Solidarity (US)
Encyclopedia
In left-wing politics
in the United States
, Solidarity is a socialist organization associated with the journal Against the Current. Solidarity is an organizational descendant of International Socialists, a Trotskyist organization based on the proposition that the Soviet Union
was not a "degenerate workers' state" (as in orthodox Trotskyism
) but rather "bureaucratic collectivism
", a new and especially repressive class society.
Solidarity describes itself as "a democratic, revolutionary socialist, feminist, anti-racist organization." It comes out of the Trotskyist tradition but has departed from many aspects of traditional Leninism and Trotskyism. It is more loosely organized than most "democratic centralist" groups, and it does not see itself as the vanguard of the working class
or the nucleus of a vanguard. It was formed in 1986 from a fusion of the International Socialists
, Workers' Power
and Socialist Unity
. The former two groups had recently been reunited in a single organization, while the last was a fragment of the Socialist Workers Party (SWP). Solidarity's name was originally in part an homage to the Polish Solidarność — Solidarność had been an independent labor union which in Solidarity's view had challenged the Soviet Union from the left.
, left-wing Shachtmanites
, Luxemburgists, socialist-feminists
, and veterans of New Left
groups. Solidarity sought to "regroup" with others to create a large revolutionary socialist and feminist organization. They hoped to initiate a broad regroupment that would include, for example, some of the fragments of the disintegrating New Communist Movement
and many more socialist-feminists and New Left veterans. Discussions of regroupment and "Left Refoundation" have been initiated between Solidarity and other left groups of varying tendencies from the 80s to the present, but these have not yet led to broader fusions.
Smaller-scale regroupments have occurred, however. During the 1990s, two organizations fused with Solidarity—the Fourth Internationalist Tendency
(a group expelled from the SWP) and Activists for Independent Socialist Politics (a Socialist Action
split that had previously worked in Committees of Correspondence
). In 2002, members of the Trotskyist League joined Solidarity.
magazine and Teamsters for a Democratic Union
. Solidarity members have worked in many other mass movements in the US, including the anti-Apartheid, reproductive rights, LGBTQ, Central American solidarity, Free Mumia, anti-war, and Global Justice movements, as well as the Green Party
and the Labor Party
. Solidarity prides itself on a "non-sectarian" approach to building these movements, and traditionally has prioritized this over building itself. Solidarity publishes a bi-monthly left journal, Against the Current, which is produced by an editorial board including Solidarity members and independent socialists.
In 2000, Solidarity endorsed both the Green Party's Ralph Nader
and Socialist Party USA's David McReynolds
for President (Solidarity permits joint membership in the Socialist Party USA
). In August 2004 Solidarity again endorsed the candidacy of Ralph Nader. In 2008 Solidarity endorsed Cynthia McKinney
of the Green Party. In the 2010 midterm elections, Dan La Botz
, a member of Solidarity, ran for a seat in the United States Senate
under the banner of the Ohio Socialist Party.
Left-wing politics
In politics, Left, left-wing and leftist generally refer to support for social change to create a more egalitarian society...
in the United States
American Left
The American Left consists of individuals and groups, including socialists, communists and anarchists, that have sought fundamental change in the economic, political and cultural institutions of the United States. Although left-wing ideologies came to the United States in the 19th century, there...
, Solidarity is a socialist organization associated with the journal Against the Current. Solidarity is an organizational descendant of International Socialists, a Trotskyist organization based on the proposition that the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
was not a "degenerate workers' state" (as in orthodox Trotskyism
Orthodox Trotskyism
Orthodox Trotskyism is a branch of Trotskyism which aims to adhere more closely to the philosophy, methods and positions of Trotsky and the early Fourth International, Lenin, and Marx than other Trotskyists....
) but rather "bureaucratic collectivism
Bureaucratic collectivism
Bureaucratic collectivism is a theory of class society. It is used by some Trotskyists to describe the nature of the Soviet Union under Joseph Stalin, and other similar states in Central and Eastern Europe and elsewhere .- Theory :...
", a new and especially repressive class society.
Solidarity describes itself as "a democratic, revolutionary socialist, feminist, anti-racist organization." It comes out of the Trotskyist tradition but has departed from many aspects of traditional Leninism and Trotskyism. It is more loosely organized than most "democratic centralist" groups, and it does not see itself as the vanguard of the working class
Vanguardism
In the context of revolutionary struggle, vanguardism is a strategy whereby an organization attempts to place itself at the center of the movement, and steer it in a direction consistent with its ideology....
or the nucleus of a vanguard. It was formed in 1986 from a fusion of the International Socialists
International Socialists (US)
The International Socialists was a Third Camp Trotskyist group in the United States.The roots of the IS went back to the fall of 1964 when the Berkeley locals of the SP-SDF and YPSL left with 16 members to found the Independent Socialist Club led by Hal Draper and Joel Geier...
, Workers' Power
Workers Power (US)
Workers Power was a short lived Trotskyist faction in the late 1970s and early 1980s.In the 1970s the Third Camp group International Socialists carried out its most successful work within organized labor within the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, helping to organize rank-and-file opposition...
and Socialist Unity
Socialist Unity (United States)
Socialist Unity was a Trotskyist group in the United States. It was founded by former members of the Socialist Workers Party in 1985, around Les Evans who wanted to maintain links with the United Secretariat of the Fourth International...
. The former two groups had recently been reunited in a single organization, while the last was a fragment of the Socialist Workers Party (SWP). Solidarity's name was originally in part an homage to the Polish Solidarność — Solidarność had been an independent labor union which in Solidarity's view had challenged the Soviet Union from the left.
History
From the beginning, Solidarity was an avowedly pluralist organization that included several currents of TrotskyismTrotskyism
Trotskyism is the theory of Marxism as advocated by Leon Trotsky. Trotsky considered himself an orthodox Marxist and Bolshevik-Leninist, arguing for the establishment of a vanguard party of the working-class...
, left-wing Shachtmanites
Shachtmanism
Shachtmanism is the form of Marxism associated with Max Shachtman. It has two major components: a bureaucratic collectivist analysis of the Soviet Union and a third camp approach to world politics...
, Luxemburgists, socialist-feminists
Socialist feminism
Socialist feminism is a branch of feminism that focuses upon both the public and private spheres of a woman's life and argues that liberation can only be achieved by working to end both the economic and cultural sources of women's oppression...
, and veterans of New Left
New Left
The New Left was a term used mainly in the United Kingdom and United States in reference to activists, educators, agitators and others in the 1960s and 1970s who sought to implement a broad range of reforms, in contrast to earlier leftist or Marxist movements that had taken a more vanguardist...
groups. Solidarity sought to "regroup" with others to create a large revolutionary socialist and feminist organization. They hoped to initiate a broad regroupment that would include, for example, some of the fragments of the disintegrating New Communist Movement
New Communist Movement
The New Communist Movement ' was a Marxist-Leninist political movement of the 1970s and 1980s in the United States. The term refers to a specific trend in the U.S. New Left which sought inspiration in the experience of the Russian Revolution of 1917, the Chinese Revolution, and the Cuban...
and many more socialist-feminists and New Left veterans. Discussions of regroupment and "Left Refoundation" have been initiated between Solidarity and other left groups of varying tendencies from the 80s to the present, but these have not yet led to broader fusions.
Smaller-scale regroupments have occurred, however. During the 1990s, two organizations fused with Solidarity—the Fourth Internationalist Tendency
Fourth Internationalist Tendency
The Fourth Internationalist Tendency was a public faction of the Socialist Workers Party , formed after the 1983 expulsion from that organization of a group of supporters of the Fourth International. While the SWP was not formally affiliated with the International for legal reasons, it had until...
(a group expelled from the SWP) and Activists for Independent Socialist Politics (a Socialist Action
Socialist Action
Socialist Action may refer to:*Socialist Action , a Trotskyist political party in the United States*Socialist Action , a Trotskyist group in the United Kingdom that published a magazine of the same name until 2001...
split that had previously worked in Committees of Correspondence
Committees of Correspondence for Democracy and Socialism
The Committees of Correspondence for Democracy and Socialism is a democratic socialist group in the United States which originated in 1991 as the Committees of Correspondence, a moderate, reformist wing of the Communist Party USA...
). In 2002, members of the Trotskyist League joined Solidarity.
Strategy
Solidarity members work in various unions for shop-floor militancy and rank-and-file democracy, and some have played key roles in maintaining Labor NotesLabor Notes
Labor Notes is a non-profit organization and network for rank-and-file union members and grassroots labor activists. Though officially titled the Labor Education and Research Project, the project is best known by the title of its monthly magazine. The magazine reports news and analysis about labor...
magazine and Teamsters for a Democratic Union
Teamsters for a Democratic Union
Teamsters for a Democratic Union is a rank-and-file union democracy movement organizing to reform the International Brotherhood of Teamsters , or Teamsters. TDU was created out of the merger of the Professional Drivers Council and TDU in 1979...
. Solidarity members have worked in many other mass movements in the US, including the anti-Apartheid, reproductive rights, LGBTQ, Central American solidarity, Free Mumia, anti-war, and Global Justice movements, as well as the Green Party
Green Party (United States)
The Green Party of the United States is a nationally recognized political party which officially formed in 1991. It is a voluntary association of state green parties. Prior to national formation, many state affiliates had already formed and were recognized by other state parties...
and the Labor Party
Labor Party (United States)
The Labor Party is an American social democratic political party advocating workers' interests. Membership at one point reached about 5,000....
. Solidarity prides itself on a "non-sectarian" approach to building these movements, and traditionally has prioritized this over building itself. Solidarity publishes a bi-monthly left journal, Against the Current, which is produced by an editorial board including Solidarity members and independent socialists.
In 2000, Solidarity endorsed both the Green Party's Ralph Nader
Ralph Nader
Ralph Nader is an American political activist, as well as an author, lecturer, and attorney. Areas of particular concern to Nader include consumer protection, humanitarianism, environmentalism, and democratic government....
and Socialist Party USA's David McReynolds
David McReynolds
David McReynolds is an American democratic socialist and pacifist activist who described himself as "a peace movement bureaucrat" during his 40-year career with Liberation magazine and the War Resisters League...
for President (Solidarity permits joint membership in the Socialist Party USA
Socialist Party USA
The Socialist Party USA is a multi-tendency democratic-socialist party in the United States. The party states that it is the rightful continuation and successor to the tradition of the Socialist Party of America, which had lasted from 1901 to 1972.The party is officially committed to left-wing...
). In August 2004 Solidarity again endorsed the candidacy of Ralph Nader. In 2008 Solidarity endorsed Cynthia McKinney
Cynthia McKinney
Cynthia Ann McKinney is a former US Congresswoman and a member of the Green Party since 2007. As a member of the Democratic Party, she served six terms as a member of the United States House of Representatives. In 2008, the Green Party nominated McKinney for President of the United States...
of the Green Party. In the 2010 midterm elections, Dan La Botz
Dan La Botz
Daniel H. La Botz is a prominent American labor union activist, academic, journalist, and author. He was a co-founder of Teamsters for a Democratic Union and has written extensively on worker rights in the United States and Mexico...
, a member of Solidarity, ran for a seat in the United States Senate
United States Senate
The United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the United States, and together with the United States House of Representatives comprises the United States Congress. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution. Each...
under the banner of the Ohio Socialist Party.