The World Socialist Web Site and the Socialist Equality Party are sponsoring a public conference on the weekend of March 29-30, 2003 in Ann Arbor, Michigan. The subject of the conference will be “Socialism and the Struggle Against Imperialism and War: the Strategy and Program of a New International Working Class Movement.”
The significance and urgency of this conference arise directly from two interrelated developments: (1) the decision of the Bush administration to invade, plunder and colonize Iraq; and (2) the emergence of a massive international movement of social opposition to the war plans of American and British imperialism.
Two massive forces stand opposed to each other. As the New York Times has noted with a sense of astonishment: “The fracturing of the Western alliance over Iraq and the huge antiwar demonstrations around the world this weekend are reminders that there may still be two superpowers on the planet: the United States and world public opinion.”
To put it more bluntly, the emerging power that confronts American imperialism is not another state, but the masses of ordinary working people all over the world who hate war and oppression in all its forms.
But the struggle between these two forces is still an unequal one. While American imperialism and its accomplices are conscious of their interests and goals and will stop at nothing to achieve them, the working class remains as yet without a clear political program on which it can base its struggle for peace, social equality, democratic rights, international solidarity and a better world.
The purpose of this public conference is to initiate a serious discussion on the political program that is necessary to build, strengthen and unify the international movement against imperialism and war. In organizing this conference, the World Socialist Web Site and Socialist Equality Party advance the following fundamental political principles as the basis of the discussion:
1. The genuinely mass base for the struggle against imperialism and war is the American and international working class.
2. The great potential strength of the working class can be realized only if it is mobilized independently of and in opposition to the political parties of big business. In the United States, this means, first and foremost, fighting to end the political subordination of working people to the Democratic Party. The working class must build its own political party and fight for power.
3. The struggle against war can be waged systematically and effectively only to the extent that it is directed against the socioeconomic system that produces war—that is, against capitalism and for socialism.
4. The fight against war requires the international unity of the working class.
On this basis, we urge readers of the World Socialist Web Site to register for the conference and come to Ann Arbor on March 29-30.
Conference Registration:
Registration fee: $15
Click here to register and pay online
To register and pay via mail, please print out and fill in our
PDF registration form, and post it to the specified address with your check or money order.
Times and Venue:
Saturday March 29, 10am-6pm and Sunday March 30, 10am-3pm
Michigan Union Ballroom
530 South State Street
Ann Arbor, Michigan
Click here for a map to the venue:
Accommodation: