“The convention is taking place in the midst of a deepening social crisis in which the fate of the unions is intertwined with the fate of the political struggle for legalization of all immigrant workers living in the United States,” Jacob Perasso, organizer of the party’s Trade Union Committee, told the Militant. “This is propelling millions of workers in the United States into politics.”

The recent mobilizations demanding legalization now for undocumented workers, Perasso said, “and those by workers and peasants in Cuba, Venezuela, Bolivia, and elsewhere, are strengthening the fight against imperialism’s offensive on working people at home and abroad. How the party is responding to these developments and to the opportunities for recruiting to the communist movement will be at the heart of the discussions by the delegates at the convention.”

On the road to the convention socialist workers and young socialists are joining with others in the celebration of the victory against the harassment lawsuit by C.W. Mining against 16 miners, the United Mine Workers of America, and the Militant (see article in this issue), Perasso said. They are also helping to build and take part in marches in Los Angeles and Washington to demand “Hands off Venezuela and Cuba,” and ongoing work in defense of Cuba’s socialist revolution and the popular revolutionary upsurge in Venezuela.

Over the next month, socialist workers and members of the Young Socialists (YS) are focusing their energies on involving fellow unionists, working farmers, and youth interested in the communist movement in campaigning to expand the readership of the Militant newspaper, as part of responding to developments in the labor movement and the broader class struggle.

These activities will be combined with the opening of a summer educational program, said Olympia Newton, a national leader of the Young Socialists. YS members will use the classes to advance their understanding of the political foundations of Marxism and broaden the scope of their work. Socialist summer schools will be held in Atlanta, Los Angeles, New York, and St. Paul, Minnesota.

The SWP National Committee has submitted for discussion by party members a political platform for the convention, which will be the basis for election of delegates, Perasso said. It consists of two reports by SWP national secretary Jack Barnes, “The World Crisis of Imperialism: The Contradictory Dynamics of the Labor Vanguard,” and “Consolidating Our Political Progress and Recruiting to the Communist Movement,” which the National Committee adopted in January and March. Another report by Barnes on Black liberation, the working class, and the American socialist revolution has also been submitted for discussion by party members.

Most sessions of the delegated convention will be open to invited observers, Perasso said. Among those attending will be SWP members, Young Socialists, party supporters, and workers and youth who want to get more involved in the activities of the socialist movement.

An international conference will surround the convention sessions. It will feature classes, film showings, literature displays, and social and recreational events.

The classes will draw on the communist movement’s political continuity and themes central to the resolutions the delegates will discuss, said SWP National Committee member Norton Sandler. They will include:

· The Case of Leon Trotsky: The Answer to the 1936-37 Moscow Frame-up Trials and the Fight to Continue Lenin’s Communist Course Against Stalin’s Counterrevolution;

· The Black Struggle and the March to the Dictatorship of the Proletariat in the Americas;

· The Jewish Question: The Danger for the Workers’ Movement of the “Israel Lobby” Conspiracy Theory;

· Communism and the Internationalization of the Working Class from Marx, Engels, and Lenin to Today;

· The Struggle for a Proletarian Party and the Organizational Character of the SWP;

· Women’s Liberation and the Line of March of the Working Class to Power;

· Trade Unions: Their Past, Present, and Future; and

· Cuba’s Internationalist Foreign Policy.

Movies that will be shown include Deacons for Defense, a film on how Black workers, including veterans of the Korean War and World War II, organized to defend their community in Louisiana from Klan violence in the 1960s; and With Our Memory on the Future, a documentary produced by the Federation of Cuban Women on the 45th anniversary of the group’s founding.

Those interested in attending the SWP convention can contact the nearest branch of the party.  
 
 
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