Socialist Action /September 2000
Critical Support to SWP Presidential
Campaign
By NAT WEINSTEIN
Socialist Action is a political party that strives
to intervene to the best of its ability in all struggles affecting the working
class and its fighting organizations-ranging from the trade unions to the
social movements of workers and their natural allies.
While American workers historically have had an
impressive success in constructing a powerful, even semi-revolutionary,
mass trade-union movement, they have failed thus far to construct a mass
independent working-class political movement.
On the contrary, despite many attempts by various
socialist political parties to build a mass working-class political party
based on the unions, the official leadership of the trade-union movement
has kept the unions politically tied to one or another capitalist political
party.
Class-conscious workers who understand that even
the most militant trade-union movement cannot carry out an effective struggle
for the class interests of workers on the economic plane alone, have attempted
to keep aloft the banner of independent working-class political action.
Socialist Action has been able to field independent
working-class candidates in local campaigns during its 17 years of existence,
but we have been without sufficient resources to run presidential candidates.
However, Socialist Action adheres to the longstanding
non-sectarian tradition of revolutionary socialism from the time of Marx,
Engels, Lenin and Trotsky to the present. That tradition is the one whereby,
rather than abstain from elections when small revolutionary socialist parties
are unable to field their own candidates, revolutionary socialists may choose
to help provide an alternative to the capitalist parties by giving critical
support to an opponent current in the workers' movement.
It's important to emphasize here that the tactic
of critical support to opponent working-class currents is not obligatory.
In fact, revolutionists must always do their best to determine whether or
not a permissible tactic in the given concrete context serves to advance
the consciousness of the working class.
This year there are three socialist parties fielding
presidential candidates-the Socialist Workers Party, the Socialist Party,
and the Workers World Party. Of the three, the Socialist Workers Party's
candidates for president and vice-president respectively, James Harris and
Margaret Trowe, come closest to being representatives of working-class political
independence in this November's election.
Moreover, among the three socialist currents, the
SWP offers the most credible alternative to the parties, large and small,
of the capitalist class. The SWP will achieve ballot status in many more
states than the other two socialist parties combined. The SWP has already
qualified for ballot status in Colorado and Washington, and has submitted
more than enough signatures to appear on the ballot in the District of Columbia,
Florida, Iowa, Minnesota, and New Jersey.
Furthermore, the SWP is still gathering signatures
in New York, Rhode Island, Tennessee, and Wisconsin. (In New York, the required
number of signatures is 15,000, and the SWP has already collected over 26,000
names on its nominating petitions as of Aug. 9. SWP petitioners are aiming
for a total of 30,000 valid signatures.)
Moreover, since both the SP and WWP do not abide
by the principle of class independence (both parties have supported capitalist
candidates for office in the United States and elsewhere in the world) a
vote for their candidates is a far less clear vote for independent working-class
political action.
Despite lapses whereby the SWP broke with the principle
of class independence-such as in its policies concerning El Salvador, Nicaragua,
and South Africa-the Socialist Action Political Committee has voted unanimously
to give critical support to the SWP presidential slate because of its far
more consistent record of class independence in U.S. elections.
Consequently, a vote for James Harris and Margaret
Trowe-SWP candidates for president and vice-president of the United States-will
be the clearest vote for the principle of class independence of any candidates
in the running in the November 2000 election.
Socialist Action /September 2000 |