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In the lead-up to the Democratic Socialists of Americas (DSA) 2023 convention, many competing political platforms and resolutions will be discussed and voted on. One such resolution, The Clean Break which is backed by Boise DSA and the Red Labor Caucus is putting forward the call for DSA to immediately pursue a clean, irrefutable, and permanent break from the capitalist Democratic Party A minimum of 300 signatures are required by April 28 for the resolution to make it to the DSA convention floor.

Below we reproduce an internationalist statement from the youth of the Party of Socialist Workers (PTS) in Argentina in solidarity with the resolution. If you are a DSA member, you can sign on in support of the resolution here.

On behalf of the youth of the Partido de Trabajadores Socialistas (Party of Socialist Workers) from Argentina in particular, and our sister organizations in Latin America and around the world, we want to express our support for The Clean Break resolution presented by Boise DSA and the Red Labor Caucus in this upcoming DSA convention. The progress of a working class left independent of imperialist and capitalist parties in the U.S. is of utmost interest to us.

Its difficult to drive home how progressive the emergence of an independent working class left in the U.S. would be for socialists all over the world. We have been following closely how a generation of young people have been turning toward the ideas of socialism in the U.S. Even further, how many new working class organizers have been leading a wave of rank-and-file unionizations all across the U.S. It is important, however, for this turn to the left to not be co-opted by the apparatus of the Democratic Party, which serves ruling class interests.

In its 2021 convention, the DSAs leadership consolidated a right-wing turn for the organization. The leadership further pushed to establish the party as the left-wing of the Democratic Partys electoral machine. It is no secret that in the upcoming convention they will seek to deepen this right-wing policy. It is in the hands of the organizations rank-and-file to put forward an alternative and instead turn the organization toward independent working class and socialist politics.

The leadership of the DSA (and other so-called progressive figures) will justify its association with the Democratic Party with a myriad of possibilist arguments: they will talk about how it is impossible for a third party to emerge in the U.S., and how, therefore, it is necessary to work within the Democrat Party (the lesser evil of the U.S. political establishment), at least for now. They will shy away from focusing on labor organizing and even other social movements like the struggle against racism and reproductive rights, as they can only conceive change to only come from the apparatus of the capitalist state. In short, the leadership of the DSA seems to always be skeptical of the American working class strength, and optimistic about the American political regime.

They will always, in one way or another, point out the weaknesses of the working class, and do nothing to radicalize its struggles. We saw this during BLM, an international movement and the largest movement in U.S. history, where many DSA members were on the streets, but the organizations leadership refused to put the largest socialist organization in the U.S. at the service of this historic struggle. Instead the DSA politically echoed the calls of the Democratic Party to vote for Democrats instead of mobilizing.

One of the biggest strategic limitations of the American working class is its lack of independent organization and conscience, in workplaces and political organizations. Isnt this what a so-called socialist party like the DSA should be promoting, in every action it takes, in every decision they make? It is the mentality of a bureaucrat to blame the masses for the woes of its leadership. As the American working class shows more and more of its power and its need for an independent organization in the face of economic and social crisis, the DSAs leadership has only paved the way for the dissolution of all this potential, smiling as the Democrats drain every social movement of its strength. Will the DSA become a beacon of independent, working class organization? Or will it be just another tool in the arsenal of the American elite?

To us Latin American socialists, the answer is clear. To us, there is no lesser-evil argument for supporting the Democrats. In our country, Argentina, it has made little difference whether Gerard Ford, Jimmy Carter, or Ronald Reagan were president while our most bloody dictatorship kidnapped, tortured, and murdered over 30,000 people, most of them political militants, labor organizers, and LGBTQ+ activists. Even less so did it matter to Pinochet, as he made Chile a guinea pig for brutal neoliberal reforms. The leadership of the DSA will be okay with coexisting with these atrocities and many others, as they concede to the lesser-evilist notion that the Democrats are better than the Republicans and that therefore it is okay to vote for them and even run candidates under their platform.

Here in Argentina, weve also heard similar lesser evil arguments that we need to vote for more progressive ruling class candidates and abandon our principles and goals to fight against the Right. Does this not hurt us further? Do these notions not prevent most working class people from ever conceiving an alternative to capitalism? Workers, POC, and LGBTQ+ folks are expected to give up more and more, as the Right continues its attacks, and the Democrats constantly concede to them. It is no wonder that the far-right is growing if there is no alternative to capitalism in sight. If the Left in the U.S. is to become a real political force, and for you to truly fight against the Right, you must break away from the Democratic Party once and for all and form an independent political alternative, based on socialist, working class organization and action.

This is why the political independence of socialists in the U.S. is not only possible, but also necessary. If we concede to the pressures of the Democrats, we will lose sight of our goals, and surrender to the dystopian, neoliberal present in which we are submerged in right now. There is a reason why the Democratic Party is nicknamed the graveyard of social movements. Elections should not be seen as an end in and of themselves, where we surrender our principles and objectives to win them, but instead as a tool for us socialists to get our message and politics to working people. If we win elected positions, we must use them as working peoples tribunes, and expose the halls of congress as nothing but a staged play by capitalists.

This is anything but impossible these perspectives are part of the tradition of the revolutionary left. In Argentina, our party is a founding member of the Frente de Izquierda y de los Trabajadores (Workers Left Front), a coalition of most of the revolutionary left which has been able to get over a million votes in several elections and become the third-largest electoral force. Our representatives rotate their seats between the parties in the coalition, and donate their salaries to labor struggles, effectively only earning as much as a public teacher. They are present in every picket line and in demonstrations, fighting to bring visibility, expand, and unify all working class struggles. To us, elections are a means to get our ideas to as many people as possible. Our main focus is on the organization of the working class itself, to organize independently from all capitalist and bureaucratic influences in our workplaces and movements. We believe that if significant change is to be achieved, it can only be achieved and defended by working people, with their own methods of struggle and self-organization. It will not be the parties of the ruling class, and it will not be their state.

There are those who may think that something like this would be impossible in the U.S. Well, once again, we are no strangers to these notions ourselves. It took us years and years to achieve what we have achieved. We started our project during the height of neoliberal supremacy and fatalism, and put forward a political struggle after the emergence of progressive bourgeois governments which never really challenged the neoliberal status-quo of the years prior.

Now neoliberalism and the parties that represent its political project are in crisis particularly in the U.S. As we saw during the Great Recession, in times of crisis, ruling parties like the Democrats bailout capitalists and make workers pay through brutal measures like austerity. If there is a time for socialists in the U.S. to step up and fight back, it is now. If not, the DSA will only help in aiding the Democratic establishment and the bureaucracies aligned with it in diverting the struggles that will emerge in response to this crisis of capitalism. An independent, united, revolutionary left in the U.S. would be a beacon of hope for working people around the world. That is the best way in which American socialists can show solidarity with the struggles of workers in other countries. Solidarity doesnt come from supporting Democrats or having guest talks with former Latin American presidents, like Dilma Rousseff, as the DSA leadership did during its last convention. Politicians like Dilma may pander to the Left like the Democrats do in the U.S., but in reality, they havent questioned the rule of American imperialism, and have ultimately in spite of some friction served its interests. Instead, solidarity comes from fighting our common enemies, from within the belly of the imperialist beast. Solidarity comes from turning the American working class into an enemy of the imperialist capitalist class, and an ally of the working people of the world. This is why we urge you to sign onto Red Labor Caucus and Boise DSAs resolution.

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An Internationalist Call to Support DSAs Clean Break from the Democratic Party - Left Voice

The Department of Business and Economics is hosting its annual Entrepreneurship Speaker Series, and this year they are bringing in Dr. Robert Lawson, a well-known professor from Southern Methodist University.

The lecture will be held on Monday, May 1, at 6 p.m. in Ochre Court. It will be open to Salve Regina community, as well as the general public. There is no need to register in advance, and there is no admission fee.

With regulations and public policies affecting the decision of individuals to operate and grow businesses, there is tremendous overlap between entrepreneurship and economic growth. The annual Entrepreneurship Speaker Series considers a range of topics all centered on what affects a businesss growth, success stories of Rhode Island and New England-based businesses, and challenges facing entrepreneurs in the world.

During the lecture, Dr. Lawson will be discussing his book Socialism Sucks: Two Economists Drink Their Way Through the Unfree World, which was coauthored with Benjamin Powell, a professor at Texas Tech University. Socialism and socialist programs are popular subjects nowadays, and the book considers what socialism actually is, its inherent problems, and the misconceptions surrounding it.

Socialism Sucks also investigates cases of economic freedom around the world as well as how property rights affect long-run growth and prosperity.

Dr. Robert Lawsons other research focuses on economic freedom, property rights and public policies, and economic growth and development. He is a clinical professor and holds the Jerome M. Fullinwider Centennial Chair in Economic Freedom; he also is director of the Bridwell Institute for Economic Freedom at Southern Methodist Universitys Cox School of Business. He earned his doctorate and masters in Economics from Florida State University and his bachelors in economics from Ohio University. He previously taught at Auburn University, Capital University and Shawnee State University.

Dr. Lawson is a founding co-author of the Fraser Institutes Economic Freedom of the World annual report, which presents an economic freedom index for over 160 countries. Lawson has authored or co-authored over 100 journal articles, book chapters, policy reports and book reviews. Lawsons research has been citedover 12,000 times, according to Google Scholar.

The lecture is on May 1 will be free, and there is no need to register in advance.

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Lecture by Dr. Robert Lawson to address problems with popular ... - SALVEtoday

-OpEd-

BOGOT -- It must be Latin America's favorite warning. Every time there's an election, conservatives warn "socialism" is coming and not just any socialism, but the Venezuelan variety! A vote for this or that candidate, they say, will turn the country into a land bereft of freedoms and prosperity.

Claims like these helped thwart a first presidential bid by Mexico's Andrs Manuel Lpez Obrador in 2006. The opposition said he had contacts with Venezuela's then-ruler, Hugo Chvez, and even forceful denials could dampen the fear of a communist president. The warnings were repeated in 2018 , to little effect as Lpez Obrador was elected, and again in 2021, when former president Vicente Fox called him Lpez Chvez.

In Colombia, the same has been said of President Gustavo Petro who, admittedly, has visited Caracas several times since his election and seems to have cordial relations with President Nicols Maduro. Indeed, we've heard these claims so often in Colombia that many must think it is a matter of time before we morph into our neighbor. But we never hear the right question: how many countries have in fact "turned into Venezuela?"

Well, none perhaps, even if most Latin American governments are leftist now. Some of their leaders are making mistakes and others are despots, like the ruler of Nicaragua Daniel Ortega. But to turn your country into Venezuela requires mistakes and vileness on a galactic scale.

I am not dismissing the fear, mind you. Venezuela is corrupt and dictatorial. It bans criticism and jails opponents, manipulates and fakes elections and has provoked the flight of seven million Venezuelans. Most of the country's people live in poverty, and it boasts the highest inflation rate on the continent and second highest in the world. Chvez and Maduro have failed abysmally. But how many countries have reached such extremes of mismanagement? If the danger is real and imminent, there should have been other examples by now.

Yet the threat persists. Even Donald Trump keeps saying the Democrats will turn the United States into Venezuela. Conservatives in Colombia use it to discredit opponents. The threat has served to dissuade the nation from policies and initiatives that are unquestioned in places like, well, Europe policies like free healthcare and education, social housing or raising taxes on the wealthiest to assure a more equitable distribution of wealth.

There is a chasm between that and Venezuela, and you would need two conditions to get there. First, making grave political errors and picking obsolete economic models. Countries like Bolivia and Argentina seem to be doing that. But the second condition is more difficult, consisting of Venezuela's own, specific situation. The country is almost entirely dependent on crude oil exports, and its institutions are weak, with no checks and balances. Rule of law is feeble in Venezuela, with its tradition of strongmen politicians who have shallow roots, and extraordinary corruption like few other places in the world.

Very few countries in the region combine all these conditions. Most have stronger institutional checks and balances, diverse economies, a solid judiciary or civil societies with a fighting spirit. Voters in Chile and parliament in Peru have acted, for example, to curb presidential initiatives or excesses. These make the Venezuelan scenario much less probable.

So, the Venezuelan alarum is, if not fantasy, at least improbable. It might be time to let it go.

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The Venezuela Bogeyman, How Fear Of Socialism Thwarts Latin American Progress - Worldcrunch

Thomas Alter II

The Texas partys record on black rights was rather poor. It saw how the ruling class used race to divide the working class, yet it offered no specific program to fight racism. Instead, the SP argued that overthrowing capitalism and creating a socialist society would automatically end racism.

Debs called on all workers regardless of race to join the SP on equal terms. However, the Texas SP did not even initially do this. In the first years of its existence, it followed Jim Crow practices with segregated meetings. When the Texas SP created the Renters Union in 1911 to organize tenant farmers, it limited membership to white persons over 16 years of age.

However, the racially exclusive membership policy of the Renters Union did not last long. In 1912, lumberjacks in western Louisiana organized by the IWW were making modest gains against the lumber barons through interracial organizing and direct-action tactics. Inspired by this, the Renters Union, at its 1912 convention, eliminated the word white from its membership requirements and called on black tenant farmers to organize separate local unions. Still, from the available evidence, one does not find black farmers forming their own locals of the Renters Union, and very few African Americans joined the Texas SP.

It is hard to say how the Texas SP would have fared had it truly attempted to stand up for black liberation. Following World War I, black Texas veterans returned home determined to fight for their rights, and militant chapters of the NAACP were formed across the state. By this time, though, the Texas SP had been repressed due to its opposition to the war. And after a brief flurry of civil rights activism, the NAACP in Texas was rapidly repressed as well by the state government.

An interracial alliance of workers in the Texas SP definitely would have made our class and the party stronger. At the same time, it would have attracted the full force of white supremacist terrorism, most likely crushing the movement. Yet even in defeat, a black-white alliance of workers in the Texas SP would have provided a shining example and laid an earlier foundation to put us in a better position to win racial and economic justice in our present.

Continue reading here:
Texas Was Once a Hotbed of Socialism - Jacobin magazine

FOX Business host Larry Kudlow reacts to President Biden's re-election campaign launch on 'Kudlow.'

Joe Biden announced his re-election campaign today through a YouTube video, which as far as I know, has never been done before since most people running for the highest office in the land have given live speeches in front of people, but not Mr. Biden. The big theme is apparently "let's finish this job," which to me is averyscary thought. Just saying.

Most Americans arenotbetter off than they were two years ago and I don't think that's going to change in the next year-and-a-half. Mr. Biden failed to mention inflation in his re-elect video or the fact that real wages or take-home pay for typical working families have fallen essentially every month since he's been president.

Falling real wages arethesource of American pessimism in poll after poll showing the source of unhappiness, and while Mr. Biden didn't mention it in his video, he's going to have to deal with it on the campaign trail. That is, if he ever goes on the campaign trail live and in-person.

The economy in his first full year in office, 2022, grew by less than 1%, while the inflation rate jumped 6.5% after rising over 9% for a good part of the year and to this day it remains the highest inflation rate in fourdecades.

TRUMP SLAMS BIDEN'S 'CALAMITOUS AND FAILED PRESIDENCY' AS PRESIDENT ANNOUNCES 2024 RE-ELECTION CAMPAIGN

President Joe Biden speaks about the banking system in the Roosevelt Room of the White House in Washington, Mar. 13, 2023. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik / AP Images)

We are mired in stagflation with a risk of recession, and that's why polls keep telling us Americans are mighty worried about the future and their kids' future and their grandkids' future. Mr. Biden has waged war on fossil fuels based on a far-left Green New Deal ideology that does not comport with the science or the actual facts.

Lately, he wants to end the internal combustion engine and shift everybody to electric vehicles, but at the same time slash electricity power output by as much as two-thirds. Go figure. More electric cars, less electricity, all in the name of radical climate policy.

Fiscally, he's slapped on more federal spending and regulations than anything we've ever seen. Big government socialism, or as Steve Forbes puts it, modern socialism through the regulatory state, unelected bureaucrats.

As former Sen. Phil Gramm put it today in the WSJ, "tilting the scales of cost benefit analysis to social welfare, racial justice, environmental stewardship, human dignity, equity, but no serious economic analysis."

Besides shutting down the car business and the fossil fuel industry, Mr. Biden's regulators have gone after airlines, trucking, railroads, energy, communications, student loans, banks, credit cards, childcare mandates, family benefits, paid leave, unions, even recently punishing middle-class homebuyers who have good credit in order to reward high-risk borrowers like the ones that brought down the financial system 15 years ago.

Mr. Biden has gone way beyond the Obama administration, and that's why we face continued below-2% economic growth, instead of the 3.5% that governed the U.S. for roughly 70 years after World War II.

Mr. Biden has spent and borrowed something like $6 trillion in just two years, alongside the regulatory binge he has proposed a $5 trillion tax hike on the most productive job creators in society.

His social policies have attacked parents in schools, left open the southern border to millions of illegals, along with an epidemic of drugs and crime. His foreign policy was a disgrace as he fled Afghanistan and he has supported an unheard-of politicization of the legal and justice system.

The video accused MAGA Republicans of tax cuts for the rich, denying freedom, denying equity, denying love, burning books, allfabulous stuff although unsupported.

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Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, gives his take on the Hunter Biden laptop scandal on 'Kudlow.'

BIDEN CAMPAIGN VIDEO: MAGA extremists are lining up to take on those bedrock freedoms: cutting Social Security that youve paid for your entire life while cutting taxes for the very wealthy, dictating what health care decisions women can make, banning books, and telling people who they can love, all while making it more difficult for you to be able to vote.

He hasn't lifted a finger to help blue collar workers or traditional families. He has supported the most extreme gender and sex education anybody has ever seen. There's virtually nomeritin Mr. Biden's socialist economic system. No merit whatsoever. It's all about diversity, equity, inclusion, along with his big government socialist economics. Whether in-person or on video, it'snotgoing to work, Mr. Biden, so I'll just end by saying: Save America. Retire Joe Biden.

This article is adapted from Larry Kudlows opening commentary on the April25, 2023, edition of "Kudlow."

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LARRY KUDLOW: There is virtually no merit in Mr. Biden's socialist eco-system - Fox Business