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Y.S.A. Manifesto
1. We stand for workers' democracy and
socialism. We are active partisans in the class struggle!
As stated by Karl
Marx and Frederick Engels in the Communist
Manifesto of 1848, “[t]he history of all hitherto existing society is
the history of class struggle.” Our revolutionary youth organization
stands on this maxim. Therefore,
YSA represents the collective memory of lessons of these past struggles
between classes with irreconcilable interests. On that basis, our
program rests on the foundation that the potential for change today
lies within the conflict between the interests of the capitalist class
and working class. The conflict’s logical conclusion is the working
class seizing state power.
However, workers lack the socialist vision necessary to achieve
that end. Only conscious, revolutionary leadership that has won the
hearts and minds of the working class can make that revolutionary
perspective possible.
In order to win the
respect and trust of the working class it is essential that YSA
champion the working class’s struggle on all levels including
immediate, democratic, and transitional demands. Thus, when the class
struggle sharpens, YSA will have proven its mettle in the eyes of the
working class, standing out among all contending socialists as a
capable leadership component of the international socialist revolution,
based on the social and political power of the working class. That revolution
will, for first time in history, establish a society democratically run
by the toiling billions world-wide.
2. We fight against racism in all its forms. We are
supporters of Black and Chicano liberation, full sovereignty for
American Indians, and we defend the right of self-determination of all
oppressed nationalities.
Racism is an
ideology and practice that reflects the political, social, and economic
needs of the capitalist class, based on their exploitation of workers
for profits. It has historically served to rationalize treating
oppressed nationalities as third class citizens, with the result being
the justification of relegating these groups to the worst living
conditions, the worst health care, the worst jobs, the worst schools,
and the lowest wages.
Because Blacks and
Chicanos are overwhelmingly working class, their oppression has a dual
character: it is racially and class based. Thus, the democratic and
national aspirations of oppressed nationalities in the United
States (Blacks, Chicanos &
Native Americans) have a profoundly revolutionary dynamic. By
supporting their right to self-determination we unconditionally support
their own solutions to national oppression, including the formation of
an independent Black or Chicano political party, the democratic right
of control by oppressed nationalities of all institutions in their own
communities, and even a separate Black or Chicano state.
We recognize and oppose the
physical and cultural genocide that has been waged against American
Indians in this country. We
support reparations, full sovereignty and the honoring of all treaty
rights with Native nations.
Should oppressed
nationalities find substantial allies among white workers who support
their full liberation, they may decide that a common struggle best
meets their objectives. The choice is theirs.
Nationalist
aspirations are not counter-posed to the struggle for socialist
revolution; rather, they are an integral component of it. A consistent
struggle against national oppression leads to the struggle for
socialism because the source of both national and class oppression is
the capitalist system. Therefore, the coming American revolution will
have a combined character: oppressed nationalities will fight for full
democratic rights while the working class as a whole, including the
oppressed nationalities, will fight for state power.
3. We are opposed to any and all discrimination based on
gender or sexual orientation. We support equal rights for all!
Sexism is an
ideology that reflects the political, social, and economic needs of the
capitalist class. It rationalizes second-class citizenship and lower
wages for women. Furthermore, it serves as an ideological wedge
dividing the working class.
Like other
unnatural phenomena in society, sexism did not exist until the advent
of private property. Under the profit system, women of all classes are
valued almost solely for their reproductive capabilities, unpaid
domestic labor, and servitude to men.
The sexual division
of labor helps to serve the ruling minority by binding women to
oppressive social roles while justifying the inequality of pay between
the sexes.
We support the
women’s movement through mass action. To loosen the stranglehold of the
profit system on women, we are involved in every struggle to win needed
reforms, while still pointing out that women will not be entirely
liberated until capitalism has been abolished.
We are in the
frontlines of the struggle to regain the right to reproductive freedom
and choice. We demand a
healthcare system based on science not religion, and we struggle to
gain access to affordable reproductive and contraceptive services.
We support the
ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment and the full abolition of
unfair criminal law based on gender.
We fight to
eliminate the wage gap between men and women. We demand equal and
affordable education and childcare centers at low or no cost.
We are involved in
the struggle to end the special oppression of women of color and we
support the right to self-determination of minority women.
We understand that
women need to organize and work within women’s groups before the
socialist revolution so that they can be leaders in the revolutionary
movement and assure that their needs will no longer be denied by
society.
Discrimination of
gays, lesbians, bisexuals and trans under capitalism expresses itself
in both ideological and economic forms. However, the ruling class has
not historically used sexual-orientation based discrimination like that
of sexism, to justify paying the G/L/B/T community lower wages or
relegating them to inferior working conditions. Though, when class
based repression converges with sexual orientation discrimination
toward working-class queers and trans, the result is a special
situation. It is one in which the former strengthens the latter and
vice-versa.
For example,
limitations of material conditions keep one from coming out at the work
place for fear of reprisals, on the one hand, from the boss, and on the
other hand, from co-workers. In the case of homophobic bosses it may
lead to a firing. In the case of homophobic co-workers it can result in
ridicule and violence, which can force one to quit.
Therefore, we fight
against discrimination based on sexual orientation in all its forms
including anti-gay referendums and constitutional amendments as well as
limited access to medical care, housing, and jobs.
We support the
struggle for the full democratic right of marriage to queer and trans
couples and demand the economic benefits and protections of marriages
that cannot be realized through civil unions.
We work to create a
society in which women and the G/L/B/T community live free from the
fear of violence, abuse and discrimination.
Only within a socialist society can all forms
of sexual orientation be able to develop fully, freely and openly.
Likewise, only under socialism can the full democratic rights of women,
queers and trans be met.
4. We fight to protect the environment from the ravages of
capitalism.
The unplanned and
rapacious nature of the capitalist mode of production has resulted in a
myriad of dire consequences for our life-giving planet.
Vast tracts of
forests have been cut. Aquatic diversity has been greatly reduced by
the over-harvesting (in both oceans and freshwater) of commercial
fisheries. Farmlands are increasingly sapped of nutrients by
monoculture-based factory farms. Genetically modified foods threaten
biodiversity. Regular oil spills and other types of pollution have
created “dead zones” in oceans and the Great
Lakes, which are devoid of life. Non-point and
direct pollution sources further add to both oceanic and freshwater
pollution. The unplanned use of water has rapidly lowered the water
table. Environmental racism has resulted in impoverished and working
people having to bear the brunt of environmental pollution and
degradation.
Capitalist
production’s reliance on fossil fuels has led to rapid deterioration in
air quality and the increase in greenhouse gases that cause global
warming. In order to gain a competitive edge on their rivals in world
market, capitalist corporations have introduced nearly 70,000
carcinogens in their daily production.
We place no faith
in a handful of “green corporations,” organic farms or individual consumer
solutions to stop further environmental deterioration. The real
solutions are social and political. Thus, we seek to mobilize mass
numbers to demand broad incorporation of clean, renewable energy
sources and implementation of farmer controlled, sustainable
agriculture. While we oppose every deadly insult to the environment
engineered to maximize profits, our ultimate goal is a planned,
socialist economy, the only system that can stop further environmental
destruction.
5. We fight to empower young people -- on campus, in the
community, and in the workplace.
We struggle to
establish democratic decision-making bodies of young people to give
them some control over the functioning of the campuses, the community,
the workplace and their own lives. Youth are the victims of capitalist
cutbacks in the schools and at the jobsite. They are made to bear the
costs of increased tuition and decreased quality of education, of
two-tier wage systems and of an economic draft that targets the poor
and oppressed.
History has
demonstrated that youth are among the first to challenge the
fundamental injustices of society. They have been the driving force of
new social movements that seek to empower the oppressed and exploited
and challenge the policies of the war makers. On the campus, in the
community and at the workplace youth will stand at the forefront of the
coming struggles that challenge the boss class's ideologies and
practice.
6. We fight against police brutality and any measures by
the state power to take away or restrict our democratic rights.
Police are the
armed guards of capitalism, who work to uphold the social and political
dominance of the capitalist class. Police and their political
counterparts in the FBI and CIA exist to suppress the expression of
democratic rights, especially of youth, workers, and oppressed
nationalities. We support mass actions in the streets to defend and
organize against police attacks on our democratic rights. These are
qualitatively more effective than lawsuits in the capitalist courts or
reliance on capitalist politicians (both organs of the state).
In communities of
oppressed nationalities we support efforts to organize defense guards
or patrols controlled by residents of that community aimed at thwarting
police violence and all other forms of violence. We demand no police presence in
schools and on campuses.
7. We stand for free quality education for all, from
pre-school to graduate school.
Education is not a
privilege, but a fundamental democratic right. We demand a massive
overhaul of the United
States education system,
fully funded by the federal government. This would include replacing
dilapidated school buildings with the most modern facilities, raising
teachers’ pay, bilingual education programs in schools where students
don’t speak English as their primary language, day-care facilities for
students with children, free breakfast and lunch programs, job
placement programs, the banning from schools of military recruiters and
ROTC programs, and all other reforms deemed necessary by students,
teachers and the community.
Billions for education not war!
8. We denounce imperialism and oppose all U.S.
interventions, regardless of the justification.
We stand against
all wars waged by the capitalist/imperialist system. These are
organized for profit and domination and have nothing to do with the
needs or aspirations of the U.S.
or the world's people. We say, “U.S. Out Now!” from Iraq
to Afghanistan
to Yugoslavia
to Latin America.
We are opposed to the ongoing threats of war against people anywhere.
We are opposed to the U.S.
backed Israeli occupation of Palestine.
The U.S.
war drive is a product of a failing social system, incapable of
functioning without exploitation and war. We demand money for social
programs, not war!
Furthermore, as a
matter of principle, we denounce imperialist military aggression under
the guise of any international imperialist agency including the United
Nations and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (N.A.T.O.). Self determination of all
peoples!
9. We denounce the U.S. embargo/blockade and threats of war against Cuba and stand in solidarity with the Cuban people and their
socialist revolution.
We stand in
solidarity with the 1959 and ongoing Cuban Revolution that toppled
capitalism and embarked on the road to socialism. The revolution's
replacement of private ownership of the means of production with a
collectively owned and planned economy organized for the satisfaction
of human needs serves as an example to the people of the world. We
denounce the 1961 U.S.-organized invasion of Cuba,
the 43-year old U.S.
instituted embargo/blockade and the illegal economic, commercial,
travel and trade measures instituted by U.S.
imperialism to defeat the revolution and reinstate capitalist
exploitation.
We reject any
characterization of Cuba
as a Stalinist degenerated worker’s state or
state capitalist society. The leaders of the revolution are
revolutionists of action, dedicated to socialism and advancing the
interests of the Cuban and world's people. We are nevertheless critical
of Cuba’s
lack of formal institutions of democratic proletarian rule, without
which the revolution's strength and capacity to endure is undermined.
We demand an end to
the U.S.
embargo/blockade and all other U.S.
actions to crush the revolution including terrorist attacks and
military intervention.
We support the
courageous actions of the Cuban Five to ensure the safety of their
country from future U.S.
led terrorist attacks. We demand their immediate release from U.S.
federal prisons.
We demand the
immediate release of all U.S.
prisoners from Guantanamo Bay
and the withdrawal of all U.S.
military forces from Cuba.
10. We advocate independent working class political
action. Break from pro-business politics!
YSA supports all
forms of progressive working class political and economic action, from
the formation of a labor party based on reinvigorated and fighting
unions allied with the oppressed, to political and economic strikes to
advance the cause of working people.
We reject support
to the capitalist Democratic and Republican Parties and to any other
capitalist electoral formation. We support and seek to participate in
building independent mass actions in the streets to advance all social
movements that challenge capitalist plunder, cutbacks, oppression,
racism and war. Only the independent mobilization of workers and their allies can fight the
scourges of unemployment, poverty, homelessness and related capitalist
horrors. We support independent mobilizations demanding and fighting
for jobs for all and a 30-hour work week for 40 hours pay to spread out
all available work to those who need it.
We reject support
to middle class, pro-capitalist "third parties" like the
Greens as well as to so-called independent pro-capitalist candidates
like Ralph Nader and Peter Camejo.
For socialism! For worker's power! For working class internationalism!
Youth to the vanguard of all struggles! Build YSA!
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