Socialists In Movements

We will be meeting in UNT, Language building room 316

With only 25% of the vote, Trump’s presidency doesn’t represent a mandate by the people for his agenda. But rather than fight back against Trump’s plans, the Democratic Party leadership is asking the public to give Trump a chance. This normalization of Trump’s rhetoric and agenda will make it easier for him to deliver on the racist and bigoted promises he made during his campaign.

Luckily millions around the country are looking for ways to actively fight Trump’s agenda, from mass deportations and a Muslim registry to climate destruction and the gutting of working class living standards. Many of those people voted for Clinton. Others, frustrated with the Democratic Party and the political system, either didn’t vote or voted for a 3rd Party. The question is: how do we unite all those opposed to Trump into a movement that can stop him in his tracks?

We can’t give bigots like Trump and his administration any chances. But what do we do next? How do socialists help build broad movements that bring together masses of people, who aren’t socialists, to fight against Trump’s agenda?

Socialists have developed a method—the United Front—as part of a strategy for bringing together various organizations into large coalitions around defensive fights while, at the same time, arguing the need for an explicitly socialist alternative to the status quo and, in the process, winning others to join the fight for a socialist society.

This week, we will be discussing the article “Socialists and Movements” by Joel Geier (below) on the central role played by socialists in the campus revolts of the 1960s and the lessons that movement offers for activists today. Joel Geier is a longtime member of the ISO and was a central participant in the Free Speech Movement that rocked UC Berkeley and spread to campuses across the country.

We will also be discussing local organizing against Trump’s agenda. Students from UNT and TWU are organizing together to demand that our universities become sanctuary schools for undocumented students, faculty, and staff. A petition and more information can be found here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScCp2nVMCdGMfcdsEsY29zWOx8X6Tr2AYI34pgnMhzLfhzGsg/viewform?c=0&w=1

Join us for this discussion!
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Reading for this meeting: “Socialists and Movements” by Joel Geier, International Socialist Review (ISR)
http://www.isreview.org/issues/47/socmove.shtml

Further Reading: “Understanding the United Front” by Paul D’Amato, Socialist Worker https://socialistworker.org/2013/08/13/understanding-the-united-front