Socialist Alternative Issue 61 - March 2020 by Socialist Alternative

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WHAT WE STAND FOR FIGHTING FOR THE 99%

J Raise the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour, as a step toward a living wage for all. J Free, high quality public education for all from pre-school through college. Full funding for schools to dramatically lower student-teacher ratios. Stop the focus on high stakes testing and the drive to privatize public education. J Free, high quality health care for all. Replace the failed for-profit insurance companies with a publicly funded single-payer system as a step towards fully socialized medicine. J No budget cuts to education and social services! Full funding for all community needs. A major increase in taxes on the rich and big business, not working people. J Create living-wage union jobs for all the unemployed through public works programs to develop mass transit, renewable energy, infrastructure, health care, education, and affordable housing. J For rent control combined with massive public investment in affordable housing. J A guaranteed decent pension for all. No cuts to Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid! J A minimum guaranteed weekly income of $600/week for the unemployed, disabled, stay-at-home parents, the elderly, and others unable to work. J Repeal all anti-union laws like Taft-Hartley. For democratic unions run by the rank-and-file to fight for better pay, working conditions, and social services. Full-time union officials should be regularly elected and receive the average wage of those they represent. J No more layoffs! Take bankrupt and failing companies into public ownership. J Break the power of Wall Street! For public ownership and democratic control of the major banks. J Shorten the workweek with no loss in pay and benefits; share out the work with the unemployed and create new jobs.

ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY

J Fight climate change. Massive public investment in renewable energy and energyefficient technologies to rapidly replace fossil fuels. J A major expansion of public transportation to provide low fare, high-speed, and accessible transit. J Democratic public ownership of the big energy companies, retooling them for socially necessary green production. A “Just Transition” for all workers in polluting industries with guaranteed re-training and new living-wage jobs.

EQUAL RIGHTS FOR ALL

J Fight discrimination based on race, nationality, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, religion, disability, age, and all other forms of prejudice. Equal pay for equal work. J Black Lives Matter! Build a mass movement against police brutality and the institutional racism of the criminal justice system. Invest

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in rehabilitation, job training, and living-wage jobs, not prisons! Abolish the death penalty. J Defend immigrant rights! Immediate, unconditional legalization and equal rights for all undocumented immigrants. J Fight sexual harassment, violence against women, and all forms of sexism. J Defend a woman’s right to choose whether and when to have children. For a publicly funded, single-payer health care system with free reproductive services, including all forms of birth control and safe, accessible abortions. Comprehensive sex education. At least 12 weeks of paid family leave for all. For universal, high quality, affordable and publicly run child care. J Fight discrimination and violence against the LGBTQ community, and all forms of homophobia and transphobia.

MONEY FOR JOBS AND EDUCATION, NOT WAR

J End the occupations of Afghanistan and Iraq. Bring all the troops home now! J Slash the military budget. No drones. Shut down Guantanamo. J Repeal the Patriot Act, NDAA, and all other attacks on democratic rights.

BREAK WITH THE TWO PARTIES OF BIG BUSINESS J For a mass workers party drawing together workers, young people and activists from environmental, civil rights, and women’s campaigns, to provide a fighting, political alternative to the corporate parties. J Unions and other social movement organizations should stop funding and supporting the Democratic and Republican Parties and instead organize independent left-wing, anti-corporate candidates and coalitions as a first step toward building a workers’ party.

SOCIALISM AND INTERNATIONALISM

J Capitalism produces poverty, inequality, environmental destruction, and war. We need an international struggle against this failed system.No to corporate “free trade” agreements, which mean job losses and a race to the bottom for workers and the environment. J Solidarity with the struggles of workers and oppressed peoples internationally: An injury to one is an injury to all. J Take into public ownership the top 500 corporations and banks that dominate the U.S. economy. Run them under the democratic management of elected representatives of the workers and the broader public. Compensation to be paid on the basis of proven need to small investors, not millionaires. J A democratic socialist plan for the economy based on the interests of the overwhelming majority of people and the environment. For a socialist United States and a socialist world.

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Kshama Sawant Speaks At Bernie Rally in Tacoma Kshama Sawant, Socialist Alternative member and Seattle City Councilmember spoke to over 17,000 people at Bernie Sanders’ rally at the Tacoma Dome in Tacoma, Washington. “My name is Kshama Sawant. I am the socialist on the Seattle City Council. “Despite relentless attacks from the corporate elite, Bernie’s socialist campaign is poised to win from Massachusetts to California! Why? Because tens of millions of us are not only fired up to defeat Trump, we are fighting for a historic shift away from corporate politics that serve the billionaires at the expense of the rest of us and the future of the planet itself. “We know Bernie beats Trump. But, big business and the establishment are deeply hostile to a candidate who says “billionaires should not exist” and who has a grassroots campaign of millions of people. “In Seattle, we know a thing or two about how viciously big business and the democratic establishment go after socialists and working class campaigns. “After I was first elected we won the $15 minimum wage and other victories because of the movement I had with me. Then big business tried to buy the election this year but they failed and working people won again! “Now, our Tax Amazon movement has

tremendous momentum to tax big business to fund social housing. But, the democratic leadership are attempting to block us by trying to pass a state ban on taxing big business! “The establishment will pull out all the stops against Bernie also. The establishment has proven that they would prefer billionaire Mike Bloomberg — former Republican mayor with a long anti-worker, racist, misogynist track record. “As Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said last month, “in an other country Joe Biden and I would not be in the same party.” “So, we need to elect Bernie. And we need a new party of, by, and for working people to win medicare for all, to end the racist mass incarceration system, and to win a bold green new deal to avoid climate catastrophe. And we need a powerful socialist movement to end all capitalist oppression and exploitation. “Our immediate task is to go all out and win for Bernie and to prevent the elite from rigging the primary against him. That’s why my organization Socialist Alternative is calling for a million people in Milwaukee to have Bernie’s back. “My friends, history is calling on us. Are we ready? “Because when we fight? We win! “Solidarity.” J

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POLITICS

Panicked Establishment Threatens to Steal Primary

Sanders’ Momentum Shows Mass Desire for Change Tom Crean Bernie Sanders’ political revolution is gathering steam. He became the first presidential candidate in either major party to win the popular vote in all three of the first caucuses and primaries. After winning in Iowa and New Hampshire, he went on to a crushing victory in Nevada with more than twice the vote of the number two candidate, Joe Biden. The Nevada outcome shattered many of the claims about the limitations of the Sanders campaign peddled by the corporate media. First and foremost was the ridiculous claim going back to 2016 that Sanders only appeals to white voters. Sanders won 51% of the Latino vote in Nevada with Biden a distant second at 17%. He is now leading in national polls with people of color, Latinos particularly, but also young black voters. In fact, Sanders won every demographic group in Nevada including men and women and younger and older voters. We know that in national polls, he dominates among voters under 30 but it is also very striking that his support is concentrated among working-class people. He won 40% of Nevada caucus goers without a college degree, 13% points more than his total among those with a degree. Likewise in national polls, he is generally most popular among Democratic voters making less than $50,000 a year, and least popular among six-digit earners. This helps to explain how Hillary Clinton can honestly say “nobody likes him”; indeed none of her wealthy friends like him. Sanders is also beginning to expose the idea that he has a “ceiling,” a number that he allegedly will not be able to break through because his “democratic socialist” ideas are too radical for most ordinary people. In fact, what is being demonstrated is that Sanders’ pro-working-class platform has enormous appeal including his call for Medicare for All, cancelling student debt, a $15 minimum wage, strengthening workers’ rights to organize, national rent control, ending racist mass incarceration policies, and the Green New Deal. In both Iowa and New Hampshire, exit polling showed nearly 60% support for Medicare for All. In Nevada, most members of the heavily Latino Culinary Workers Union rejected the union leadership’s call to oppose Sanders and Medicare for All (see p. 10).

Establishment Meltdown The Democratic establishment is in a

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complete state of panic fearing that Sanders’ momentum could become unstoppable. They are prepared to go to enormous lengths – including a so-called “brokered” convention – to stop him. This would arise if Sanders won the most delegates but not a clear majority. On the second ballot at the convention, according to current rules, delegates would be free to get behind a “consensus candidate” imposed by the establishment to stop Sanders. The Democrats also have over 700 unelected “superdelegates” - party officials who can be brought in to tip the scales. This would provoke fury among millions of people. It would be an even clearer theft of the election than the rigged primary of 2016 where the Democratic National Committee basically acted as an adjunct of Hillary Clinton’s campaign (see page 6). Why are they prepared to go to such lengths? First and foremost because Sanders’ campaign speaks to the interests of working people; the ruling class whom the establishment serves absolutely does not want an “organizer in chief” in the White House. They understand very well that Sanders’ 2016 campaign helped inspire many of the educator activists who sparked the Red for Ed revolt starting in West Virginia in 2018. Again, even though they strongly oppose Sanders’ platform their bigger fear is that a Sanders presidency could help detonate a wave of class struggle and the full reemergence of a fighting labor movement. It is certain that the Democratic Party’s corporate donors would prefer a second term of Trump rather than Bernie Sanders. Many Democratic donors on Wall Street as well Bill Gates have come out openly and said they would prefer Trump to Elizabeth Warren who represents far less of a threat to their interests!

Neoliberalism in Crisis The debate in Nevada right before the caucuses was a decisive event watched by 20 million people. Many in the Democratic leadership were clearly hoping that Michael Bloomberg was the solution to their problem, the heavyweight who could take out Bernie. Instead he imploded on stage. In reality it was never likely that the multibillionaire former mayor of New York who supported George W. Bush in 2004 and who oversaw the massive “stop and frisk” program which targeted black youth in the city would appeal to the base of the party once they got to know him. As Krystal Ball of The Hill’s Rising show put it, thinking that

Sanders speaks at a rally in Texas. Bloomberg is the way to beat Trump “is like thinking the problem with Hillary Clinton is that she was not closely enough associated with the Iraq War and not cozy enough with Wall Street” (2/14/2020). If the establishment were to impose Bloomberg at the convention it would lead to millions refusing to vote for the party and almost an almost certain Trump reelection. It’s just a measure of the desperation of the party elite that they seriously entertained the idea that he was their savior. Of course Bloomberg has an endless supply of money and will stay in the race despite the thumping he received. But the debate also showed that the other candidates were unable to land a solid blow on Sanders, now the clear frontrunner. Why not? Conservative New York Times columnist David Brooks recently argued that Sanders had developed a successful “us versus them myth” but that none of the other candidates “have the categories or mental equipment to take down a socialist like Sanders.” He added that “Saying his programs cost too much is a pathetic response to a successful myth” (2/20/2020). Sanders points to the conflict of class interests and capitalism’s failure to provide for the basic needs of large parts of the population. This is not a myth; it’s reality. But Brooks is pointing in his own way to the deep problem of credibility that the corporate establishment has in this period. In terms of ideological presentation they’ve not moved beyond the actual myth promoted by neoliberalism

of a “post-class” society. Neoliberalism is bankrupt in a society where inequality has reached levels not seen since the “gilded age” of the late 19th century. Their second line of defense is corporate identity politics which clearly has only limited appeal. The Democrats’ last resort is red-baiting which in this day and age is just an admission they’ve lost. The only real alternative in American politics to Sanders appeal to working class solidarity is Trump’s right populist “America first” nativism.

Who’s Unelectable Now? This is also why Sanders is the candidate with the best chance to beat Trump. It certainly isn’t Joe Biden or Mike Bloomberg. The final false claim peddled by the corporate media about Sanders was that he was “unelectable.” But this too is increasingly wearing thin. Poll after poll shows Sanders beating Trump by bigger numbers than any other Democratic candidate. Warren had a good night in the debate against Bloomberg but it wasn’t reflected in the vote in Nevada. Under pressure she has retreated from Medicare for All and her attacks on Sanders on behalf of the establishment have alienated her from many people. Working-class people looking to fight for real change see clearly that Sanders is the one who will be the tougher, more consistent

continued on p.11

S O C I A L I S T A L T E R N AT I V E I N A C T I O N

Democrats in Washington State Legislature Trying to Ban the Amazon Tax Seattle Socialist Alternative Seattle and King County are facing a deep housing affordability and homelessness crisis that requires hundreds of millions in funding to address. Seattle residents understand this, which is why the Tax Amazon movement to fund a major expansion of green, unionbuilt, affordable social housing is gaining momentum, regularly mobilizing hundreds of people to our recent events. Seattle City Councilmember Kshama Sawant recently unveiled legislation developed in coordination with the Tax Amazon movement to raise $300 million per year from the city’s largest corporations to fund 8,000 affordable homes in ten years and Green New Deal upgrades to existing homes. There is a large and growing coalition preparing to fight for this proposal in the form of a ballot initiative if the City Council refuses to act.

Big Business Fights for Preemption Amazon and other large corporations know a victory like this would likely spread quickly across a country full of frustrated, struggling working class families desperate for more affordable housing, good union jobs, and a way to make a meaningful impact against the looming threat of climate change. To protect their profits, Amazon, Microsoft, and the Chamber of Commerce have their corporate lobbyists working with Democrats in the Washington state legislature to erect a massive legal barrier in front of our

movement in the form of a “preemption clause,” or statewide ban on taxing big business, which they are preparing to introduce into an otherwise progressive bill (HB 2948). HB 2948 would authorize King County to tax big business $150 million per year, which could fund around 10-15% of the affordable housing needed according to a recent independent report. Adding a preemption clause to the bill would not only block Tax Amazon’s proposed legislation, but also any other efforts by cities to raise progressive taxes statewide. It would effectively condemn working families across the entire region to a worsening housing affordability and homelessness crisis. A statewide ban on taxing big business would be one of the worst attacks on working-class Washingtonians in decades. Thanks to the already existing state-wide bans on income tax and rent control, Washington State already has the most regressive tax structure of any state and one of the worst affordability crises in the nation. Over 50 supporters from the Tax Amazon movement, including Kshama Sawant, Democratic Socialists of America congressional candidate Joshua Collins, and Washington State Senator Joe Nguyen went to Olympia to demand face-to-face that she take a public stand against any state ban. Macri agreed to meet with our movement, but when asked directly by Socialist Alternative member Kailyn Nicholson “to say publicly today that you will not vote for a bill that includes preemption,” Macri flatly refused to make that commitment. On February 22, supporters of Seattle’s

Socialist Alternative member Alycia Lewis speaks to Washington State legislators at a February 22 town hall. Tax Amazon movement attended a Town Hall held by Democratic state legislators to demand they address the question of preemption. Many audience members applauded our calls for opposition to any state ban. One of the three legislators present, former House Speaker Frank Chopp, responded that he was willing to go on the record and publicly oppose preemption! Unfortunately Seattle Rep. Nicole Macri and State Senator Jaime Pedersen continued their refusal to take a public position on this critical issue. Passing a bill which includes a state ban on taxing big business would be a direct attack on our movement, robbing working people of the only legal avenue we have left

to fight for progressive taxation in Seattle. It would also be a template for big business to use to pass similar bans in other states. We need a nationwide response from progressive taxation and affordable housing advocates to stop this dangerous legislation dead in its tracks. We need to urgently build our movement and escalate pressure on Democratic Party politicians to stand with working people and publicly commit to refuse any bill which includes a state ban. If they refuse and this historic sellout takes place, it will again demonstrate the urgency to create a new party of, by, and for working people as an alternative to the two parties of big business. J

Seattle Condemns Modi’s Racist Citizenship Laws International Pressure Needed to Combat Rise of BJP and Far Right On February 3, hundreds of members of Seattle’s South Asian community packed City Hall to urge the Seattle City Council to pass a historic resolution, introduced by socialist Councilmember Kshama Sawant. Condemning the dangerous National Register of Citizens (NRC) and the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) recently introduced in India by the right-wing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Prime Minister Narendra Modi - the resolution was passed unanimously. Together, the NRC and CAA would strip citizenship rights from certain religious and ethnic minorities in India, including two-hundred million Muslims, unless they can meet onerous documentation requirements. Such documentation would not be required at all for members of the Hindu religious majority, while the wealthy and upper caste would generally be able to skirt the requirements. There are credible news reports that the

Modi regime has already put many people who have been unable to prove their citizenship in detention centers and prisons, and that new ones are now being built. Passage of the NRC-CAA will further embolden the right wing here and internationally. Trump who just visited India has developed a close relationship with Modi. However, a defeat of the NRC-CAA would inspire people around the world to fight with renewed confidence against religious persecution, racism, Islamophobia.

Growing Resistance Across India, millions are already fighting back against the racist citizenship laws. On January 8, 250 million Indian workers conducted the largest one-day general strike in world history, demanding not only that the NRC-CAA be rescinded, but also drawing

attention to the economic devastation, corruption, rampant privatization, and neoliberalism in the country. But as of now, Modi and the BJP are not backing down. In the days leading up to the resolution’s passage, the Consul General of India in San Francisco, Ambassador Sanjay Panda, sent in a letter to the Seattle City Council urging them to vote “no.” Resolutions like Councilmember Sawant’s can help draw international attention to this urgent struggle. Kshama’s office received reports that people were watching the Seattle City Council vote in public squares in India. After the ordinance passed, Kshama’s office received calls from New York, Salt Lake City, and other cities from people who want their City Councils to pass similar resolutions. This victory has been heralded by news outlets across India as an important step toward building international pressure on

the Modi regime to scrap the NRC-CAA. As Kshama stated: “People around the world are standing up against this religious persecution and Islamophobia, the discrimination, scapegoating, and oppression of Muslims, poor people, and marginalized communities by the Hindu fundamentalist regime.This victory is an example of how when we build fighting movements that unite working people across religion and nationality, and we have our own elected representatives as we do through my socialist council office, we can push back against the political establishment and win! “We will not defeat the xenophobic forces behind Trump and Modi with the same old corrupt political establishment tied by a thousand threads to Wall Street and the billionaire class.” J

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S O C I A L I S T A L T E R N AT I V E I N A C T I O N

Introducing International Socialist Alternative Kelly Bellin In January, the week-long 12th World Congress of the Committee for a Workers International (CWI) was held in Belgium, with representatives from 27 countries in attendance. The Congress changed the name of the international from the CWI to the International Socialist Alternative (ISA). Several members of Socialist Alternative in the U.S. attended the Congress. This meeting could not have occurred at a more crucial time, as 2019 proved to be a year of global upheaval and profound crisis for the ruling elite. After decades of growing inequality, the suppression of workers' rights, and a growing understanding that this system is endangering all life on this planet, the working class and young people have begun to assert themselves. In 2019, working people in countries across the globe carried out massive struggles, overthrew dictatorships, forced concessions from the establishment, won historic electoral victories, and initiated political earthquakes. But what is also striking is the lack of effective leadership from existing unions and most “left” parties, including new left parties created in the past period. These themes dominated the congress, pointing to the crucial role revolutionary socialists will have to play in the process of creating organizations and a leadership which are able to rise to the challenges posed by this period. The congress featured discussions on the broader political situation around the world as well as specific regional discussions on developments in Latin America, the Middle East, Sub-Saharan Africa, China-Hong KongTaiwan, the United States, and both Eastern

and Western Europe. We had separate sessions on the environment and socialist feminism, reflecting the political importance of these issues. On the final two days, we had dynamic discussions on our approach and tactics in this rapidly shifting political climate. This included the urgent tasks for building our own forces including turning to the new generation.

Global Upheaval The struggles and revolutionary explosions of 2019 and already in 2020 take place alongside a deep crisis of confidence in capitalism and its institutions. Meanwhile, the global economy is on the verge of downturn and the question of global recession is not “if” but “when.” A significant section of the world’s population lives under right-populist regimes which have a hardened social base, including in the U.S., India, Brazil, Russia, the Philippines, Hungary and Poland. But these regimes are marked by instability. For example, in India,

as we describe on p. 4 there have been historic general strikes against the reactionary Modi regime as well as mass youth struggles. Right wing governments in Latin America including in Argentina, Chile and Brazil have all faced mass resistance. Meanwhile the electric rise of the Bernie Sanders campaign in the U.S. has both inspired working-class people around the world and ignited terror in entire sections of the global elite.

International Socialist Alternative This congress followed a period of debate within the CWI during which the majority of sections and members identified the risk of sectarian, dogmatic, and bureaucratic degeneration among the CWI’s former leadership. Rejecting this path has opened up a new era for our own organization. Delegates to the World Congress voted to elect a new leadership, alter our structures, and change our name to International Socialist Alternative. These decisions reflect an

intent to build an international that is more cohesive, democratic, and politically clear.

We Have a World to Win We are heading into an explosive period, where further countries and regions of the world will feature mass movements as more and more people see struggle as the only way to achieve change. Recently we have seen the heroic resistance of the French working class to neoliberal “pension reform” with the biggest strike wave since 1968. Alongside this, the incapacity of capitalism to solve climate catastrophe will be on full display and will lead more and more people to seek out and demand an alternative. The only way to secure a future worth fighting for is through a working class-led, revolutionary transformation of the world, which demands the building of a world revolutionary party linking all struggles. While this will be a process which includes both leaps forward as well as setbacks, in this new era the role of socialists is more important than ever. J

One Thousand March for Bernie in Boston Andi Cuny Chants of “Hey hey, ho ho, billionaires have got to go” and “Not me, us” echoed off the buildings in Boston’s financial district as one thousand Bernie supporters marched through the city’s downtown. The march and rally, organized by Socialist Alternative, showed the strength of the dynamic movement of workers and young people behind Bernie’s bold platform, a movement that is only getting stronger. “This is a pretty good indication of a people-powered movement. He’s got the power of the people behind him,” said Sarah Frazier, a stay-at-home mom who brought her infant daughter to the rally with her. Contingents of students from local colleges, union construction workers, union educators and many more flocked to Boston

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Common to show their support for Bernie. “Bernie Sanders has our backs, we don’t need no super PACs” read one sign. “Fight for someone you don’t know” read another. “What we are out here fighting for is a complete shift away from corporate politics that serve billionaires at the expense of the rest of us. We need to continue to build a powerful socialist movement to win Sanders’ platform and end the for-profit system of capitalism all together,” said Carey Howard, a health care worker and member of Socialist Alternative who spoke during the rally. “Ordinary people don’t belong in the same party as Joe Biden or Michael Bloomberg,” she said. “That’s why we need a new party, free from corporate influence and entirely run by the working class.” The march and rally came as the leaders of the Democratic Party scramble to halt the growing movement of workers and students

who are rallying behind Bernie’s demands, with relentless attacks in the corporate media and a last-minute rule change to allow Bloomberg to participate in the most recent debate. Many people in the crowd said this campaign cycle has fully exposed the real nature of the establishment leaders of the DNC. “I don’t think (the DNC) are concerned with working people’s values. I think they’re more concerned with their donors. But I think we’re gonna come out and vote in big enough numbers that they can’t deny our movement,” said Frazier. People in the crowd pointed to health care costs, crushing student debt and the climate crisis as some of their biggest motivations for voting for Bernie. Chris Joazard, a student at the University of Massachusetts Boston who’s involved with his school’s campus Bernie group, said it will take tactics like workplace walk-outs to

win the demands that first attracted him to Bernie’s campaign. Joazard said he’s confident that Bernie, with his promise to be the “organizer in chief,” is the only candidate who would help lead the way in the struggle for Medicare for All, a cancellation of student debt, and a living wage. “Bernie’s the only one who’s really fighting for the people,” he said. The march and rally was a powerful display of grassroots organizing. Activists from Socialist Alternative, Democratic Socialists of America, student groups from across the city, and others passed out 10,000 flyers and hung up 1,500 posters to build for the event. All in all, it showed that workers and students are ready to take Bernie at his word when he says “not me, us,” building a mass movement to fight back against oppression and win the change we need. J

The (un) Democratic P

Why We Need a New Working Class Pa

Keely Mullen When Trump was elected in 2016, a chorus of establishment Democrats from Hillary Clinton to Barack Obama to Nancy Pelosi urged ordinary Americans to “give him a chance.” Pelosi went as far as to say she “prayed for his success.” While these political leaders were welcoming Trump into the Oval Office, hundreds of thousands of people were taking to the streets in protest of his election. Now, we are faced with the possibility of another four years of Trump and the Democratic Party’s establishment is directing all its efforts toward sidelining the candidate with the best chance to beat him: Bernie Sanders. Despite what the corporate pundits say, this is not because Bernie is unelectable or because he’s too far left for the American people. It’s because his campaigns, both in 2016 and 2020, have served as a lightning rod for working-class people who have been left behind for decades by corporate politicians in both major parties. The movement behind Bernie Sanders is viewed as an existential threat by the Democratic Party establishment. This conflict between Bernie Sanders and the corporate Democratic Party leadership is thrusting to the fore a central question for his millions of supporters: can the Democratic Party be made into a party that genuinely represents working-class people or do we need to build something new?

How the Democrats Have Not Fought Trump During his three-and-a-half years in office,

Donald Trump has done real damage. He and the Republicans passed landmark tax cuts for the rich. He has ramped up repression at the U.S./Mexico border, leading to absolutely brutal conditions for children and families seeking asylum. He has come dangerously close to launching yet another unnecessary war, this time with Iran. He has ripped up environmental regulations and in budget after budget proposed deep cuts to the Environmental Protection Agency. He has given a pass to white supremacists like those who terrorized Charlottesville in 2017, and promoted serial predator Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court with the goal of overturning Roe v. Wade. Despite being consistently one of the least popular presidents in U.S. history, the Democrats have been unable to land any real blows against him. Socialist Alternative supported Trump being impeached and removed from office, but we warned that a narrow focus on Ukraine risked letting him off the hook. We argued that Trump should be taken down for his real crimes against working people, people of color, immigrants, and the environment. Our warnings were proven correct when Trump hit his highest approval rating to date during the Senate impeachment trial and people largely tuned out. There is a real hunger to defeat Trump and tens of millions are searching for the best strategy to do that. However, the impeachment proceedings did not galvanize ordinary people. More than four times as many people watched the Nevada Democratic debate as watched the opening remarks of the Senate trial. The Democrats’ narrow focus on Russian

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has said she and Joe Biden should “not be in the same party.”

interference and corrupt dealings with Ukraine were not simply miscalculations from the party’s leadership. They reflect a much deeper political approach. While many Democrats have issued verbal denunciations of Trump’s most vicious attacks, they have not waged any real struggle against them. Why is it that they did not launch a serious battle against his tax cuts for the rich? On his detention of immigrants at the border? On his disregard for the climate crisis? Because fighting for the interests of working-class and poor people is not their priority. Democrats have cast decisive votes lowering the tax rate on the country’s highest earners since the ‘80s. Obama extended the Bush-era tax cuts for the rich during his first term. The very cages that became symbolic of Trump’s barbaric immigration policy were built under the Obama administration. The Democrats are deeply complicit in the criminal inaction on the climate. The nine Democrats assigned by Nancy Pelosi to sit on the Select Committee on the Climate Crisis, received nearly $200,000 from the fossil fuel industry during their 2018 campaigns. Overall the oil and gas industry donated just under $5 million to Democrats in the 2018 Congressional races. While there is sharp conflict between the Democrats and Republicans on a number of issues, those differences exist within the context of their united approach to defending the interests of big business and the billionaire class.

Reform the Democrats or Launch a New Party? Since 2016, when Bernie Sanders’ presidential campaign exposed the deep division between large sections of the base of the Democratic Party and its leadership, a debate has intensified on the left about whether or not the Democratic Party can be transformed into a party of, by, and for workingclass people. The dominant conclusion advanced by figures like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and many others on the left has been that indeed the Democratic Party can be overtaken by its left wing. While the Democratic Socialists of America passed a resolution at its convention calling for the formation of a new workers party and many of its members and leaders see working in the Democratic Party as a “pragmatic” necessity rather than a long-term project, they are generally not drawing the necessary conclusions about what is needed in this explosive situation.

Socialist Alternative understands why so many activists have focused their efforts on transforming the Democratic Party, but we have consistently pointed to the limitations of this approach. In an article published in Jacobin on February 21 called “Democratic Party Elites Are Ready to Steal the Nomination From Bernie Sanders. We Need a Plan to Stop Them,” the authors make the argument that Bernie Sanders’ front runner status proves that socialists and progressives, are winning the fight within the Democratic Party. They argue that the call for a new party “takes the social movement left out of a contest for power that we are currently winning.” It may appear to some that the left is winning the battle to control the party, the deeper reality is far more complex. Bernie Sanders’ enormous popularity shows the openness that exists for left-wing and socialist ideas in the U.S. He has support across the political spectrum, among Democrats, independents, some Republicans, and hundreds of thousands if not millions of people who have never participated in electoral politics before. He is the number one candidate among non-white voters and has left the rest of the primary field in the dust when it comes to grassroots fundraising. Despite all of this support from such a broad coalition of voters, Bernie still faces tremendous obstacles on his path to the general election. If progressives and socialists were truly winning the battle to take over the Democratic Party, why are we preparing for a showdown at the Democratic National Convention where it’s very possible Sanders will be undemocratically blocked? “Winning the fight” in the party would require much more than Bernie Sanders being the party’s current front runner or even the party’s nominee. This would only be the beginning.

Winning the Party Where we differ from the position advanced in the Jacobin article mentioned above is in our understanding of what it would take to “win the fight” to transform the Democratic Party. Here’s why the Democratic Party is not a tool we can easily morph to our liking and wield to advance our cause:

1. The party is undemocratic: Unlike most political parties in other countries, there is no “joining” the Democratic Party. You can register to vote Democrat, you can donate to the party’s campaigning outfits, you can run for office as a Democrat. But, short of being a political insider or corporate lobbyist with access to backroom meetings, there is almost no way to meaningfully participate in decision making within the party. The complete lack of democracy in the party was on full display in 2016 when its

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Party

arty

establishment blocked Bernie Sanders from winning the Democratic nomination. The party’s sinister maneuvers were exposed in 2017 when Donna Brazile confirmed what we all had suspected: throughout the 2016 primaries, the Democratic Party was controlled by the Clinton campaign. According to Brazile herself, in exchange for clearing the DNC’s debt, a deal was brokered between Hillary Clinton’s campaign and Debbie Wasserman Schultz - then chairman of the DNC. Brazile wrote: “Hillary would control the party’s finances, strategy, and all the money raised. Her campaign had the right of refusal of who would be the party communications director, and it would make final decisions on all the other staff. The DNC also was required to consult with the campaign about all other staffing, budgeting, data, analytics, and mailings.”

2. The party’s structures are set up to benefit big business: Take, for example, the Democratic Congressional Campaigning Committee (DCCC) which has recently come under fire from Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. The DCCC is the committee within the party dedicated to electing Democrats to the House of Representatives. However, far from being a neutral campaigning outfit, the DCCC asserts the will of the establishment by cutting off at the knees any progressive challenge to an incumbent Democrat. As AOC said, “[The DCCC] has been an entrenched tool in a system that blocks working-class candidates from running for office, and protects out of touch incumbents.” In 2019, the DCCC announced it would cut off political strategists and vendors who support candidates mounting primary challenges against Democratic Party incumbents. This prompted AOC to announce that not only would she not pay DCCC dues, but that she was launching her own PAC to directly challenge the DCCC. This is a step in the right direction. Beyond just having tight control over its own structures, the corporate establishment has also forced each presidential contender to sign a pledge that they will not use any alternative campaigning structure if they win the nomination. The pledge requires that candidates “use state parties as their organizing, messaging, and political arm should they become their party’s nominee.” This means if Sanders were the nominee he would be formally prevented from launching the type of mass membership organization that would be desperately required to back him up and help push back against ferocious ruling-class opposition and sabotage from the party’s establishment. Sanders winning the nomination does not automatically loosen the restraints placed on him by the party leadership, if anything it tightens them. Therefore he will need a way to organize his millions of

MARCH 2020

Protesters at the 2016 Democratic National Convention. supporters in order to defeat Trump and win his program.

3. The party is loyal to the politics of big business: While the Democratic Party website lists a host of positions and political goals, many of which are not objectionable, the reality is that their leadership is willing to betray any stated value in exchange for a fat check. There is no mechanism to hold elected officials accountable to the party’s official platform. The party’s real platform is not contained in any public document but is reflected in the actual positions they have taken over many decades: from ramping up mass incarceration under Clinton, to supporting George Bush’s invasion of Iraq. The underlying politics of the party since the ‘80s is support for neoliberalism, including globalization and driving back the gains of working people. The vicious establishment war against Bernie Sanders and proworking class reforms like Medicare for All is a continuation of this - but now their politics has been exposed to tens of millions. This is why AOC is quite correct when she said that in any other country she and Joe Biden would not be in the same party. The U.S. has had a uniquely dysfunctional situation where the left has been imprisoned in a viciously corporate party for nearly a century.

We Need a New Party The final question at the recent Nevada debate was whether candidates agreed that the person with the most votes and delegates should get the nomination. Only Bernie agreed, confirming what many of us had feared: the Democratic Party establishment is prepared to steal the nomination from Sanders, even if he has a plurality of delegates, at a brokered convention. If he is again undemocratically blocked from becoming the party’s nominee, we cannot quietly accept our fate as happened in 2016. This is why we are calling now for a

“million to Milwaukee” to use people power to force the hand of the establishment. If Bernie manages to win the Democratic Party nomination, overcoming all the obstacles put in his path, the realities of the Democratic Party as outlined above will not cease to exist. In fact, the party’s establishment will do everything in its power to cut Bernie’s political revolution off at the knees. Again some on the left are not drawing the necessary conclusions. The recent Jacobin article “After the Nevada Blowout, It’s Bernie’s Party Now” argues that because Bernie is activating otherwise disaffected voters, “a new party, thoroughly working-class and committed to egalitarian politics, [is] quickly blooming up into the husk of the old one.” This implies that all we need to do is win the nomination to transform the party. However, if he wins the nomination, Bernie will not simply be able to wield the party’s existing apparatus to his liking; he will have to organize his supporters to keep up the pressure. Jeremy Corbyn in Britain faced a similar struggle after winning the support of the membership to become probably the most leftwing leader of the Labour Party in its history. The party’s right wing was determined to undermine Corbyn and prevent his radical pro-working class reforms from being realized. Despite bringing tens of thousands of new people into the Labour Party to back him up, Corbyn made the fatal mistake of not organizing his base to wage a ferocious battle to defeat Labour’s neoliberal right wing and force it out of the party. This paved the way for Corbyn’s defeat in the most recent general election at the end of 2019. Bernie and his supporters need to learn the lessons of Corbyn’s mistakes. If he wins the Democratic nomination, we will urgently need to set up our own democratic organization that explicitly excludes establishment Democrats in order to win Bernie’s program. Ultimately, an organization that formed

around Bernie - win or lose - would need to take on characteristics of a new party with a clear pro-worker platform to which elected officials were accountable. It would need to exist without corporate money or influence. This might be temporarily a “party within a party” but such a situation would be highly unstable. Either the establishment would drive it out or it would have to drive the establishment out - a near impossible task. At this stage, Bernie himself has given no indication he will take up the project of launching a new party. He has already stated he will support the Democratic nominee regardless of who it is. We disagree with this approach. Electing a corporate Democrat is no solution to the social, political, and economic crisis that paved the way for Trump’s election. In the context of another impending economic crisis, putting another corporate Democrat in the Oval Office is a guarantee that big business will be taken care of and working people will be left footing the bill. This will undoubtedly lay the ground for something even worse than Trumpism. If Bernie however does take up this call and form a new party - or even a mass democratic membership organization - with an active internal life, democratic structures, and an inspiring political program, millions of new people would be brought into politics. This would directly threaten the position of both major political parties as well as the ruling-class interests they represent. With the mainstream media and political establishment shaking in their boots, there has never been a better time to strike a death blow to corporate domination over politics. The coming months will be a historic marker for working-class people in our fight to assert control over our own lives and push back the billionaire class. The next step in this process needs to be a decisive break from the Democratic Party elite and the formation of a new political party of, by, and for working people. J

POLITICS

New York Ends Broker Fees, But Real Estate Fights Back Anthony D’Amico Renting in the City that Never Sleeps has never been simple. After finding an available, affordable apartment, renters usually need to pay a special burden called a “broker fee” paid to the real estate agents and companies who control apartment listings, viewings, and leases on behalf of the landlord - in addition to the first month’s rent and a security deposit. Broker fees usually run into the thousands of dollars, frequently costing 15% of an apartment’s annual rent. Under newly devised protections, however, New York State landlords who employ a broker to rent an apartment must pay the broker fee, rather than the tenants. The broker fee ruling comes in the wake of last year’s historic rent regulation laws, called the Housing Stability and Tenant Protection Act. The rent laws abolished rules that let building owners deregulate apartments, closed loopholes that permitted rent hikes, and spread tenant protections statewide. Similar to the broker fee issue, the Department of State has also clarified that the new rent laws cap application fees at $20, and forbid charging more than one month’s rent for a security deposit. Jubilant tenants’ rights activists hailed the state’s new broker fee guidance. Paulette Soltani, political director at the activist group VOCAL New York, said: “For our members, especially those who are homeless and perpetually unstably housed, this is hugely impactful. I think fees, historically, just defined who had access to the rental

market and who didn’t. This is just going to allow people to equally be able to find housing and not have to pay these exorbitant fees to get access” (The Real Deal, 2/7/2020). Real estate is big business. New York City has almost 26,000 active real estate brokers, and their lawyers from the widely-loathed Real Estate Board of New York (REBNY) won a decision on February 10 to temporarily block the state’s ruling until a March 13 hearing before a state judge (New York Times, 2/10/20). In the meantime, brokers can continue to collect a commission from tenants for rentals. The struggle over broker fees is a reminder that when tenants and workers fight for reforms, victories are made possible. However, big business and the landlord lobby are not about to back down. Due to a capitalist political system where tremendous sums of money command incredible power, we should not be surprised that REBNY has already won a temporary injunction over the broker fee ruling. It will take political leadership from socialist elected representatives like State Sen. Julia Salazar (a member of the Democratic Socialists of America), and public meetings, rallies, and consistent organizing, to ensure that state regulators listen to the will of the people and make good on the promise of the new rent laws. The real estate lobby argues that forcing landlords to pay broker fees will only lead to an increase in rents. But market-rate rents

New York housing activists celebrate tenants rights victory, June 2019 have been skyrocketing for years! This is a scare tactic. Similar to how many businesses cried over the impending $15 an hour minimum wage in Seattle, New York and elsewhere as if the sky was falling, the raise in minimum wage did not cause significant inflation, and neither will landlords paying broker fees instead of tenants. The only way to protect this victory is by continuing the fight for more affordable housing! For example, Bernie Sanders calls for universal rent control on a national level. Universal rent control would keep renters from experiencing shock increases in private market rents, which often lead to evictions and homelessness. However these days,

real estate developers don’t build affordable units: it’s not profitable, and they’re in business for profits. Working people can’t control what we don’t own, so we need to build high quality public housing, and we need to tax the rich and big developers to pay for it. Housing should be a human right, which is precisely why Socialist Alternative’s own Seattle City Councilmember Kshama Sawant is leading the fight to Tax Amazon to build permanently-affordable, publicly owned social housing. From Seattle to New York, when workers and renters get organized, we can make big business pay their fair share and house everyone. J

Somerville Paras Continue Fight for Fair Contract This article is continuing our coverage of the contract struggle of paraprofessionals (education support staff) in Somerville, MA fighting for a living wage and job security. Their demands are: J A starting salary of $25,000 a year; J Job security after 4 years of employment; J A two-year contract so we negotiate at the same time as teachers. Margaret Whittier-Ferguson In January, over 200 people participated in a stand out, followed by marching into the Somerville School Committee meeting. Teachers, paras, and community members all spoke in public comment about the vital role paras play in our schools and the importance of paying us a living wage. Even after our packing of the School Committee meeting,

which has never happened before in Somerville, the School Committee came back at the next bargaining session not offering one cent more! The School Committee got a 41% pay raise last year, but won’t pay us - the skilled professionals who care for their district’s children every single day - $25,000 per year. The School Committee has recently claimed that “paras’ jobs are half-time jobs.” But working a full school day Monday through Friday is a full time job! Many paras work second and even third jobs to make ends meet given the rising cost of living. This is clearly an attempt by the School Committee to divide the struggle and make the paraprofessionals seem unreasonable for wanting to earn a living wage. Leading up to the School Committee meeting, paraprofessionals and teachers held successful walk-ins at schools across the

district. This is a great way for us to build up consistent solidarity in our union, across the community, and to train activists for future contract negotiations. We need to keep these walk-ins going and begin to think about how to escalate this tactic. As a next step we need to consider walking out together to protest the school committee’s most recent lies and unwillingness to negotiate. By standing together we can let the School Committee know that paras deserve full time wages for a full time job! On February 24, approximately 100 paras, teachers, and community members went to a second School Committee meeting. We took over the meeting, controlled the agenda through chanting and making clear asks of individual School Committee members and the Somerville mayor. By exerting huge pressure on them we were able to win a demand

that School Committee members should at least discuss coming to contract negotiations which, typically they are unwilling to do, and instead send a lawyer to carry out their dirty work. The School Committee was put on notice last night that if they continue spreading lies and attacking the paras they will be met with even more of a fightback! We know what’s at stake with this contract battle. Para contracts are up in neighboring districts: if we win a strong contract in Somerville, paraprofessionals in other districts will also be inspired to fight for what they need to be successful educators, like a living wage and job security. A victory in Somerville will show what’s possible. We’re going to keep this fight going and are leaving all options open to win a contract paras deserve! J

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I N T E R N AT I O N A L

Mismanagement of Coronavirus Outbreak Sparks Mass Anger

China’s Dictatorship Facing Historic Crisis As we go to press, it is becoming clearer that the coronavirus which first appeared in Wuhan in central China has now spread to many countries and has the potential to become a global pandemic. There are serious outbreaks reported in Korea, Iran and Italy, more areas are being locked down and entire borders closed. The weakness of a global capitalist system in decline is being exposed due to the lack of any serious coordinated international response including from the Trump administration. Stock markets are now seeing the biggest drops in nearly two years because of fears that this could tip the slowing world economy into an outright downturn. There is also the real danger of reactionary governments and far right forces using this crisis to stoke xenophobia. In Moscow, bus drivers have been told to kick anyone who “looks Chinese” off the bus. In Europe, this crisis could become another blow to the EU’s “open borders.” While the Chinese dictatorship’s massive and draconian response may have slowed the spread of the disease, the following report from Vincent Kolo of Chinaworker.info explains how the regime’s mismanagement and secrecy contributed to creating this crisis in the first place and how this has led to mass anger in the Chinese working class. Vincent Kolo (chinaworker.info) “They are lying, we know they are lying. They also know that we know they are lying, and yet they are still lying.” This online comment from a resident of Wenzhou, one of several big cities locked down under an unprecedented quarantine, underlines the explosive anger felt across China as the novel coronavirus (2019-nCov) spread at an alarming rate. Beijing has blundered into a new crisis of historic proportions, a crisis largely of its own making. That would be bad enough if it wasn’t a repeat of what it did last year, creating a once-in-a-century crisis in Hong Kong before producing a similar outcome in Taiwan. Coming in rapid succession, and further accentuated by an unprecedented superpower struggle with U.S. imperialism (with the epidemic destined to become an additional battleground in this conflict), these crises have begun to sap the confidence of China’s ruling elite and its previously rock solid belief in the so-called Chinese Communist Party’s authoritarian capitalist model. Xi Jinping, the “strongman” who was charged with rescuing CCP rule, looks more likely to trigger its downfall.

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The short history of the novel coronavirus outbreak is one of bureaucratic paralysis and mismanagement by local officials, and cover-ups rooted in what Minxin Pei describes as the CCP’s “pathological secrecy.” This was followed by a draconian crackdown ordered from Beijing to impose its authority, having realized — too late — what it could have learned much sooner if its gigantic security apparatus had not rounded up and terrorized those who were trying to warn society of the impending danger. Humanitarian, Economic and Political Crisis The result is a humanitarian, economic and political crisis all rolled into one. Sixty million people are in locked-down cities since the dictatorship ordered the biggest quarantine in world history on January 23, the eve of the Chinese New Year. Tens of millions more in cities all over China have been confined to their homes with tight restrictions allowing only one family member per day to go out to buy necessities. Quarantined cities like Wuhan — the epicenter of the epidemic — have come to resemble wartime conditions, with the population facing severe hardships, acute shortages of medical supplies and long queues to see a doctor in an underfunded and overwhelmed hospital system. Tens of millions of workers have been idled without pay as factories and offices are shuttered. The New Year Holiday was extended by ten days in most of the country and even longer in some regions. Teachers are going unpaid as schools are ordered to stay closed until further notice. Millions of migrant workers from inland provinces find themselves at the mercy of new quarantine rules and travel restrictions that have proliferated across the country. “Manmade Disaster” “This is truly a manmade disaster,” commented one post on social media which sums up the situation well. Despite the state censors working manically to erase them, such anti-government views have now become “a flood-level event” as described by a leaked internal government report.

Medical workers wear protective suits at Red Cross Hospital in Wuhan, China. The anti-government mood reached a new level with the death on February 6 of the “rumor-monger”, Li Wenliang, a doctor at the Wuhan Central Hospital. Li was forced by police on January 3 to sign a letter saying he spread “untrue speech” by warning colleagues of a new SARS-like virus. His example was used as a deterrent to make other medical staff in Wuhan keep quiet. When news broke that the reprimanded Wuhan “rumor-mongers” — Li and his colleagues — were all medical professionals who had tried to sound the alarm, anger exploded on social media. The hit to China’s and the global economy from these events is likely to far exceed the effects of the SARS epidemic. In 2003, China accounted for just four percent of the world’s GDP whereas today it is 16 percent. It is not at all far fetched, especially given the fragile state of the global economy, to envisage the epidemic becoming the tipping point into a global recession. This is because of China’s decisive role, accounting for over 30 percent of global GDP growth last year. Wuhan: Timeline of a Disaster In the first critical weeks of this crisis the government in Wuhan did the absolute opposite of what it should have done. They arrested and silenced whistle-blowers including medical professionals like Li Wenliang who tried to warn about a potential epidemic. They did not even inform hospital staff of the dangers, another source of public anger now that large numbers of medical personnel have been infected. This includes 40 staff members at a single Wuhan hospital. Incredibly, Wuhan officials went ahead with a banquet for 40,000 families in the

Baibuting district on 18 January — just days before the city was locked down completely and all outward travel banned. The World Health Organization (WHO), a UN agency, was informed by officials at China’s national health ministry on 31 December of an outbreak of “pneumonia of unknown cause” in Wuhan. A week later the virus was given the name 2019-nCov. This timeline implicates Beijing, which is hiding behind the mistakes of the Wuhan government, for failing to act more quickly. Revolutionary Tremors Beijing is now in an acute damage limitation phase, attempting to protect the personage of “the Emperor” Xi, and deflect all blame onto the Wuhan government and police. The Politburo Standing Committee — the CCP’s inner circle — recognized the current situation as “a major test of China’s system and capacity for governance”. The power struggle inside the CCP and ruling elite will almost certainly reignite, fueled by growing divisions over Xi’s stewardship, but also ultimately reflecting the new moods stirring in society’s base. If the epidemic is not contained in the short-term and inflicts massive economic damage, this can unleash a new level of crisis with potentially revolutionary implications. The task of Marxists, of the supporters of International Socialist Alternative in China, is to help the most advanced sections of the working class and the youth to prepare politically. China’s humanitarian, economic and political crisis cries out for the building of a socialist and genuinely democratic workers’ alternative to the CCP’s authoritarian capitalism. J

LABOR

Nevada Culinary Workers Defy Union Leaders

Vote Sanders, Support Medicare for All Steve Edwards Before the Nevada caucuses, the Culinary Workers Union, Local 226 of the national union UNITE-HERE, passed out leaflets to its members claiming that Bernie Sanders’ Medicare For All would “end Culinary Healthcare,” the health plan which its members depend on. In Nevada, union leaders’ attack on Bernie seriously backfired. Rank-and-file members of UNITE-HERE have their own views on their health care plan which resulted in the Culinary Workers local making no endorsement, and on caucus day its members voted in massive numbers for Bernie, the candidate of Medicare for All (The Intercept, 2/23/2020). The vast majority of union activists recognize that Medicare for All would take medical costs off the bargaining table, sharply reducing the employers’ power to intimidate union members and cut into wage claims. The threat to take away health care is a key factor in most union fights. Publicly, UNITE-HERE leaders put forward a fallacious “sunk-cost” argument - “we sacrificed for this” - implying that when the war over health care is ended, the sacrifices made to win it will have been in vain. They also argued that the health care benefit is an essential organizing tool for their union, a transactional point of view which, as CWA flight attendant leader Sara Nelson has pointed out, relies on exploiting unorganized workers’ lack of access to health care instead of fighting for working class solidarity.

There is no question that for workers, especially in the traditionally low-paid hotel and restaurant industry, the hotel union’s health plan was a huge step forward, one that union members tenaciously fought for. However, as with all employer-based health care, the plan has serious limitations, and as always - if you lose your job, you lose your insurance. But there is also a serious conflict of interest behind the UNITE-HERE leaders’ position. UNITE-HERE Health, which does business in Nevada as the Culinary Health Fund, is a massive nonprofit organization, taking in more than a billion dollars in 2017 (ProPublica.org, 03/2018). As a joint labormanagement venture it is run much like any other health plan - spending $15 million a year on an administrator, Zenith Solutions, which is in the business of denying benefits, using a notoriously anti-union law firm (Seyfarth Shaw) to manage its accounts, and paying exorbitant salaries to its President, Chief Executive, and others. News reports confirmed by tax filings with the IRS show that at least two spouses of union leaders draw six-figure salaries from the fund. Overwhelmingly, the union leaders that oppose Medicare For All have similar conflicts of interest. A major factor leading to the degeneration of the leadership of the United Auto Workers (UAW) was the creation of VEBAs (Voluntary Employee Benefit Associations) in which UAW members’ main employers, GM, Ford, and Fiat-Chrysler unloaded their health care and pension obligations onto the union. This created a conflict of

Members of the Culinary Workers Union caucus for Bernie in Nevada. interest between the union’s role as defender of its members’ interests, and its new role as administrator of their benefits. It also created a massive pool of jobs to be handed out as patronage rewards to union officials who might otherwise have challenged the union leadership. The same dynamic exists in the construction unions and the Teamsters, all of whom manage multi-million dollar health and welfare funds. A universal, publicly-owned, and

democratically-controlled public health and pension system would abolish these corrosive conflicts. Medicare for All would be an important step in that direction. Union members in Nevada have demonstrated that despite rotten interference from certain union leaders, they are committed to voting in the interests of their class at large. In rebuilding a fighting labor movement in the U.S., the lessons of battles like that in Nevada will need to be learned. J

Housing Works Employees Escalate Fight For Union Recognition Brian Grady On Friday, February 14, a group of Housing Works employees and representatives from the Retail, Wholesale, and Department Store Union (RWDSU) made the short walk from the nonprofit’s downtown Brooklyn headquarters to the local office of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) to file for a union election. The filing came a day after a delegation of workers, representing the nearly two-thirds of nonmanagerial staff who had signed union authorization cards, were rebuffed by CEO Charles King in their request for voluntary recognition of the union. These developments represent the culmination of year-anda-half-long unionization effort by workers at the progressive nonprofit which serves and advocates for low-income and HIV-positive clients across the city. Since the union campaign went public internally over the summer, Housing Works maintained that it would remain neutral toward workers’ efforts to unionize. And

while management allowed union organizers access to the facilities for several months, they also retained their union-avoidance law firm - the same firm defending Harvey Weinstein against sexual harassment claims - initiated an internal “positivity” campaign, and repeatedly put forward unfair red lines in their negotiations with RWDSU over a neutrality agreement. After negotiations broke down in October, more than 100 Housing Works employees from across the city staged a walk-out to speak out about working conditions and to demand that management take the unionization process seriously. After intense pressure from workers, the press, public officials, and members of the public, Housing Works returned to the bargaining table only to return to their familiar pattern of moving goalposts and attempting to control the discourse within the organization. Most recently, Housing Works demanded that any neutrality agreement not only forgo voluntary recognition in favor of a mediated election, but that the election count any

non-votes within the bargaining unit as votes against the union. Accepting this arrangement would have set a terrible precedent for the labor movement. Rather than be hamstrung by a “neutrality agreement” less favorable than what the law allows, workers decided to demonstrate the union’s overwhelming support and file for an election with the Trumpcontrolled NLRB. The union and the organizing committee had sought to avoid this outcome for two reasons. First, a good-faith neutrality agreement could have avoided a public fight and given Housing Works the opportunity to show that its progressive values extended to workers’ rights to self-organize. And second, an NLRB election leaves the door open for Housing Works and its right-wing lawyers to meddle in the election process, for example by challenging the size of the bargaining unit. As this article goes to press, Housing Works has begun indoctrinating supervisors using classic anti-union propaganda and has banned union organizers from the premises based on flimsy accusations that organizers disrupted

workplace activities and pressured staff to support the union. In the face of such behavior by Housing Works and with a clear majority of support, the dangers of waiting any longer outweigh any dangers workers might face with the NLRB. Despite the disappointing behavior of Housing Works management, there is progress toward recognition for the Housing Works Union. Over the coming weeks, the organizing committee and union organizers will prepare workers for the more overt unionbusting we can expect to see from management. More importantly, we will begin preparing for and envisioning the next stage of this fight: winning a contract. As we discuss and concretize our demands with our coworkers, we can begin to build the accountable, transparent, and democratic Housing Works we and our clients deserve. And with the support of our coworkers and communities and a clear radical vision, we will be ready for whatever struggles we face along the way. J

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Sanders’ Momentum

SOCIALIST ALTERNATIVE

continued from p. 3

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fighter against corporate America.

CO-EDITORS: Tom Crean and Keely Mullen EDITORIAL BOARD: George Brown, Eljeer Hawkins, Joshua Koritz, Ty Moore, Kailyn Nicholson, Calvin Priest, Tony Wilsdon

Super Tuesday On March 3, there will be 14 primaries and one-third of all delegates will be chosen. Polls currently show Sanders with a big lead in California and also leading in Texas and most other states. Enormous pressure is now going to come on some of the “centrist” candidates to get out of the race. If they divide the vote and some of them don’t meet the 15% threshold to get delegates this doesn’t help the goal of gathering non-Sanders delegates to be used against him at the convention. The problem is that candidates like Buttigieg, Klobuchar, and Steyer are weak but they don’t see why they should get out of the way for other weak candidates like Biden or Bloomberg. What is vital now is to go all out to get the maximum vote for Sanders and keep the corporate establishment on the defensive. Million to Milwaukee But we must also prepare for the likelihood that this fight will go all the way to the convention in Milwaukee. That’s why Socialist Alternative is calling for a “million to Milwaukee,” for mass mobilizations in the streets to put the maximum pressure on the establishment to respect the people’s will. If the Democratic establishment succeeds in stealing the election the situation will be far more explosive than in 2016. Tens of millions would draw conclusions about the nature of the Democratic Party itself and the impossibility of turning it into a party that represents the interests of working people and the oppressed. There would almost certainly be a mass walkout of Sanders delegates and the question would be posed of beginning to take concrete steps towards a new party of, by, and for working people.

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MID-ATLANTIC Billionaire Mike Bloomberg is not the savior of the Democratic establishment after all. But if somehow Sanders overcomes all the obstacles and wins the nomination which certainly can’t be excluded at this stage, this enormous victory would only be the beginning of the struggle. A number of commentators are making comparisons between Sanders’ campaign and Trump’s in 2016 when the Republican establishment made desperate attempts to stop him before capitulating. It is possible that we are seeing this being replayed. But if Sanders wins not only the nomination but the presidency the next stage would certainly not be analogous. Trump completely took control of the Republican Party over the following two years. This won’t happen with Bernie and the Democratic Party. In Trump’s case, while the Republican establishment loathed him and opposed a number

of the positions he advocated, corporate America was generally happy with his tax cuts, deregulation, and anti-China offensive. The ruling class will utterly oppose Bernie every step of the way if he sticks to his guns and mobilizes ordinary people to win his program. The Democratic establishment will do the bidding of the ruling class. A Bernie presidency would therefore even more urgently pose the question of building a new party. While Bernie has massive momentum, it is impossible to be definitive about what the coming months will bring. What is certain is that the stage has been set for the biggest political confrontation between the left and the ruling class in half a century. History is knocking at our door. Will we be ready? J

continued from p. 12

Fighting Trump’s Sexism Trump recently became the first president to appear at the anti-abortion “March for Life” in Washington, D.C. The appointment of far right Supreme Court justices Brett Kavanaugh and Neil Gorsuch means that abortion rights are in danger nationally in a way in which they

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haven’t been since Roe v. Wade was decided in 1973, when the women’s movement was a massive force. Defeating the right-wing attack on reproductive rights will require grassroots organizing, mass-struggle tactics like protests, walkouts, strikes, and occupations, and new organizations that can provide a base for a sustained battle. Electing Sanders would not only be massively inspiring to left-wing activists, but Bernie has already begun to use his campaign apparatus to mobilize supporters to picket lines and to the voting booths in critical elections like that of Seattle socialist city

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Bernie Sanders: The Feminist Candidate order to leave an abusive partner or guaranteeing access to full reproductive health care to all would be a far greater blow against sexism for working-class women than electing the first female corporate politician to the presidency.

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Councilmember Kshama Sawant. Bernie has a long personal history as a radical activist and a fighter for the oppressed. Barbara Smith, a member of the Combahee River Collective cited Bernie’s activism when she recently endorsed him. Sanders has drawn the correct conclusions on how social change happens, and has not sold out to the corporate dominated political establishment. Socialist feminists should link arms with the millions of working-class Americans - namely people of color, immigrants, and women - and go “all out” to elect Bernie Sanders in 2020. J

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Bernie Sanders:

The Socialist Feminist Choice Broaden the Fight Against Trump’s Agenda

Erin Brightwell For millions of Americans who are battling for survival in an economy that punishes workers and youth with high rents, low wage jobs, and the highest health care costs in the world, Bernie Sanders and the political revolution against the billionaire class is a breath of fresh air. Socialist feminists who are looking for an avenue to fight Trump and the right wing’s attacks on women, reproductive rights, and LGBTQ rights should go all out for Bernie. Bernie Sanders’s program to combat economic inequality through taking on the corporations and billionaire class is exactly what socialist feminists argue for: a comprehensive set of demands to improve the lives of working-class women.

Addressing Economic Discrimination Women hold a majority of low wage jobs. They hold a majority of student debt and are a majority of university students. Bernie Sanders’ policy proposals for a $15 minimum wage, student debt cancellation, and free college tuition take aim at some of the most fundamental problems facing working-class women. Women bear a heavy economic burden for pregnancy, childbirth, and motherhood. Bernie’s program lays out specific solutions to these problems. Medicare for All will make

all medical care, including full reproductive health care, absolutely free. Bernie’s plans for parental leave, childcare, and universal preschool education would be a major financial boost for all parents and would have a hugely beneficial impact on children from low income families. All of these programs would constitute an enormous transfer of society’s wealth from the billionaire class to working people. The actual policy positions of candidates are, naturally, important ways to measure how good a candidate is for working-class women. However, the massive and widespread distrust of the political process in the U.S. stems in no small part from a thousand broken campaign promises on the part of Democratic politicians over the last several decades. The idea that society, through the standard political process, is gradually making progress in becoming more fair and equitable for women or other groups facing oppression is no longer credible. Bernie Sanders is the one candidate who emphasizes again and again that, historically, it is mass movements that have forced the political establishment to accept big social and economic advances for working people. As part of his stump speech, Sanders cites the women’s movement as the driving force behind big gains in equality for women. Bernie argues that the mass social movements of the 1960s and 1970s are the model for how we can win things like paid parental leave and free reproductive care for all.

Bernie’s embrace of a movement-based approach, saying he sees his role as president as being an “organizer-in-chief,” is extremely significant. Women in the U.S. not only need an offensive strategy to win things like parental leave and free childcare, but we also need to mount a fierce defense of abortion rights connected to an urgent campaign to ensure abortion access to all in every state and abolish non-medically necessary ultrasounds, waiting periods, etc., that have been enacted to punish poor women who want to have an abortion. Elizabeth Warren and Amy Klobuchar have pro-choice policies, and they’ve spoken at Washington, D.C. pro-choice rallies, as has Bernie Sanders. However, it’s clear that the pro-choice policies and very limited protest actions of the Democrats over the last several decades have not presented much of an obstacle to the steady roll back of abortion rights and access in large swaths of the country. It’s not enough to denounce Republicans when they pass another state law requiring a horrifically invasive ultrasound prior to an abortion, or a fetal heartbeat law. The Democrats in Congress and the mainstream women’s and progressive organizations allied to the Democratic Party have failed to rise to the occasion in the way that is demanded by the Republican attack on abortion rights and access. Politicians like Klobuchar and even Warren, despite her plans to reform some of the most outrageous inequities of the current

system, are cast in an entirely different mold from Bernie Sanders. They are beholden to the political and economic status quo by many thousands of dollars collected from corporations, CEOs, and the billionaire class over their long political careers. Their loyalty, first and foremost, is to the capitalist class which abhors mass movements that challenge its power. If a women’s movement were to win a significant victory, ordinary people would be inspired to demand and fight for more and bigger victories. The Hillary Clinton campaign in 2016 focused on the historically significant opportunity to elect the first woman president, and Klobuchar and Warren have also put emphasis on being a woman. Amy Klobuchar echoed Clinton’s insufficient approach to fighting sexism on the Nevada debate stage when she said that in order to stop sexism “We could nominate a woman for president of the United States.” Undoubtedly, it would be historic to have a woman president, but young women in particular pushed back on the idea that Clinton’s gender was more important than her policies, as they supported Bernie in big numbers. Again, young women support Bernie in far larger numbers than support either Warren or Klobuchar. Ensuring that working-class women have high enough wages and access to housing in

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