Tag: Socialist Party

David McReynolds–R.I.P.

The passing of a great American that most have never heard of…but if you participated in the antiwar movement like I did then his name is synonymous with protests……

In my years as an antiwar activist I made many friends and acquaintances……people like Angela Davis, but my most memorable meeting was that of a fellow antiwar protester, David McReynolds.  A person that I liked and even worked for his presidential bid in 1980…..I was not able to work on his 2000 presidential bid.

The sad news has finally made it to me……

Longtime pacifist and socialist David McReynolds died Friday at the age of 88. Known to historian Howard Zinn and many others as a “hero of the antiwar movement,” McReynolds was a staff member with the War Resisters League from 1960 to 1999. There, he focused on counter-recruitment and helped organize one of the first draft card burnings. He went on to play a key role in some of major demonstrations against the Vietnam War and campaign for nuclear disarmament. McReynolds ran for president in 1980 and 2000 as an openly gay man. For more, we speak with two of his close friends. Ed Hedemann worked with McReynolds for decades at the War Resisters League. Jeremy Scahill is an investigative journalist and co-founder of The Intercept.

His work with the War Resisters League was a true American story…..and below is a show from Democracy Now featuring McReynolds……

https://www.democracynow.org/2018/8/20/in_memoriam_david_mcreynolds_the_gay

He was a fine individual that dedicated his life to the attempt to end all wars….unfortunately he was not successful….but the movement is better from his involvement……

My proudest moment was when he gave me my official certificate that named me an “Agitator”….it is framed in my office displayed next to my diplomas……

I wish to extend my sympathies to his friends and family…..his voice will be sorely missed.

David McReynolds–R.I.P.

Further Reading:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_McReynolds

https://www.warresisters.org/

Those Darn Pesky Socialists–Page 2

This is a contuation of a post I started yesterday for those pee brains that are still convinced that Obama is a socialist.

Economics:


1. We demand the immediate withdrawal of the United States from the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA), and oppose the creation of a widened Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA).

2. We call for worker and community ownership and control of corporations within the framework of a decentralized and democratically determined economic.
3. We call for a minimum wage of $15 per hour, indexed to the cost of living.

4. We call for a full employment policy. We support the provision of a livable guaranteed annual income.

5. We call for all financial and insurance institutions to be socially owned and operated by a democratically-controlled national banking authority, which should include credit unions, mutual insurance cooperatives, and cooperative state banks. In the meantime, we call for re-regulation of the banking and insurance industries.

6. We call for a steeply graduated income tax and a steeply graduated estate tax, and a maximum income of no more than ten times the minimum. We oppose regressive taxes such as payroll tax, sales tax, and property taxes.

7. We call for the restoration of the capital gains tax and luxury tax on a progressive, graduated scale.

8. We call for compensation to communities– and compensation, re-training, and other support service for workers– affected by plant and military base closings as stop-gap measures until we reach our goal of creating a socialist society totally separate from the global capitalist economy.

9. We oppose the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, and the World Trade Organization as instruments of capitalist oppression throughout the world.

10. We demand cancellation of Third World debt.

11. We call for a National Pension Authority to hold the assets of private pension funds, and a levy against corporate assets for any pension fund deficits

12. We call for increased and expanded welfare assistance and increased and expanded unemployment compensation at 100% of a worker’s previous income or the minimum wage, whichever is higher, for the full period of unemployment or re-training, whichever is longer.

13. We support a program of massive federal investment in both urban and rural areas for infrastructure reconstruction and economic development.

14. We support tax benefits for renters equal to those for homeowners.

15. We call for the elimination of subsidies and tax breaks that benefit corporations and all other forms of corporate welfare.

Still do not see much that would convince me that Obama is a socialist. Once again when armed with facts you can dis-spell all the BS coming from the turds on the right.


Those Darn Pesky Socialists–Page1

Since Obama has been accused of being a socialist, I thought I would illustrate some of the issues that the Socialist Party candidates.

The Socialist Party has a long history of productive campaigns for the nation’s highest office. At our October, 2007 National Convention in St. Louis, Missouri, we nominated Brian Moore of Florida for president and Stewart Alexander of California for vice-president. For more information, visit their campaign Web site at www.votesocialist2008.org

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Education
The Socialist Party recognizes the right of students of all ages to a free, quality education in a safe and supportive environment, and of all school employees to good wages, benefits, and working conditions.
1.  We call for full and equal funding of public education; for the restoration of a comprehensive K-12 curriculum, including art, music, world languages, and physical education; for an end to all public funding of private schools; and for free tuition and full-time teachers with full benefits (not “adjuncts”) at the post-secondary level.

2. We support public child care starting from infancy, and public education starting at age three, with caregivers and teachers of young children receiving training, wages, and benefits comparable to that of teachers at every other level of the educational system.

3.  We oppose merit pay for teachers, standardized testing, competition between schools within the same district, the sale of on-campus advertising in order to raise funds, and the increasing dependence of post-secondary institutions on corporate funding.

4.  We call for an egalitarian educational system with teaching methods that accommodate the wide range of teaching and learning styles, and that provides all students with the means to obtain the post-secondary education they desire.  We call a maximum of 15 students per teacher for grades K-12, and a maximum of 50 students per teacher at the post-secondary level.

5.  We call for vigorous affirmative action programs so that the faculty and student-body of all schools reflect the community at large in terms of race/ethnicity, gender, and economic background.  We support multicultural, multilingual, experimental education at all levels.

6.  We support student, parent, and teacher control of curriculum formation, and in the hiring and dismissal procedures of school personnel, through the formation of local school/community committees.

7.  We call for student representation on school boards, and for those boards to be fully accountable to students, parents, teachers, and school workers.

8.  We call for opportunities for lifelong self-education, with retraining programs and transitional financial support for workers displaced by technological advances.

9.  We support full and unrestricted health education programs, including sex education, with curriculum input from parents, students, teachers, and health care professionals.

10. We oppose school-sponsored prayer or any other religious practice in public schools, and all efforts to limit the teaching of evolution or to combine it with non-scientific theories.

11.  We call for free and open access to information, including the public ownership of all large databases.

Health Care
The Socialist Party stands for a socialized health care system based on universal coverage, salaried doctors and health care workers, and revenues derived from a steeply graduated income tax.
1.  We support a national health program with full standard and alternative medical, dental, vision, and mental health coverage for all, publicly funded through progressive taxation and controlled by democratically elected assemblies of health care workers and patients. The National Health Program should extend, and replace, Medicare and Medicaid.

2.  We call for a health care system that emphasizes preventive care, respects patients’ privacy, gives special attention to the needs of the physically and mentally disabled, and conducts treatment and research unimpaired by sexism, racism, or homophobia.

3. We call for full funding for AIDS research, prevention, and treatment.   We demand full civil rights for people living with AIDS.

4. We call for public ownership and worker and community control of the pharmaceutical industry.

5.  We call for educational programs to help prevent drug addiction; for voluntary treatment programs for addicts and alcoholics; and for the availability of free, sterile needles for those still using IV drugs.

6.  We call for the reinstatement of funding to community mental health services so that low-cost or no-cost treatment is available on a voluntary basis, with clients’ rights respected. We oppose involuntary incarceration for treatment without due process.

7.  We support the right to choose or refuse medical treatment, the right to die, and the right to assisted suicide.

Housing
The Socialist Party recognizes the right of all people to high quality, low cost housing.
1.   We call for a vast increase in Section 8 housing subsidies as one element of major public investment in the construction of low cost, scattered site, community-based, high quality housing.

2.  We call for rent control for all rental units, and the right of tenants to organize.

3.  We support the formation of non-profit land trusts and of socially owned, tenant controlled housing cooperatives.

4.  We call for the organization of a housing rehabilitation program aimed at renovating and remodeling existing homes to bring them up to housing and safety codes, as part of a broader public works program.

5. We call for an end to home foreclosures

Transportation
The Socialist Party calls for extensive public transportation in both urban and rural areas.
1.  We call for the creation of a fully funded high-speed national rail system with fares set low enough to be a viable alternative to the use of the automobile.

2.  We call for an end to the expansion of the interstate highway system and the reduction of combustion engine/auto based transport.

3.  We call for government subsidized programs to expand safe routes for foot and bicycle paths.

4.  We call for pedestrian ways, accessible by mass transit, which exclude vehicles from the downtown area of cities and towns.

5.  We support publicly funded development of renewable fuels.

6. We support federally funded auto insurance.

7. We call for public ownership and worker control of the airline industry.

This taken from their website at:

http://socialistparty-usa.org/platform/

I hate to bring this up, but, don’t you people think that if Obama was truly a socialist that the SP would be supporting him and not running their candidates?  Just a thought.  But then that is something I do, unlike most voters.

The American Axel Strike Statement From SPUSA

This is a statement issued by the Socialist Party-USA in support of the workers of American Axel.

We urge striking American Axle workers to decisively reject any contract that includes cuts to wages, cuts or cost-sharing of healthcare or a reduction of pensions. It is rank-and-file American Axle workers, not UAW officials who are making the financial sacrifices in this strike, and it is the rank-and-file workers through their strike committees who ultimately have the power to determine where the strike will lead. As the current period demonstrates, making more concessions will not stop the overall concessionary trend; it will only re-enforce it. The only way to stop the cycle is for the American automotive industry to once again feel the collective strength of the working class.
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We further call on all workers, whether organized or not, to actively join our brothers and sisters at American Axle in their struggle. The attacks by American Axle on its workers are one part of an escalating crackdown on the living standards of working people by an obsolete system that puts private profit before human need. The particular struggle of the American Axle strikers affects every worker in every industry. A victory in this strike would be a victory for the whole working class. We must keep the momentum going!
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The Socialist Party supports this strike and calls for a more comprehensive program centered on democratic social ownership through worker’s control of the automotive and other industries. Social ownership will allow for the development of vehicles for the use and human needs of workers and consumers, rather than the private profit of a tiny few. Further, we stand for the right of all manufacturing and service workers to retain the full value of their labor time and all that they produce. Our program also calls for publicly-funded universal healthcare for all, the elimination of capital flight, and mandatory union-recognition based on card-check. We support militant, united labor action including hot cargo agreements and boycotts, factory committees, secondary and sympathy strikes, sit-down strikes, general strikes, and ultimately the democratic control of the workplaces. We encourage all UAW workers who agree with these demands to join us today! More generally, we want to work with all those who are prepared to confront the corporate bullies that are oppressing us.

Solidarity is coming from all quarters, workers are in support for their comrades at American Axel.