A Democratic Socialist Year in Review

[nyc socialists]

From Wukan to Wall Street - A Democratic Socialist Year in Review

by Billy Wharton
co-chair Socialist Party USA

2011 ended just as it began – with mass protests against a deeply
authoritarian regime. This time it was in the Chinese village of
Wukan a place that had once been a “showcase of growth and harmony,”
but is now transformed into the center of protests against inequality
and political corruption. A Chinese official sent to quell the
protests caused by the dissident villagers described the mood, “the
public's awareness of democracy, equality and rights is constantly
strengthening, and their corresponding demands are growing.” What a
perfect summary of the spirit of 2011, a year when people all over the
world began to realize their collective strength and ability to change
the course of history.

Not surprisingly, 2011 was a great year for the Socialist Party USA.
Our organization has grown over the past year. Even better, we have
grown in a healthy manner by adding new members who are interested in
spreading the message of democratic socialism and new locals in areas
where there were none before. Places like Philadelphia, Salt Lake
City and in various parts of California all now have fledgling
socialist locals. This is a signal that the long hard winter of left-
wing political organizing in the United States may finally be ending.
And nothing helped to thaw the ice more than Occupy.

Occupy Wall Street connected Americans with the wave of protests
taking place across the globe. It has been a collective eruption of
the pent up anger and frustration building at the base of our
society. Chants of “We are the 99% (and so are you)” and “Banks Got
Bailed Out, We Got Sold Out,” resonated with millions of people who
had seen their homes, their jobs and their futures destroyed by yet
another capitalist economic crisis.

Socialist Party USA members have been involved in Occupy from the
start. We were there on the first day in Downtown Manhattan and we
led one of the first break away marches toward Wall Street. We were
there on the Brooklyn Bridge facing down the police and joining 700
others in going to jail for a movement. We have also participated in
countless hours of organizing meetings and political discussion. And
we have participated in nearly every other Occupy action at locations
throughout the country.

We intend to be builders of this movement – broadening it, inviting
more poor and working class people in and lending our organizing
expertise to Occupy. Simultaneously, we offer our vision of
democratic socialism in order to create a society based on peace,
solidarity and justice.

2012 promises to be an even more exciting year for socialists. We
will continue our positive work with the Occupy movement. As the
capitalist economic crisis produces even deeper negative effects on
working people, OWS may grow even stronger. We welcome the return of
protest politics to the American political landscape. We want to
extend the use of non-violent civil disobedience. We want broaden the
challenges to the top 1%. We can make history in 2012, transforming
it from the “year of the protester” to the year of democratic
revolution.

We also have an exciting electoral campaign to wage in 2012 that will
challenge the two ruling parties of the system. In addition to our
local candidates for office, Stewart Alexander from California and
Alex Mendoza from Texas are our Presidential and Vice-Presidential
candidates. They will draw on the long tradition of socialist
presidential campaigns such as those of Eugene Debs and Norman Thomas
while rooting their message in the growing present-day desire for jobs
for all, healthcare for all and an end to stranglehold of the Military
Industrial Complex. Alexander/Mendoza 2012 will be a campaign of real
hope, a place that offers a few answers to the question of whether
another world is possible.

Socialists have the “patient impatience” that Dr. Martin Luther King
once spoke about in relation to the Civil Rights movement. We are
patiently growing our organization and, in the process, working to
strengthen the movements we are engaged in. Yet, we also feel the
impatience for change expressed by the Wukan protests, by those
engaged in last year’s Arab Spring and by the Occupy protests.

We hope that 2012 will be our year to help to place democratic
socialism where it belongs – as the preferred political choice for
poor and working class people.

If you are already a member, I ask you to continue to expand our
message – organize locally in the name of the Socialist Party, help
build a local Occupy movement and encourage others to Vote Socialist
in 2012. If you are not organized, but are interested, I encourage
you to contact us and learn more about the positive possibilities and
history of democratic socialism.

Working together, we can transform this country from a playground for
the 1% to a healthy, productive society that operates
democratically.

***

Please consider making a generous end of the year donation to keep our
organizing going:
http://socialistparty-usa.org/contribute.html