Who Are The Committee to Revive The SDUSA and SP...

What follows borrows from many sources, but the conclusions and suggestions are my own. No one should infer an organizational imprimatur.

Who Are Those Guys?

The Revived Social Democrats ,U.S.A. is the 110 year old organization that was born as the directly political out growth of the communalist Social Democracy of America. The organization was known as the Social Democratic Party from 1898-1901, the Socialist Party of America from 1901-1956, Socialist Party-Social Democratic Federation from 1956-1964, Socialist Party, U.S.A. from 1964-1972 and Socialist Party, U.S.A.-Democratic Socialist Federation of the U.S.A. in 1972. Social Democrats, U.S.A. and is the only direct successor of the Socialist Party, the party of Eugene V. Debs, Mary Harris“Mother” Jones, Helen Keller, Morris Hillquit, Victor Berger, Meyer London, Norman Thomas, Max Shachtman, Darlington Hoopes, Asa Phillip Randolph, Michael Harrington,Tom Kahn, David McReyonlds, Bayard Rustin and Frank Zeidler. (End hoopla here)

The Socialist Party, U.S.A-Democratic Socialist Federation, at its national convention on December 30, 1972, by a majority vote of the delegates, changed the name of the organization to the Social Democrats, U.S.A. The Debs Caucus felt that the move away from a political party betrayed the heritage of Debs and Thomas. The state Socialist parties Illinois, Pennsylvania, California, Washington, and Wisconsin, along with many locals in other states disaffiliated from the Social Democrats, USA. On May, 26, 1973 the Debs Caucus, the above named state parties and the Union for Democratic Socialism "reconstituted" the Socialist Party, USA. The "reconstituted SP" elected Frank Zeidler, former Mayor of Milwaukee and the last person to be elected to a major office as a candidate of the Socialist Party as its chairperson. The Party opened an office in Milwaukee where there was a tradition that dated back to 1898. In 1974, this group amended its constitution to rename their Party the Socialist Party of the United States of America I will hereafter refer to this group as the SP of the USA for clarity

The Social Democrats, USA threatened legal action in 1973. They had retained in their constitution a clause stating that "The Socialist Party, by that name shall continue in association with the Social Democrats, USA". The SDUSA could have at anytime revived the Socialist Party, USA but chose not to do so. Instead the group concentrated on anti-Communism and its alliance with the leadership of the AFL-CIO. The SD did a major service to working people within the Soviet empire by being the only national organization to raise money for Solidarity, the Polish free trade union. Less celebrated but no less important was the SD's support of the Nicaragua's democratic resistance to the Sandinistas. During their first try at government the Sandinistas smashed all trade unions that were not part of their labor front, oppressed the Jewish, Roman Catholic, Moravian Christian, and Native American populations of Nicaragua. While the general left celebrated the Sandinistas the SD brought representatives of the democratic resistance, religious, political, Indigenous peoples, and labor leaders to speak in the U S. Now of course the Sandinistas govern by democratic election and are a member party of the Socialist International.

There was a third group that grew out of the split in in the Socialist Party USA. It was called the Democratic Socialist Organizing Committee. After a merger with the New American Movement a group that came from the New Left, this organization became the Democratic Socialists of America. Michael Harrington formerly the chair of the Socialist Party, USA was this organization's charismatic leader. Founded in October 1973 by 200 stalwarts the group grew to have 12,000 members. In 1978, the Democratic Agenda, a front group for DSOC openly and effectively challenged the policies of a President Jimmy Carter at the mid-term Democratic Convention. Harrington gathered a galaxy of star Leftists like feminist, Gloria Steinem and Machinist union president, William Winpisinger to be recruiting icons, Unfortunately, because everything that DSA did focused on national policy, when Harrington died the group drifted until it now has less members than DSOC did in 1982.

DSA raised money for the Senatorial campaign of Rep, Bernie Sanders( I VT ). This was probably DSA's best showing in a decade. The leadership of DSA failed to learn the obvious lesson. Sanders had built a political vehicle by running for mayor of Burlington, then Congress, then Governor before being elected to the Senate. No effort was put toward supporting the"next Sanders". The SP of the USA actually ran a candidate against Sanders, despite the fact that Sanders had been the key note speaker at the Party's 1983 convention.

So Why Revive The SDUSA and Socialist Party ?

The first reason is because it is doable. The old leadership has skipped town. Some of us who remained members for years decided we want our organization back. We do not want to be Neoconservatives, nor Labor or State Department puppets. We like what the old SD's stance on totalitarian ideologies. The Soviet Union is gone. However, it was replaced by a non-ideological state capitalism in Russia. In China and Cuba the economy is being liberalized but the government is as repressive as ever to political, social, or religious dissent. Violence in the name of Islam threatens the peace of the entire world. It would require more space than this essay allows to examine the political, economic, and social nature of radical Islam, but as the former mayor of London, Ken Livingstone pointed out attacks on transportation systems are pointedly anti-worker. Who uses mass transit ? Not the social elites.

So what is to done? Or, perhaps more importantly what can be done? We have the capacity to run candidates in municipal elections. We already have a mayoral and school board candidate running in PA. It is time to discard the old arguments about the Democratic Party. We know it will never be a Social Democratic party and we know that many Americans still see it as their Party. To them it is the Party of the New Deal and Civil Rights. We need not lose the "down home" Democrats or become DP apparatchiks. We can run fusion campaigns or third party campaigns, or openly Socialist campaigns in the Democratic Party as the local situation dictates.

I hold a minor public office as a Social Democrat, that does not stop me from being actively involved in local liberal Democratic politics. The state of New York's laws may make this kind of inside and outside the Democratic Party politics easier but it is possible anywhere. It simply requires commitment. This is a commitment that neither DSA nor the SP of the USA has shown nor given their structures is likely to show in the future.

What About A Statement of Principles?

Those of us who are members of the SP of the USA are well aware how a statement of principles can be used as a weapon. The Fist and Rose Tendency arose out of a ham handed attempt to enforce the statement of Principals by the SP of the USA's National Committee. I took a crack at writing a " Principled Statement " a few months ago and I invite your comment. http://americansocialdemocrats.blogspot.com/. We don't need a statement that details all of our goals, gripes and strategy, We need a commitment to doing the Jimmy Higgins work. Nobody joins a statement of principles; they join organizations that are doing something. Given our size we cannot change the world in the near future. We have already launched two national campaigns. The first is to ask Americans to boycott the corporate sponsors of this year's Olympic Games. We do this in solidarity with the citizens of China, Tibet, Zimbabwe, Burma,.and Sudan bring oppressed for their religion, their political ideology, or their ethnicity. There probably is not a better teachable moment to show the connections between multinational corporations and totalitarian regimes than these " Genocide Olympics". Our second campaign dovetails on the first We will point out the that supporting peace, disarmament, and an end to U.S. involvement in Iraq does not equate to hatred of America and support for every dictator and terrorist who hates the U.S.

Being the only anti-totalitarian and anti capitalist Left organization with a real inside outside strategy to the Democratic Party could make us a very lonely group. That is accept for the fact that we are in the same place as most Americans. We can put forward a Democratic Socialist analysis in the places where it counts, i.e. our houses of worship, our unions and our communities. We can build a Social Democratic movement from the bottom up if we have the will.

My thanks to my friends and comrades, Rob Tucker and David Hacker, from whom I borrowed extensively. You should however direct any wrath at me, because as I stated in the beginning the conclusions are solely my own. For more information I invite you to go to our website http://www.socialdemocraticpartyofamerica.org/ind and the New America Blog http://americansocialdemocrats.blogspot.com/. Or you can call our office. Yes, we actually have and office and staff. 814 410 2542

Peace,
Gabriel Ross. acting executive director, Social Democrats, USA/ Socialist Party.