------------------------- Via Workers World News Service Reprinted from the May 3, 2001 issue of Workers World newspaper ------------------------- EDITORIAL: DROP THE CHARGES! Some of the bravest fighters against corporate globalization now face heavy charges in Quebec. They put their bodies on the line to defend workers' rights, national sovereignty and the environment. Everyone in the progressive movement should join the campaign for their freedom. The tide of anger and opposition to capitalism is rising. Pushing it forward is the polarization of wealth that has impoverished hundreds of millions around the globe. As the billionaire class in a few imperialist countries becomes more and more a little island of privilege in a sea of misery, the capitalist states defending this corrupt status quo grow more and more repressive. More of society's resources are spent on armies, police, prisons and courts. Hatred of the repressive state, especially among the young, grows with each new outrage--whether police murders of Black people in Cincinnati or the recent Supreme Court ruling that it's OK for cops to handcuff and jail people for minor traffic violations, like not wearing a seatbelt. How can this militant struggle contribute to the building of a multinational revolutionary movement based in the working class that can challenge the rotten old order? What can we learn from past movements, both those that failed and those that won? Right now there's a vigorous anarchist movement among the young. Anarchism has arisen in earlier periods, too, when many despaired of ever seeing the workers in a revolutionary mood and decided to boldly strike out on their own against the capitalist state. It is a healthy sign of rebellion against the old order, but it poses many questions. . . . CONFERENCE ON SOCIALISM . . . Workers World Party, a Marxist party that just fought alongside anarchists in Quebec against the imperialist trade pact known as the FTAA, is hosting a conference in New York City on June 2 to discuss the struggle for socialism. Speakers and workshops will look at what kind of movement can present a real challenge to capitalist exploitation. This conference isn't about the milk-toast socialism of social-democracy, which has provided a fig-leaf to most of the imperialist governments in Europe. Those "socialists" abandoned revolutionary Marxism long ago. So did many of the supposed communist parties, which failed to defend the planned economies in the USSR and Eastern Europe after U.S. imperialism wore them down with threats of World War III. But there are revolutionary socialists and communists in the world, despite all the media hype to the contrary. Because only socialism is the negation of capitalist private property. It is the reorganization of society through planning made possible by expropriating the expropriators. For any planning to begin--to end poverty, save the environment, raise up the oppressed, end sweatshops and wage slavery--the wealth created by the workers must be taken away from the bosses. The rulers will never peacefully give up their privileged status. Their class dictatorship can be broken only through the revolutionary intervention of the masses. And after a revolution? What happens to the state? What needs to be done for it to "wither away," in Marx's words? Can there be a stateless society as long as poverty, racism, sexism and inequality still exist, as long as remnants of the old ruling class remain? These questions will be discussed at the conference, not just in the abstract but by looking at the revolutionary struggles of the modern era. We urge everyone to come to listen, come to question, come to share experiences. - END - (Copyright Workers World Service: Everyone is permitted to copy and distribute verbatim copies of this document, but changing it is not allowed. For more information contact Workers World, 55 W. 17 St., NY, NY 10011; via e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For subscription info send message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Web: http://www.workers.org) ------------------ This message is sent to you by Workers World News Service. To subscribe, E-mail to: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To unsubscribe, E-mail to: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To switch to the DIGEST mode, E-mail to <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Send administrative queries to <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
