The San Antonio branch of the SWP received a message from Paul, in which he alerted us to an important chapter in the city's history. This was out of the blue - he had no way of knowing that we had discussed organizing classes to educate ourselves on the development of the class struggle in our area.
We followed Paul's lead, and learned about a group of revolutionaries - many of them German immigrant "forty- eighters" - who functioned in San Antonio in the 1850s. Led by a Marxist named Adolf Douai, they published a newspaper, held public meetings, and joined in the deepening struggle over slavery.
Proslavery intimidation and violence closed the San Antonio Zeitung and drove Douai out of Texas in 1856, but some of his comrades remained. In 1863 - in wartime, under Confederate rule - they participated in street protests against slavery.
So we learned from Paul that our political work in San Antonio had a long precedent. His initiative, you might say, introduced us to some co-fighters in our own city.
Steve Marshall
Detroit
More on `liberalism'
The most recent years and months have seen a powerful rise in
the resistance of workers, farmers and young people. From the
UPS strike to the General Motors work stoppage to the fight of
workers and young people of Indonesia, we can see the
resurgence.
What has also followed is an adaptation by bourgeois politics known as liberalism. This phenomena that is a component of bourgeois politics is one of the most important for working- class fighters to explain. However, the Militant has carried only the occasional mention of liberalism. In fact, an internet search through the Militant reveals that the word "liberalism" has appeared only once during 1998.
As an activist, I find myself looking to use the Militant in order to explain the road forward for workers and youth fighting for a just and humane future. As a member of the Young Socialists, and someone who uses the Militant extensively, I think that now would be an opportune time to explain the term.
Liberalism is an adaptation to real movements and is not in itself a movement. It is designed to suck the life out of any movement of any real consequence by announcing itself as the leader of what might otherwise be true, powerful and just demands. In this manner the bourgeoisie can adapt to political movements and drive them into the ground.
It will not benefit real Affirmative Action demands if Democratic party candidate Grey Davis is the governor of California instead of Republican Dan Lungren. They both have goals of stabilizing the current system for further exploitation. They disagree on strategy. They disagree on how much to pretend to have the same interests as us.
We should learn from the election after election betrayal by the Democratic Party during the Vietnam War, and more recently, the bipartisan welfare slashing.
From the perspective of the capitalists, the two-party system is an effective means of sapping the strength out of movements from Black liberation to Chicano liberation to Immigrant Rights to all workers' rights.
The Young Socialists will never commit itself to liberalism. Liberalism will ultimately expose itself as the cancerous force that it is.
Furthermore, it is not sectarian to denounce liberalism, but rather a declaration of time-tested principles. It is an affirmation of the fact that the capitalists and their parties have interests that are completely counterposed to those of workers, farmers and young people seeking a humane and just future.
The Young Socialists has been and will continue to be committed to fighting with any organization or tendency that is interested in advancing the struggle of oppressed against oppressor.
Jacob Perasso
Santa Cruz, California
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