By Editorial Board of Workers’ Voice
Over the March 9-10 weekend, Workers’ Voice (WV) held its second National Congress. Elected delegates and observers from around the country participated in the event, which took place in the San Francisco Bay Area.
The delegates observed that since WV’s Congress two years ago—which marked the fusion of Workers’ Voice, Socialist Resurgence, and other forces—we have witnessed energized fightbacks from working-class and oppressed peoples, resurgent labor militancy, growing resentment and disdain for the Democratic Party, and an increasingly violent reshuffling within the imperialist world order. A radicalization has taken place especially among the youth, as shown in the recent mass mobilizations in solidarity with Palestine. All of this is highly positive for the building of an organization that is armed with a revolutionary socialist program.
In preparation for the Congress, several resolutions—including a Political Resolution and a Tasks and Perspectives Report—were presented to the Workers Voice membership for four months of debate and a vote. In turn, the elected delegates at the Congress discussed, amended, and voted on the resolutions. They also nominated and elected the members of the new Central Committee, which will meet regularly to provide national leadership between Congresses.
A major section of the Political Resolution, and the discussion on the Congress floor, focused on the heightened competition between major imperialist countries in Africa, the Middle East, Eastern Europe, and the Pacific. The resolution stated that “all imperialisms must be opposed, starting with our own imperialist government and state in the United States but also the Russian and Chinese ones.”
The resolution went on to say, “In the international arena, the war in Ukraine and Israel’s ongoing war on Palestinians are the most prominent examples of the crisis of world hegemony of the United States. Both are creating internal cracks within the old imperialist order and the Democratic Party apparatus.”
The resolution noted how U.S. support for Israel’s invasion of Gaza has mobilized people: “Hundreds of thousands have gone into the streets against the Israeli invasion, and many are unsure of how to continue to support the hypocritical Democratic political machine. In many respects, these demonstrations are proving to be the continuation of the upsurge that began in 2020 around the George Floyd murder.”
In regard to the war in Ukraine, the resolution affirmed, “Ukraine has the right to self-determination and self-defense against an imperialist power [Russia]. It also has the right to accept arms for the purpose of self-defense. Unfortunately, Ukraine is caught between imperialist powers. There should be no illusions regarding the intentions of either the U.S. or the other members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization to gain political influence and financial profits from any settlement of the war.”
After voting on the Political Resolution, delegates to the Congress drew a balance sheet on the organization’s past two years of political activism. We assessed our work in the immigrant rights, reproductive rights, civil liberties, Black liberation, labor, climate, LGBTQ, and anti-imperialist movements, and proposed priorities and tasks for the coming period.
The political challenges that working people face today are immense. But we are committed to building an organization that can mobilize the working class into action and that can retain the lessons and connections made in every battle against oppression and exploitation. At the same time, Workers’ Voice is looking to build campaigns through joint work and discussion with other socialist organizations, on a principled foundation of mass action, anti-imperialism, and class independence. Hopefully, this process will lead to a furthering of the fusion process begun in 2022.
WV members at the Congress felt exhilarated to meet in person, share experiences, and discuss the best ways to move forward. At the end of the Congress, greetings from our co-thinkers in the International Workers League-Fourth International—including greetings from Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, Spain, and Italy—were read to the conference.
If you agree with our basic program and want to help stop capitalism from destroying most life on Earth, you should join Workers Voice! A better world is possible! For socialism!
Our 10-point program:
1) Defend unions and workers’ rights to organize! For an independent labor party based on a democratic, fighting labor movement! No support for Democrats and Republicans!
2) Stop all deportations now! Equal rights for immigrants! Close the camps!
3) Black Lives Matter! Jail killer cops! Dismantle the racist police and the criminal “justice” system! Reparations, land repatriation and self-determination for Blacks, Puerto Ricans, and all indigenous and colonized peoples!
4) Reproductive justice: Free, accessible contraception and abortion on demand! Defend bodily autonomy, whether for childbearing, abortion, or gender-confirming therapy!
5) Free quality universal public health care now! Quality free public child care and elder care for all, 24-7! Free education for a lifetime!
6) Full civil and human rights for the LGBTQIA+ community!
7) For climate justice! Public ownership of the energy industry under workers’ and community control to achieve emergency conversion to 100% renewable energy!
8) No U.S. military intervention abroad! Dismantle the war machine! End U.S. aid to Israel! For a democratic secular Palestine! End sanctions on Venezuela, Iran, and Cuba!
9) For the full integration of disabled people into social, political, and economic life.
10) Public ownership, under workers’ control, of big industry, transport, and the banks! For a workers’ government and a planned economy—for socialism!
*First published at https://workersvoiceus.org/2024/03/23/workers-voice-holds-second-national-congress/
