Answering Common Questions - Socialism FAQs
By Brandon Madsen
With the rise of the Occupy movement, opposition to the existing political and economic order has gone mainstream. It’s hard to imagine that the bandana-clad woman on the cover of Time magazine – representing “The Protestor,” Time’s “Person of the Year” – has many nice things to say about capitalism, and the ubiquity of the Guy Fawkes mask – popularized by “V for Vendetta” – further underscores how widespread the idea of revolution has become.
However, this growing support for system change has not yet been matched by a serious public dialogue about what an alternative might look like. A new Pew poll published 12/28/2011 indicated that people who are under 30 or black are more likely to favor socialism than capitalism, but this does not correspond to clear ideas of what socialism is or how a socialist economic and political system would work. We offer up this FAQ as a contribution to the discussion.
- How would a socialist economy work?
- How would a socialist democracy work?
- Wouldn’t a bureaucratic elite just take over?
- Wouldn’t it be easier to reform capitalism?
- Socialism sounds great on paper, but is it realistic?
Obama Overrules FDA, Restricts Birth Control for Teens
By Andrea Perry
Obama recently defended the decision of his Secretary of Health and Human Services, Kathleen Sebelius, to continue limiting the over-counter availability of Plan B, the morning after pill, to women under 17. The Federal Drug Administration approved the over-counter use of the drug for women of all ages last February and says this is the first time the Secretary of Health has overruled an approval of the FDA.
Plan B significantly reduces the chances of conception if taken up to 72 hours after unprotected sex. Women under 17 will continue to need a doctor’s prescription to obtain Plan B, increasing the rate of unwanted teen pregnancies, particularly for those without health insurance or access to abortion clinics.
Obama’s decision was a shock to NARAL Pro-Choice and other organizations who gave full support to Obama during the 2008 election. This was political, an attempt to win centrist votes, not made to further the interests of the majority of women. This shows the need for political independence for the women’s movement, rather than continuing to apologize for politicians prepared to trade away our rights for petty political gain.
We need a mass resurgence of the women’s movement that fights in the interests of the working class women and demands full access to all forms of birth control and family planning.
Big Media Bought the Politicians. Don’t Let Them Further Limit the Internet.
Comment by Nick Shillingford
The internet has given people across the globe previously unprecedented access to information and the ability to communicate with individuals in almost any city center. But the increase in free sharing of information, music, books, films and other media has also begun to eat into the profits of the huge media companies of the world.
While the executives of the huge media companies use the cover of poor artists and producers to pull on the heart strings they see this primarily as a war of control and a challenge to their profit driven empires they have created through mergers and acquisitions. The vast majority of media is now owned by 6 big companies (GE, Disney, Newscorp, TimeWarner, Viacom, CBS) And these companies have bought the politicians in both parties with large donations.
Minnesota’s Democratic Senator Al Franken is a co-sponsor of S.968 which is the Senate “Protect IP Act” (PIPA) closely related to the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) which has gotten the majority of attention in recent mainstream media accounts. According to OpenSecrets.org Franken’s two top contributors were Time Warner and General Electric. Time Warner was also a top contributor to Minnesota Democratic Senator Amy Klobuchar. It is no surprise they co-sponsored PIPA.
All people concerned with freedom on the internet should immediately call or tweet Klobuchar and Franken and let them know that we are watching what they are doing and we are outraged at their sponsorship of this legislation:
Sen. Amy Klobuchar [D, MN] Phone: 202-224-3244
Sen. Al Franken [D, MN] Phone: 202-224-5641 Twitter: @alfranken
But ultimately even the failure of this bill from public pressure will only be a short-term solution. Huge media companies with huge budgets will continue to push forward so called “anti-piracy” measures to criminalize ordinary people sharing information online. The sharing of information is a threat to their profits. As long as we continue to allow these conglomerate corporations to control the media and rake in large sums of money from doing so we will always be under threat of another SOPA or PIPA like attack on internet freedom.
It is absolutely necessary to take big corporations including those that own our media into public ownership under the democratic control of our communities. This is the only way to actually guarantee that the media is not censored by the rich and powerful.
Wikipedia has given us a taste of what a free and open learning and information tool can look like even under Capitalism. And the site has been one of the loudest in their opposition to SOPA and PIPA (including today’s “Blackout” by the site: )
To keep the Media Giants from crushing even the beginnings of free and open media it is required that we stop their stranglehold on our government. This can only be done by ridding them of their mountains of wealth which they use to exert influence on government. Seeing that the profit motive is the driving force behind Capitalism, the system itself must be done away with to clear a space for the real open flow of information and discussion.
For more detailed info on the language of SOPA and PIPA, click here.
For more detailed information on media control and democracy, click here.
A Historic Day for Graduate Assistants!
Comment by Tom Raley
Just today, Graduate Assistant employees at the University of Minnesota – Twin Cities delivered a request to University President Eric Kaler to file a joint petition for union certification. The Graduate Student Workers Union/United Auto Workers (GSWU/UAW) have been organizing a union drive on campus to organize the 4,500 graduate assistant employees, and upon obtaining a majority of signed union cards, are able to request a joint petition with the University for union certification. If the University rejects the request, the workers will move to hold a union election.
This is a historic step for graduate assistant employees at the U of M and illustrates how people all over the state of Minnesota, and the country, are beginning to realize that the best way to improve their working and living conditions is to work together towards shared goals. Despite the U of M’s union-busting tactics, the workers have remained strong and will hopefully soon have the benefit of collective bargaining.
Check out their press release here!
Dismantling Rape Culture, Dismantling Capitalism
Wednesday, February 1st 4pm @ MCTC Room L-3000, 1501 Hennepin Avenue
Panel and open discussion hosted by Pride Club, Sisters for Social Justice, and Socialist Alternative.
Across the globe this year, tens of thousands have marched to demand an end to rape and a culture which tolerates systemic gender-based violence. But where should the movement go from here? How can real progress be made to stop epidemic levels of rape and pervasive sexual objectification when the corporate media, most politicians, and the legal system treat these problems as inevitable? Socialists argue that the oppression of women and LGBTQ people are intimately linked to capitalism, and dismantling the rape culture means dismantling the wider systems of exploitation and oppression. But is a socialist transformation of society possible? And how can the fight for LGBTQ and women’s rights be linked with the fight against capitalism? Join us for this important discussion.
20 Hour Workweek Called for by Capitalist Economists
Comment by Tom Raley
A recent article published by the Guardian of London claims that top economists are now urging something that we as Socialists have long argued for. The article claims that the working week should be cut to a maximum of 20 hours. This is an interesting read, coming from a relatively mainstream news source; and all in all, a policy like this just makes sense.
Over the last century, and even before, technological improvements have meant that workers are many times more productive and can produce the same amount of goods and services in much, much less time. This should no doubt have led to a decrease in hours worked; instead, employers have used rising productivity rates to super exploit workers by enforcing longer working hours, speed-ups, and mass layoffs so fewer workers have to do more. Now, we see incredibly high unemployment and incredibly stressful working conditions for many workers.
One critical thing the article omits is that this reduction in hours work must be void of a reduction in pay. Assuming this condition is met, the article rightly argues the result would be “more jobs to go round, employees could spend more time with their families.”
Socialist Alternative has long called for a shortening of the work week without loss of pay. As this article shows, perhaps now more than ever, we need a socialist alternative that puts families before balance sheets and people before profits.
——NOTE: Click arrows alongside image to see back of flier——
Over 130 area residents and community activists gathered on January 7th for a successful “Occupy Homes Community Forum” to discuss a strategy to take the movement forward. Socialist Alternative played a big role organizing this forum and distributed this leaflet. The arguments and proposals in this leaflet were also presented at the forum by Ty Moore, who spoke on the panel for Socialist Alternative. For more background on the Occupy Homes campaign in Minneapolis, click here and check out OccupyHomesMN on Facebook.
Taking the Occupation Home: Fighting foreclosures in Minneapolis
By Kenny Guenther, Minneapolis
The foreclosure crisis is hitting the Twin Cities hard. According to a study by Neighborhoods Organizing for Change, Minneapolis alone has had over 13,000 foreclosures since 2006, with a majority of evicted families moving out of the city.
In November, a campaign was launched by a coalition of activists, including Occupy Minneapolis and Socialist Alternative, to occupy foreclosed homes and stop the banks from destroying our communities.
Indeed, Minneapolis is leading the charge in a movement that is catching on across the country. Our ongoing occupations of Monique White’s and Bobby Hull’s homes in Minneapolis have garnered national and even international press attention, with Monique featured on Al-Jazeera English and Bobby on MSNBC and the front page of the Huffington Post, among other media. The drive to expand the number of occupied homes is now underway.
Bobby is a Vietnam veteran who has lived in his home for 43 years. After missing work due to medical issues Bobby fell behind on his payments and the bank foreclosed. Monique is a single mother who lost her job with a non-profit after budget cuts forced it to close. In both cases the banks have refused to negotiate, once again putting their need for profit before the needs of people.
Bobby, Monique, and the Occupy Homes movement are demanding that banks renegotiate mortgages to ensure homeowners can afford to stay in their homes, not based on what is most profitable for the banks. If the banks refuse to act in the public interest, we must put them under public ownership and community control.
Greece: New round of austerity announced by unelected Greek Prime Minister
Xekinima national meeting discusses balance sheet of 2011’s class struggles and prospects for workers’ fight-back in 2012
Niall Mulholland, CWI
Yesterday, the German and French governments put pressure on Greece to “find a solution” to its debt crisis, threatening to deny its government another 130bn euro bailout unless it reaches agreement with its bondholders. Investors are being urged to ‘write down’ 50% of the value of their holdings of Greek government bonds. This action is being encouraged because of the desperate situation facing the euro, which French President Nicolas Sarkozy called “tense, more so than ever in the euro-zone’s history”.
But it is the majority of Greek people who are still asked to take all the real pain to satisfy the markets. Last week, the unelected Greek Prime Minister, Lucas Papademos, announced a new round of deep austerity cuts. Amongst other things, Papademos declared new cuts to social and welfare benefits, including health, a slashing of the minimum wage, an assault on public sector workers’ wages and pensions and changes to labour legislation that will be used to attack workers rights and conditions.
