I am suspicious of articles telling a group of people, a group consisting of
individuals, in this case, the revolutionary socialists how they should respond
to a campaign and, by implication, how they should vote.
By the rigid definitions posed here, I suppose it makes sense, but it’s more
lemmings to the sea, even if one happens to like that particular sea.
If this was an article by some Christian organization telling all good
Christians how they should vote and, by those lights, why, we’d all be up in
arms.
I admit, I have not read the article all the way through, but I will.
No candidate is going to get it all 100% to the liking of probably anybody.
So there are things about Sanders one or another of us may not like.
But that may be true of the socialist candidates being proposed by the party
for socialism and liberation party, too.
On Aug 17, 2015, at 8:49 PM, Roger Loran Bailey (Redacted sender
"rogerbailey81@xxxxxxx" for DMARC) <dmarc-noreply@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
https://www.liberationnews.org/psl-statement-sanders-campaign/
PSL statement on the Sanders campaign
By Liberation Staff
Aug 17, 2015
6219
Bernie Sanders LA photo
Sanders rally in Los Angeles, Aug. 2015
The Party for Socialism and Liberation is running a revolutionary socialist
election campaign in 2016, with Gloria La Riva as our candidate for president
and Eugene Puryear for vice-president. For more information and to get
involved, visit VotePSL.
The 2016 election promises to be the most expensive and corrupt in history,
with rivers of cash flowing directly from the accounts of billionaires,
corporations and mega-banks into the coffers of the leading Republican and
Democratic Party contenders. This unlimited funding of candidates by the
super-rich was legalized by the Supreme Court’s decision in the 2011 Citizens
United case, resulting in their near-complete domination of campaigning
funding. For example, one extreme right-wing Republican candidate, Ted Cruz,
has received $36 million from just five individuals, with the first primary
election still a half-year away.
In the 2012 presidential campaign, the 100 biggest donors gave at least as
much money to the candidates as 4.7 million small donors, according the
Brennan Center for Justice.
An unexpected response to this obscene form of “dollar democracy,” rapidly
widening inequality, and other regressive developments has come in the form
of the Bernie Sanders election campaign. Sanders, an Independent Senator from
Vermont and self-described socialist, is seeking the Democratic party
nomination for president against Hillary Clinton and others. When he
announced his campaign in late April, Sanders was regarded as a kind of
novelty candidate.
But Sanders, stunning the political establishment, has been drawing far and
away the largest and most enthusiastic crowds of any candidate, Democrat or
Republican – 28,000 in Portland Ore., 27,000 in Los Angeles, 15,000 in
Seattle, more than 10,000 each in Wisconsin and Arizona, and 8,000 in Dallas.
Thousands more have packed convention centers and auditoriums in Louisiana,
Colorado, Vermont, Iowa and other states.
On July 28, a reported 100,000 people participated in 3,500 “virtual house
parties,” where they were addressed by the candidate speaking from a home in
southwest Washington D.C. In sharp contrast to other candidates, more than 80
percent of Sanders’ campaign contributions, now totaling more than $17
million, are less than $200, with an average donation of $31.21.
The Sanders campaign is drawing support from some unions, including an
endorsement by the National Nurses United, the largest nurses union. More
than 5,400 labor officials and activists from a wide range of unions have
signed on to “Labor for Bernie.”
Sanders still trails the faltering Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton in
nationwide polls by a margin of about 20 percent, but the gap in some of the
early primary states has now shrunk to single digits, and in New Hampshire, a
recent poll shows Sanders leading Clinton.
What explains the surge in support for the Sanders campaign and how should
revolutionary socialists respond to it?
Sanders program – reformist not socialist
While Sanders calls himself a “democratic socialist,” his program is not
socialist, nor does the word appear on his campaign website. He does not call
for nationalizing the corporations and banks, without which the
reorganization of the economy to meet people’s needs rather than maximizing
the profits of capitalist investors could not take place. In his speeches, he
advocates for a “political revolution,” but he is clearly seeking to reform
the existing capitalist system.
On foreign policy, Sanders’ stance is that of a mainstream imperialist
Democrat. He opposed the 2003 invasion of Iraq, but supported the 1999
U.S./NATO bombing war against Yugoslavia. He is critical of some of Israel’s
most extreme actions, but is a supporter of the massive U.S. aid to the
Israeli military.
What makes Sanders’ campaign different and what has attracted such
enthusiastic support is his reform program, a program that appears to be a
radical departure in the present political climate. Sanders calls for a $15
minimum wage, the right of workers to unionize, a federal jobs program,
taxing the rich, free tuition at public universities, universal healthcare,
measures to reduce global warming, women’s reproductive rights, overturning
of the Citizens United decision and limits on campaign contributions,
expanded voting rights, prison reform, and an end to “structural racism” and
racial profiling, and a “path to citizenship” for undocumented immigrants. He
has been a vocal opponent of the XL Pipeline, the Trans-Pacific Partnership
(TPP), and of NSA warrantless surveillance of people inside the United States.
Sanders’ program also calls for guaranteed two week’s vacation, 10 sick days,
and up to 12 weeks paid family leave (the latter to be paid for by a tax on
workers), among other issues. Millions of workers presently have zero
guaranteed vacation, sick time or family leave, putting the United States at
the very bottom among all industrially developed and many developing
countries.
In many respects Sanders’ reformist economic program resembles Jesse
Jackson’s electoral challenge to the Democratic Party establishment in the
1984 and 1988 primaries, and like Jackson, Sanders almost certainly will not
run an independent campaign. What is very different is that the Jackson
campaign was firmly anchored in the African-American community, which
overwhelmingly supported Jackson’s candidacy.
So far, Sanders has drawn mainly, though not exclusively, white crowds and
has done the best in predominantly liberal areas.
In recent campaign appearances in Arizona and Washington State, Sanders’
speeches have been disrupted by activists from the Black Lives Matter
movement that has emerged as a dynamic new force over the last year,
demanding that he take a much stronger position on the issue of racist police
killings.
The Sanders campaign has recently issued a position paper, titled “Racial
Injustice,” and his campaign has stepped up its efforts to expand its support
among nationally oppressed communities. At the same time Sanders has appeared
dismissive of the movement, failing to calm booing crowds and exhibiting a
generally gruff attitude towards being disrupted.
With so long to go before any actual voting it remains to be seen how the
Black electorate will ultimately react to Sanders candidacy.
The Sanders campaign and the revival of socialism in the United States
Of major significance is that this massive outpouring of support is for a
candidate who calls himself a socialist, in a country whose politics have
been for so long dominated by virulent anti-communism and anti-socialism.
Throughout the history of the United States, socialist presidential
candidates have invariably been relegated to the margins. The fact that in
2015, a candidate who calls himself socialist is drawing huge crowds must be
understood as a significant political development, regardless of the fact
that his program is not revolutionary.
In a related development, earlier this summer, a Gallup poll asked the
question, “Between now and the 2016 political conventions, there will be
discussions about the qualifications of presidential candidates – their
education, age, race, religion, and so on. If your party nominated a
generally well-qualified person for president who happened to be a socialist,
would you vote for that person?” A surprising 47 percent of those polled said
that they would, including 70 percent of 18-29 year olds.
It is clear that what is driving the response to the Sanders campaign is the
desire on the part of a huge number of people for profound political change.
The election of Ksahma Swant to the Seattle City Council, the Gallup poll and
others like it, and now the Bernie Sanders campaign are clearly part of a
broader trend of an explicit, if amorphous, emergence of socialism as a major
oppositional trend to the oppressions and exploitation of daily life.
It has its corollary in the streets in the new labor movement bubbling up in
low-wage workplaces, the Black Lives Matter movement, those fighting for
justice and dignity for immigrant communities, and to save the planet.
As revolutionary Marxists, we in the Party for Socialism and Liberation
regard this as fertile ground for a movement that can truly uproot the
capitalist system.
Over the next 15 months leading up the 2016 election, the La Riva/Puryear PSL
Campaign will seek to reach out to the millions – including Sanders’
supporters – through our activism in the struggle, while tirelessly
explaining that only the revolutionary reorganization of society can truly
achieve what the people and the planet most desperately need – socialism!
We call on all those who agree to join us.
elections
Fidel Castro
PSL Statement
Aug 12, 2015
PSL birthday greetings to Fidel
We send you heartfelt greetings, congratulations and revolutionary solidarity
on your 89th birthday!
votepsl-red1
PSL Statement
Jul 27, 2015
Announcing the PSL’s 2016 Presidential Campaign!
The Party for Socialism and Liberation (PSL) is running Gloria La Riva for
President and Eugene Puryear for Vice Pr...
CassieRM
PSL Statement
Jul 17, 2015
Activists explain #WhyIStudyRevolution
Activists have been taking to social media to explain #WhyIStudyRevolution.
Check out some posts, and tweet, post o...
Calendar
Sacramento forum: Venezuela Elections & Central CA Drought
08/20/2015 at 7:00 p.m. - Sacramento
San Francisco Forum: Eyewitness Venezuela: PSUV Primary Election
08/21/2015 at 7:00 p.m. - San Francisco
Film showing: “Our Black Shining Prince: A Film Tribute to El-Hajj Malik
El-Shabazz (Malcolm X)”
08/28/2015 at 7:00 p.m. - Washington
A new book by the PSL reviews and updates Lenin's Imperialism a century after
its original publication.
Order a print copy for $14.95 or get the eBook for $5.95
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