WeAreMany.org: Featured Audio

The Bolsheviks developed a theory and practice of political organization that is both coherent and recognizable, and it is absolutely relevant for today. This talk will explain terms and history for beginners, but also address the rise of a new socialist movement in the U.S. (signified by the growth of DSA and others) and the experiences of contemporary international revolutionary left forces in Latin America and Europe.

The surprise primary victory of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez over a high-ranking Democrat has given fresh energy to a longstanding debate about how the left should relate to elections and the Democratic Party. As the campaign of Bernie Sanders did during the 2016 presidential election, Ocasio-Cortez’s victory has excited many about the prospects for the left at a time when Trump and the right are winning on so many fronts. So how should socialists approach elections in the present period? What strategy and tactics will simultaneously advance the agenda of social movements, build the left, and strengthen a political alternative independent of the Democratic Party?

For years each horrific mass shooting has followedby a loud but largely empty partisan debate: Republicans and Democrats pointfingers at each other while avoiding uncomfortable questions about why guns andgun violence are so prevalent in a country founded on stolen land and stolenbodies and maintained with the violence of mass incarceration and globalempire. But the protest movement started by Parkland students has the potentialto change this depressing pattern. This talk will look at how a socialistframework can help guide the many student protesters who are looking to connectgun violence to this country’s underlying oppressive structures.

The teachers' rebellion that broke out in West Virginia this spring followed years of historically low strike levels. And rather than emerging in the places where unions are strongest and most organized, these strikes have rocked the so-called "red states" - places where Trump won handily and governed by Republican governors and legislatures. These strikes have punctured some of the dominant mythologies about a reactionary working class. And we have seen seeming apathy turn to rebellion quite quickly. This talk will explore how socialists should understand the relationship between class consciousness, political organization and struggle. It will discuss how the breakdown in the legitimacy of traditional political formations (from unions to political parties like the Democrats) has increased the level of volatility - and what implications that holds for struggle.

For a left so small, we hardly know each other. Ella Mahony (Democratic Socialists of America) and Jen Roesch (International Socialist Organization) talk to each other about their organizations’ work, and the opportunities for socialists today.