Socialist Action Launches New Member Educational Series
https://socialistaction.org/2020/07/27/socialist-action-launches-new-member-educational-series/
July 27, 2020
By JAMES FORTIN
Socialist Action announced today the launch of a new member educational
series. The bi-weekly educational program is a response by the Party to
educate and integrate a growing wave of new recruits drawn to the ideas
of revolutionary socialism.
“Now that we have recruited larger numbers of members across the
country, we have the obligation to forge an educated cadre that is well
versed in the history, theory and practice of revolutionary socialism,”
states Jeff Mackler, Socialist Action’s National Secretary. “Our new
member educational series is intended to help in that process. Classes
will be offered by our movement’s own accomplished activists and educators.”
The class series will commence via Zoom on Monday nights, beginning
August 10, at 8:00 p.m. Eastern, 7:00 Central, 6:00 Mountain and 5:00
Pacific times. The format will consist of a 30-40-minute presentation on
a wide range of topics of importance to revolutionary Marxists followed
by open Q&A dialogue.
Eight classes are scheduled for the first round of the program running
from mid-August to mid-November. Provisional members are strongly
encouraged to participate in all 8 sessions. The series is open to all
North American comrades (U.S. and Canada) regardless of longevity in the
socialist movement. Older members are requested to defer to the
questions and discussion of newer members, however, as the program is
geared to them.
An initial schedule of classes will be published in the August issue of
Socialist Action and can be found below.
To kick off the series, U.S. National Secretary Jeff Mackler and
Socialist Action-Canada Federal Secretary Barry Weisleder will present
the first two classes in the schedule.
Jeff Mackler’s talk on Monday, Aug. 10 is “Building the Revolutionary
Socialist Party Today: Lessons of the 1917 Russian Revolution.”
Led by Vladimir Lenin and Leon Trotsky, the 1917 Russian Revolution
ended capitalist rule in the largest nation in the world. Mackler will
present a Marxist analysis of that revolution. Points covered will
include the program of Lenin’s Bolshevik Party, how that party and its
leadership functioned, the conditions in Russia that made a
revolutionary transformation possible, and why the revolution
degenerated and succumbed to the subsequent Stalinist dictatorship.
On Aug. 24, Barry Weisleder will follow suit with “The United Front:
What It Is and How It Can Change the World.”
Weisleder will analyze the characteristics of the United Front. What is
the history of the United Front, particularly in its formative years in
the 20th century? How does it differ from the Popular Front? How does
Socialist Action apply the United Front tactic, at least in Canada?
These are some of the questions to be covered in this presentation of an
essential mobilization tool used by the revolutionary Left.
Provisional and recently-joined members are asked to block out class
times on their personal calendars. The educational series is one that
will shape the political development of Party newcomers and assist them
in becoming well-informed and effective revolutionary activists and leaders.
New Member Educational Series
All classes start at 8:00 p.m. Eastern time
Mon., Aug. 10
“Building the Revolutionary Socialist Party Today: Lessons of the 1917
Russian Revolution” – with Jeff Mackler
Mon., Aug. 24
“The United Front — What It Is, and How It Can Change the World.”– with
Barry Weisleder
Mon., Sept. 7
“Class Struggle Feminism” – with Ann Montague & Lisa Luinenberg
Mon., Sept. 21
“Leninism: Understanding Imperialism, the State and the Revolutionary
Party.” – with Gary Porter
Mon., Oct. 5
“How Haiti’s Slave Revolution Changed the World” – With Marty Goodman
Mon., Oct. 19
“Marxism and Freedom” – with Gary Bills
Mon., Nov. 2
“Introduction to Marxist Economics” – with Nick Baker
Mon., Nov. 16
“Racism: Its Origins and How It Will End: A Marxist Understanding” –
with Ed Jones
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Richard Dawkins
“The total amount of suffering per year in the natural world is beyond all
decent contemplation. During the minute that it takes me to compose this
sentence, thousands of animals are being eaten alive, many others are running
for their lives, whimpering with fear, others are slowly being devoured from
within by rasping parasites, thousands of all kinds are dying of starvation,
thirst, and disease. It must be so. If there ever is a time of plenty, this
very fact will automatically lead to an increase in the population until the
natural state of starvation and misery is restored. In a universe of electrons
and selfish genes, blind physical forces and genetic replication, some people
are going to get hurt, other people are going to get lucky, and you won't find
any rhyme or reason in it, nor any justice. The universe that we observe has
precisely the properties we should expect if there is, at bottom, no design, no
purpose, no evil, no good, nothing but pitiless indifference.”
― Richard Dawkins, River Out of Eden: A Darwinian View of Life
