John Nichols: Socialist Party steps into 21st century

By John Nichols
from captimes.com
July 31, 2001

The refrigerator magnets on sale at the Socialist Party USA's 100th
anniversary celebration are the first sign that American socialism has
entered the 21st century.

The red - but, of course - lettering on the magnets reads, "Socialist
Party USA: Celebrating 100 Years as America's Voice of Democratic
Socialism." To the side is the party's sleek "workers of the world unite"
logo - with white and black hands clasping across the planet. At the bottom
is the Web address of a party that got its start before radio.

The Socialist Party that was born on the cusp of the 20th century has
entered the 21st century - younger, hipper and more relevant that at any
time since party founder Eugene Victor Debs declared, "I am opposed to all
wars except one ... the worldwide war of social revolution."

Debs carried the Socialist banner into five presidential campaigns, winning
close to a million votes in 1912 and again in 1920 - the latter total
achieved despite the fact that he was forced to campaign from the federal
penitentiary, where he was jailed for his radical anti-war activism. Norman
Thomas picked up the banner and ran five more times, winning fewer votes
but broader influence, as Democratic presidents "borrowed" Socialist Party
platform planks calling for Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, worker
safety programs, unemployment insurance and myriad civil rights laws.

When Thomas stopped running in 1948, the Socialists were already in a
period of genteel decline. Sure, Milwaukee would continue to elect
Socialist Frank Zeidler mayor through the 1950s, and, yes, Socialist A.
Philip Randolph did organize the 1963 March on Washington where the Rev.
Martin Luther King Jr. declared his dream. But as the 20th century waned,
so too did the Socialist Party.

"It was like the Perils of Pauline," recalls Zeidler, who at 88 has been a
Socialist Party loyalist through three quarters of the party's life. "There
were times when it looked like we were finished. There were times when
maybe we were finished. But we survived when a lot of parties didn't. Now
it seems like that old flame of democratic socialism is finally starting to
burn a little brighter."

Socialist Party conferences used to be known for the predominance of white
hair. But at the party's 100th anniversary celebration in Milwaukee's Hotel
Wisconsin, an array of hair colors reflected the youthful turn of a party
where the majority of members are now under 30. So too did the "Solidarity"
tattoos. Powered by an explosion of activism around issues of corporate
power and globalization, the party has begun to attract college students
and young workers at rates not seen in decades.

"When I look at the new membership cards, I'm mostly seeing birth dates
from 1981, 1982, 1983," says Shaun Richman, 22, a party vice chairman.
Protests against corporate domination of the World Trade Organization in
Seattle in the fall of 1999 and at the IMF/World Bank meetings in
Washington in April 2000 led a lot of young people to start thinking not
just about the excesses of capitalism, but about alternatives, says Richman.

"It makes what we're talking about more real to people. When capitalism
becomes an issue, it's natural that interest in the movements that
challenge capitalism rises," he explains. "When I was at the World Bank
protests in Washington, it was the first time when I didn't feel like a
schmuck talking to people my age about 'the movement.' "

"Movement" may still be a bold word to described a party that, even with
the infusion of young blood, is only a shadow of the electoral force it was
in Zeidler's youth. The Socialist ticket of presidential candidate David
McReynolds and vice presidential candidate Mary Cal Hollis won only about
10,000 votes, and the party's membership is considerably less. But Richman,
who spoke to the anniversary conference wearing a T-shirt from the
Fleshtones rock group, said, "We're got a generation of people coming into
this party who like our history but who are most interested in making sure
that socialism has a future in this country."

That's a change Frank Zeidler happily embraces. "I knew some of the people
who founded the party back in 1901, and I can tell you that they were
optimists. They believed socialism was inevitable. I think they were right,
but it's taken a lot longer than a lot of us thought it would," Zeidler
says. "This isn't a one-generation fight, it's multigenerational. And we'll
be in it because, as these young people are recognizing, the need for
socialism is as real now as it ever was."

Published: 6:32 AM 7/31/01
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Socialist Party USA
339 Lafayette Street, #303
New York, NY 10012
phone/fax: (212)982-4586
http://www.SocialistPartyUSA.org

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