[Peace] Fwd: The rising tide of socialism and the 15th anniversary of the PSL’s founding

Sat Jun 22 00:16:59 UTC 2019

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The rising tide of socialism and the 15th anniversary of the PSL’s founding
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By Brian Becker

The Party for Socialism and Liberation turns 15 years old this month. We started with a small handful of communists who were determined to build a large-scale socialist party in the country that seemed to have most thoroughly rejected socialism. That seemed like a daunting task and even some of our dearest friends and comrades wished us well but thought we were dreaming. They rated our chance of success at somewhere between zero and zero. We were few in number, had virtually no resources and socialism was treated as an absolute taboo here in the center of world capitalism.

Revolutionaries are accused of being dreamers. In one sense that is true. They set out to do the impossible or what seems impossible. The commit themselves unwaveringly to the task at hand. And they work and don’t stop working.

Today, the PSL has branches, groups, collectives and members throughout the country. We now have an organized presence in 93 cities and towns. We are still relatively small but we are growing dynamically. Most importantly, the interest and support for socialism is growing throughout the country in spite of the nearly non-stop hostile propaganda and demonization efforts by the bourgeois media launched against the idea.

A Harris poll for “Axios on HBO” finds that 40 percent of Americans say they would prefer living in a socialist country over a capitalist one. The number of women between the ages of 18 and 54 favoring socialism is 55 percent, showing that women are generally to the left of men. Across all ages, half of those with an income under $50,000 per year, and half of all renters, say they would prefer to live under socialism.

Since the popularization of socialism is still in its infancy there is not one accepted definition of the term socialism but one can see from the Harris Poll results that the widely understood characteristic features include: universal healthcare (which 76% of people associate with socialism), tuition-free education (72 percent), living wage (68 percent), state-controlled economy (66 percent), state control and regulation of private property (61 percent), high taxes for the rich (60 percent), and strong environmental regulations (56 percent). Half of all respondents associate socialism with worker ownership and control over their workplaces.

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________________________________
15 years of building the Party, growing and learning

The PSL Central Committee issued the following statement on the 15-year anniversary of the PSL. The founding convention took place on June 18-20, 2004.

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On the occasion of the 15th anniversary of the formation of the Party for Socialism and Liberation, the Central Committee of the PSL congratulates all of its dedicated cadres, friends, supporters and allies in the struggle for their tireless work building the Party and the movement for socialism. It is only because of their dedication that we have been able to emerge as a leading force in the socialist movement in this country from our humble roots as a handful of comrades in just a few cities, and in a period that was much more hostile to socialism.

Tens of millions of people in the United States are completely fed up with the capitalist system. Millions believe that a socialist system should exist in its place. The political atmosphere in the United States has shifted in recent years to such a profound degree that socialism has started to resurge as a mass political movement.

Such a development is precisely what we were anticipating when a few dozen comrades founded the organization in 2004. Their analysis was that the contradictions and crises of capitalism would inevitably create the basis for a revival of socialism, despite the momentary triumph of pro-capitalist ideas and silencing of socialist ones.

From the beginning these comrades also emphasized organizational questions, which they had learned from prior experience would sooner or later prove decisive to the health of the Party, and could doom it if neglected. This included democratic processes for leadership selection; a standardized internal education program on Marxism for new members; a Constitution to establish baseline rights and responsibilities, structures as well as processes to resolve problems; to be supplemented later by Guidelines governing member conduct internally, on social media and in mass organizing. At the founding Convention, comrades emphasized “you can only plant the tree once so we must do it properly.” All the future growth, development and stability of the organization would not be possible without the careful attention given to this task from the outset.

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Donate to the PSL's 2019 National Fund Drive!
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Every year all members of our Party participate in a National Fund Drive. Like a union or many other types of working class organizations, we know that the only way to be politically independent from the capitalist class is to be financially independent from it. Each of our members makes a finance pledge, and pays our pledge across a six-month period.

This year, for the first time, we’re opening our National Fund Drive up to our friends and supporters in the movement. The funds we raise through the drive we use to launch national initiatives, to put organizers and speakers on the road, to support and coordinate local organizing, to produce Party publications and other media and to deepen the Party’s international solidarity work. Make a contribution today!<https://www.pslweb.org/nfd?e=2df3a13664f8a0322319b0ddae502747&utm_source=psl&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=15_year_anniversary&n=16>

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Questions? Comments? Contact us.<https://www.pslweb.org/r?u=E7dUN257_pPM4QKUQjHyKuOP9ZZvd2iRJJlvxNWT7sc&e=2df3a13664f8a0322319b0ddae502747&utm_source=psl&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=15_year_anniversary&n=20>

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