On June 9 in Chicago, a packed room of youth, workers and oppressed people came together for the Midwest Socialism Conference hosted by the Party for Socialism and Liberation. This regional conference brought together people from all sectors of the struggle and from all parts of the country. From South Dakota to Ohio, from Minnesota to Tennessee, over 150 traveled and came out for a day of inspiring speeches and education.
An immense organizational effort paid off with a tremendously successful conference. Lunch and dinner were provided for everyone, out of town comrades were given housing and travel assistance, and free child care was provided.
The conference started at 11 AM and was chaired by Ana Santoyo and Vex Humana, members of the Party for Socialism and Liberation in Chicago. Laying particular blame on the two-faced Democrats who dominate politics in Illinois and so much of the country, Ana indicted capitalism as the cause of oppression against immigrants. Humana, co-host of Crashing the System! podcast, spoke about the struggle for LGBTQ rights. She called on the multi-national and multi-gendered working class to struggle for unity and fight for the rights of the most oppressed.
Humana said, “We are going to join hands with Black Lives Matter, we are going to join hands with the Water Protectors, we are going to join hands with the Teachers’ Revolt and we are going to march shoulder to should with the workers and oppressed peoples of this country and the world until we win.”
Stefanie Fisher, member of the steering committee of the Chicago branch of the PSL, gave an introduction to our current historical period. She stated, “There are so many signs that the human race is on the precipice of a turning point in human history. For all those who have eyes to see—and there are many more eyes that are seeing this—there really is only two choices: The choice is the death of the planet or socialism. We choose socialism!”
Fighting capitalism in different communities
Youth across the Midwest told their stories about what they are doing to fight against capitalism in their communities. Tharron Combs gave us the true history of Detroit, a history of Black migration, a history of unionization and industrialization lead by Black workers, a history of militant struggle by Black people against white supremacy. City policy makers understood the threat that Black power posed to white privilege. Deliberate disinvestment from the city, construction of suburbs, encouragement of white flight and policies of segregation—and above all racist police brutality—lead to the deep economic problems of the city today. “In the whole country, there is no greater indictment of capitalism than Detroit,” Tharron said as he warned about the further gentrification of the city.
Summer, a college student from Indiana, echoed the earlier points about the inextricable bond of capitalism and racism. After her university refused to protect students from racist attacks on campus, it became clear to many in
the student body that universities do not really want to help workers and oppressed people. Higher education is an instrument of class rule. Political connected or economically advantaged students who commit crimes against other students are institutionally protected from punishment by the school administration. Only a complete overhaul of our economic and political system will make the universities places where students can be safe.
Deven Curry of PSL Chicago spoke about the demoralization that accompanies racist gentrification. Black, Brown and low income people are being forced out of their homes. People feel lost—what can you do against such a powerful system as capitalism? “Whether you kill us quickly or slowly, you’re still killing us,” Curry said as she told the crowd about the twin ills of racist police terror and the slow strangulation of gentrification and joblessness. This racist state that tortures young Black men into confessing to crimes they didn’t commit will not be the one to solve our social ills. “We need to fight! We need to get rid of everything about this system.”
The Milwaukee branch of the Party for Socialism and Liberation informed the crowd about their struggles against severe environmental problems caused by capitalist greed and disinvestment. Milwaukee is a city renowned for poor
infrastructure—above and below ground. 100,000 lead lateral pipes, installed in 1872, are poisoning the drinking water of almost the entire city. While health officials say that no amount of lead is safe to drink, some neighborhoods see leads levels in drinking water exceed those in Flint, Michigan. Robert Penner of PSL Milwaukee noted that, “The water protectors teach us that water is life.” Amazingly but perhaps unsurprisingly the city government, a dictatorship led by the Democratic Party, has waged a war of silence against the issue.
Ali Hasan of People United Against Oppression, a Muslim-led social justice group, linked the lack of services at home to a U.S. agenda of death and destruction abroad. “We just dropped $55 million bombs on Syria and we have kids poisoned in Flint, Milwaukee and elsewhere!” he said while explaining that this crisis is one that can be solved. A lack of political will and a commitment to capitalist profits really hurts the people of the world.
Bev Tang from the International League of Peoples’ Struggle expressed those same sentiments. “It’s imperialism which is the root problem,” she pointed out. The struggle against imperialism will be won through the unity that struggle engenders.
Dr. Lashawn Littrice of Black Lives Matter Women of Faith provided an update on the latest developments in the Laquan McDonald case. Understanding the need for unity and solidarity she implored the crowd to stand up and speak up for one another. Littrice told a story about a protest she was at where the Black protesters and white protesters linked arms in unity. The cops harassed the Black protesters while asking the white protesters if they were OK and if they needed anything. “They [white protesters] really let them have it,” Lashawn recalled. She urged the conference, “Let’s not be afraid,” and to fight against division, for unity. With militant spirit, Lashawn closed out her speech by leading the crowd in a chant of “Justice for Laquan or else!”
Leading PSL members speak
Following solidarity statements and the report from comrades and friends across the Midwest, Eugene Puryear and Gloria La Riva, members of the Central Committee of the Party for Socialism and Liberation, spoke in the main session of the conference.
“We’re living in a paradoxical time,” Puryear began, “It feels like our power is rising because so many people are interested in what we have to say while at the same time the people who are making the decisions represent the most retrograde elements in the capitalist establishment.” Puryear agreed with Fisher that this coming historical period represents one of a crisis of capitalism and “challenges to the post-World War II order of U.S. domination… That it’s either socialism or barbarism.”
Puryear concluded: “We are in a good time to be socialists. It’s becoming clearer to people that Capitalism does not represent an alternative. Socialism is the alternative and we need to be more dogged in our approach. We need to be more aggressive about presenting alternatives. We need turn apathy into action in a time when the powers that be are clearly so threatened that they have given Jeff Sessions unlimited spying powers.”
Gloria La Riva spoke after Puryear. Her talk was very well-received. She spoke about the movement against racist police terror. She relayed to the audience the history of police brutality in Chicago and across the country. “It’s been four years since Mike Brown was murdered and there have been over 4,000 killed by the police and so many more brutalized. There have been rebellions after rebellions… The question is are we ever going to get justice?”
La Riva said for the answer to that question we must study history: “Struggles that seemed hopeless have been won because people persisted—they kept the unity. Look at Vietnam—after decades of fighting French imperialism they slowly amassed their forces at the great battle of Dien Bien Phu and smashed the French!”
The conference also heard La Riva explode some myths about capitalism perpetuated by apologists for the system. The first myth is that apitalism provides incentive for innovation and production. In reality, the only incentive under capitalism is the incentive for profit. Production of goods necessary for survival is often neglected because it does not turn a profit for capitalists, for example low cost housing or medicine.
The truth is that workers have always made what they need when they need it. The example of Cuba is a pertinent one, where a country attacked by blockade has created possibly the best healthcare system in the entire world. The second
myth is thataxes or economic control over capitalists is bad for everyone. The reality is that when taxes are shifted from capitalists, they fall on the working class who has had to share a greater and greater tax burden since the 1980s. It is in truth the dictatorial rule of capital that threatens humanity. Capitalists and their corrupt politicians are the ones who decide to close down factories and shutter hospitals.
After hearing from Puryear and La Riva, the conference took a brief intermission for lunch before breaking out into several workshops. Two sessions of workshops had three different threads. Session one included “Marxism 101: What is Capitalism? Socialism? Is a revolution possible in the United States?,” “The Struggle against Racist Police
Terror, COINTELPRO 2 and the Movement for Socialism and Liberation,” and “The U.S. State’s Anti-Russia Witch Hunt, China and the Reorientation of U.S. Imperialism.” The second session included “Imperialism 101: Understanding the Middle East,” “Venezuela, Cuba, Latin America and U.S. Imperialism,” and “The Korean Struggle for Peace and Reunification.”
The conference came together for closing remarks following the workshops. Michelle, a Syrian, spoke on the importance of defending Syria from imperialist attack and misinformation, saying “It is the responsibility of the working class to organize against these imperialist attacks.”
The need for revolutionary party
Afterwards, John Beacham gave a concluding talk on the need for a revolutionary party in the heart of imperialism. Beacham, a founding member of the PSL and long time fighter in the struggle, explained how the party builds cadre, how the older members share experience and educate, how we can help build a movement of workers and oppressed people, and what it means to be a part of the Party for Socialism and Liberation.
Beacham talked about the toxic lead in the water system in Chicago that is a result of city building codes that mandated lead service lines. Now the city refuses to do anything about it, despite the fact that the laws are
responsible for the poisoning of the city. He said, “What type of society is it that intentionally poisons its people and then refuses to correct the problem? If we asked people, ‘Do you want lead in your water?’ Would they say, ‘Yes?’ Of course not!”
Beacham continued: “When you live in a society that harms you and then does nothing to help you—won’t spend the money to help you live—you live in a dictatorship. It’s time to scrap the capitalist dictatorship we live under and institute a society where working an oppressed people make the decisions. A society where we have the power to do things like stop the poisoning of our children, get justice for Laquan and the Palestinian people are no longer living under a racist, apartheid regime.”
Dinner, drinks, dancing and karaoke were provided after the successful conference. Members and friends reported feeling energized and empowered after the conclusion of the conference. They will take the lessons learned
back to their own communities. Let’s continue our work to build a movement of conscious fighters for the working class. Let’s continue to build the Party for Socialism and Liberation!
