Socialist Party of Connecticut News: May 2010
News:
+May Day on the New Haven Green was a tremendous success! Thanks to Kristin, Jim, Tiffany, Adam and Chris for joining me and distributing over 100 copies of TS to a mostly friendly crowd on a nice sunny day. Pictures and video footage to come on our FB page: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Socialist-Party-of-Connecticut/194963850971
+SPCT Endorses Hutchinson Campaign*- Thanks to everyone who participated in the vote. While Socialist Action has different organizing strategies and vision from the Socialist Party, the majority of members who voted found the Hutchinson platform to be much in line with our own and wanted to support a working class political campaign that will hopefully bring class issues into the light of day. (*endorsement awaiting approval from SPUSA National Committee)
Our Calendar of Events:
Saturday May 1st:
*11:00am-7:00pm May Day New Haven Green, New Haven, CT- SPCT will have a table and be present all day, stop in to say hello, get a free copy of The Socialist magazine and more! http://www.maydaynewhaven.org
* 5:30 SPCT party chair Todd Vachon (aka Mista Mayday) will be performing with “The Hired Gun” and “West Road” at New Haven May Day on the green www.mistamayday.com
*12:00 May Day Hartford, Hartford, CT http://www.revleft.com/vb/may-day-2010-t128843/index.html
Friday May 7th:
*7:30-10:00 Fundraiser Dinner for Hutchinson for Congress- Church of the Sacred Heart, 49 Winthrop St. Hartford, CT- $20 regular, $12 Student/unemployed. http://www. votesocialistaction.org
Saturday May 8th:
*2-4pm: Marx’s Kapital Discussion Group- XXX---CANCELLED, RESCHED TBA---XXX http://groups.google.com/group/ct-das-kapital-discussion-group?lnk=srg
Saturday May 15th:
*The People Celebrate Howard Zinn
2:00- 4:00 pm @ the Old South Church (645 Boylston St., Copley Square). A People's Celebration of the life and contributions of Howard Zinn, 1922-2010, featuring music, action and readings of Professor Zinn’s work in the labor, anti-war, education and civil rights movements.
Info.: zinncelebration2010@gmail.com
Saturday June 5th:
*June Membership Meeting, Details to follow
June 22-26th:
*U.S. Social Forum. Detroit, MI Info: www.ussf2010.org
Saturday July 17th:
*SPCT Statewide Convention- nominations and elections for state and local executive committee, Details to follow
Saturday August 14-15th:
*SPUSA National Organizing Conference- Neighborhood House Community Center
29 S. Mills St. Madison, WI www.socialistparty-usa.org
Our Media Recommendations for the Month:
Video: The Corporation: www.thecorporation.com/
Print: From Capitalism to Equality: By Charles Andrews www.laborrepublic.org/
Audio: Don’t Ride The Fence: By The Coup http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v10nfUUqD48
Our Radical Quote of the Month:
Another Fun Plot Twist:
"I see in the near future a crisis approaching that unnerves me and causes me to tremble for the safety of my country. . . . corporations have been enthroned and an era of corruption in high places will follow, and the money power of the country will endeavor to prolong its reign by working upon the prejudices of the people until all wealth is aggregated in a few hands and the Republic is destroyed."
-U.S. President Abraham Lincoln, Nov. 21, 1864 (letter to Col. William F. Elkins)
Happy Birthday
No May Birthdays?
In Solidarity,
Todd Vachon
Statewide Chair
Socialist Party of CT
spcentralct@gmail.com
www.votevachon.com
State Secretary: Dr. James Marra
Intern: Felipe Valencia
Ps;
Don’t Forget to join us on Facebook: CT Socialists
And on Myspace at www.socialistpartyct.org
Friday, May 7, 2010
Saturday, May 1, 2010
Repeal Arizona's Anti-Immigrant Law
Repeal Arizona's Anti-Immigrant Law
The Socialist Party USA calls for the immediate repeal of the “Support Our
Law Enforcement and Safe Neighborhoods Act” (SB 1070) in Arizona. This law
sanctions racial profiling and gives cover to the repressive actions of
officials such as the racist Sheriff Joe Arpaio. Further, we call for an
immediate moratorium on all police raids of immigrant communities; we demand
the closure of the immigrant detention camps and an end to the militarization
of the US-Mexico border.
Arizona has become the epicenter of struggle for the rights of immigrants. The
state offers the clearest example of the abject failure of the current
immigration policies in the United States. These policies rely on the use of
force – ICE raids and the border police – backed up by an equally brutal
labor discipline that traps the undocumented in low-wage dead-end jobs. The
results are well known – the splitting up of families, the death and
criminalization of migrants and a race-to-the-bottom for work conditions and
wages. A 2009 mass march in Phoenix, Arizona led by young people who had been
separated from their undocumented parents and families highlighted the terrible
human costs of these systematic attacks on immigrants. SB 1070 seeks to take
this process a step further by transforming Arizona into the equivalent of a
police state where anyone with brown skin becomes a suspect. In response,
immigrant communities and their allies, all across the country, are mobilizing
to demand an end to the repression.
Such fervor has not, however, made it to Washington, where Democrats are
preparing reform legislation that amounts to more of the same. Much like the
recent healthcare reform, immigration reform has been watered down to suit the
needs of Republicans and employers. This is no surprise since, as a candidate,
now President Barack Obama never fully distanced himself from the Republican's
positions on immigration: the border wall, more military presence on the
border, and building more detention camps. Despite this, he still gained the
support of mainstream immigration reform groups who slowed down a vibrant May
1st Immigrant Rights movement. The now disarmed movement was left without any
commitments from Democratic candidates and with no plans to mobilize after the
elections.
The current legislation under consideration will do little to address the
problem. Bills such as “the Dream Act” of 2009, which would provide
conditional permanent residency to a few immigrants who entered the country as
minors or have “good moral character,” will not break the crisis in
Arizona. Instead, such reforms attempt to paper-over the demands from immigrant
communities in order to continue the cycle of militarization, repression and
wage slavery.
Socialists have something significant to offer to the immigration reform
discussion. We call for an unconditional amnesty program for all undocumented
people. This demand is based on our desire to create a world in which everyone
will be able to move freely across borders, to visit, to work and to live
wherever they choose. Amnesty will also allow workers, documented and
undocumented, to begin to advance serious demands for wages and benefits.
Amnesty will move us out of the current immigration crisis and towards a
society based on freedom.
Defeating SB 1070 is an urgent first step in this direction and the Socialist
Party USA encourages our members and allies to join in this struggle.
¡No somos criminales, somos trabajadores internacionales!
¡Que viva la justicia y la dignidad de los migrantes unidos sin fronteras!"
Passed by the Socialist Party USA People of Color Commission April 29, 2010
The Socialist Party USA calls for the immediate repeal of the “Support Our
Law Enforcement and Safe Neighborhoods Act” (SB 1070) in Arizona. This law
sanctions racial profiling and gives cover to the repressive actions of
officials such as the racist Sheriff Joe Arpaio. Further, we call for an
immediate moratorium on all police raids of immigrant communities; we demand
the closure of the immigrant detention camps and an end to the militarization
of the US-Mexico border.
Arizona has become the epicenter of struggle for the rights of immigrants. The
state offers the clearest example of the abject failure of the current
immigration policies in the United States. These policies rely on the use of
force – ICE raids and the border police – backed up by an equally brutal
labor discipline that traps the undocumented in low-wage dead-end jobs. The
results are well known – the splitting up of families, the death and
criminalization of migrants and a race-to-the-bottom for work conditions and
wages. A 2009 mass march in Phoenix, Arizona led by young people who had been
separated from their undocumented parents and families highlighted the terrible
human costs of these systematic attacks on immigrants. SB 1070 seeks to take
this process a step further by transforming Arizona into the equivalent of a
police state where anyone with brown skin becomes a suspect. In response,
immigrant communities and their allies, all across the country, are mobilizing
to demand an end to the repression.
Such fervor has not, however, made it to Washington, where Democrats are
preparing reform legislation that amounts to more of the same. Much like the
recent healthcare reform, immigration reform has been watered down to suit the
needs of Republicans and employers. This is no surprise since, as a candidate,
now President Barack Obama never fully distanced himself from the Republican's
positions on immigration: the border wall, more military presence on the
border, and building more detention camps. Despite this, he still gained the
support of mainstream immigration reform groups who slowed down a vibrant May
1st Immigrant Rights movement. The now disarmed movement was left without any
commitments from Democratic candidates and with no plans to mobilize after the
elections.
The current legislation under consideration will do little to address the
problem. Bills such as “the Dream Act” of 2009, which would provide
conditional permanent residency to a few immigrants who entered the country as
minors or have “good moral character,” will not break the crisis in
Arizona. Instead, such reforms attempt to paper-over the demands from immigrant
communities in order to continue the cycle of militarization, repression and
wage slavery.
Socialists have something significant to offer to the immigration reform
discussion. We call for an unconditional amnesty program for all undocumented
people. This demand is based on our desire to create a world in which everyone
will be able to move freely across borders, to visit, to work and to live
wherever they choose. Amnesty will also allow workers, documented and
undocumented, to begin to advance serious demands for wages and benefits.
Amnesty will move us out of the current immigration crisis and towards a
society based on freedom.
Defeating SB 1070 is an urgent first step in this direction and the Socialist
Party USA encourages our members and allies to join in this struggle.
¡No somos criminales, somos trabajadores internacionales!
¡Que viva la justicia y la dignidad de los migrantes unidos sin fronteras!"
Passed by the Socialist Party USA People of Color Commission April 29, 2010
Monday, April 19, 2010
May Day 2010
“Ideas,” someone once wrote, “move rapidly when their time comes.” As we gather to celebrate May Day, the continuing capitalist crisis makes socialism an idea ready to move rapidly. While the banks have received trillion dollar bailouts, working people still face mass unemployment, state and local budget cuts and deepening personal debt. Capitalist crisis has made the socialist vision of a world where human needs are put ahead of individual profits even more relevant. Our task on May Day is to convert socialism from a good idea into a movement to transform our society.
Capitalism Exposed
The recent economic crisis was more than a banking crisis or a housing price bubble. It was a demonstration that there is a fundamental problem at the center of capitalism. That problem lies in the nature of corporations themselves. Noam Chomsky once described corporations as “unaccountable private tyrannies.” There is no democracy inside of a corporation and, as a result, there is no democracy on our worksites. Corporations are undemocratic entities created only to make profits from exploiting the labor of workers.
The undemocratic corporate model now also dominates American politics. A corrupting system of campaign donations and lobbying ensures that both Democrats and Republicans serve the interests of corporate America. When corporate profits declined, politicians began handing out trillions of dollars in public money to them. When these same corporations fired millions of workers, neither Democrat nor Republican attempted to stop them.
Socialist Solutions
Socialism offers an alternative to undemocratic profit-mad capitalism. By ensuring that people’s needs for housing, healthcare, education and employment are guaranteed, a socialist society will offer equality of opportunity. By bringing democracy to the economy through worker’s control of production, we will make sure that the place where most people spend their adult lives operates democratically. By organizing participatory budgeting, we will put people at the center of the system – fully empowered to make decisions concerning the future of the society they live in.
The powerful necessity of socialist ideas can be seen most clearly with the issue of immigration. The capitalist state presents restrictions and police actions as the proper way to keep immigrants in line. Conversely, socialists support the rights of all workers regardless of their status. We support the creation of an unconditional amnesty program and seek to build solidarity amongst workers throughout the world. Where capitalism offers ICE raids and the Border police, we support human freedom and social solidarity
May Day - Our Day
May Day is our day. A day when trade unionists, anarchists and socialists gather to state clearly that another world is possible. This other world is a democratic participatory one, where resources are shared for the betterment of humanity. However, democratic socialism will not come about spontaneously – we must get organized. So, today we invoke the names of Eugene Debs, of Caesar Chavez, of Dr. Martin Luther King to call on all working people to join the struggle for socialism. Move rapidly, act boldly, we have a world to win!
Capitalism Exposed
The recent economic crisis was more than a banking crisis or a housing price bubble. It was a demonstration that there is a fundamental problem at the center of capitalism. That problem lies in the nature of corporations themselves. Noam Chomsky once described corporations as “unaccountable private tyrannies.” There is no democracy inside of a corporation and, as a result, there is no democracy on our worksites. Corporations are undemocratic entities created only to make profits from exploiting the labor of workers.
The undemocratic corporate model now also dominates American politics. A corrupting system of campaign donations and lobbying ensures that both Democrats and Republicans serve the interests of corporate America. When corporate profits declined, politicians began handing out trillions of dollars in public money to them. When these same corporations fired millions of workers, neither Democrat nor Republican attempted to stop them.
Socialist Solutions
Socialism offers an alternative to undemocratic profit-mad capitalism. By ensuring that people’s needs for housing, healthcare, education and employment are guaranteed, a socialist society will offer equality of opportunity. By bringing democracy to the economy through worker’s control of production, we will make sure that the place where most people spend their adult lives operates democratically. By organizing participatory budgeting, we will put people at the center of the system – fully empowered to make decisions concerning the future of the society they live in.
The powerful necessity of socialist ideas can be seen most clearly with the issue of immigration. The capitalist state presents restrictions and police actions as the proper way to keep immigrants in line. Conversely, socialists support the rights of all workers regardless of their status. We support the creation of an unconditional amnesty program and seek to build solidarity amongst workers throughout the world. Where capitalism offers ICE raids and the Border police, we support human freedom and social solidarity
May Day - Our Day
May Day is our day. A day when trade unionists, anarchists and socialists gather to state clearly that another world is possible. This other world is a democratic participatory one, where resources are shared for the betterment of humanity. However, democratic socialism will not come about spontaneously – we must get organized. So, today we invoke the names of Eugene Debs, of Caesar Chavez, of Dr. Martin Luther King to call on all working people to join the struggle for socialism. Move rapidly, act boldly, we have a world to win!
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