Mehring Books announces the publication of two new Socialist Equality Party pamphlets: The Political Lessons of the Bernie Sanders Campaign: What the World Socialist Web Site Said and The Great Autoworkers Struggle of 2015: Lessons of the Rank-and-File Revolt against the UAW.
***
The Political Lessons of the Bernie Sanders Campaign: What the World Socialist Web Site Said
This pamphlet reviews the significance of the Sanders campaign for the working class. It was not just a national event but contained important lessons for workers and youth around the world.
Thirteen million Americans, primarily between the ages of 18 and 34, voted for a self-proclaimed socialist during the Democratic Party primaries. To the shock of the political and media establishment, and Sanders himself, the candidate’s supposed “socialism,” far from alienating millions of voters, made him all the more attractive. The bitter experience of eight years of the Obama administration—the supposed vehicle of “hope” and “change”—had accelerated the process of political radicalization.
As the articles collected in the new pamphlet demonstrate, the WSWS warned repeatedly that Sanders was not the voice of working class opposition, but rather the response of forces within the ruling class to the dangerous growth of this opposition. As he was fully conscious, his job was to serve as a political lightning rod for social discontent in order to prevent it from taking a politically independent and genuinely socialist form and channel it back into the clutches of the Democratic Party.
This comprehensive and detailed analysis and commentary on the Sanders campaign covers the period from his official announcement in the spring of 2015 to his ignominious endorsement of Hillary Clinton at the Democratic National Convention and the formal launching of his post-convention “Our Revolution” organization on August 24, 2016.
***
The Great Autoworkers Struggle of 2015: Lessons of the Rank-and-File Revolt against the UAW
This pamphlet reviews the rebellion by rank-and-file autoworkers in the autumn of 2015 in the United States against the sellout contracts, which the United Auto Workers and the Detroit Three foisted on them.
The eruption of class struggle, in opposition to the decades-long corporate assault on the jobs and living standards of workers, shocked and astounded UAW officials, the media establishment and the Obama administration.
The Socialist Equality Party, the World Socialist Web Site and the WSWS Autoworker Newsletter played a critical role in the struggle of rank-and-file autoworkers, raising the decisive issue of leadership and perspective. From June through November, the WSWS wrote hundreds of articles exposing the lies of the union bureaucracy, analyzing the struggles taking place, and giving a voice to thousands of workers involved.
The new pamphlet includes a series of articles from the WSWS outlining the course of the struggle examining the political, historical, theoretical and practical issues raised by the autoworkers’ battle. It contains important strategic lessons for all sections of workers and the struggles that lie ahead.
***
Both pamphlets are available at mehring.com.
To order The Lessons of the Bernie Sanders Campaign ($3.50) click here
To order The Great Autoworkers Struggle of 2015 ($3.50) click here
Order five or more copies of either pamphlet for only $3.00/pamphlet.