The Digital Dispatch

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Socialist Worker

Solidarity Is More Than A Strategy

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An editorial from Socialist Worker unpacks the concept of solidarity. It’s more than just a strategy for accruing power. It also transforms those who practice it.

THE CONCEPT of solidarity is based on the idea that people can unite across their differences not just because they are good people (or “allies”), but because they have a common interest in not allowing themselves to be divided and conquered. As the old Industrial Workers of the World slogan puts it: “An injury to one is an injury to all.”

Read More: Why solidarity can trump hate | SocialistWorker.org

What Happened?

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dt-won

Like many Americans, I’m still trying to process the news. I won’t try to describe my thoughts or feelings at this point, but I wanted to share some links that have been helpful to me.

Thomas Frank writes for The Guardian: Donald Trump is moving to the White House, and liberals put him there.

From the folks at Jacobin: Politics Is the Solution

From Socialist Worker: How could this monster win?

Be kind to each other today, people.

SW Interview With Jill Stein

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Green Party Presidential Candidate Jill Stein talked to Todd Chretien of Socialist Worker about why she’s running again this year and about the importance of an independent alternative to the two-party system.

Read the Interview: Thinking and voting outside the two-party box | Socialist Worker

Renewed Interest in Socialism

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What does it mean to socialists?

Alan Maass of the ISO and Bhaskar Sunkara of the DSA discuss what the renewed interest in socialism in the United States surrounding the Sanders campaign means for socialists who are already organized, both in terms of the opportunities and of the challenges.

Sunkara spoke about the importance of ongoing struggle beyond an election campaign.

I think you can find those little incubators of, if not what socialism looks like, then the power of collective action. And I think the memory of those moments — of strikes and other extra-parliamentary activity — is more durable and longer lasting than something like a presidential campaign.

There’s a lot to be said about that and what it would take to transform society. It’s not just a battle of ideas and convincing people that we need more social democracy, but figuring out how to organize people to exert disruptive power, be it through a strike, or disrupting the day-to-day functioning of political parties like the Democratic Party, or shaking up the regular functioning of the trade union movement by sparking rank-and-file activity and militancy.

There’s a lot that needs to be said about that vision. Just because I focus at this moment heavily on the Sanders campaign doesn’t mean that I think that’s the only arena of struggle.

Read the entire discussion: Can America go socialist? | SocialistWorker.org

On the Dems and Bernie

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Danny Katch asks the question: Can the Democratic Party be used for good?

The question is whether the left can use the Sanders campaign to gather a new generation of young activists and bring them closer to socialism–or whether it will be the radicals who get used once again by the Democrats…

This debate is not about “political purity” on one side and clever tactics on the other. Both sides believe their position is both principled and strategic, and there’s no need to paint Sanders supporters as imperialist sellouts or those who won’t join his campaign as unthinking dogmatists. Instead, there are three questions that are more useful points of departure for the discussion.

Read The Full Article: Can the Democratic Party be used for good? | SocialistWorker.org

Ten Classics: The Communist Manifesto

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Socialist Worker published a series on ten classics of the socialist tradition back in 2008 and 2009. I think that these works would form the basis for a marvelous book club or discussion group, which I may eventually attempt to organize.

In the first installment, Todd Chretien writes about the Communist Manifesto.

Liberal and conservative historians want you to believe that society has always been divided between the rich and the poor, the weak and the strong, men and women, etc. — division based on money, race, nationality is built into our human nature.

The Manifesto takes a radically different view: Humans lived for thousands of years in what Marx and Engels called “primitive communism” — by which they meant societies that existed in every part of the world where cooperation and mutual reliance, and not competition, formed the basis of survival. At the time, this was based on cutting-edge anthropological research that was very controversial, but today, all but a few right-wing cranks accept that this is the truth about pre-class human society.

Read the article: The Communist Manifesto | SocialistWorker.org.

Read the book: Manifesto of the Communist Party | Marxists.org.

Charade of the Union

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Eric Ruder weighs in on SOTU 2015.

“Memories of another second-term Democratic president came flooding back. During Bill Clinton’s presidency, when Democrats controlled Congress during his first term, Clinton didn’t mention raising the minimum wage in his public statements. However, once the Republicans swept into Congress in 1994–riding a wave of discontent with Clinton’s broken promises–Clinton regularly used the issue to put the Republicans on the spot, trapping them between a broadly popular measure and their corporate backers who detested the idea.”

via Obama’s Charade of the Union | SocialistWorker.org.

What’s At Stake in Greece

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The Coalition of the Radical Left, or SYRIZA, is favored to win parliamentary elections on January 25, giving it a strong chance to form a new government that could confront the catastrophic austerity agenda that has plunged Greece into severe economic and social crisis. Lee Sustar answers your questions about the rise of SYRIZA and what a victory for it on January 25 would mean.

Read it: Why the whole world is watching Greece | SocialistWorker.org.

Glenn Greenwald Interview

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I’m looking forward to hearing Glenn Greenwald speak in Chicago at the Socialism 2014 conference next week. His presentation via Skype last year was one of the highlights of the conference. He recently spoke with Nicole Colson and Eric Ruder about the startling revelations of the past year, the mainstream media’s reaction and what’s still to come.

There’s a human shame that comes from doing things that people are willing to do only when they think people can’t watch them. And yet this is exactly the realm in which all forms of dissent, creativity and exploration of what it means to be a free individual reside in–when we have a private realm.

That’s why human beings instinctively seek out a private realm, a place where they can go and think and be and do without other people watching. That’s the reason why tyrannies always want to turn to surveillance–because they know that creating the perception one is always being watched is the most powerful instrument for keeping people in line and forcing people to comply with the wishes of authority.

 

Read the full interview: Unmasking Big Brother | SocialistWorker.org.