[The following is the July 27, 2021 presentation by Michael Steven Smith at a book party in New York City’s Lower East Side sponsored by the New York City chapter of the National Lawyers Guild to celebrate the publication of Michael Ratner‘s memoir, “Moving the Bar: My Life as a Radical Lawyer. Smith is a lifelong socialist … Continue reading My Friend Michael Ratner
By Ann Montague Grace Carlson was the only female member of the Socialist Workers Party (SWP) (predecessor organization of Socialist Action) to be convicted and sentenced under the notorious anti-communist Smith Act of 1940. She was sentenced to sixteen months in the Federal Correctional Facility For Women in Alderson, West Virginia. The trial and convictions … Continue reading Grace Carlson: Unsung Hero of the Early Trotskyist Movement
The past several months of highlight the inherent power of coordinated mass action. Those who previously considered themselves non-actors in society came to realize their power.
The bi-weekly educational series is a response by the Party to educate and integrate a growing wave of new recruits drawn to the ideas of revolutionary socialism.
It is indeed quite unusual when a political party, such as ours, widely distributes a report that describes a political split from its ranks. How the U.S. antiwar movement should respond to the U.S. government’s ongoing deadly wars of intervention across the globe – from Syria to Iran, Venezuela and Nicaragua – was central to … Continue reading Anatomy of a Split in Socialist Action
by Adam Ritscher When most folks hear the word socialism, the first thing that comes to mind is Russia. Now for different folks, that means very different things. This is true even of the left, within which there is much disagreement on whether or not Russia was socialist. To answer the question of whether or … Continue reading Was Russia Really Socialist?
by Adam Ritscher With elections coming up again a lot of politically conscious people are hitting the pavement to campaign for their candidates. Voter registration drives, leafleting and yard sign distribution have become the order of the day for many activists. We in Youth for Socialist Action certainly commend people who take politics seriously and … Continue reading Socialists and Elections
by Paul Siegel Socialism has been pronounced dead many times before-and it has always revived to continue the struggle. One instance was the time of demoralization that followed the defeat of the Russian Revolution of 1905. Lenin said at that time that the "official professors" who declared Marxism to have been "refuted and annihilated" … Continue reading What Socialists Propose
by Lee Smith *The article above was written by Lee Smith of the Young Socialist Alliance. It first appeared in the November 1969 issue of Young Socialist magazine. “In place of the old bourgeois society, with its classes and class antagonisms, we shall have an association in which the free development of each is the … Continue reading When America Goes Socialist
*This article is a slightly edited version of an article run by Socialist Action’s Fourth International comrades in the British newspaper Socialist Resistance. In the worldwide movement for social justice, many young people are attracted by the ideas of anarchism - even if they don’t call themselves anarchists. Anarchists seem to stand for the same … Continue reading Marxism vs. Anarchism
by Peter Camejo *The essay below was first given as a speech by Young Socialist Alliance leader Peter Camejo in New York onMay 3, 1969. Revolutionary socialists have been accused for many years of wanting to overthrow the U.S. government by force and violence. When they accuse us of this, what they are really trying to do is imply that … Continue reading How to Make a Revolution
The German socialist Karl Marx was once asked what his favorite maxim was. He replied with a line by the Roman playwright Terence: "I am a man, and nothing that concerns a man, is a matter of indifference to me." If for the moment we ignore the use of sexist language in this ancient quotation, … Continue reading What Is Socialism?
by Ernest Mandel *The article above is based on an address made by Ernest Mandel at the Marx Centenary Conference— "Marxism: The Next Two Decades" — held at the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, March 12-15, 1983. It was published in Mid-American Review of Sociology, 1983, Vol. VIII, No. 2:3-21. To approach the … Continue reading Vanguard Parties
