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On Sun, Feb 11, 2018 at 5:45 PM, Louis Proyect via Marxism < [email protected]> wrote: > > From Dan La Botz on FB: > Yesterday NYC DSA Labor Branch held a Labor Day School that was attended > by about 100 DSA members, most of them union activists. I spoke on a panel > on the left and labor: Stephanie Luce talked about Why the Working Class, > Chris Maisano talked about the Communist Party and the Trade Union > Education League in the 1920s, I spoke about the Communist Party, > Trotskyists and Socialists in organizing industrial unions in the 1930s. > About 50 people attended that session, though I think 75 to 100 attended > one or another session throughout the day. While I couldn't stay for the > entire day school, I heard good things about all of the panels and > discussions. On Mon, Feb 12, 2018 at 3:33 PM, John Reimann via Marxism < [email protected]> wrote: > > Louis reports on some discussion on labor in the NYC DSA. > > Was there any discussion on the issue of building a working class party and > the relationship between this and supporting Democrats - either all > Democrats or even just some of them? > > It seems to me that this is really the issue of the hour. On Mon, Feb 12, 2018 at 3:46 PM, Dayne Goodwin <[email protected]> wrote: > Seems to me that when there is finally a tiny but noticeable socialist > organization in the U.S. (now about 1/100th of one percent of the U.S. > population) our primary emphasis should be on generally encouraging > the growth of the DSA. P.S. As part of the organizational process of the DSA's last national convention (held early August 2017) Dan LaBotz ran for a position on the DSA's 16 member national leadership body the National Political Committee. To have been a successful candidate for the NPC LaBotz would have needed to receive at least 2,947 votes; LaBotz received 2,631 votes. Here is the candidate 'platform'/bio on which LaBotz ran for a position on the NPC: *I have been a socialist activist since 1969 when I joined the International Socialists <http://www.keywiki.org/index.php?title=International_Socialists&action=edit&redlink=1> (IS), which in 1986 became part of Solidarity <http://www.keywiki.org/Solidarity>. I served on the national leadership bodies of both of those organizations. After attending the last DSA Convention two years ago as an observer for Solidarity <http://www.keywiki.org/Solidarity>, I joined DSA about a year and a half ago.* *In the 1970s I became involved in unions. I was a founding member of Teamsters for a Democratic Union <http://www.keywiki.org/Teamsters_for_a_Democratic_Union> in 1976 and subsequently worked for various unions and community groups as well as with immigrant rights groups. I was a Socialist Party USA <http://www.keywiki.org/Socialist_Party_USA> candidate for the U.S. Senate in Ohio in 2010, built an organization, campaigned throughout the state, and won 25,000 votes. I am co-editor of the independent socialist journal New Politics <http://www.keywiki.org/New_Politics> and a writer for Jacobin <http://www.keywiki.org/Jacobin>, Labor Notes <http://www.keywiki.org/Labor_Notes>, Against the Current <http://www.keywiki.org/Against_the_Current> and other publications. I was for 20 years editor of the Mexican-U.S. union publication Mexican Labor News and Analysis <http://www.keywiki.org/index.php?title=Mexican_Labor_News_and_Analysis&action=edit&redlink=1>.* *I teach labor studies, principally about Latin American labor, at the Murphy Institute, the labor school of the City University of New York. I am the author of several books on labor and politics in the United States, Mexico, Nicaragua, and Indonesia.* *I believe the central political issue facing DSA is its relationship to the Democratic Party <http://www.keywiki.org/Democratic_Party> and especially to progressive organizations such as MoveOn.org <http://www.keywiki.org/MoveOn.org>, Our Revolution <http://www.keywiki.org/Our_Revolution>, and Indivisible <http://www.keywiki.org/Indivisible>. While we should work in coalition with those groups, I want to work to make sure that DSA charts an independent and socialist course. We should harbor no illusions about reforming or capturing the Democratic Party. The Democratic Party is not our party; we should not become involved in its internal life.* *We should support socialist candidates and progressive candidates in the Democratic Party, but we should not–if and when those candidates lose–back the corporate Democrats. The central political challenge is to avoid being swept up into the progressive organizations, which in the end usually support the Democrats corporate candidates.* *So while joining coalitions where appropriate, we should be wary of the Democratic Party and especially of its progressive wing, which will be most enticing to our members and friends. We do not want DSA to become simply a small group at the left margin of the Democratic Party. We want through coalition work to build a powerful social movement, a resistance with its own political identity, and its own political expression.* *I work in the NYC DSA Political Education Committee and well as in the Immigrant Justice Working Group <http://www.keywiki.org/index.php?title=Immigrant_Justice_Working_Group&action=edit&redlink=1> (IJWG) and with the New Solidarity Coalition <http://www.keywiki.org/index.php?title=New_Solidarity_Coalition&action=edit&redlink=1>. I am a member of the Central Brooklyn Branch. I have worked with the IJWG in the New Sanctuary Coalition, involving Latino and Haitian churches. Rahel Biru <http://www.keywiki.org/Rahel_Biru> and I led the introductory class for hundreds of new members in New York over the last several months. I was also involved in planning, organizing, and speaking on the labor movement at our socialist day school. I have been a regular at DSA political meetings, social events, and picket lines.* On Tue, Feb 13, 2018 at 10:16 AM, John Reimann via Marxism < [email protected]> wrote: > > Dayne Goodman wrote about encouraging the growth of DSA. I take Dayne wrote > that in reply to my question. How does questioning whether there was any > discussion of the relationship with the Democratic Party not encourage that > growth? I'd really like to know. > > _________________________________________________________ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: http://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
