There is great interest in socialism in the US, but little understanding of what the struggle for socialism entails. The capitalist media is trying to channel pro-socialist sentiment toward the Democratic Party and portray it as a mildly reformist program that involves no fundamental change in the allocation of wealth, let alone the overthrow of existing property relations. It is a “socialism” that can even attract the support of thoughtful and socially conscious investment bankers.
But socialism can only be realized by the conscious political mobilization of the American and international working class in the greatest revolutionary struggle in history. The working class must prepare itself for this struggle by learning the lessons of the 20th century, which was the scene of the greatest revolutionary upheavals of history. It must learn the history of the Fourth International, the revolutionary socialist opposition to Stalinist counter-revolution.
Either the working class carries out the revolutionary overthrow of capitalism or it will be subjected to fascistic dictatorships and catastrophic wars. The political alternative that stands before humanity is not mild reform or the status quo, but revolutionary socialism or capitalist barbarism.
Cambridge, Massachusetts
Wednesday, November 7, 6:00 p.m.
MIT
Boynton Hall, 6-120
New York City, New York
Thursday, November 8, 6:30 p.m.
New York University
Kimmel Center, Room 405/406
Chicago, Illinois
Monday, November 12, 6:30 p.m.
University of Illinois at Chicago
Lecture Center B, Room 101
Portland, Oregon
Tuesday, November 13, 7:00 p.m.
Portland State University
Smith Memorial Student Union, Room 298
Speaker: Joseph Kishore
Berkeley, California
Wednesday, November 14, 6:00 p.m.
UC Berkeley
126 Barrows Hall
San Diego, California
Thursday, November 15, 5:00 p.m.
San Diego State University
Student Services East, 1401
About the speaker:
David North is chairperson of the Editorial Board of the World Socialist Web Site and the national chairman of the Socialist Equality Party (US). North is the author of many books on history and Marxist theory, including The Heritage We Defend: A Contribution to the History of the Fourth International; In Defense of Leon Trotsky; A Quarter Century of War: The U.S. Drive for Global Hegemony—1990–2016; The Russian Revolution and the Unfinished Twentieth Century; and The Frankfurt School, Postmodernism, and the Politics of the Pseudo-Left: A Marxist Critique.
(All are availble at Mehring Books)
Completed Meetings:
Ann Arbor, Michigan
Monday, October 22, 7:00 p.m.
University of Michigan
Angel Hall Auditorium C
Detroit, Michigan
Tuesday, October 23, 7:00 p.m.
Wayne State University
Bernath Auditorium in the Undergraduate Library
Gainesville, Florida
Monday, October 29, 6:00 p.m.
University of Florida
Reitz Union, Room G310
Speaker: SEP National Secretary Joseph Kishore
Tampa, Florida
Tuesday, October 30, 7:30 p.m.
University of South Florida
Marshall Student Center, Room 3711
Speaker: Joseph Kishore
Annandale, Virginia
Thursday, November 1, 3:30 p.m.
Northern Virginia Community College, Annandale
CA 303
Speaker: Joseph Kishore