Mediaboss Marketing

The Stop the War Coalition held a No to war in Ukraine rally in Londons Conway Hall Wednesday evening. In an act of supreme political cowardice, neither former shadow chancellor John McDonnell nor former shadow home secretary Diane Abbott, leading figures of the Labour left, took their seats next to former Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn.

The event took place amid an ongoing witch-hunt of anti-NATO opposition organised by current Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer, who has greeted the Ukraine war with the declaration that his is the party of NATO.

Last Thursday, Starmer threatened to withdraw the party whip from 11 Labour MPs, a rump of the Socialist Campaign Group, including Abbott and McDonnell, if they did not withdraw their support from an STWC open letter. The letter opposed NATOs eastward expansion and the UKs pouring oil on the fire in Ukraine, calling for a negotiated settlement recognising the right of the Ukrainian people to self-determination while addressing Russias security concerns.

Starmer claimed all 11 scalps within the first hour, as every one of them rushed to remove their signature. He pushed his advantage the next day, effectively shutting down the partys youth movement, Young Labour, for tweets supporting Stop the War and criticising Labours backing Nato aggression.

Last Saturday, McDonnell spoke at a pro-Ukraine demonstration in London with the ferociously pro-NATO warmonger Paul Mason. On Tuesday, Abbott told Politics Live, Nobody wants to attack NATO. Asked if Starmers threat to withdraw the whip applied to her she replied, I am a loyal supporter of Keir Starmer, and it will never come to that.

Abbott and McDonnell pressed their faces further into the dirt on Wednesday. Throughout the morning, the media was full of speculation about whether McDonnell, listed on the STWCs advertising as a panellist, would attend the Conway Hall rally.

On Monday, Starmer had told the Parliamentary Labour Party that there was no place for anyone drawing false equivalence between the actions of Russia and the actions of NATO. One Labour source told the Huffington Post that if McDonnell attended the STWC event, hell lose the whip. Any Labour MPs who speak at anything that is anti-Nato from now on are likely to be out.

LabourList reported that the threat of expulsions was still a live issue: behind the scenes, a number of Labour MPs have been urging Starmer to go further. With the chances of Jeremy Corbyn returning to the parliamentary party looking close to zero now, some are determined that as many Corbynites as possible are also ousted.

McDonnell was as eager as Abbott to prove his loyalty, issuing a statement that afternoon. Referring to the speculation about my attendance at tonights Stop the War meeting and reports of threats if I do, he said, My response is that people are dying on the streets of Ukrainian cities. This is not the time to be distracted by political arguments here. Now is the time to unite and do all we can to assist the people of Ukraine desperately seeking asylum and to do all we can to bring about peace.

Nothing is more important at this time. Nothing should distract us from that. So I wont feed into that distraction by going tonight.

Suggesting Labour Party members be given clarity over the Labour Partys attitude to attending demonstrations organised by Stop the War, he concluded, My final comment is that, in the wider context of securing a socialist Labour government, and possibly inspired by my team Liverpool at Wembley at the weekend, I do believe its important for socialists to stay on the pitch for as long as it takes.

Abbott made the same decision, though she is such an inconsequential figure that the first time anyone knew she had been planning on attending the event was when she told the Guardian late Wednesday evening she no longer was.

McDonnells statement is an insult to anyone who ever followed him. There is no effort to assist the people of Ukraine being organised by the Labour Party to distract from. What McDonnell proposes to avoid a political argument over is a relentless campaign of anti-Russian militarism and invective unleashed by the worlds imperialist powers in an effort to use the invasion of Ukraine they provoked to engineer regime change in Moscow.

To move from a war crisis threatening the worlds working class with catastrophe to a tortured football analogy is politically revolting. McDonnell is not staying on the pitch to wait for a socialist Labour government. His pitch is a party of imperialist warmongers and he will remain a well-paid flunkey of that party no matter what crimes it commits.

What socialist could possibly want to remain a member of an out-and-out Thatcherite party of war? It is a political cesspit.

Stop the War pressed on with their rally, with Corbyn, convenor and vice chair of STWC Lindsey German and Chris Nineham, leading Pabloite Tariq Ali, general secretary of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament Kate Hudson, National Education Union joint general secretary Kevin Courtney (in a personal capacity) and Sinn Fin MP Chris Hazzard in attendance. But its entire political perspective is in ruins. Hostile to an anti-war movement based on the working class and the struggle for socialism, the STWC makes appeals to the British ruling class to adopt a different, less militarist, foreign policyfor which the Labour left were identified as parliamentary champions.

This bankrupt perspective was summed up in the organisations refusal to criticise Corbyns countless retreats before the right-wing, pro-war majority of the Parliamentary Labour Party during his time as leader. McDonnell and Abbott, Corbyns closest allies, entrusted with the most senior positions in his shadow cabinet, are only continuing his record of political prostration.

At Stop the Wars 20th anniversary meeting last year, former chair Andrew Murray, one of Corbyns advisers, explained, We have to think about everything we say, and how we protesthow itll not just impact on public opinion, but how it could impact on Jeremy, who is a very staunch friend of Stop the War We have a lot of money in the bank with each other, as it were.

The end result of Corbyns STWC-approved capitulations is that the Labour Party is firmly in the hands of Starmer, more right-wing than ever, and not even one of its MPs will turn up to STWC events or sign their open letters. None will any longer utter a word of criticism of NATO and all will collaborate with Starmers crackdown.

Neither Stop the War nor Corbyn have made criticisms of Abbott, McDonnell or any of the other SCG MPs. Were Corbyn still sitting as a Labour MPhe had the whip withdrawn over the anti-Semitism witch-huntthere is every likelihood he would have done the same as his followers.

A mass anti-war movement must be built. It is being given sharp lessons in who its friends and enemies are. The fight against war must be based on a struggle to organise the international working class and waged in absolute opposition McDonnell, Abbott, Corbyn and all the other faux-left enablers of British imperialism.

Foreword to the German edition of David Norths Quarter Century of War

Johannes Stern, 5 October 2020

After three decades of US-led wars, the outbreak of a third world war, which would be fought with nuclear weapons, is an imminent and concrete danger.

Excerpt from:
John McDonnell and Diane Abbott pull out of Stop the War Coalition rally - WSWS

An Erdington byelection special four-page wrap-around with the Socialist issue 1169

Voting for more of the same will only get us more of the same. And, when that same means soaring energy bills for us and soaring energy profits for them we cant take any more of the same! Cuts to public services hit us hard, while billionaires get even richer.

A vote for Labour or the Tories will be seen by Boris Johnson, or Sir Keir Starmer, as support for their approach: to carry on privatising our NHS, letting the bosses get away with fire and rehire, saddling our young people with tens of thousands of pounds of student debt, and so on.

At best, there will be a discussion on how working-class people should pay for the crisis we didnt cause. No party in Westminster says make the billionaires pay instead because working-class people dont have our own political voice, our own party.

Dave Nellist, a member of the Socialist Party, is standing as the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC) candidate so we can use our vote to send a message to Westminster that we have had enough and want an alternative to their same old, same old.

Dave will be a voice for us instead. He has a record of being a workers MP who only took a workers wage and as a fighter for working-class people. The result in this by-election wont change the government, but a vote for Dave can shake up the establishment. Daves campaign is also part of the fight to build a powerful voice for the working class a new mass workers party.

Youth clubs, home care, school budgets, swimming pools, libraries many have disappeared, and more have been cut beyond recognition, privatised by profiteering corner-cutting companies, or now carry hefty charges. The decent public services needed for dignity, support and a start in life are being destroyed.

These attacks represent political choices about which part of society should foot the bill which class. The Tories made their position clear from the get-go in 2010, with the slashing of 40 billion of funding for councils in the years since. In that period, the amount paid by FTSE 100 companies in dividends to shareholders doubled to a record 110 billion in 2019. This is still the fifth-richest country on the planet.

Birmingham City Council, like all the Labour-led councils across the country, has dutifully accepted the Tory line and cut over 770 million from services since 2010. Over 13,000 jobs have been slashed. Birmingham Labour council has closed 43 youth centres, 12 nurseries, 21 childrens centres, five childrens homes, four libraries and countless community and leisure facilities. And then privatised or sold off most of whats left, as its trying to do with Short Heath playing fields too.

Labour cuts

The Labour candidate for Erdington, Paulette Hamilton, was a council cabinet member in 2018 when Birmingham care workers in Unison took strike action against the council plan to cut their hours. Some workers faced a cut from 37 hours to just 14 hours a week! Their 20-month strike defeated the plan, and the new rota was dropped. Unite and Unison refuse workers were also forced to strike against cuts in 2019.

Paulette has no defence, as she told LabourList: Ive had that portfolio for over seven years they can only name two disputes. I have managed a budget of over 354 million. I have also managed the public health budget each year of over 100 million. And they have highlighted two disputes that happened over five years ago, when we were looking at how we could upgrade a service. We had cross-party agreement when it was all decided. Thats cross-party with the Tories by the way

In Coventry, the Labour council is brutally attacking the trade unions trying to defend services and jobs. That council is refusing to pay bin drivers the rate for the job. But even worse, it is paying outside workers twice the going rate to do the work of their own workforce, spending over 2 million in an attempt to break the strike in defence of fair pay.

The socialist-led Liverpool Labour council in the 1980s provides a lesson of what a fighting council could do if it chose to represent and mobilise the working class. Its legacy is undeniable. It includes 4,800 houses and bungalows built; six new nursery classes built and opened; five new sports centres, one with a leisure pool attached; three new parks built; and rents frozen for five years.

The council defeated Tory Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, winning 60 million for Liverpool. It was achieved on the basis of workers and young people taking a democratic part in the decision process. That was in the form of mass meetings but also mass demonstrations and strike action to fight for what had been agreed in the council chamber.

Councils today have a lot of power to fight back against Tory attacks. Councils in England, for example, are responsible for over one fifth of all public spending. If they were to use their reserves and borrowing powers to produce budgets based on whats needed, and combine this with a Liverpool-style struggle, a mass movement could be inspired and built to end Tory austerity and kick them out.

New mass workers party

Today this type of struggle against the Tories is necessary but it is impossible in Starmers New Labour. As we go to press, Labour councillors who say they might vote against this years cuts face being expelled; Jeremy Corbyn is not allowed to sit as a Labour MP; and Starmer takes the side of Coventry council against the workers. The lesson is that cuts can be fought but we require councillors and a party with a no-cuts programme. Labour is not that. A new party must be built.

That can start now. Elections are taking place on 5 May with over 6,000 council seats up. In its existence since 2010, thousands of working-class fighters have stood as no-cuts candidates for the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC) trade unionists, socialists, community campaigners, student activists people with a record of standing up to the bosses and campaigning for their community and pledged to vote against cuts.

Standing no-cuts candidates has meant theres a real choice on the ballot paper in those areas. This can also help spread the idea of building a new mass workers party. It can also be an effective way of putting pressure on councillors they dont like a challenge to what they see as their right to rule. So why not be part of that?

See http://www.tusc.org.uk for info.

Birminghams unemployment rate of 12.6% is the highest of any major British city. Now Erdingtons GKN plant is set to close with the loss of 500-plus skilled jobs. Johnsons Tory government could have intervened, nationalised and saved GKN, but instead it let it go to the wall. The Socialist Party fights for the nationalisation of GKN under democratic workers control and management.

Boris Johnson claimed the Tories wanted Brexit to level up working-class communities, but their Brexit is about freedom for the bosses to exploit us. Dave, in contrast, led one of the three national campaigns to leave the EU, explaining it is Thatcherism on a continental scale which limits a governments ability to defend working-class interests for example to nationalise plants threatened with closure.

Johnsons plan for Brexit is the same as the EUs: giving big employers more liberty to attack workers pay, rights and conditions and to sell off our NHS to US private health companies. We need an MP to cut through both Tory and Labour Brexit jargon and put workers first.

Ben Robinson, an organiser of Youth March for Jobs

Dave Nellist has been a longstanding campaigner for young peoples rights. As an MP in the 1980s, Daves maiden speech was against Thatchers Youth Training Scheme forcing young people into low-paid work, and helping to build the movement against it.

Just over a decade ago, I was one of the Youth Fight for Jobs marchers who walked through Coventry on the way from Jarrow to London, following in the footsteps of the 1936 Jarrow march for jobs. In the aftermath of the 2007-8 financial crash, politicians and big business were asking working-class people to pay the price. Youth unemployment shot up to around a million 16 to 24-year-olds.

Again, Dave was one of our biggest supporters, joining us early in the march and helping to organise a rally and protest in Coventry, where he was a Socialist Party councillor. As we marched through the streets, local young people joined us and cheered as we spoke about fighting the Labour councils attacks, including to the local college, and the need for a socialist fightback.

These are just a few examples of Daves record. With fresh attacks on education, and low pay and job insecurity still rife for young people, we need a fightback. Dave has proven time and again that he is a fighter for young people and the working class, and will use any position to build that fightback. Vote for a fighter, vote Nellist!

Adam Powell-Davies, Socialist Students

Every year, hundreds of thousands of students leave university into a world of low pay and temporary contracts, owing the government close to 30,000. The moment we graduate, this figure starts growing. And thats just to cover tuition, leaving aside loans to cover the cost of rent and food.

However, there is no question that the wealth exists in society for education to be run as a free public service, available to all. After all, billionaires wealth has increased by $5 trillion to $13.8 trillion since March 2021. The question is: who owns and controls this wealth, and how is it used?

Free education is entirely possible. After all, university tuition fees were not introduced in Britain until 1998, under newly elected New Labour prime minister Tony Blair. In contrast, as Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn showed the huge support for free higher education when students, young people and workers joined mass rallies in the run up to the 2017 general election. The 2019 election manifesto grey book estimated the cost of abolishing tuition fees and restoring maintenance grants for full-time and part-time students at 13.6 billion. The obstacle is the profit system and the defenders of capitalism.

Corbyns anti-austerity programme was met with disdain by Tory and right-wing Labour MPs, who claimed there is no magic money tree. Yet the same Tory government has shown that the money can be found when the capitalist system they defend is under threat spending over 400 billion since Covid struck, including the 37 billion set aside for the botched test-and-trace system.

The current tuition fee system leaves university graduates saddled with debt for much of our working lives. In fact, the government predicts that only 25% of current undergraduates will have paid off their debt by the time they retire. The situation is only set to worsen following the Tories announcement that the student loan debt repayment window will be extended from 30 to 40 years and the repayment threshold lowered.

Alongside free education, we need institutions that are fully funded by government, and controlled by students, workers and the wider working class. This would bring to an end the university managements vicious attacks on the conditions of staff in the name of balancing the books.

But who will launch the fight for free education? Under Keir Starmer, the Labour Party has taken a clear rightward turn to the side of big business. As of yet, the current Labour leader has not officially renounced his 2020 campaign pledge to support the abolition of tuition fees. But he has retreated from nationalising utilities, suspended Jeremy and introduced rule changes designed to lock out the left from taking the leadership again.

And where was Starmer when students were organising rent strikes last year? When Young Labour urged him to back the rent strikes, he did not respond. A Labour spokesperson refused to confirm the partys position. Starmers right-wing machine has even gone as far as prohibiting access to Young Labour social media accounts, in an attempt to censor Labours official youth wing. Starmer is hell-bent on completing Labours reconfiguration into a safe pair of hands for British capitalism. It is difficult to imagine him ever demanding the super-rich pay for education.

This is why it is time for students to build a new mass movement, starting with campus-wide rallies of students and university workers already on strike, to discuss the next steps to fight cuts and marketisation.

But without a political alternative outside the Labour Party, students would be fighting with one hand tied behind our backs. A mass movement of students fighting for free education would be strengthened by representatives in Westminster like Dave Nellist, fighting on our side against the bosses.

Even just a modest tax or levy on the vast wealth of the super-rich would be enough to provide free education and reinstate maintenance grants. But why should the capitalists maintain their control over our education, and over the economy and the rest of society?

Socialists fight for the wealth and resources to be owned and controlled by the majority, the working class. By nationalising the banks and big business to be run under democratic workers control and management, a socialist government could plan production to meet everyones needs. Only such socialist measures, coordinated with socialist movements internationally, could guarantee a flourishing, free education system on a permanent basis.

Ian Hodson, President Bakers, Food and Allied Workers Union: As a founder and funder, and after 119 years of support for the Labour Party, our members decided that they could no longer be supportive of a political organisation riven by factionalism, and more interested in securing positions in its own ranks than dealing with the huge inequalities and hardship so many in our society face.

We have witnessed in recent weeks the actions of Labour in power with its treatment of its bin workers. They are no different to those of the Tory party. We need a fresh start, and Erdington offers an opportunity to send a real shot across the bows of the Westminster elite. By electing Dave Nellist, the people of Erdington will be sending one of their own someone who will be a powerful voice for ending the hardship we see daily in our society. Be it food, energy or housing poverty, it is a political choice by voting Dave Nellist you will be saying its time for change, and time for a better society for all.

Pete Randall, Unite rep for Coventry bin strikers: Dave stands on the side of workers, the community and is honest. So honest, he pledges to take a workers wage! This isnt about greed, its about delivering for the people. Hes done it before, hell do it again.

Chris Williamson, ex-Labour MP and Resist: I have known Dave Nellist for over 30 years. He is a real community champion. No other candidate can match his track record. By contrast, the Labour Party ignores the interests of local people and Labours response to the cost of living crisis is almost identical to the Conservatives.

Joe Simpson, Deputy General Secretary of the Prison Officers Association: I support Dave Nellist simply because of who he is. Dave is a sincere, genuine working-class man who will speak up for his constituents in Erdington and will protect them from the devastating cuts which will come in the next few years. No other candidate is speaking up for the people of Erdington and giving them a voice in parliament they will just take the money, sit on their hands and vote in favour of the party they belong to.

That is the exact opposite of what Dave will deliver, he will deliver a working-class voice on a working-class wage with a working-class agenda.

Naomi Byron, Unison NEC (personal capacity) and NHS worker: If Dave is elected to Parliament again he will be a real workers representative there. I know Dave will always fight to defend the NHS and for its renationalisation. He stands with health workers and outsourced workers. He fought against the Private Finance Initiative when New Labour introduced it, he is fighting against the Health and Care Bill, for proper NHS funding, and a proper pay rise for all.

Hugo Pierre, Unison NEC (personal capacity) and school worker: I am confident, that if elected, Dave would make a great MP for Erdington. Dave knows the West Midlands and has fought against the drop in workers living standards as formerly skilled, well-paid jobs have been replaced with low-paid precarious work.

He supported and gave solidarity to the Birmingham bin and home care workers who were attacked by the Labour council.

As a trade unionist, support for your struggle is the key. Im backing Dave in Erdington because he will have your backs. But workers across the country will also have a principled and determined socialist fighting for our cause.

Tosh McDonald, retired President of ASLEF the train drivers union and former councillor for Doncaster Town ward: By voting for Dave Nellist, the voters of Erdington have the chance to make a real change to Britains political landscape. With no real difference between Westminsters main parties and their careerist politicians, Dave is a refreshing breath of fresh air. Taking a workers wage instead of lining his own pocket, standing up for people instead of big business, Dave is a real peoples politician. A vote for Dave is a vote to change politics in Birmingham and beyond.

The Socialist Party is part of the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition, working with trade unions and others to stand no-cuts, fighting candidates, and take those first necessary steps towards building the new mass workers party we so urgently need.

Within the campaign for working-class political representation, the Socialist Party fights for a bold socialist programme that shows how we can really transform things. The first step is nationalisation of the biggest 150 banks and corporations that dominate the economy, under democratic working-class control and management. This would put the levers for the first steps towards a socialist planned economy, democratically run to meet the needs of all, into workers hands not those of the bosses.

The pandemic revealed the potential power of workers many times, forcing bosses to take safety measures they didnt want to take. What could the six-and-a-half million members of the trade unions do if we acted together? Combine that with those not yet in a union, linked up with young people, and communities!

Key to bringing that potential power to bear is the mass organisation of workers, including building a workers political voice. It also means strengthening the trade unions, the main workers organisations in the workplaces, where workers confront the bosses in the struggles over safety, pay, and conditions.

But it also means joining the Socialist Party. We stand firm for socialism come what may standing up against the bosses, the Tories, and the Labour Blairites, charting a way forward to build the maximum unity of the working class in the struggle for socialist change.

Fighting for a socialist alternative to war, poverty and inequality is an international struggle against an international capitalist system. The Socialist Party is affiliated to the Committee for a Workers International (CWI) to build a worldwide struggle for socialism.

Read the original here:
Erdington byelection - Working-class people need a voice - Socialist Party

Socialism is, broadly speaking, a political and economicsystem in which property and the means of production are owned in common, typically controlled by the state or government. Socialism is based on the idea that common or public ownership of resources and means of production leads to a more equal society.

General Socialism

In defining socialism, it's imporant to first define capitalism. Capitalism is based on private ownership of resources and means of production, and individual choices in a free market. Thisis in contrast to socialism. According to socialist philosophy, these features of capitalism lead to inequalities in wealth and hence power, and the exploitation of workers. According to socialism, notions of individual freedom and equality of opportunity are available only to those who control the means of production. In a capitalist society, this means a few rich capitalists hold power at the expense of the working class. In a socialist system, however, it is argued that since everyone controls the means of production, everyone is free.

Communism

Communism is a form of socialism based on the writings of German philosopher and economist Karl Marx. In a fully realized communist society, all property and goods are commonly owned by a society without government or class divisions. In such a society, production and distribution of goods is handled, according to Karl Marx, From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs.

Democratic Socialism

Democratic socialism is a form of socialism which emphasizes that both the economy and society should be run democratically, and that the goal is to meet the needs of all the people, not just a rich few. Some socialists argue that socialism does not necessarily require the government to run everything. Instead, business institutions should be run by those workers and consumers that are affected by them. This could be implemented, for example, as worker-run cooperatives or publicly owned enterprises managed by workers and consumer representatives.

Read more:
Socialism | National Geographic Society

Capitalism, socialism, and communism are three key concepts in social studies, with complex definitions and complicated histories. Explaining these concepts in the classroom is muddled even more by how these words are used in modern media. The meaning is often obscured by political alliances and deliberate attempts to mislead.

The words capitalism, socialism, and communism describe different economic systems. A simple and effective way to present these key concepts in the classroom is through the economic continuum illustrated by the chart below. Students are much more likely to grasp the key differences if these concepts are first presented separate from political systems such as autocracy, theocracy, or democracy.

Capitalism, socialism, and communism are also easier to understand and remember when the histories of the words are explored.

Photo: iStock by Getty Images

Capitalism and socialism first came into use in the 1830s. Capitalism described an economic system in which wealth (or capital, another word for wealth) was owned by individuals for their personal profit. The British policy of government regulation of trade called mercantilism was being abandoned by the 1830s, and the free market (not the government) determined the production and distribution of goods. The word capitalism was a product of the changing economy of Great Britain during the Industrial Revolution.

The word socialism also began to be used in the 1830s, to describe a system different from capitalism. Socialism held that groups of people should own and regulate the economy for the benefit of all the members, not just a few. Early nineteenth-century socialists were often disturbed by the economic and social changes caused by the Industrial Revolution. In the first half of the nineteenth century, socialist ideals inspired utopian communities such as the transcendentalists Brook Farm, Robert Owens New Harmony, and the Oneida Community. An even older ideal of Christian socialism described in the Bible inspired religious socialist communities such as the Shakers, Rappites, Amana Colonies, and Hutterites. Even the term social studies alludes to how a community or wider society benefits from shared knowledge.

Communism was first a French word, coined in the 1840s, to describe a system of collective ownership in which individuals did not own private property and worked together for the benefit of all community members. This new French word described ideals similar to the English concept of socialism and derived from the word common, meaning something is free or open to everyone.

The word communism was adopted by Karl Marx and Frederick Engels in the 1850s to describe their ideology of opposing industrial capitalism. Marxist communism sought the overthrow of governments supporting a capitalist economy. By 1918, communism was the ideology of Russias Bolshevik Revolution and was associated with a single authoritarian political party. The combined economic and political ideology of modern communism was implemented in the Soviet Union (1922), the People's Republic of China (1949), North Korea (1948), North Vietnam (1945), and Cuba (1965).

Photo: iStock by Getty Images

Today, the historical words capitalism, socialism, and communism do not fully capture the economic systems of nations. New words are also used to describe economic systems: free market system; mixed economy; command economy. But these modern words can still lead to confusion because, in reality, modern nations are not purely free market capitalist or purely command/communist. In recent years, communist China and Cuba have loosened economic restrictions and allowed free market activities. On the other hand, the United States regulates many aspects of its economy and owns and manages very socialist enterprises such as public schools, public transportation, and public libraries.

In other words, communism, socialism, and capitalism are a continuum, with modern national economics falling somewhere in the middle, or mixed, zone. In American politics, those aligned to the right of the political spectrum are more likely to support free market policies, and those to the left are more likely to support government intervention in the economy. Recent polls by the Pew Research Center demonstrate how the political alliances of Americans influence perceptions of these words.

Ultimately, nations and citizens of nations must decide how much government regulation of the economy is appropriate. Therefore, a clear understanding of the historical developments, meaning, political associations, and synonyms of these three words is essential in social studies.

Communism

Socialism

Capitalism

Government owns/regulates all aspects of the economy.

Government owns/regulates some parts of the economy for the benefit of the whole nation;

and

Individuals and private businesses also their own make their own economic decisions, keeping the profits and accepting the losses.

Individuals and private businesses own everything and make economic decisions free from government regulation, keeping the profits and accepting the losses without intervention.

Also known as:

Command Economy

Also known as:

Mixed economy

Also known as:

Free Market Economy or Free Enterprise

Usually aligned to the political left

Usually aligned to the political right

Cynthia W. Resor is a social studies education professor and former middle and high school social studies teacher. Her dream job? Time-travel tour guide. But until she discovers the secret of time travel, she writes about the past in her blog,Primary Source Bazaar. Her three books on teaching social history themes feature essential questions and primary sources:Discovering Quacks, Utopias, and Cemeteries: Modern Lessons from Historical Themes;Investigating Family, Food, and Housing Themes in Social StudiesandExploring Vacation and Etiquette Themes in Social Studies.

Read more here:
Capitalism, Socialism, Communism: Distinguishing Important ...

(Uri Thier)

Thank you for signing up forThe Nations weekly newsletter.

Just over five years ago, when Leah McVeigh moved to Astoria, a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Queens, one of the first things she noticed about her apartment building was the dangerous intersection next to it. There were so many car crashes, she told me, that she learned to identify the sound of one: Theres this specific crunch. And then quiet.1

There seemed to be an accident every week, and the constant honking suggested that there were dozens of near misses every day. It was so dangerous that she bought a large first aid kit to keep in the apartment. She also called the citys 311 help line to request that a traffic light be installed, and when that didnt work, she attended her community board meeting to see if they could help. Nothing changed, and McVeigh concluded that shed done what she could. I had to live my life. I had to go work. Ive kicked the tires, and Ive only lived here six months. Surely someone in this neighborhood has been trying to deal with this for years, she said.2

But one rainy night in September 2020, McVeigh heard that familiar, dreadful crunch and quiet. She ran down into the pouring rain in her slippers and found a delivery worker on the ground with a line of blood trickling from his mouth. You could tell, as soon as you got there, that it was not going to go well for him, she said.3

McVeigh watched him die. She decided then that getting the intersection fixed would be her raison dtre. This man was deeply loved, she told me. His friends and family brought a band to play a funeral brass section at the intersection. They put up a poster at the site of his death and lit candles almost every night for the next six months.4

McVeigh e-mailed every legislator at the city and state level, telling them, I need this intersection fixed. I dont have the emotional capacity to watch another person die in front of my house during Covid-19. This is too hard. But every elected politician she reached out to either didnt respond or told her that they couldnt do anything to help.5 Current Issue

Subscribe today and Save up to $129.

That changed last January, when Zohran Mamdani, one of six democratic socialists to win state office in New York, became the assemblymember representing Astoria. He hosted a Covid-19 town hall meeting over Zoom, which McVeigh attended. He said a lot of good things, she told me, and he invited participants to volunteer with his office to help deliver constituent services to their neighbors. This work entails assisting hundreds of constituents who reach out to the assemblymember with practical needs: an unmet unemployment claim, a complaint to the city that has not been addressed, or dozens of other unique problems. McVeigh thought, Maybe this is how I will not only get my traffic light, but I can also ensure that others dont have the same experience that I did.6

She got involved with Mamdanis team in March, and with the help of another volunteer, his office made sure a traffic light and pedestrian signals were finally installed at the intersection by the end of that summer. The corner by her apartment building, once raucous with honking, fender benders, and worse, has gone quiet.7

This is sewer socialism in action, and it highlights how local, socialist governance can be responsive to ordinary people rather than to the corporate and political elite.8

Making the light: Leah McVeigh in front of the traffic light that she and the rest of Mamdanis team made sure was installed. (Uri Thier)

Sewer socialists was the nickname given to the democratic socialist mayors who ran Milwaukee for most of the first half of the 20th century. They built parks, playgrounds, libraries, water treatment plants, and the nations first municipal public housing. There were also socialist mayors in Reading, Penn.; Schenectady, N.Y.; Berkeley, Calif.; and dozens of other cities. But Milwaukees mayors were the best-known. In fact, Mayor Daniel Webster Hoan was featured on Time magazines cover in 1936. The article noted that the Marxist mayor was in his sixth term despite the united opposition of the citys Republicans, Democrats, bankers, and landlords. Hoan, Time wrote, remains one of the nations ablest public servants, and under him Milwaukee has become perhaps the best-governed city in the U.S.9

Milwaukee was a stronghold of the Socialist Party, particularly the wing that believed the best way to advance working-class power was to run a functional government that delivered basic services. But many from the partys more radical wing derided this type of incremental reform. Sewer socialism was their term of scorn for the incrementalists. Emil Seidel, the citys first socialist mayor, responded:10

Some eastern smarties called ours a Sewer Socialism. Yes, we wanted sewers in the workers homes; but we wanted much, oh, so very much more than sewers. We wanteda chancefor every human being to be strong and live a life of happiness. And we wanted everything that was necessary to give them that: playgrounds, parks, lakes, beaches, clean creeks and rivers, swimming and wading pools, social centers, reading rooms, clean fun, music, dance, song and joy for all.11

Todays Eastern smarties include a caucus of democratic socialists in the New York State Legislature who have adopted many of these ideas. So often, Mamdani told me, people like to malign leftists as if we live in the clouds. But we should also live in the sewers.12

Readers like you make our independent journalism possible.

A growing number of socialist politicians have organized their offices to deliver constituent services. But what makes their approach distinct is that theyre doing this by activating community members, developing leaders, and building organizationsand thus transforming the political terrain of their districts. While local political machines have often traded constituent services for votes, democratic socialists have turned that model on its head by using the delivery of services to build power outside of their offices. Through contact with constituents, theyve introduced people to grassroots organizations, trained volunteers, and connected people with resources and information.13

Politicians ranging from US Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to state assemblymembers like Mamdani in Queens and Phara Souffrant Forrest in Brooklyn have developed significant volunteer bases out of this work, and in so doing, they are building infrastructure that can outlast their time in office. As Mamdani told me: Our role is to ensure that people have the tools that they need to create the world that they deserve, outside of what we do for them, and long after we leave.14

By building volunteer networks and local organizations, explained Ayat Husseini, the community liaison for Mamdanis office, theyre showing residents how socialist governance connects to communities and grassroots movements. We can use constituent services to empower volunteers and constituents, she said. They learn about the system, learn to resolve their issues moving forward, but also resolve their neighbors issues and develop tight-knit communities that can navigate systems and bureaucracies.15

Mapping change: Zohran Mamdani, center, and his staff analyze a map of Queens. (Uri Thier)

Mamdani and his staff of four (three full-time, one part-time) have spent the past year working with tenants and unemployed people, doing outreach in mosques and churches, and lending support to grassroots campaigns. Like other socialists in office, Mamdani describes himself as having one hand in legislation, one hand in organizing, and one hand in constituent issues.16

That may sound like one too many hands for a single person, but his staff and volunteers help in each of those categories. When I stopped by the offices constituent services volunteer meeting this past October, Mamdani sat to the side for most of the evening while his team ran the agenda. Mamdani, who had turned 30 that week, was wearing a dark suit and was uncharacteristically quiet. If he looked tired, I later found out, it was because he had begun a hunger strike earlier that day, in solidarity with New York City taxi workers who were seeking debt relief. The following week, still on hunger strike, Mamdani announced a major organizing victory: The states Department of Environmental Conservation had rejected a proposal that hed worked to defeat, which would have built a fracked gas power plant in Astoria.17

But many of the day-to-day functions of Mamdanis office are not the flashy accomplishments that find their way into headlines. Mamdani and his staff respond to hundreds of constituents every week, answering e-mails, phone calls, and tweets. Its not unusual for the office to receive 100 e-mails and 30 phone calls in a single day. During the first 10 months of Mamdanis tenure, more than 480 of these conversations became active casesan average of 11 cases per week. Some types of cases were all too common: a wave of people not receiving their unemployment checks at the height of the states lockdown, for instance. Others were unique: a security guard at risk of losing his job because his license had expired and his attempt to renew it was stuck in a bureaucratic limbo. Many were somewhere in between: tenants complaining about negligent landlords or traffic issues like McVeighs intersection.18

Mamdani and his staff were quickly overwhelmed by the volume of cases, particularly as the pandemic pummeled New York City and the inquiries became dire. So they set about recruiting and organizing volunteers. The first cohort that spring, which included McVeigh, fluctuated between five and 20 active volunteers. They learned to answer calls and e-mails, log information, and follow up where they could. McVeigh took the lead in helping to organize them. Im a bit of a systems thinker, she said. She worked with the staff to tighten an initial loosey-goosey approach with schedules, processes, and clear expectations for volunteers.19

She also met Sean Rowden, who had agreed to volunteer after the office helped him with his own unemployment case. He happened to have a background in urban planning and transportation and knew the liaison at the Department of Transportation. He helped resolve McVeighs traffic light case.20

Get unlimited access: $9.50 for six months.

Mamdani and his staff have tried to use every point of contact with constituents to democratize and build power within the district. During Ramadan, their food distribution activities culminated in an iftar where religious leaders, community members, and local climate activists shared a meal, prayed, and discussed the struggle to stop the proposed fracked gas plant. When a constituent contacts the office to say I dont have gas or My landlord wont repair the holes in my walls, Mamdanis staff often end up finding out about other issues that they can help resolve.21

Tenant activist: Adriana Alvarez is working with Mamdanis office to organize her neighbors against their landlord. (Uri Thier)

Thats how they met Adriana Alvarez, who was born and raised in Queens. In 2019 Alvarez, her partner, and her two daughters moved into a rent-stabilized apartment. They quickly found out that there was no working stove, and when they called Con Edison to turn on the gas, they were told it wasnt possible, because the buildings gas pipes were not installed according to city regulations. The landlord refused to do anything about it, so in March 2020 Alvarez took him to court. There she learned that a standing order to address the issue already existed. To this day, nothing has been done to correct it. In fact, the only thing that came out of the court case was that Con Ed shut off the gas to the rest of the building as well.22

Alvarez didnt know the people in her new building when this began. But her neighbor across the hall, Hacene Layachi, seemed to know everyone. He suggested that she go to a nearby food pantry where hed met some organizers who might help. As it turned out, the organizers were Mamdani supporters and members of the Astoria Tenants Union. Mamdanis campaign had been running food distribution during Ramadan and had enlisted the ATU to hand out flyers.23

As Alvarez and the ATU identified other neighbors issues, Mamdanis office got involved. Not only had the tenants gas been shut off indefinitely, but years of negligence also meant that door locks and security cameras were broken, leaks were left to fester, garbage was everywhere, a mouse infestation hadnt been addressed, and many tenantsthey learned after some diggingwere vastly overpaying on their rent.24

Now Alvarez, Layachi, and their neighbors have begun to organize, and theyre bringing a building-wide legal case against the landlord. In the past, tenants occasionally passed each other in the hallway but had barely known one another. Now, Layachi told me, were like a family. We help each other out, we talk outside, we know about each others kids.25

Layachi is a natural organizer, who recently helped unionize his workplace. But Alvarez said shes never done anything like this before. When I asked her how it felt, she said, Its like a breath of fresh air. I didnt know how many people in my building didnt want to speak out because of their status. It sounds ignorant, but as a citizen, I never really thought about it. It feels good to know that were working together now. That they know that their neighbors have their back.26

Neither Layachi nor Alvarez consider themselves political or have an opinion about democratic socialism. Its just really good to work with people that have your best interest at heart, Alvarez said.27

Its exactly this principlethat socialist governance is just good governancethat appeals to volunteers like McVeigh and Rowden. Both told me that they have socialist leanings, but they appreciate the seemingly apolitical nature of providing constituent services. Theres something powerful about neighbors helping neighbors, McVeigh said.28

Rowden has been skeptical of the Democratic Socialists of America and of political activism in general in an age of Twitter wars. Everythings online; everythings national scale. And it feels insubstantial, he said. But with constituent services, because youre dealing with real people in real circumstancesyour actual neighborsyou dont have the luxury of retreating into bubbles and hive minds.29

The more that Mamdanis office can develop leaders, whether as volunteers or as tenants organizing their buildings, the more institutional knowledge can be built to outlast the tenure of individual politicians. We care very deeply about democratizing information, Mamdani said. I think that stems from the fact that we are socialists, and socialism is in many ways the extension of democracy beyond the ballot box. It is in this sense that socialist governance is not only good governance; it has a broader goal of transforming the way people understand and relate to the government. The reason that I ran for office, Mamdani continued, is to change the relationship between people and the state, to shift what people believe they deserve from the state, and to help them understand the structural problems and the role that they can play in challenging those structures.30

As Kaarthika Thakker, Mamdanis communications coordinator and constituent services liaison, explained: The ultimate goal is to identify and develop leaders and to give people the tools and knowledge to be able to have tenant association meetings, regardless of who is in office, to understand what your rights are and what you can demand from your landlord, your candidate, your government. The ultimate goal is to have that sustain itself and live within the neighborhood and not within our office.31

Democratic socialist politicians like Mamdani dont have it easy. Not only are they opposed on the ballot (often by candidates with nearly bottomless resources), but once theyre in office, theyre stymied by limited resources and the enormous scale of the challenges their constituents face.32

We are preaching a gospel of abundance within conditions of austerity, Mamdani said. Constituent service work exists only because the system is not working efficiently. If people were able to resolve their issues with government agencies directly, they would have no need to call us.33

To get constituents engaged, Mamdani and his staff must convince them that it is possible to make changein their own lives and in their communities. When they organized thousands of residents to write postcards against the fracked gas plant, they made it clear: You can do this. You have the power to stop this plan.34

But when you light the fire of possibility in someone, Mamdani cautioned, you have to do so responsibly and not give them a sense of hope when actually theres no way to help them in this situation. For every constituent that Mamdanis team helps, there are many more who dont know to reach out to his office or whose problems are beyond the ability of a single office to solve. Behind each negligent landlord, for instance, is an entire system of real estate development, predatory lending, and gentrificationwhich requires legislation and class-based struggles to effectively overcome. Delivering constituent services not only gives Mamdani opportunities to empower residents; it also informs his legislative priorities, such as a good cause eviction law to protect renters, a bill to ban all new power plants, and legislation that democratizes the processes in the most engaged state agencies.35

Political education is also important in the long run, Mamdani said. When we talk to our constituents, we try to be honest with them about the political and systemic challenges. There are many obstacles that are unseen, and you need to know them. Because if you dont connect the dots in politics, it seems like you can never achieve change. And thats what they want you to think.36

Sewer socialism in New York is in its beginning stages. How far it will go and how much it can achieve remains to be seen. For Rowden, despite his skepticism about political activity, the work thats happening in Mamdanis district is a North Star for the movement. If youre a socialist, part of the project of getting people on board is showing people the goods, he said. Thats the benefit of getting your fingers in the dirt. What were doing here is where the hope lies for socialism to grow.37

Read the original:
When Socialists Govern - The Nation