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1 August 2020

The Socialist Equality Party in the United States held its sixth National Congress from July 19 to July 24, 2020. Due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, the Congress was held entirely online.

More than 30 percent of those who attended were participating in their first party Congress, which is held every two years. Leading members of all sections and sympathizing groups of the International Committee of the Fourth International (ICFI) delivered greetings to the Congress.

Over a period of five days, the Congress discussed and then adopted a resolution, The global pandemic, the class struggle, and the tasks of the Socialist Equality Party, which is published on the World Socialist Web Site today.

The resolution provides a comprehensive analysis of the historic, economic, social and political context of the pandemic and its revolutionary implications. Defining the pandemic as a trigger event in world history that is accelerating the already far-advanced economic, social, and political crisis of the world capitalist system, the resolution states:

The working class is confronted with a crisis for which there is no progressive solution apart from a revolutionary struggle against capitalism, leading to the conquest of state power, the establishment of democratic control by the working class over the economy, the replacement of the anarchy of the market with scientific planning, the ending of the nation-state system, and the building of a global socialist society dedicated to equality, the elimination of poverty and all forms of oppression and discrimination, a massive rise in the standard of living and the level of social culture, and the protection of the environment.

The resolution analyzes the crisis triggered by the pandemic in a broader historical, socioeconomic and political context:

While the specific conditions that produced the coronavirus have an accidental and contingent character, the response to the pandemic has been determined by the pre-existing conditions of capitalist crisis and the interests of the ruling class. The capitalist class has continued and intensified the same parasitic economic relations and social policies that it employed during the previous period.

A central theme of the document is that the pandemic marks a historic turning point whose impact will prove no less decisive in shaping the course of the twenty-first century than that of World War I on the twentieth century. Rejecting the view that the fight against the pandemic is primarily a medical problem, the resolution explains: As the uprising of the working class was necessary to bring an end to World War I, the class conscious intervention of the working class, in a struggle against capitalism, is necessary to create the conditions for an effective social response to the disease.

The resolution examines the economic, social and political logic underlying the events of the last half-year. To understand the present situation and chart a course for the future, it is necessary to review how the crisis has developed in the country which has become the global center of the pandemic, the United States.

The resolution identifies three distinct stages in the development of the crisis.

The first stage was between December 2019 and March 27, 2020: The outbreak of the pandemic, the suppression of information and the rescue of the corporate-financial elite. It was during this period that the Trump administration and congressional leaders of both capitalist parties made the socially catastrophic decisions that prioritized the rescue of the banks, large corporations and powerful Wall Street investors over preventing the spread of the pandemic and saving lives.

Rather than taking measures to stop the pandemic, the ruling class pursued a policy of malign neglectan attitude of indifference on the part of governments to the virus, [which] was conditioned by concerns over its impact on the markets. It used the months of February and March to prepare and implement a multitrillion-dollar bailout of Wall Street, culminating in the enactment of the so-called CARES Act on March 27, adopted nearly unanimously by the Democrats and Republicans.

While the ruling class sought to suppress any response to the pandemic, the resolution calls attention to the reaction of the working class:

In opposition to the ruling classs policy of malign neglect, the working class began taking action to protect itself against the pandemic. Walkouts and protest actions were organized by workers employed by Instacart, Amazon and Whole Foods. Auto workers in the United States and Canada carried out a series of wildcat actions, which coincided with a wave of strikes and protests in Europe. Articles published on the WSWS and statements by the SEP, including the March 14 statement, Shut down the auto industry to halt the spread of the coronavirus!, were read and shared by tens of thousands of workers. Under growing pressure from the working class and with the bailout legislation still in preparation, the federal, state and local governments were compelled to accede to a lockdown of the economy.

The second stage, between March 27 and May 31, 2020, was dominated by the reckless back to work campaign of the ruling class and the eruption of protests against police violence. The resolution reviews the bipartisan campaign within the political establishment to force a return to work, which began with a column advocating a policy of herd immunity by Thomas Friedman of the New York Times. The resolution cites the warnings from the SEP and the WSWS that this policy would lead to an explosion of new cases and deaths.

The resolution analyzes the massive multiethnic and multiracial protests over police violence that spread throughout the US and internationally in late May following the murder of George Floyd:

While the protests were sparked by police violence, their underlying causes were anger over the protracted and severe decline in living standards, the crushing debt levels imposed upon youth and the bleakness of their prospects for the future, pervasive social inequality and its consequences, the constriction of democratic rights, and the impossibility of effecting meaningful change and improvement in social conditions within the framework of the existing political structures of the two-party system.

The third stage began with Trumps June 1 press conference at the White House, at which he declared his intention to invoke the Insurrection Act to deploy the military against the protests. This initiated the administrations ongoing attempts to establish a presidential dictatorship. While this initial coup attempt was not successful, the SEP warned in a statement on June 4, cited in the resolution, that nothing could be more dangerous than to think that the crisis has passed. It has, rather, just begun.

This warning was confirmed even as the SEP Congress was meeting, with the deployment in Portland, Oregon of federal paramilitary forces operating under Trumps command. Anticipating the threats over the past week by Trump to delay or cancel the upcoming elections, the resolution warns: Regardless of which party wins the electionand that requires the debatable assumption that the election will be heldthe tendencies that found such noxious expression during the Trump administration will persist and worsen.

The Democrats responded by ceding all opposition to Trump to the military, while escalating their own campaign to divert social opposition. The sections of the capitalist class and the affluent middle class aligned with the Democratic Party, the resolution states, always extremely sensitive to any sign of working class militancy and socialist influence, intervened to hijack the demonstrations and misdirect them along explicitly racialist lines.

Congress delegates participated in an extensive discussion on the background to the Democrats racialist campaign, legitimized by the New York Times 1619 Project, to rewrite American history:

Determined to disorient the protest movement and suppress the growth of the class struggle, the New York Times intensified its campaignwhich it had initiated in August 2019 with the launching of the 1619 Projectto discredit the American Revolution, the Civil War and its principal leaders. What began as a legitimate demand for the removal of the statues of leaders of the Confederacy became the occasion for defacing and removing statues that memorialize the lives of Washington, Lincoln, Grant and even a prominent abolitionist.

Notwithstanding attempts to place race at the center of politics, the resolution insists that the overwhelming social reality of the United States is economic inequality, which is rooted in the division of society based on class.

The resolution also warned of the escalating preparations by the United States for war. Both Trump and the Democrats, moreover, are committed to an expansion of war abroad. The resolution states:

Throughout the pandemic, there has been no letup in the bellicose policies of the United States. US Secretary of State Michael Pompeo has maintained a heavy travel schedule, demanding support for American threats against Russia and its primary geo-political rival, China. The Trump administration has sought to generate hostility by referring regularly to the Wuhan virus, even to the point of claiming, without any evidence, that China set out to infect the American public.

The resolution warns:

The danger of war should not be underestimated. There are many examples in the twentieth century of a crisis-ridden regimethat of Hitler is the most notorious exampleresorting to war as a solution to what it perceives to be a desperate crisis within the border of its own country.

On the basis of its analysis of the past seven months, the resolution advances a perspective and program of action for the weeks and months ahead:

The first half of the year has been dominated by the response of the ruling class to the pandemic. The response of the working class will come to the forefront in the second half. The disastrous consequences of the ruling classs policies have delivered a staggering blow to the legitimacy of the capitalist system. The corporate response to economic collapsemass layoffs, wage-cutting, demands for the further slashing of expenditures for Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security and other vital and already underfunded social programswill meet with growing resistance in the working class. Opposition will mount to working in unsafe conditions and to school reopenings that facilitate the spread of the COVID-19 virus. There will be opposition to evictions and foreclosures. Therefore, the Socialist Equality Party foresees an immense growth of working class struggle, which through the intervention of the party will assume a politically class conscious and anti-capitalist character.

In outlining the tasks of the Socialist Equality Party, the resolution explains the significance of transitional demands that

connect the issues and needs arising from a concrete situation to the strategy of socialist revolution. In relation to the coronavirus pandemic, the SEP calls for and will fight for an end to the reckless and criminal back-to-work campaign; the repeal of the corporate-Wall Street bailout; an emergency program to provide economic security for all unemployed people and vastly expand the health care infrastructure; the expropriation of the wealth of the corporate and financial elite to address the urgent social crisis facing tens of millions of people; and the establishment of workers democratic control of the major banks and corporations.

In the discussion of the resolution, Congress delegates emphasized the relationship between the development of the objective situation and the activity of the Socialist Equality Party. There was extensive discussion of the SEPs experience in establishing rank-and-file safety committees in factories and workplaces to protect workers against the threat posed by viral transmission.

Changes and additions proposed by delegates in the course of the discussion were incorporated into the final draft of the resolution. The vote on the resolution was conducted online, and it was passed unanimously.

The Congress delegates elected a new national committee. The members of the incoming national committee reelected Joseph Kishore as national secretary, Lawrence Porter as assistant national secretary, and Barry Grey as US editor of the World Socialist Web Site. The Congress delegates reelected David North as national chairman.

The Congress resolution provides an unequaled analysis of the crisis triggered by the pandemic, directed toward the development of socialist class consciousness and the independent action of the working class. It provides a direction for revolutionary politics and the development of a socialist movement of the working class. It deserves the most careful study by workers and young people in the United States and throughout the world.

Read the resolution, The global pandemic, the class struggle, and the tasks of the Socialist Equality Party. To contact and join the SEP and the ICFI, click here.

The Political Committee of the Socialist Equality Party (US)

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Socialist Equality Party (US) National Congress adopts resolution on the coronavirus pandemic and the fight for socialism - WSWS

Right-wing Texas state Rep. Tony Tinderholt, who pushed for reopening the state amid the coronavirus pandemic and compared the shutdown to socialism, says he thought he was going to die after recently testing positive for COVID-19.

Though I am not quite back to 100% health, I am feeling much better and continue to self isolate and heal inside my home, Tinderholt wrote on Facebook on Friday afternoon. I praise the Lord for keeping my family safe and for sending an excellent medical professional who was not afraid to practice the medicine he felt was in the best interest of his patients.

According to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Tinderholts treatment did not include hydroxychloroquine because doctors thought it would be too risky given that he has a titanium heart valve.

The Texas Tribune reports: I truly thought last Friday was gonna be my last, Tinderholt, an Arlington Republican, said in a text message to the Tribune. Tinderholt said his wife and two of his children also tested positive for the virus, though their symptoms were less severe. Tinderholt is a member of the hardline conservative House Freedom Caucus, which has frequently criticized Gov.Greg Abbotts response to the pandemic shutting down businesses and requiring masks in public as government overreach. In an April 24 letter to the governor, the caucus urged Abbott to fully reopen the state economy, arguing that the longer he waited to reopen, the longer it would take to recover.

Tinderholt also called for a special session of the Legislature to overturn Abbotts statewide mask mandate. In his own letter to the governor, Tinderholt said the Founding Fathers would be rolling over in their graves if they witnessed the massive growth in government power that occurred when people were gripped with fear in the early days of the pandemic.

Therefore, if we allow government to continue to grow one more iota over this level of threat, then we are ushering in the very foundations of socialism, Tinderholt wrote. The question I would encourage you ask yourself is this: do you want to be the governor who helped socialism take root in Texas or one who stood for freedom in the midst of great pressure? I know we both stand for freedom and personal liberty over socialist ideals. However, they will take root if we do not permanently change this course now.

Tinderholt is perhaps best known to the LGBT community for filing an ethics complaint against the first judge to perform a same-sex marriage in Texas. Tinderholt has been married five times, including one relationship that ended with a restraining order against him. The lesbian couple involved in Texas first same-sex marriage had been together for 30 years, and one of the women was gravely ill with ovarian cancer.

Last year, Tinderholt introduced a bill that would have made it possible for women to get the death penalty for having abortions.

Read more here:
Right-Wing Texas Lawmaker Who Compared Coronavirus Restrictions to 'Socialism' Nearly Dies from COVID-19 - Towleroad

Kansas was never Wisconsins peer when it came to putting the levers of power into the hands of Socialists. And yet, as the authors point out, the Great Plains state was a locus of activity. Americas most widely circulated Socialist newspaper was published in Kansas, and Socialist presidential candidate Eugene Debs lived there for a time. Not unlike Milwaukees sewer socialists, Kansas gas and water socialism stressed practicality over ideologyat least among those Socialists elevated to public office. Many other Kansan Socialists squabbled fiercely and accomplished little. Much of When Sunflowers Bloomed Red is a reminder of the American lefts historic tendency to factionalize.

To read more book reviews, click here.

To read more articles by David Luhrssen, click here.

David Luhrssen lectured at UWM and the MIAD. He is author of The Vietnam War on Film, Encyclopedia of Classic Rock, and Hammer of the Gods: Thule Society and the Birth of Nazism.

Jul. 30, 2020

10:35 a.m.

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When Sunflowers Bloomed Red: Kansas and the Rise of Socialism in America (University of Nebraska Press), by R. Alton Lee and Steven Cox - Shepherd...

Jason van Tol

Words are vague entities, having different meanings for different people. Humour utilises this ambiguity, as in the undertaker who had to rehearse her job. This becomes pernicious, however, in political discourse. Consider that North Korea is officially the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea, or that the Liberal party of Australia opposes a Bill of Rights.

Bernie Sanders, who is no longer in the presidential race, was an outspoken supporter of socialism, which generated much controversy both in the US and internationally. The most common criticisms of socialism, communism, and anything that might be considered leftist, are based on twentieth century history and the ugly regimes that perpetrated their injustices under the banner of those words.

So socialism, as some people understand it, denotes Stalins gulags, the Khmer Rouges killing fields, Maos Great Leap Forward and the attendant deaths of millions. Those are all good reasons to be opposed to whatever ideological label is attached to them. But surely Sanders cant be suggesting those things; theyre pretty detestable policies to run on. Does socialism mean anything else?

In 1864 the International Workingmens Association, usually called the First International, held its first meeting in London. It was the peak body of socialists, communists, anarchists, trade unionists, and anyone participating in the working class movement.

The central goal of that movement has always been the abolishment of wage labour, or employment, since working under the direction and control of someone else is dehumanising and alienates workers from their work. In place of employment, the goal of the working class is control over their work by gaining ownership of the means by which they carry it out. So for example, those who work in a restaurant should own the restaurant and whatever tools, machinery, and other assets they use to do their job. This much was agreed upon by all of those in the First International.

The controversy, however, was about how to achieve this goal. On one side were those led by Karl Marx, who believed the working class needed to seize control of the government and use the state to accomplish its ends. On the other side were those led by Mikhail Bakunin, who believed that non-governmental means, from below, must be used.

These two sides are sometimes referred to as authoritarian socialism and libertarian socialism respectively, or more generally as Marxism and anarchism respectively. Occasionally one might also hear them referred to as right Marxists and left Marxists, though this can lead to confusion, and it is probably more accurate to think of them as top-down versus bottom-up socialists. Whats important to understand is that both are kinds of socialism with the same nominal goal, but with very different means of getting there. The tension between these two factions eventually led to a split in the International in 1872.

In his Statism and Anarchy, Bakunin famously, and presciently, proclaimed that following Marxs program of governmental, authoritarian means would result in a leadership becoming just as bad as the ruling class they had replaced.

Anyone who doubts this, Bakunin wrote, is not at all familiar with human nature. So despite the best intentions of Lenin, Mao, Pol Pot, and other authoritarian socialists, twentieth century history has proved Bakunin correct.

While significant changes in technology and social organisation have occurred in the past century-and-a-half, the basic antagonism remains between the minority who rule, and the majority who are ruled. This rift is not just a plaything of political philosophy; the injurious consequences of decision-making by the few, enforced by state-sanctioned violence, grow by the day.

Noam Chomsky, who is perhaps the foremost contemporary expositor of anarchism, has repeatedly identified the core principle of anarchism as the need for systems of power and authority to justify themselves, that the use of force is never self-justifying. But so long as we have economic domination, where most people must perform work, under the direction and control of their employer, to quote the Australian Government Fair Work Ombudsmans definition of employment, political democracy alone is insufficient in ensuring human freedom.

Moreover, the late Murray Bookchin posited that human domination of nature stems from human domination of one another, principally, but not exclusively, through economic relationships. It is only through local self-control, joined wherever hierarchy is necessary by democratic systems, that we might hope to create a world that is both desirable and sustainable.

Keeping the community together and the community voice loud and clear is what The Echo is about. More than ever we need your help to keep this voice alive and thriving in the community.

Like all businesses we are struggling to keep food on the table of all our local and hard working journalists, artists, sales, delivery and drudges who keep the news coming out to you both in the newspaper and online. If you can spare a few dollars a week or maybe more we would appreciate all the support you are able to give to keep the voice of independent, local journalism alive.

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What's in a Word? On the ends and means of socialism Echonetdaily - Echonetdaily

The same Circuit Court Attorney who recently released from jail 35 domestic terrorists who burned and looted downtown St, Louis, is now seeking to indict the McCloskeys. Late last week, authorities armed with a search warrant, seized the rifle that Mark McCloskey was shown holding during the confrontation.His wife's pistol was already in the possession of their attorney.Both weapons were legally owned by the couple. And look what is happening in other cities, such as Portland and Chicago with riots, looting, assaults, and murders escalating out of control.And the report is out now about the situation involving the burning down of the Minneapolis police station.

Apparently, at least 13 officers were inside the building at the time it was attacked. Some wrote what they thought might be final texts to family members and loved ones.These officers feared they would be killed.Ordered to stand down to protesters, some of them had carefully counted their ammunition to make sure they would have bullets for themselves to avoid being beaten to death.

Our Constitution protects free speech, assembly, and peaceful protests. These are cherished rights. But the First Amendment does not give license to demonstrators to transform themselves into criminals who engage in acts of violence or other lawless conduct.As Leo Terrell stated, this must be stopped, and it must be stopped NOW!And in the St. Louis case that may be happening with word from Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt that he considers the action by the Circuit Court Attorney as a case of "Making politically motivated decisions not based on law." AMEN!

Now to close on a humorous note:A prince was put under a spell so that he could speak only one word each year.If he didn't speak for two years, the following year he could speak two words, and so on. One day he fell in love with a beautiful lady. He refrained from speaking for two whole years so that he could call her "My Darling." But then he wanted to tell her he loved her, so he waited 3 more years. At the end of these five years, he wanted to ask her to marry him, so he waited another four years. Finally, as the ninth year of silence ended, he led the lady to the most romantic place in the Kingdom and said, "My Darling, I love you! Will you marry me?"and the lady said, "Pardon?"

Have a really great day.!

Read the rest here:
Reece Gardner: Replacing the Constitution with Socialism Neuse News - Neuse News