TPP fast track. J get rid of student debt and fight for $15/ fights against capitalism and its political rep- http://tinyurl.com/MillionStudentsMarch hour minimum wage at all universities resentatives. J By Patrick Ayers
4 SOCIALIST ALTERNATIVE.ORG • JULY-AUGUST 2015 LGBTQ MOVEMENT The Fight for Equality is Not Over!
Ellie Bloom
From the transgender women and gay men who fought back Supreme Court Decision against racist police during the Compton Cafeteria Riots in 1966, to the militant ACT-UP organizers who demanded the FDA approve Historic Victory for life-saving AIDS medication in the early 1980s, the material gains of LGBTQ people have consistently LGBTQ People been won in the streets long before they are won in the courts. Marriage equality is a huge vic- tory for all LGBTQ people, but it is only one step on the road to true equality, as the developing transgender liberation movement shows. On June 26, 4,000 people took to the street for Trans* Pride Seattle. transgender lives – especially Many working-class trans and Grim Realities black transgender lives – do not queer people have rightly begun There can be no doubt that Cait- matter at all. to doubt politicians who claim to lyn Jenner’s decision to come out For transgender adults and chil- support LGBTQ people yet con- as a transgender woman on tele- dren, the fight to be treated with tinually fail to take real action. vision has captured the attention dignity is a life-or-death struggle. The Democratic Party, while not of the American public, launching The Religious Freedom Restora- leading on the issues, at least the transgender community into tion Act (RFRA) still allows for pays lip service to LGBTQ rights. the national spotlight while instill- legal discrimination on the basis Meanwhile, not a single candi- Jess Spear federal and state governments ing some much-needed humanity of sexual orientation and gender date running for the 2016 Repub- don’t legally recognize your rela- identity in 19 states, with several lican primaries supports mar- into a national conversation that The Supreme Court’s decision tionship. We believe all couples, more states pending. Under RFRA, riage equality, and the vitriolic has, up to now, focused dispro- that same-sex couples have the married or not, should have these anyone who appears homosexual response from the religious right portionately on misinformation right to be married in all 50 states benefits. or gender-nonconforming can be on the Supreme Court ruling is and dehumanizing stereotypes. is a historic victory in the struggle The Supreme Court decision denied housing, proper restroom a vivid reminder of the very real While Caitlyn Jenner’s wealth does for LGBTQ equality in the United comes in the wake of the victory access, and medical care, among consequences of the Republicans not make her personal narrative or States. It is the result of a deter- in Ireland, the first country in the many other basic services. in power. identity any less important, the mined, well-organized mass cam- world to bring in marriage equal- LGBTQ people comprise However, what the women’s lived experience of thousands of paign, which was fought state by ity by popular vote. This stunning approximately 40% of homeless movement gained, and then lost, transgender and queer individu- state and in the early years faced change took place in a country youth, and transgender people are in terms of access to abortion als remains dramatically at odds many reverses. where, for decades, the Roman four times more likely to live in demonstrates that the Democrats with that of Ms. Jenner, a wealthy The past decade has seen a Catholic Church had an effective poverty than the general popula- are not effective at advancing – celebrity with a reality television massive and rapid shift in social veto on social policy. Our Irish tion: “For those trans people who let alone defending – victories show and an Olympic gold medal. attitudes in the U.S. toward sister organization, the Socialist do find work, 44%, are under- won by social movements. And In fact, for transgender and LGBTQ people, which is also mir- Party, has followed up by intro- employed, and 17% maintain a we should not forget that, just queer people, the fight to be seen rored in a number of other coun- ducing the Employment Equal- household income under $10,000 a few days before the marriage as equal under the law is just tries. It was only 11 years ago that ity (Amendment) Bill to remove a year (compared to 4% of the equality ruling, President Obama beginning. Racism and bigotry the Supreme Court overturned the legal protections granted to general population in that age silenced and mocked Jennicet continue to rot our judicial system state laws banning gay sex, and schools and hospitals run by reli- bracket)” ( Gutiérrez, an undocumented from the top down. For example, RapidNewsNetwork. only ten years ago that Massa- gious organizations to discrimi- , 06/28/2015). transgender woman of color, across the country transgender com chusetts became the first state nate against employees who are when she interrupted his speech women are still being housed to adopt marriage equality. Polls LGBTQ, atheists, single parents, honoring LGBTQ history at the into male prisons, regardless of Next Steps now show that a majority of Amer- and others from minority faiths White House. government ID. By housing trans icans, especially young people, on the basis of the “ethos” of the At a time when the LGBTQ A mass movement that is able women with cisgender (non-trans) support marriage equality. organization. movement is making sweeping to mobilize broad sections of the males and/or denying hormone Marriage equality, upheld by Both in Ireland and the U.S. gains on the marriage equality LGBTQ working-class holds the treatment and gender-confirming the highest court in the country, the legalization of marriage front, we must not forget that best potential to build on the surgery to prisoners, the state is more than a symbolic recog- equality is part of a broader shift transgender people are still fight- momentum coming out of the ignores the very transgender iden- nition of the love and commit- to the left among big sections ing for acceptance. The victories Supreme Court decision. How- tity they claim to recognize – and, ment shared by LGBTQ couples. of the population. However, we on marriage equality can act as ever, in order to achieve larger in doing so, greatly increases the It means that a whole number of should not be under any illusions a springboard to launch a move- and lasting victories for queer likelihood of the trans inmates legal benefits enjoyed by mar- that the right will not continue to ment that takes up the issues and trans people, we must keep being subjected to rape, violence, ried straight couples will now push other parts of its reaction- that affect all LGBTQIA people our movement independent and, and needlessly cruel psychological be extended to married LGBTQ ary agenda or that the fight for but tend to disproportionately ultimately, direct our struggle suffering. This kind of contradic- couples. From hospital visitation queer equality is completed. The impact the transgender commu- against the very system that tion sends a clear message to the rights to survivor benefits, the victory of the movement for mar- nity: discrimination in housing exploits all working people and most oppressed members of the long list of benefits granted to riage equality should be used as and employment, a $15 minimum uses gender and sexual norms to LGBTQ and queer communities: married couples are a reminder of a platform to mobilize for further wage, and #BlackLivesMatter. keep us divided. J in the eyes of the judicial system, the very real consequences when change. J
SOCIALIST ALTERNATIVE.ORG • JULY-AUGUST 2015 5 stagnation and poverty in the colonial and neo- to provoke a colonial world, it is understandable that the national upris- Vietnamese Revolution was enormously attrac- ing. Although the tive to millions of people around the world. U.S. was able to In South Vietnam, an entirely different militarily defeat the regime was established. The US emerged Tet Offensive, the from the Second World War as the world’s war began to look biggest superpower, with the Soviet Union as increasingly like its biggest rival. Despite the willingness of the a quagmire. That Stalinists to cut deals with the US and other year, Richard Nixon imperialist powers, the US ruling elite feared was elected on the the spread of further revolutionary upheavals. slogan of “peace In particular, they believed that a Việt Minh with honor.” victory would lead to a “domino effect” with Despite promising George Martin Fell Brown of the Communist Party of Indochina, formed more countries leaving the sphere of capital- to wind down the the Việt Minh, an alliance with nationalist ism across Southeast Asia. Therefore the U.S. war, he instead Forty years ago, on April 30, 1975, at 7:53 forces against Japanese rule. propped up the corrupt and repressive South expanded it. The in the morning, the Marine helicopter Swift 2-2 Hồ became a socialist while living in France Vietnamese puppet dictator Ngô Đình Diệm. bombing campaign departed from the United States embassy in in 1921. Inspired by the Russian Revolution, This regime had nothing to do with democracy, was expanded from Saigon, capital of South Vietnam. The heli- he joined the communist movement. But by independence or self-determination. Vietnam to the copter carried the last batch of soldiers who the time Hồ came to prominence in the Viet- In response, the Việt Cộng guerrilla move- country’s neutral had been waging a brutal, protracted war namese anti-colonial movement, the Russian ment was formed, backed by North Vietnam neighbors of Laos against the revolutionary peasant uprising of Revolution had degenerated and the Soviet and, in 1959, a new guerrilla war was launched and Cambodia. But Hồ Chí Minh’s Việt Cộng guerrillas. Two and Union was under bureaucratic dictatorship of against the South Vietnamese regime. this simply took the a half hours after the departure of Swift 2-2, Joseph Stalin. Capitalism remained abolished U.S. deeper into the U.S. puppet regime in South Vietnam for- and real social gains were achieved. How- American War Drive the quagmire. By mally surrendered to Hồ. By the afternoon, Hồ ever the political power was taken away from the end of the war, announced that the South Vietnamese govern- working class people and concentrated in the Ostensibly, the Vietnam War was not a war 58,220 American ment was “completely dissolved at all levels.” hands of a privileged, parasite caste at the top at all, but a “police action.” The process began soldiers had been The Vietnam war was over. of society. under Eisenhower, who secretly sent military killed and over Vietnam was the first time in history that the Hồ adopted Stalin’s bureaucratic, brutal advisers to South Vietnam. Under Kennedy, the 150,000 wounded. United States lost a war. A country, armed to and dictatorial methods, and embraced his number of secret advisers rose to sixteen thou- the teeth with the latest in modern weaponry, political turn away from working class interna- sand. But it was Kennedy’s successor John- The War at Home which had marched to victory in two world tionalism. He followed the Stalinist advice to son who, under the guise of the manufactured wars, found itself stopped in its tracks against subordinate workers’ struggles to a nationalist “Gulf of Tonkin incident” in 1964, stepped up Ultimately, the United States was defeated a poor, colonized peasant nation struggling for alliance with “progressive” capitalists. the intervention into a full-scale war. because it was fighting a popular resistance. freedom. The U.S. military was faced with a dif- But there was also a genuine revolutionary The scale of the war was massive. A total But it wasn’t just the resistance of the Viet- ferent kind of enemy: the popular resistance of socialist movement developing in Vietnam, of 2.7 million American soldiers served in the namese peasants, but also the massive anti- the Vietnamese workers and peasants, a rising lead by Tạ Thu Thâu, which supported Leon war, representing 9.7% of their generation. war movement in the U.S. itself. The move- tide of social struggles at home, and increas- Trotsky’s fight against Stalinism and called for Vietnam and its neighbors Laos and Cambodia ment began slowly in the early 1960s. Serious ing dissatisfaction within its own army. As the the working class to lead the struggle against were hit by 7 million tons of American bombs, anti-war organizing first took place on university socialist historian Howard Zinn put it, “it was colonialism. The Vietnamese Trotskyists estab- more than twice the amount of bombs dropped campuses, with groups like the Students for a organized modern technology versus organized lished a powerful base among the workers of on Europe and Asia in the Second World War. Democratic Society holding anti-war teach-ins human beings, and the human beings won.” Saigon. When the Japanese were driven out As part of Operation Ranch Hand, almost 20 across the country and organizing demonstra- The story of how the humans won is highly of Indochina in 1945, the Trotskyists played million gallons of chemical herbicides were tions. Soon the movement would balloon into relevant today as we face a ruling elite that has a prominent role in a general strike in Saigon sprayed as well, including the notorious Agent the biggest anti-war movement in U.S. history. carried out a policy of constant foreign wars for against the return of French rule. Hồ’s Stalin- Orange. This was part of a policy of “forced Establishment accounts of the anti-Vietnam 14 years while attacking democratic rights at ists at this point looked to British, French, and draft urbanization,” destroying the peasants’ war movement portray it as dominated by privi- home and concentrating unimaginable wealth American imperialism as a “progressive” ally crops to starve guerrillas out of the country- leged students with the working class making in its hands. If ordinary people stood up and against Japan. After the general strike, the side. In addition 338 thousand tons of napalm up the “silent majority” that backed Nixon. stopped the war machine 40 years ago, we can Việt Minh, the fighters for independence under bombs were dropped in the region, all to back However, this is a gross distortion of how con- build a mass movement to end the rule of the Hồ’s leadership, had the Trotskyists slaugh- and defend a hated dictatorial regime. sciousness actually developed. Due to the billionaires in our time. tered and facilitated the return of French rule. As the U.S. military effort became bogged nature of the draft, the vast majority of soldiers While Hồ Chí Minh saw French imperialism down because of the mass opposition of the were drawn from the ranks of the working class A History of Resistance as an ally facilitating independence, French Vietnamese people, the brutality of the occu- and oppressed. And they were the ones who imperialism didn’t see things that way. As pation increased. In one infamous incident, witnessed the horrors of the war first hand. For over a century, the history of Vietnam France re-established its colonial rule, the Việt American troops entered the hamlet of My Lai It’s true that conservative union leaders sup- was one of colonial conquest and anti-colonial Minh was pushed to the left by the force of on March 16, 1968, rounded up the inhab- ported the war, but this position faced internal resistance. Between 1859 and 1885, the events and waged a guerrilla struggle against itants, children included. They were then dissent. By the end of the war opposition to French government instigated a series of mili- French rule. This culminated in the battle of ordered into a ditch, 500 in all, and methodi- the war was higher in the working class than tary conquests in Southeast Asia, eventually Điện Biên Phủ in 1954, which forced out the cally shot to death. The My Lai massacre was the middle class and particularly strong among establishing the colony of French Indochina French and established Hồ’s rule in North only the most well-known incident of this poor workers and African Americans. in what is now Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia. Vietnam. Hồ’s regime overthrew capitalism sort. As Colonel David H. Hackworth put it, The most significant working class resis- France ruthlessly exploited its colony through and launched a massive land reform program “There were hundreds of My Lais. You got your tance occurred within the army itself. A an oppressive plantation system. By the that vastly improved the standard of living for card punched by the numbers of bodies you number of radical groups actively pursued a Second World War, the rising imperial power of the majority of the population. But politically, counted.” policy of entering the army to carry out anti- Japan briefly drove out the French and estab- North Vietnam was a bureaucratic dictator- On January 31, 1968, the Việt Cộng war activity among the soldiers. Other left-wing lished an even more ruthless colonial rule. It ship made in the Soviet Union’s image. Nev- launched the Tet Offensive, a military assault activists on the civilian side set up a network was during this time that Hồ Chí Minh, founder ertheless, given the nightmare of capitalist on over 100 cities in South Vietnam designed of coffeehouses, storefronts, and bookstores
6 SOCIALIST ALTERNATIVE.ORG • JULY-AUGUST 2015 Tom Crean revolutionary movements against colonial- ism and capitalism around the world. Hun- In 1975, as Saigon fell to the National dreds of thousands considered themselves Liberation Front (NLF), the U.S. was in the socialists. In 1968, there was a month-long middle of the most profound political, social general strike by workers in France, fol- and economic crisis it had faced World War lowed by Italy’s “hot autumn” in 1969 and II. There were a number of elements com- the Portuguese Revolution of 1974. parable to what we have seen in recent The U.S. working class had not reached years. such far reaching conclusions but there Beginning in 1973, the U.S. experienced was upheaval in workplaces here as well. a sharp economic downturn which marked Between the mid-60s and mid-70s there the end of the huge postwar economic was a huge wave of class struggle. In 1974 expansion. By May 1975, official unemploy- alone, nearly 1.8 million workers were out ment had reached 9%. The ruling elite were on strike and nearly 32 million workdays unsure of how to respond to this crisis. lost due to strikes! Many of these were All the institutions of American capital- “wildcat” strikes taken without union sanc- ism increasingly came into question. This tion because of the frustration of workers process culminated in the constitutional with their leadership for not fighting back crisis caused by the Watergate break-in. against attacks on living standards and In August 1974, Richard Nixon, facing the working conditions. threat of Congressional impeachment, was What was missing was a political force forced to resign because of Watergate. with sufficient authority to galvanize the outside military bases, which became cen- More slowly, Vietnam also headed towards the But the most important feature of the massive discontent in the working class ters for dissent within the military. Anti-war restoration of capitalism. Globally the workers situation was the development of a whole and throughout American society. Even an GI papers flourished, with names like Fatigue movement went into retreat. George Bush used series of mass struggles that pointed in the initially small multiracial workers party with Press, Harass the Brass, and The Star-Span- the 9/11 attack as the pretext to launch the direction of fundamental change. Besides a clear socialist program could have rap- gled Bummer. These organizing efforts helped “War on Terror” and the occupation of Afghan- the mass movement against the war, society idly reached and led millions in this period. bring the army into a state of disarray. In 1971, istan and Iraq. This temporarily and partially had been rocked by a powerful movement The key lesson for today, as we witness a Marine Colonel Robert D. Heinl, Jr. wrote: helped to overcome the Vietnam Syndrome but for civil rights and black liberation which new wave of social struggle, is precisely the “By every conceivable indicator, our army the occupation of Iraq has led to a full scale also helped spur movements for women’s urgency of laying the basis for an indepen- that remains in Vietnam is in a state approach- disaster for U.S. policy, now spawning the new liberation and gay liberation. dent political party to challenge the rule of ing collapse, with individual units avoiding or conflict with ISIS. Bush faced a sizable anti- There was an enormous radicaliza- the billionaires and within that the need to having refused combat, murdering their offi- war movement but, with fewer “boots on the tion of young people who were inspired by build a cohesive socialist force. J cers and non-commissioned officers…Sedi- ground”, Obama has pursued the same aims tion, coupled with disaffection from within the with less opposition. ranks, and externally fomented with an audac- There is increasing resistance to the war ity and intensity previously inconceivable, on working people and people of color here infest the Armed Services.” at home. This will inevitably lead to a greater This disintegration of the armed forces understanding of the need to oppose U.S. proved to be the final nail in the coffin and intervention abroad which serves the interests rendered the war unwinnable for the U.S. of the corporate elite. Just as in the 1960s, what is needed is the international solidarity Aftermath of working people fighting to end the domina- tion of the planet by capitalism. The heroic It was the power of collective struggle, in resistance of the Vietnamese people and the the U.S. and Vietnam, that led to the defeat of mass movement against the war inside the U.S. imperialism. U.S. remain a shining inspiration for this gen- This had immediate consequences for the eration. J future of U.S. foreign policy. The draft was abolished and the military switched to an all- volunteer army. And an overall hostility to war led to “Vietnam Syndrome” where the U.S. government became unwilling to engage in direct warfare for fear of provoking immediate massive opposition. With the collapse of the Stalin- ist regimes in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, capitalism proclaimed itself triumphant.
SOCIALIST ALTERNATIVE.ORG • JULY-AUGUST 2015 7 HEALTH CARE Obamacare Upheld by the Supreme Court
Sarah White, Nurse Practitioner
Millions of people breathed a sigh Vermont of relief as the Supreme Court ruled on a challenge to the plans’s federal sub- sidies, found in favor of Obamacare. Despite severe shortcomings, Obam- Democratic Party acare brings desperately needed health insurance to millions of people who have previously gone without. From January Governor Dumps to September 2014 alone, the number of uninsured people dropped by 11.4 million. Single-Payer Plan This step forward was a result of struggles over decades, as working people, community organizations, and The recent defeat of a single-payer health plan in unions fought for high quality, affordable Vermont that seemed on course to implementation has health care. been presented by the media as indicating basic prob- Since its passage, Obamacare has lems with the idea of universal health care. This is not come under repeated attack by the right the case. The idea of government-run universal health wing. This most recent case before the care is as popular as ever. Instead, recent events in the negotiation for Obamacare, Obama against the Obama administration, the Supreme Court threatened the health Vermont demonstrate once again that the Democratic received a record $20 million in cam- federal subsidies that make health insurance of people in states that Party cannot be relied upon to stand up to corporate paign donations from the health care insurance affordable would be with- refused to set up insurance exchanges. interests and deliver on this issue. industry. Insurance companies bought drawn, and 6.4 million people would be Now that Obamacare is upheld, how- The single-payer plan had previously been passed their influence in the process, thereby priced out of their health care coverage ever, 35 million people in the U.S. remain into law in Vermont. But in December 2014, Demo- protecting their profits. The result? – primarily white, lower-middle-class uninsured, and people who purchased cratic Party Governor Shumlin, in conjunction with other Obamacare forces people into the arms workers in Southern states. plans on the exchanges can still face Democratic legislators, without referring to any official of insurance companies, while using But the problems wouldn’t have bills of up to 40% of their income, with studies, unexpectedly declared that the finances were taxpayer money to subsidize the cover- stopped there. These insurance some deductibles as high as $5,000. not there to fund it. Shumlin has since attacked social age. The Democrats defend the profits schemes rely on a pool of healthy The number of people underinsured has programs and public sector workers. Shumlin refused to of the insurance companies and hope people to pay for the care of the sick- actually risen to 23%, up from 12% consider an alternative plan backed by 100 economists to benefit politically from the support est. With a mass exodus of insured in 2003. It’s clear: Health insurance that targeted the wealthy and capital gains to fund the of those who gained health coverage. people out of the pool when people doesn’t equal access to health care. Fur- plan. This demonstrates once again the importance of Even with insurance companies’ without federal subsidies can’t pay their ther, high-quality plans, bargained for by building a powerful grassroots campaign independent profits strengthened, the right wing premiums, insurance companies would many unions, will also face steep taxes, of the Democratic Party to achieve genuine universal isn’t satisfied. But corporations are likely raise rates on those left, which causing businesses to attempt to shift health care for all. J divided: On the one hand, insurance will only exacerbate the problem, lead- that tax bill onto the backs of workers. companies have made huge profits ing to what’s known as the “Obamacare Meanwhile, the real bloated cost from Obamacare, while employers who death spiral.” is also needed. Bernie Sanders’ presidential campaign, and problems lie in the insurance companies’ have to pay a small share of the cost Truthfully, many Republican politi- his call for a single-payer health care system, are gaining profits and overheads. Private insurance of coverage rebel against the tiniest cut cians are probably also breathing a momentum. The tremendous echo his campaign is receiving companies operate with a 23% over- to their profits. The Republican Party’s sigh of relief because the drastic con- is a sign of support for an improved health care system, and head, compared to Medicare’s 2%. opposition to Obamacare is driven by sequences of upholding the suit could the energy for his candidacy can be used to put improved While Obamacare is a start, we need the opposition of these employers. have become a political liability for Medicare for All back on the agenda! Sanders refused to run to implement improved Medicare for Further, some corporate politicians them in 2016. as an independent and, despite the huge impact his cam- All, providing free, high-quality health fear that working people in the U.S. paign is having, faces almost certain defeat in the Demo- care to all. Socialist Alternative wants to will see Obamacare as a starting point cratic Party primaries. Worse, he vows to throw his support tax the super-rich to fund this plan. We Profits Get Better Care to demand what people around the to Hillary Clinton in the general election if she is the party’s support Medicare for All as a first step Than Patients globe fought for and, in a number of nominee. Working people, activists, and unions should refuse towards fully socialized medicine. Prior countries, won: universal, high-quality that: The demand for health care for all, in itself, should be a to the passage of Obamacare, there was Even with the favorable court deci- health care for all. reason not to hand over support to Hillary Clinton’s campaign. a movement in this direction. It was built sion today, one thing is clear: we need Sanders and the movement behind him should push beyond up through struggles over decades, as a better system. Unions that organize the limitations of the Democratic Party and campaign inde- working people, community organiza- What Was at Stake in health care workers should lead the pendently all the way to the general election, with a fighting, tions, and unions fought for high-quality, way, mobilizing to defend working fami- King v. Burwell? working-class platform that includes improved Medicare for affordable health care. The more pro- lies from attacks like King v. Burwell All! gressive aspects of Obamacare were a King v. Burwell, brought by lawyers and fighting for a universal health care JJ Defeat all attacks on Obamacare by the right wing! reflection of this movement. from the Koch-funded American Enter- system for all. Like all serious gains for prise Institute, threatened to drastically working people, this will require mass Extend Medicaid expansion to all 50 states. undermine Obamacare. The suit chal- mobilizations and facing down the JJ Tax the super-rich to fund improved Medicare for All. Two Wings of Profit-Driven lenged the federal government’s provi- entrenched opposition of key sections JJ Take the pharmaceutical and insurance companies under Interests at Odds sion of insurance subsidies in states of the ruling elite. democratic public ownership to reduce costs, improve that didn’t set up health insurance An alternative to corporate politi- quality, and put the needs of working families over the During his 2008 campaign for exchanges. If the justices had ruled cians in the pockets of big business greed and profits of a few.J president, which immediately preceded
8 SOCIALIST ALTERNATIVE.ORG • JULY-AUGUST 2015 INTERNATIONAL Is China Heading for a New Tiananmen? The 26th anniversary of the Beijing massacre on June 4, 1989, is also a warning of Turning Point revolutionary shocks ahead. Vincent Kolo, chinaworker.info in Greece The anniversary of June 4, the culmina- Read news from the Committee for a tion of the “Beijing Spring” and a day that Workers International will always be remembered for one of the most barbaric massacres ever perpetrated SocialistWorld.net against peaceful protesters, is a cause for much official unease, and this year more than ever. The Chinese dictatorship (CCP) is grappling with unprecedented problems with a debt-laden economy, burst real estate bubble, and growing unease among workers and poor farmers. As we go to press, Greece and The mass Democracy Movement of 1989, Europe are facing a turning point. which spanned seven weeks and witnessed Protests in Linshui erupted into violence in May, 2015. The government led by the left party, millions of students and later also workers the global economy. The downturn is already could break out if the economy slips further SYRIZA called a referendum on the moving into political struggle, with demon- being felt from mining regions in Australia into recession. The protesters – numbering latest package of austerity measures strations spreading to 400 cities, pushed the and Chile, to the coal and iron ore producing 100,000 by some accounts – chanted “Bring from the Troika (European Central Chinese dictatorship to the brink of collapse. regions of China itself, which are experienc- back our railway” following the announce- Bank, European Union and IMF) to be ing a severe recession. This is matched by ment that a planned high-speed railway line attached to any further “assistance.” Could it Happen Again? a downturn in manufacturing industry, where would follow a more expensive route through After a week of mass mobilizations employment has fallen for 19 consecutive the nearby town of Guangan, but missing Lin- where the working class began to Over the past 26 years the dictator- months. shui. Guangan already has a railway and an assert itself, the Greek people deci- ship has refined its repressive methods and The government’s professed 7 percent airport and local people in Linshui see the sively rejected the Troika’s demands. used a combination of “carrot and stick” to growth rate is now widely seen as fictional, loss of the railway as a body blow for the local This was also a mass rejection of defuse protests when they break out. When a with the real growth rate falling to around half economy. the campaign of fear waged by the large-scale protest erupts, the authorities are this level. The government is attempting to local corporate media, echoing the quick to shut down the internet in that area, shore up economic growth with a series of EU authorities, who said that voting enforce strict media controls, and effectively Repression interest rate cuts and monetary loosening “No” means leaving the Euro and cut off the “infected area” from the rest of measures, but to date this has mostly fueled In Linshui fierce clashes were triggered even more economic uncertainty. China. The regime’s “stability maintenance” a stock market boom and capital flight to by police brutality, according to eyewitness Indeed a “Grexit” is a real possibility. (weiwen) methods – supported by a budget other countries. accounts, evoking a ‘miniature Tiananmen’. But Greece’s economy has already that dwarfs even military spending – have The second sign of crisis is the ongoing There are unconfirmed reports of four people collapsed due to endless austerity. succeeded in keeping protests local, short- power struggle at the top – within the closed killed, including a teenaged girl. Pictures on SocialistAlternative’s sister organiza- lived, and in most cases without a leader- ranks of the CCP hierarchy. This has in par- social media show many bloodied protesters, tion, Xekinima, campaigned aggres- ship or lasting organisational forms. But as ticular taken the form of an extended “anti- men and women, and eyewitnesses say riot sively for a “No” vote. They also call the ‘carrot’ of rapid economic growth withers corruption” campaign by President Xi Jinping police drafted into the town brought armored on the government to refuse to pay away this poses the question how long before which has targeted a number of high profile cars and used tear gas. This also shows that the debt and implement a programme the regime faces mass movements it can no competitors in the party apparatus. The eco- heavy-handed policing is not exclusive to res- of socialist policies which would win longer quickly defuse or break-up? nomic crisis and increasing perception that tive non-Han provinces such as Xinjiang and enormous support from the long-suf- The past year has seen a wave of mass Beijing has lost its former “golden touch” for Tibet, many parts of which are now under de fering Greek working class and middle protests ripple through China’s “periphery” policy-making can only sharpen the divisions facto military rule. Workers’ strikes, which classes. This would need to be linked including the Hong Kong Umbrella Move- within the regime. As Gideon Rachman noted rose three-fold in the first quarter of 2015 to a direct appeal for support from the ment, the biggest ever anti-government pro- in the Financial Times (9 February 2015), “It over the same period a year ago, have also working class of Europe. tests in Macau, and the political earthquake may be that Mr Xi is so perfectly in control met with increasing repression. At the same The “No” vote opens up a new chap- of the Sunflower Movement in Taiwan. These of the political system that he can afford to time the government is intensifying its crack- ter in the struggle against endless aus- movements are a portent of what awaits in take on powerful interest groups. But well- down on labor NGOs that in many cases have terity internationally. For on the ground China, where social and political grievances connected people in Beijing now speculate helped workers to organize industrial action. coverage and analysis from a working are potentially even more explosive. about the possibility of an attempt to remove But while the “stick” of repression can class standpoint of what comes next the president. Some note that previous bouts help the government to stamp out protests in go to SocialistWorld.net, the website of Signs of Crisis of popular unrest, for example in 1989, coin- the short-term, this is at the price of a mas- the Committee for a Workers’ Interna- cided with divisions at the top of the Com- sive build-up of anger and resentment. Hun- tional (CWI). J There are at least three major signs of munist Party.” dreds and thousands of victims of the current a deepening crisis in China that could ulti- Thirdly, and heavily influenced by the first repression – injured protesters, sacked work- mately spell the end of the one-party dicta- levels of debt, its repressive measures are two factors, is the rising spiral of mass unrest. ers’ representatives, and arrested feminists – creating a political time bomb. When this torship. Top of the list is the worst economic The movement in Linshui was extremely sig- are being pushed into an increasing search performance for three decades, which has detonates, which is only a question of time, nificant as this occurred in a poor region for alternatives to the current system. Just as then China could witness a wave of mass led many global commentators to point to a dependent on farming and mining. It is Beijing’s “stimulus” policies have created an Chinese “hard landing” as the main threat to struggle that puts even the events of 1989 a warning that many more such protests economic time bomb in the form of crippling into the shade. J
SOCIALIST ALTERNATIVE.ORG • JULY-AUGUST 2015 9 LABOR MOVEMENT $15 Moves to Center Stage of U.S. Politics
Tony Wilsdon wage issue could be central to keeping con- dynamic yet, pressure continues to build. A we need political candidates who can raise trol of the White House and regaining control group of 18 senators, led by Bernie Sanders the issue in the public arena. While Sanders The demand for a $15 minimum wage of the Senate. and Elizabeth Warren, has demanded that is helping push forward the $15 demand, we continues to surge forward as a concrete Bernie Sanders’ bold campaign is further Obama write an executive order lifting pay to need to be clear that the corporate leadership answer to the one of the central issues driv- exposing divisions within the Democratic $15 an hour for federal workers. Considering of the Democratic Party is mainly interested ing U.S. politics: income inequality. Party. Facing a major challenge to its left, the that Obama was talking about $10.10 only in using the minimum wage issue to get back Not only has Los Angeles joined Seattle Clinton campaign is attempting to play “catch 18 months ago, this demonstrates the effect into power. It will take running candidates and San Francisco in passing an ordinance up” with sharper rhetoric about income our movement is having. independent of the Democratic Party, like for $15, but also politicians in other cities like inequality, while at the same time reassur- There are enormous opportunities to push Kshama Sawant, Seattle’s socialist coun- St Louis, New York City, and Philadelphia are ing its Wall Street backers that Clinton can for a $15 minimum wage in the coming cilmember, who has combined movement- starting to feel the ground moving under their be relied upon to defend their interests. She months, particularly at the local and state building with implacable opposition to the feet. recently called into the Fight for $15 confer- levels. On the one hand, we need to continue corporate agenda in order to achieve the kind Already, polls show 63% of the public sup- ence, stating she wanted to be the fast-food organizing and protesting in the streets. 15 of gains we need. This is why we have urged porting a $15 minimum wage. With Bernie workers’ “champion” without committing to Now, launched by Socialist Alternative in Sanders to keep his campaign and its call for Sanders embracing $15, it can surge even any figure for a minimum wage. Seattle, is playing a key role in a number of a federal $15 minimum wage going irrespec- more in coming months. Leading Democrats With the April 15 nationwide day of action cities alongside a number of unions which are tive of who the Democratic Party nominates have started to realize that the minimum by fast-food workers the largest and most putting in real resources. On the other hand, as its candidate. J $15 Wins in Los Angeles – St. Louis Next?
Workers in Los Angeles, the largest city on created a rapid shift in public opinion, espe- can only be won in cities with a relatively the West Coast and the second-largest U.S. cially in major cities, and has led to grow- higher-paid workforce, like Seattle and San city overall, have secured a major victory in ing demands for change from progressives, Francisco. Gains in economically and racially the fight to raise the minimum wage. On June low-wage workers, people of color, and union diverse cities like Los Angeles demonstrate 14, Democratic Mayor Eric Garcetti signed members. As a result, a number of Demo- that it is possible to win $15 in every major into a law a wage increase to $15 an hour cratic politicians in big cities have taken up city across the country. that will impact 800,000 workers. the $15 minimum wage demand to appease On the heels of the Los Angeles legisla- The victory in Los Angeles is a watershed their voting base. The political situation in tion, St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay presented moment for working-class people across the Los Angeles demonstrates this rapid shift, a $15 minimum wage proposal to the City GOP are already pushing back hard to pass country. Los Angeles is not only the largest as Democratic Mayor Eric Garcetti pivoted to Council. There is no doubt that the Demo- a statewide ban on municipal wage hikes. American city to win $15, but also a big city support $15 an hour, instead of $13, shortly cratic political establishment is reacting to In response, Democrats are racing to pass a with one of the highest rates of poverty in after the massive April 15 fast-food strikes the Black Lives Matter movement. The fast- local minimum wage hike before the August the country. One study estimated that, in Los that put 60,000 workers on the street across food strikers in St. Louis and Black Lives deadline the Chamber of Commerce is push- Angeles County, fully 27% of the population the country. Matter have linked the struggles against ing for. We know, however, from our experi- lives below the official poverty line. By the police brutality and poverty in the black ence in Seattle that we cannot rely on Demo- time the increase is fully implemented, it will $15 Spreads to St. Louis community, in Missouri, pushing the Demo- cratic Party leaders not to bend to pressure, directly improve the wages of an astonishing cratic establishment to respond following the so urgent mass working-class mobilizations 39% of the city’s workers. With the fight for $15 spreading to more Ferguson protests. are needed in Missouri to win the strongest The national movement for $15 has cities with a higher proportion of low-paid The Missouri business community and the possible law by the August deadline. J workers, critics can no longer claim that $15
10 SOCIALIST ALTERNATIVE.ORG • JULY-AUGUST 2015 CAMPAIGNS
“Fast Track” Passes 10 Books That Shook the World Next Steps to Stop TPP State and
Both the House and Senate have passed “fast track” authorization, giving President Revolution, Obama the go-ahead to finish negotiating the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), which he by V.I. Lenin can now present for an up-or-down vote with- out amendment. Winning fast-track authority Jess Spear is a major victory for big business and a big defeat for the labor and environmental move- ments which had fought to block it. “The U.S. government does not represent The TPP has been in secret negotia- the interests of the majority of the country’s tions by representatives of 12 nations in the citizens, but is instead ruled by those of the Pacific region, including the U.S. rich and powerful.” This quote isn’t some declaration from Previous free-trade agreements, like socialists; this is how reported NAFTA, were a huge boost to corporate inter- The Telegraph the result of a study done by Princeton and ests and created huge problems for working Northwestern Universities looking at U.S. people in both “advanced” and “develop- government policy data from 1981-2002. To ing” countries – including the displacement the vast majority of working people, this is of millions, massive job losses, escalating not news. In the wake of the Citizens United privatizations, and ripping up of environmen- ruling, revelations about NSA mass spying, tal protections. TPP will be even worse. and increased awareness of police killings, the question of who exactly decides what joined with Republicans to end the debate pickets during breaks and work slowdowns. Unions Halt Fast Track… kind of society we live in is more and more in a vote of 60 to 37. Such an approach would show that work- For a Time dominating the public discourse. The future fast-track legislation requires ers meant business, but it would need to But how can we fundamentally change only 51 votes to pass. The challenge is now be linked to a strategy to really challenge Recognizing these threats, the labor and how – and in whoose interests – the state even bigger. corporate politicians through an alternative environmental movements waged a cam- operates? In 1917, in the midst of the Rus- The outcome showed that, while there to right-wing Republicans and big-business paign to put a stop to fast track. In early sian Revolution, Lenin wrote a foundational are real divisions in the Democratic Party Democrats. The unions and environmental June, as the fast-track vote neared in the book on the Marxist theory of the state that on this question, the Obama administra- organizations should take on the Demo- House, the unions called on their members generalized the experience and analyses of tion, along with the bulk of Republicans and cratic politicians who supported the TPP to inundate their representatives’ offices past attempts by the working class to take many key Democrats, were willing to go to and fast track by funding independent with calls, demanding a “no” vote and power. If we want to change society, we almost any lengths to give the Chamber of candidates against them in 2016 as a first threatening to withhold campaign funding must first understand the laws that govern Commerce what they want. The outcome step toward building a political alternative from those who voted “yes.” This strategy its development, including the repressive also showed that the unions’ approach to for the 99%. was particularly focused on the Democrats. institutions of the state – which reflect the fighting TPP did not go far enough. Through a united and determined strat- In early June it seemed to work, with a vote division of society into social classes with egy, the country’s 16 million trade union against fast track in the House. However, opposed interests. In State and Revolu- members and the millions more who would just a few days later, these hopes com- Next Steps to Defeat TPP tion, Lenin deals with questions such as: back the unions if they gave a clear lead pletely collapsed: On June 18, thirty Demo- What material conditions necessitate a state Fast track could have been crippled – as well as the millions of young people crats in the House voted with their Republi- and how can we use that understanding had the unions fully mobilized their mem- committed to environmental and social jus- can colleagues to authorize fast track. A few to change society to work for the billions, berships through mass mobilizations tice – can win the argument in society and days later, on June 24, another blow came not the billionaires? How do the ruling elite and workplace actions like informational defeat the TPP. J when 13 of the 44 Democrats in the Senate maintain power in a democracy if they ulti- mately don’t serve our interests? The ideas Lenin lays out were essential to the success of the Russian Revolution, the first time workers took power and built up SOCIALIST ALTERNATIVE their own state institutions to deal with the In Your Area tasks at hand. However, the misunderstand- ings and distortions of Lenin’s ideas on the MONTGOMERY & BIRMINGHAM, AL, TACOMA, WA NATIONAL MID-ATLANTIC CHARLOTTE, NC and LOUISVILLE, SOUTHWEST (253) 355-4211 state by parties calling themselves socialist NEW YORK CITY KY contact our national office AUSTIN, TX For HAWAI’I, LOS ANGELES, CA, SAN PO Box 150457 contributed to the defeat of revolutions in (347) 749-1236 (440) 339-9793 DIEGO, CA and YAKIMA, WA contact Brooklyn, NY 11215 Spain in the 1930s and Chile in the 1970s. 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SOCIALIST ALTERNATIVE.ORG • JULY-AUGUST 2015 11 SocialistAlternative.org Price $2
SOCIALIST ALTERNATIVEIssue #15 - July-August 2015
Fight for Black Freedom! Domino LaMarr Michael Brown is a turning point in history is yet another way the ruling class masks the statehouses in the South is galvanizing thou- for black people in this country and around reality of the institutional racism that exists. sands of people. This is a symbol of slavery The one-year anniversary of the murder of the world. To the workers and youth in Fer- The ruling elite does an excellent job of (although many white Southerners might not Mike Brown, killed by a police officer in Fer- guson, Missouri, facing day-to-day brutality, manipulating people into thinking that if they see it that way). It has been used again and guson, Missouri, is right around the corner. this young brother’s death was the last straw. are not living the “American dream,” it is again to rally reactionary forces and has no His death, like that of 14-year-old Emmett Whether they were affected by unemploy- their own fault. They claim that racism died place on public buildings. But it is also clear Till’s at the hands of racists in Mississippi ment and low wages or street harassment with slavery and Jim Crow and are happy to that many figures in the establishment hope in 1955, helped sparked a mass movement. from cops or the criminalization of poverty, throw the fact that we have a black president to cut across the broader movement by rap- Today it is known as Black Lives Matter, a they had had enough. The more than 100 in the White House in our faces when we idly removing it. way to tell the world that our lives are just as straight days of protesting inspired hundreds stand up against racism. What is urgently needed is to link the important as any other human being’s. of thousands around the world to stand up demand for removing the Confederate flag to After making significant gains through against institutional racism. Charleston Massacre building a mass struggle against all forms of the civil rights and black power movements, An example of the full extent of institu- systemic racism and poverty from voter sup- the black working class has faced a series tional racism has only just came to light. The June 17 massacre of nine black pression to cop brutality, mass incarceration of attacks. Starting in the ‘70s, we saw the The Bureau of Justice Statistics recently people in Charleston, South Carolina by a as well as poverty wages. beginnings of the deindustrialization of major acknowledged that the FBI has been under- white supremacist was initially described 150 years after the defeat of the Confed- American cities. Then, in the ‘80s, the War reporting deaths of civilians by cops by nearly as a heartbreaking incident by a mentally eracy and 50 years after the Voting Rights on Drugs began the horrific process of mass 50%! There are 18,000 law enforcement unstable man. But the mainstream media Act, it’s clear that U.S. society has failed incarceration followed by Clinton’s neo-liberal agencies in the U.S. – more numerous than has buried the stories of the six black to overcome the racist legacy of slavery, of gutting of the welfare system in the ‘90s. All public school districts – but there is no law churches that were torched in the weeks fol- super-exploitation and brutal divide-and-rule these policies have disproportionately hurt that mandates them to report to the federal lowing the Charleston killings. They would tactics. By fighting against racism and link- black Americans. government when they kill a person. Freddie have to address the issue of race terror ing this to a bigger struggle by the powerful, Although this process has happened over Gray’s home state of Maryland, and many groups and would not be able to simply multiracial working class for a socialist soci- decades, there has been no real sustained others, flat-out refuse to collect data on police blame it on insanity. ety, we can finally put all of these horrors in fightback. For this reason, the death of killings. The underreporting of police killings Removing the Confederate flag from the history books where they belong. J