By CHRISTINE MARIE “People gonna rise like the water,” the most poignant of the new songs of the climate justice movement, makes a strong prediction. And the potential breadth and power of that people was on display in a new way on July 24, as close to 10,000 marchers took to the streets on a … Continue reading 10,000 protesters demand ‘Clean Energy Revolution’
By JEFF MACKLER (This is an updated and expanded version of the article we first published on May 12.) U.S. primary election math pundits, as well as virtually the entire corporate media, insist, and with good reason, that Bernie Sanders has lost the Democratic Party presidential primary election contest. Indeed, following his nearly 13-point California … Continue reading Bernie Sanders’ demise: What are the lessons?
By JEFF MACKLER U.S. primary election math pundits are now calculating that Bernie Sanders cannot win the Democratic Party presidential primary contest. His impending demise, and indeed his Democratic Party candidacy itself, has sparked a wide-ranging discussion and debate in the U.S. socialist movement, and in broader circles, that reveals an extraordinary level of confusion … Continue reading Sanders, socialism and the U.S. left in crisis
BY JEFF MACKLER I am tempted to compare the stated political views of the leading Republican and Democratic Party presidential contenders—even though they are largely irrelevant. But ranking Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton, and Bernie Sanders according to their purported degree of “socialist, progressive, liberal, conservative” or even incipient-fascist views is of little value in comparison to their … Continue reading The politics of deception
By BRUCE LESNICK I wholeheartedly support the populist programs that Bernie Sanders advocates—from single-payer health care, to free college tuition, to taxing the rich and more. But borrowing from Malcolm X [see excerpt below], Bernie is a house socialist and I'm a field socialist. Bernie doesn't want to replace or overthrow capitalism. Like all house socialists, he thinks capitalism can be fixed or tamed … Continue reading House socialists and field socialists
By GEORGE BRYAN — SPECIAL FEATURE: Seven presentations from the debates — Two Socialist Action-sponsored public forums entitled “Debating the 2016 Presidential Election and the Key Issues of our Time” attracted a total of 250 Bay Area political activists in Oakland and San Francisco over the weekend of Feb. 5-6. Bernie Sanders’ campaign in the Democratic … Continue reading Socialist Action sponsors election debates
By ANN MONTAGUE Socialist Action has published several articles in recent issues exposing Bernie Sanders and the Democratic Party. This included a look at past primary elections that were used to raise workers’ hopes that there would be a place for their aspirations within the Democratic Party. Another article looked at Sanders’ role in Congress … Continue reading Bernie Sanders & the labor movement
By DANIEL ADAM Senator Bernie Sanders continues to draw large crowds to his presidental campaign rallies. Now, unfortunately, a growing wing of the socialist movement in the United States is seeking a way in. On July 29, Solidarity published a winding statement approved by its convention entitled, “Connecting Sanders’ Audience’s Aspirations to Clear Working Class … Continue reading Is Sanders campaign a ‘new movement’?
By BILL ONASCH Netroots Nation bills its live body gatherings as the biggest conference of Progressives—by which they mean liberal Democrats. At their annual conclave, held in Phoenix in July, they featured a presidential candidate Town Hall Meeting that included the two top long-shot challengers to Hillary Clinton for the Donkey Party nod—Senator Bernie Sanders, … Continue reading Whose Lives Matter?
By JOE AUCIELLO “… the oppositional criticism is nothing more than a safety valve for mass dissatisfaction, a condition of the stability of the social structure.” — Leon Trotsky in his preface to “The History of the Russian Revolution.” In early June, Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton told a conference organized by Service Employees International … Continue reading Bernie Sanders & oppositional criticism
By DANIEL ADAM If history records any gains for working people in the coming electoral season, the term “sheepdog” might well appear at the top. Its author (or at least, its popularizer), Bruce Dixon, describes with it those leftish candidates who appear in presidential primaries to corral the radicalizing or disillusioned back to the flock … Continue reading Sanders seeks nomination by Democrats
By BILL ONASCH The annual ritual of President Obama’s State of the Union address to Congress (SOTU), required by law and custom, comes without any mandate for action. It has evolved into Reality TV viewed by tens of millions—but with less lasting impact than the style decrees of Fashion Police. It is one component of … Continue reading Obama’s lame duck quackery
By JOHN ORLAND The Great Deporter’s new executive order for a “sweeping overhaul of the immigration system” deserves no praise. If there is anything “sweeping” about President Obama’s immigration policy, it is his six years of deporting 2.4 million immigrants, his repeated lies regarding his so-called legal incapacity to issue presidential executive orders to mitigate … Continue reading Obama’s Fake Immigration Reform
BY JEFF MACKLER The results are in: The Republican Party won at least seven more seats in the Senate, and now controls both houses of the U.S. Congress. Disaster is in the making! Right? The Democrats and Republicans spent an unprecedented mid-term, if not all-time, election total of $4 billion, roughly $2 billion each. The … Continue reading The U.S. election charade
By MARTY GOODMAN New York’s self-proclaimed “progressive” mayor, Bill de Blasio, promised “respect” for the city’s 300,000 unionized public workers and has pledged to fight the city’s vast income inequality. What unions actually got was the same old hustle from the Democratic Party, as part of the city’s 1%. De Blasio, who took office in … Continue reading NYC mayor hustles cuts for city workers
By JEFF MACKLER In today’s era of U.S. and worldwide capitalist austerity, not a day or month passes when the corporate media do not inform us that the nation faces yet another economic crisis. From the deficit crisis, in which the U.S. budget falls short $1 trillion yearly; to the “fiscal cliff” crisis, wherein “across-the-board” … Continue reading Congress makes workers pay for crisis
By MARTY GOODMAN NEW YORK—Some 8800 school bus drivers and helpers (called “matrons”) returned to their jobs on Feb. 16 after losing a bitter month-long strike over the city’s cancellation of job security guarantees, known as Employee Protection Provisions (EPP). The EPP includes seniority-based hiring, training, health care, and benefits. Now when private bus companies, … Continue reading NY school bus strike ends in defeat
By USMAN KHAN YUSUFZAI As we head into the New Year, Washington is buzzing about the impending “fiscal cliff.” The topic was debated at length between both parties of the ruling class, the Democrats and the Republicans; and for all the wailing and doom-saying during and after the November election, one would think that we … Continue reading ‘Fiscal cliff’ is like ‘austerity chicken!’
