Draft Program for an American Socialist Labor Party

Nikoli Weir and Ryan Depp

Preface

The international working class movement is at a crossroads. After having suffered defeat after defeat at the hands of large-scale, organized reaction; after being deprived by means of force and cunning of its organizations, both economic and political; after having been forced into a position of continual and unending retreat on nearly all fronts; and while the enemy, the international capitalist class, has continued to concentrate more and more wealth and power into its own hands, and has created levels of wealth disparity that have never before been seen in the history of the human race; has plundered the Earth and wreaked havoc on the biosphere; has enforced with increasing violence its rule of decay and stagnation; the world working class, and the world at large, is at a crossroads—one road leads to socialism, and the other barbarism.

If global social, economic, and ecological catastrophe is to be prevented, it will be prevented by the efforts of the organized and militant working class. This must be a global effort organized in each country, based on the conditions of each country. This Program sets out to explain the actions that must be taken by the American working class, a class that occupies a unique position in the world hegemonic order, owing to its location in the nucleus of world imperialism and finance capital.

All things considered, the diagnosis made in the Transitional Program of the Fourth International written in 1938 remains applicable today. Capitalism long ago ceased to be a force of social and economic progress. It is no longer capable of producing innovation or improvement in any meaningful way. Rather, innovation has become only a means to further enrich the entrenched ruling elite; more and more it is disconnected from the practical life of the everyday worker, and more and more it presents itself as a tangible threat to their livelihoods and security. Thus, capitalism, termed as we call it the capitalist mode of production, has lost its world-historic mandate to rule. Every trait that at one time made it the most progressive force in human history, breaking up all feudal, parochial and bygone institutions, has now made themselves felt as the greatest obstacle to human progress. In our day and age, it is not the “progress of capitalism” that we are to speak of, but rather, the decay of capitalism seen daily every hour the death knell of the expropriators has yet to be rung. In the words of the Transitional Program,

“The economic prerequisite for the proletarian revolution has already in general achieved the highest point of fruition that can be reached under capitalism. Mankind’s productive forces stagnate. Already new inventions and improvements fail to raise the level of material wealth. Conjunctural crises under the conditions of the social crisis of the whole capitalist system inflict ever heavier deprivations and sufferings upon the masses. Growing unemployment, in its turn, deepens the financial crisis of the state and undermines the unstable monetary systems. Democratic regimes, as well as fascist, stagger on from one bankruptcy to another.”

Thus one truth is revealed: the global economic crises repeatedly dislocating all networks of production and commerce, and the unending series of imperialist wars and international upheavals between rival powers, flow from the fact that private ownership in the means of production on the one hand, and the institution of the nation-state, within which these means of production have heretofore operated, on the other, have outgrown themselves. The anarchy of capitalist production cries out for resolution, and we hear the echoes of such a resolution given even in present-day global processes: the globalization of capital, the emergence of a distinct international division of labor, the consolidation of multinational political and economic blocs between countries, the subjection of massive productive forces covering multiple sectors of economy to coordinated and centralized control from above—all these hint at a revolutionary transformation in the nature of human social relations, even within capitalist forms of organization.

The task that we have before us is to take these developments to their logical conclusion, which can be affected by nothing other than the ascendancy of the working class to the position of ruling class, and the break with the capitalist mode of production as a whole, to pursue the realization of a new, higher form of human social organization based on the planned control of production and distribution by society has a whole. The real meaning of such a thing is the total socialization of all productive powers, the political union of the international working classes of all countries, and the regulation of world economic processes by the direct control of the producers for the purpose of creating the conditions for a society without classes, the state, or material inequalities; a society based on the application of the highest economic technique present in the most advanced countries of today, spread out among all countries of the earth, with the most developed forms of participatory organization encompassing all members of society. In a word, the society we speak of is the free association of mankind, the kind of association revolutionaries of the past generations have fought for, and the kind whose actualization was imminent in the Transitional Program of the last century.

The only major difference between the situation described by the Transitional Program mentioned above, and our situation, is that we are rapidly approaching a worldwide ecological catastrophe of apocalyptic proportions, a catastrophe that is already beginning to manifest itself in the form of wildfires, heatwaves, droughts, flooding, rising sea levels, the destruction of ecosystems and the extinction of whole species, and in the consistent reduction of the quality of life for the vast majority of people, not just in the peripheral nations, but in the most developed and advanced capitalist countries.

Recognizing its unique position in the United States, the most powerful empire the world has ever known, the American working class sets out to build its own party, a party that is totally independent from both the Democratic and Republican parties, and which fights to end the tyranny of wealthy capitalists and big business both here and abroad; a party composed of the most politically conscious members of the American working class, that will fight for the interests of the entire working class; a party which recognizes that its main enemy is not working people of foreign countries, but the wealthy capitalists of our own country; a party which is founded upon a radically populist, socialist and Marxist political program, and that draws from the rich tradition of working-class radical politics both here and abroad; and finally, a party that is dedicated to the total transformation of society by the conscious action and planning of the working class organized as the ruling class; a transformation which will be enacted by all available and legitimate means, with the party acting as its steward and organizer, whether it be a party in opposition or a party in power.

The Party Program is the ideological and political-theoretical weapon which will guide the working class, organized as a political class in the party, in its struggle for its immediate interests and in its struggle for power, which under the banner of the program become one and the same struggle, bound together by the transitional demands of the program.

Analysis

With the return of Donald Trump to the office of the Presidency of the United States, the great reactionary struggle of capital has reached its logical conclusion: the supremacy of finance capital over the state power. The capitalist state will, in the coming years, perfect its final and highest form, the form of the state capitalist trust, at its head a strong executive power to oversee and secure the interests of American finance capital in its national policy and its international business dealings.

The nature of the capitalist state in general, and the state capitalist trust in particular, has profound implications for the tactics and strategy of the revolutionary socialist movement. If we fail to properly understand the foundation, function, and activity of the dictatorship of big business as it is made manifest in the dictatorship of finance capital, our efforts will inevitably fail.

The rule of finance capital has two defining characteristics. The first of these was already briefly discussed, and that is the transformation of the “traditional” capitalist state, composed of relatively distinct heterogeneous elements, into a unified homogenous state capitalist trust to act as the armed security wing of united finance capital. Life under such a regime is defined by further and further government encroachment upon both private and economic life; the intensification and expansion of the armed wing of the state, the police, intelligence agencies, and the standing army; the stagnation, and in many cases lowering of real wages coupled with inflation and a rising cost of living; the rate of profit being, on the whole, lower than it was in previous eras; and the export of industry and capital to the so-called “third world,” where conditions of exploitation allow for a higher-than-average return on investments.

This final tendency leads into the second defining characteristic of the rule of finance capital, which is the policy of imperialism, or the tendency to export capital itself to developing countries, and the use of military might (whether private or state-funded) to secure superprofits for the monopolistic associations. The conflict between nations in the era of imperialism assumes the form of a conflict for the conquest of new markets and spheres of capital investment, in the passive phase characterized by protectionist policies, such as the raising of tariff blocs and high duties on imported goods, and in the active phase by open warfare and the struggle for a redivision of territory. The movement between these phases is a key component of global political policy in the epoch of imperialism, and war is merely the continuation of imperialist policy by other means. In either case, the result of this imperialist policy is that a select few great powers come to be the masters of the life and future of the rest of the world, with its billions of inhabitants.

If the socialist worker movement in this country is to be at all successful, the state capitalist trust must be militantly fought on every possible front. There can be no compromises, no backroom deals, no alliances with any section, faction, or group of the governing bodies of the state capitalist trust. In its struggle against capitalist tyranny, the socialist worker movement must do everything in its power to consolidate the working people as a political class and to build the independent political and social power of said class.

In the present conditions of American capitalism, this means, first and foremost, the struggle against the illusory democracy of the two-party system. The two-party system is the first line of defense for the state capitalist trust. By its all encompassing power, it co-opts any and all threats not only to capitalist power in general, but also to the particular formation of capitalist power that currently exists.

The two-party system in this country is not an institution that we can bring to its knees by boring within it. We cannot infiltrate it and manipulate it for our own purposes, nor can we “push it to the left” and make it more open to our ideas. Any attempt to do so will inevitably result in the strengthening of the two-party system as a whole, and the Democratic Party in particular, and the weakening of the socialist worker movement.

This has been demonstrated time and time again by the attempts of the DSA to use the Democratic ballot line for their own purposes. Each time it ends in disaster, betrayal, or general embarrassment for the DSA, and unconditional victory for the program and goals of the Democratic Party. Thus, the first steps of a mature socialist worker movement in the United States must be a clean and total break from the bourgeois establishment in the name of the political independence of the working class.

I. Minimum

Free and universal healthcare under a national public healthcare system.
Subsidized childcare for all families paid at state expense.
Tuition-free higher education at public universities.
Free school meals for children at public schools.
Guaranteed gainful employment and a standard 32-hour work week.
Abolition of subminimum wages; linkage of wages to inflation.
A minimum 25 days of paid annual vacation for all workers, separate from national holidays.
Nine months of paid parental leave for both parents of children.
A standard 60 year retirement age for men and women, with guaranteed pensions from employers.
Price controls for basic foodstuffs and essential medicines.
A public works program to expand and improve transportation infrastructure, energy infrastructure, schools, hospitals, high-speed internet access, and other important amenities, with a focus on the poorest regions.
Mass construction of new affordable housing units across the nation to provide better access to housing and reduce rent prices.
Rent control on leased housing so that rent is only a fraction of a worker’s monthly income.
A climate tax levied on petroleum, natural gas, and coal to fund a renewable energy transition.
Intensive push for decarbonization of the nation’s industry, agriculture, and transportation systems, and subsidization of the fastest transition to a total clean energy mix with zero loss of jobs.
Equality of pay for women, people of color, and migrant laborers.
A nationwide ban on conversion therapy, and repeal of all discriminatory laws against LGBTQ+ individuals, as well as the creation of special legal protections to guard against discrimination.
Defunding and demilitarization of the police, and reinvestment into social welfare programs aimed at addressing crime.
Cancellation of all student and medical debt.
Divestment from inordinate military spending into education, healthcare, infrastructure, welfare, environment, and science and technology.
Decriminalization of all drugs on a national level, and an immediate pardon for all those imprisoned for possession of illicit substances.
Federal protection of reproductive rights; signature of Roe v. Wade into law.
Promotion of rural development and that of marginalized communities, using targeted investment to grow local economies and promote social security and equal standards of life.
Reparations and land back to indigenous peoples; increase of the autonomy of tribal governments and public backing of linguistic and cultural conservation and revitalization.
Abolition of private prisons, and the replacement of our punitive justice system with one centered on rehabilitation.
Remodeling of cities towards people-and-transit-oriented development, focusing on providing safe, clean, and walkable cities for American people.
Expansion and improvement of the country’s public transportation systems to move away from car-dependent infrastructure.
Comprehensive and multifaceted approach to the modern ecological and climate crisis, meaning:
1. Swift curtailment of environmentally-destructive practices, and every effort made to rapidly cut greenhouse gas emissions and scale up carbon sequestration efforts.
2. Greater conservation and protection to land and marine species and habitats.
3. All-round work for the restoration of degraded lands and ecosystems, and fortification of coastal and other vulnerable regions against climate change, relying on popular initiative to build climate resilience.
4. Shifting our agricultural systems away from intensified industrial farming to permaculture, regenerative agriculture, agroforestry, and other practices rooted in ecology.
5. End of subsidies to fossil fuels.
6. Recognition of nature as a defensible entity with legal rights.
7. Broad commitment to international collaboration on climate and nature action.
8. The above measures to be financed by heavy fines and taxation against the biggest environmental polluters.
Construction of a nationwide high-speed rail network to connect major regional corridors, and electrification of the national railway system.
Provision of public credit to small farmers, and fixed commodity prices for their produce; low-interest loans for the provision of farm machinery and diversification of their activities.
Revitalization of the country’s nuclear energy sector by the construction of new power plants and greater research into thorium, fusion, and small modular reactor technologies.

II. Transitional

Election of party candidates to be pursued by all possible means to promote this program at a local, state, and national level.
Creation of united fronts among workers’ organizations and allies to combat political threats to working people.
Formation of mass organizations of the working class in the form of workers’ defense groups based on local unions and communities to protect the integrity of strikes, labor activities, and events; to train workers in tactics and first-aid, and to protect marginalized communities.
Strict control of representatives in all government positions, meaning:
1. Right of popular referendum so all Americans may challenge unjust and unconstitutional laws.
2. Ability for citizens to recall any of their elected officials at any time through plebiscite.
3. All elected politicians to take no more than the average pay of a skilled worker.
Establishment of workplace committees to place power into the hands of employees and subject management of enterprises to workers’ direct control and accounting.
Creation of unemployment commissions made up of union delegates to assist in finding union jobs for the nation’s unemployed.
Right to a referendum on independence for the five American territories and Hawaii.
Abolition of qualified immunity and enforcement of strict accountability for all government officials and police officers who abuse their power.
Repeal of right-to-work laws, the Taft-Hartley Act, the Patriot Act of 2001, and any law aimed against the interests of working people.
Termination of the embargo against Cuba.
Disbandment of all overseas military bases and an end to the foreign military and financial aid which arms imperialism and oppressive powers.
Cancellation or restructuring of debt owed by developing countries to the United States.
Recognition of the State of Palestine and Western Sahara (Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic).
Severing of all diplomatic relations with the State of Israel, and full divestment of all American public and private entities from it.
Removal of all restrictions on an American’s right to vote.
Abolition of the Electoral College, single-member districts, the winner-take-all and first-past-the-post systems, and other reforms aimed at ending the two-party system.
Democratization of the Supreme Court; term limits for elected justices.
Books/records of all companies to be open and transparent to all of their employees.
Inclusion of farm workers, street vendors, day laborers, and domestic workers under the National Labor Relations Board’s legal protections.
Implementation of measures to strengthen America’s immigration support system; abolition of ICE, and an end to forcible deportation of migrants.
Expedited path to citizenship of all US resident/H-2A workers.
End to solitary confinement, indeterminate sentencing, and capital punishment.
Creation of a Workers’ Statistical Commission of a Nationwide Labor Council, made up of elected delegates to set the minimum wage each year according to inflation and cost of living.
Creation of State Workers’ Assemblies in every state to replace the current State Department of Labor, as well as a National Workers’ Assembly to replace the current Department of Labor, National Labor Relations Board, and General Counsel, with all these bodies being made up of democratically-elected workers’ representatives.

III. Maximum

The National Workers’ Assembly to concentrate all political power into its hands, and therefore into the hands of the working people.
Nationalization of all large industrial, agricultural, and energy production; natural resources, railways, banks, healthcare & pharmaceuticals, big contractors, real estate, and large retail trade.
1. With exemptions to small business owners, smallholder farmers, cooperatives, credit unions, and private medical practices.
Expropriation of the assets of the richest few to be put under the financial management of the National Workers’ Assembly for maintenance of the public interest.
Expropriation of the property of landlords and the administration of mass housing by public entities and tenant cooperatives.
Redistribution of vacant buildings, properties of absentee elite landowners, and homes owned by private equity to provide universal housing.
Elimination of financial and property speculation.
Complete dismantling of the military-industrial complex.
Automation of repetitive, dangerous, and menial tasks to free up human labor for scientific, technical, and intellectual pursuits.
Formation of a national planning agency utilizing modern computer technology, data science, and democratic consensus and multilateral control to regulate and balance the sectors of economic activity, eliminate capitalist crises, and provide optimal allocation of resources, full employment, and the general shortening of the working day.