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Against the Current

Published bimonthly since 1986, AGAINST THE CURRENT is a Solidarity-sponsored analytical journal for the broad revolutionary left. The Sept./Oct. issue features Malik Miah on How Race Fuels the Rightist Agenda, Kit Adam Wainer on Obama's Race to the Top vs. Teacher Unions and Susan Spronk and Jeffery R. Webber interviewing Venezuelan activists Gonzalo Gómez, Stalin Pérez Borges and Luis Primo on the processes of deepening the revolution. Coverage of The Mexican Revolution at 100 continues, featuring an interview with Adolpho Gilly and articles by Dan La Botz, James D. Cockcroft, Heather Dasner Monk, Fred Rosen and Scott Campbell.

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International Viewpoint is the monthly English-language magazine of the Fourth International. IV is a window to radical alternatives world-wide, carrying reports, analysis and debates from all corners of the globe. Correspondents in over 50 countries report on popular struggles, and the debates that are shaping the left of tomorrow.

Put a Socialist in the Senate!

LaBotz, Buckeye Socialist, Senate 2010

Dan La Botz, a 64-year old Cincinnati school teacher, has filed petitions with the Ohio Secretary of State to become the candidate of the Socialist Party for the U.S. Senate. La Botz, who needed 500 signatures to get on the Socialist Party primary ballot, filed petitions with approximately 1,200 signatures on Thursday, Feb. 18. La Botz, a long time labor and social movement activist, is the candidate of the Socialist Party of Ohio which is the state organization of the Socialist Party USA.

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Keep up with the campaign!
Campaign website- DanLaBotz.com

Order these eye-catching buttons to spread the demand for social and economic justice. If you don't have paypal, email us!


Reads Bail out People, not Wall Street!. Around the edge, these 2 1/8" buttons read "Free Health Care," "Defend Public Services," "Living Wage Jobs," "Free Higher Education," "Troops Home Now," "Rebuild the Gulf Coast," and "Affordable Housing."

Brown and black buttons demand: "Bring all the Troops Home Now!" Wear one everywhere to start a conversation about why US occupation can never be a force for liberation, and people's needs should come before the massive military budget.

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These 2 1/8" buttons read, in Spanish and English: ¡Alto a las deporaciones - Legalización para todos! Stop the deportations - Legalization for all!

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Videos from Solidarity's Educational Conference

November 14-15 in New York City, Solidarity held a successful conference featuring engaging talks on a number of topics. Click here to view these videos from "Their Crisis, Our Movements"

- Crisis of Capitalism, Challenge to the Movements (David McNally, New Socialist Group)
- The New Imperialism and The Global Fightback (Vivek Chibber, Christy Thornton, Jonah McCallister-Erickson)
- The State of Resistance in Communities & the Workplace (Normahiram Perez, Steve Downs, Penelope Duggan)
- Race and National Liberation Under Obama (Glen Ford, Lalit Clarkston)

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Solidarity depends on the generous contributions of its friends and allies to continue its work. Please consider giving!

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Barbara Zeluck Presente!

Our comrade Barbara Zeluck died June 5, 2010. She was a lifelong socialist and founding member of Solidarity. Barbara had a long and active life, unwavering in her support for radical social change and movements that she felt were dedicated to mobilizing the working class and raising class consciousness. She always believed that a better world was possible. Read More...

One Year of Obama and the Democrats’ Debacle

Last fall, in the discussion that produced our analysis of “Obama After 200 Days,” we said it would be premature to speak of a “crisis” for the administration. A year after the euphoric 2009 inauguration, it no longer looks premature. People who looked to Obama and the Democrats for leadership are bitterly disappointed, and a very peculiar brand of rightwing politics has seized the initiative.
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Regroupment & Refoundation of a U.S. Left

As part of the preparation for our 2008 Convention, members of SOLIDARITY have begun a political document describing some perspectives for socialist renewal in the twenty-first century. We welcome responses to this initial draft of the document. Some of the themes here have also been developed in Solidarity's Founding Statement and our 1997 pamphlet, “Socialist Organization Today.”

New Pamphlet: Hell on Wheels

New from Solidarity! Long time transit worker activist Steve Downs has written a pamphlet charting the twenty year story of New Directions, a rank and file caucus in New York City's transit union that he helped build and develop - including the challenges of keeping the rank and file democracy movement alive after New Directions won control of the local.

Read an interview on Zmag.org
Read a review and order your copy today!

From Abortion Rights to Reproductive Justice

New from Solidarity's Feminist Commission, this leaflet responds to the right wing attack on reproductive freedom and argues that the movement must go beyond "pro-choice" to true reproductive justice. This socialist and anti-racist feminist agenda would take up issues such as access to health and child care, forced sterilization, and the division of "productive" and "reproductive" labor.
Download the pamphlet...

Solidarity Pamphlets and Working Papers

SOLIDARITY pamphlets are full of lessons and thought-provoking political ideas for activists. We hope that you will find them both informative and useful.

Please note that while we are happy to provide many of these materials on line, we hope you will want to purchase one or more printed copies to share among your friends and fellow activists.

We will be happy to take your order by phone, and will ship them to you at as low a cost as we can manage.  Just pick up the phone and call us at 313-841-0160, write us at 7012 Michigan Ave · Detroit, MI · 48210-2872, or email us.


Socialism

Solidarity Founding Statement


Declaración Política de Fundación This Founding Statement was adopted at the founding national convention of SOLIDARITY in the Spring of 1986.  It is reissued here in its original form.

Socialist Organization Today

A SOLIDARITY pamphlet that is aimed at more experienced socialists. With a new introduction from August 2006, this informative pamphlet presents our views on the role of socialist organizations today.  We in Solidarity want to build a revolutionary socialist organization that can organize the work of socialists in the labor and social movements, educate its members as revolutionaries and Marxists, and win over new people to revolutionary socialism.  This pamphlet looks at how to do this in the conservative political climate at the start of the 21st century. Available in PDF.

Why Socialism

A SOLIDARITY pamphlet that explains why we think that Socialism is the necessary next step to replace Capitalism, this work will probably not convince the wealthy; but it may just strike a chord with you and your friends.

Why Socialists Need Organization

A SOLIDARITY pamphlet that argues that socialists like you and us should be part of a socialist organization, this work will hopefully convince you to join together with other socialists in your area and, perhaps, to join a national organization like SOLIDARITY.

The Two Souls of Socialism

A seminal essay written by Hal Draper in 1966, this work inspired a whole generation of revolutionary socialists, and argues for a vision of socialism from below as opposed to anti-democratic and anti-worker forms of socialism from above.  Some say that this is the single best English-language essay on Marxism.

Anti-Racist Movements

New Orleans One Year After Katrina: the War at Home

A Solidarity activist based in New Orleans reflects on the significance of Katrina to her city, and all that the storm and its aftermath revealed about racism and poverty in the United States. To download a .pdf, click here.

Labor

The Rank and File Strategy: Building a Socialist Movement in the U.S.

A SOLIDARITY working paper, this essay offers an analysis of how socialists can help rebuild the U.S. labor movement from the bottom up, laying the groundwork for deeper class consciousness and socialist politics. Download this document as a PDF.

Lean Production: Why Work is Worse Than Ever, and What's the Alternative?

A SOLIDARITY working paper which analyzes how corporations and governments are reorganizing social life, and how this process is creating greater insecurity and worsening conditions on the job.

Savvy Troublemaking

A SOLIDARITY pamphlet to assist new labor activists, especially students, this work includes important history and useful lessons.  Use it to become a savvy troublemaker!

The Fight at UPS: The Teamsters' Victory and the Future of the "New Labor Movement"

A SOLIDARITY pamphlet, this work discusses how the Teamsters won the 1997 strike at UPS and the importance of the Teamsters for a Democratic Union (TDU).

Lessons of the Staley Fight

Steven Ashby, co-founder of the Chicago-based Staley Workers Solidarity Committee, examines the lockout in Decatur, Illinois, that drew support from thousands of activists in 1992-95, and draws some crucial lessons for all of us.

Feminism

From Abortion Rights to Reproductive Justice

Solidarity's Feminist Commission produced this leaflet as a response to the right wing attack on reproductive freedom and argues that the movement must go beyond "pro-choice" to true reproductive justice. This socialist and anti-racist feminist agenda would take up issues such as access to health and child care, forced sterilization, and the division of "productive" and "reproductive" labor.

Independent Politics

The Rainbow and the Democratic Party - New Politics or Old? : A Socialist Perspective

This classic document places Jesse Jackson's 1988 presidential campaign in a critical context.

Bush's Wars, the 2004 Elections, and the Movements

Produced on the eve of the 2004 Elections, this Solidarity pamphlet analyzes role of the Democratic Party in containing possibilities for Black political power and shutting down mobilization of the anti-war, womens' and gay liberation movements. In opposition to dead end "Lesser Evilism," solidarity calls not for abstention from the electoral arena, but continued efforts at creating an independent political party to represent social movements.

Imperialism

Immediate Withdrawal Working Paper NEW!

This new collection of essays addresses the central issue facing the central issue facing the antiwar movement - the immediate withdrawal of all foreign forces from Iraq. Contributions from Gilbert Achcar, Stephen Shalom, and Michael Schwartz pose this question in the face of recent confusion around the "surge" and calls for "phased re-deployment," Johanna Brenner and Nancy Holmstrom provide a socialist-feminist perspective on the War on Terror, Malik Miah analyzes Black America and the Iraq War, and Camilo Mejia and Carl Webb speak about military resistance.

Why Palestine Matters to the Antiwar Movement

This two-page comic, intended for distribution at antiwar rallies and similar events, explains the history of Israeli occupation and the Palestinian freedom struggle. By presenting the information in a simple way, we hope this comic can help make the important link between justice for Palestine and broader peace in the Middle East to the base of the antiwar movement.

Iraq and Beyond

A SOLIDARITY working paper from October 2004. Three essays from Gilbert Achcar, Dianne Feeley, and David Finkel explore the meaning of the Iraqi occupation and the larger imperialist aims of the United States.

Beating Back the Corporate Attack: Socialism and the Struggle for Global Justice

A SOLIDARITY pamphlet from the Fall of 2000. In little more than a year hundreds of thousands of activists took to the streets of Seattle, Washington DC and Quebec demanding an end to globalization bought and paid for by big corporations. How can we win the fight for social justice and democracy and what does this have to do with socialism?

The Empire and Ourselves (Noam Chomsky - 1986)

This text is based on a speech by Noam Chomsky to more than 1,000 students and faculty at the University of California at Los Angeles, April 9, 1986.  The topic of the lecture was Central America.  Though the talk was given a few days before the American bombing raid on Tripoli, Chomsky in the question period examined the issue of "international terrorism" and the growing U.S. confrontation with Libya.  Noam Chomsky is professor of linguistics and philosophy at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.  He has also been a long-time activist in the movement against U.S. military intervention abroad.