Socialist Party USA

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Socialist Party USA




Party Chairman	Susan Dorazio Raul Cano
Senate Leader	None
House Leader	None

Founded	1973
Headquarters	339 Lafayette St. Suite 303 NY, NY 10012

Political ideology	Democratic socialist
International affiliation	None
Color(s)	Red

Website	Socialist Party USA

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The Socialist Party of the United States of America (SPUSA) is one of the heirs to the Socialist Party of America of Eugene V. Debs and Norman Thomas. It is a democratic socialist, multi-tendency party, advocating a broad-based, democratic social revolution from below instead of an undemocratic seizure of power by a single political party. Their youth affiliate is the Young People's Socialist League.

1 History
2 Platform
3 Presidential candidates
4 See also
5 External links

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History

It was formed in 1973 after the Socialist Party of America was taken over by Shachtmanites and renamed the Social Democrats USA. A separate group, the Democratic Socialist Organizing Committee (later to become the Democratic Socialists of America), also split off in 1973 and is also active in political causes. All three organizations claim to be the heir apparent to Eugene V. Debs and Norman Thomas. The DSA and SDUSA have observer status in the Socialist International.

In 1980, the SPUSA became the first American party to nominate an openly gay man for President – pacifist David McReynolds. He would run for a second time in 2000. In the past few years, the SP has grown from 600 members to nearly 1,500. And Socialists have surprised many in a number of recent elections, most notably in Milwaukee in 2000, where Socialist Wendell Harris received almost 20% of the vote for mayor.

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Platform

The Socialist Party USA describes itself as the only explicitly democratic socialist party in the United States. It is as equally against Soviet-style Communism as it is anti-capitalist.

The party rejects the practice of democratic centralism, meaning that its individual members are free to disagree publicly with party policy even after decisions have been arrived at. Membership is based on the payment of dues, which are paid by applicants who state that they agree with the statement of principles. The party considers itself democratic socialist, although there are varying views within the membership on the means of achieving socialism based on its Statement of Principles and Program.

Some SPUSA members advocate an evolutionary approach to socialism, favoring a social democratic transition period; they cite the social democratic systems of nations like Sweden as examples of "socialism in action". The Fist & Rose Tendency, which desires observer status in the Socialist International, is the most prominent example of this approach.

Others consider Swedish-style social democracy to be essentially capitalist in nature, and instead favor a more radical or revolutionary transformation of society from capitalist to socialist. The Debs Tendency, Direct Action Tendency, and Grass Roots Tendency are examples of those tendencies (see Caucus list below).

The party considers itself strongly socialist feminist, and arranges a number of pro choice activities as well as requiring gender parity among its officers. Its platform considers abortion a part of women's healthcare rights. There is an active Women's Commission which publishes a quarterly newsletter, Socialist Women.

The Socialist Party USA focuses on both national and grassroots politics. Their "Socialist Summer" campaigns in 2004 and 2005 focused on issues such as fighting to end the military-industrial complex and post-9/11 immigrant detentions, and promoting civil liberties and civil rights.

The most recent Socialist Party national convention took place October 21-October 23, 2005 in Newark, NJ.

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