Solidarity (U.S.)

Solidarity (U.S.)

Solidarity is a socialist group in the United States that describes itself as "a democratic, revolutionary socialist, feminist, anti-racist organization". [ [http://www.solidarity-us.org/ Solidarity | A democratic, revolutionary socialist, feminist, anti-racist organization] official Web site.] It comes out of the Trotskyist tradition but has departed from many aspects of traditional Leninism and Trotskyism. It is more loosely organized than most "democratic centralist" groups, and it does not see itself as the vanguard of the working class or the nucleus of a vanguard. It was formed in 1986 from a fusion of the International Socialists, Workers' Power and Socialist Unity. The former two groups had recently been reunited in a single organization, while the last was a fragment of the Socialist Workers Party (SWP). Solidarity's name was originally in part an homage to the Polish Solidarność — Solidarność had been an independent labor union which in Solidarity's view had challenged the Soviet Union from the left.

From the beginning, Solidarity was an avowedly pluralist organization that included several currents of Trotskyists, left-wing Shachtmanites, Luxemburgists, socialist-feminists, and veterans of New Left groups. Solidarity sought to "regroup" with others to create a large revolutionary socialist and feminist organization. They hoped to initiate a broad regroupment that would include, for example, some of the fragments of the disintegrating New Communist Movement and many more socialist-feminists and New Left veterans. Discussions of regroupment and "Left Refoundation" have been initiated between Solidarity and other left groups of varying tendencies from the 80's to the present, but these have not yet led to broader fusions.

Smaller-scale regroupments have occurred, however. During the 1990s, two organizations fused with Solidarity—the Fourth Internationalist Tendency (a group expelled from the SWP) and Activists for Independent Socialist Politics (a Socialist Action split that had previously worked in Committees of Correspondence). In 2002, members of the Trotskyist League joined Solidarity.

Solidarity has had substantial impact in trade unions,Fact|date=November 2007 working in many unions for shop-floor militancy and rank-and-file democracy. Solidarity members have worked in many other mass movements in the US, including the anti-Apartheid, reproductive rights, Central American solidarity, Free Mumia, anti-war, and Global Justice movements, as well as the Green Party and the Labor Party. Solidarity prides itself on a "non-sectarian" approach to building these movements, and traditionally has prioritized this over building itself. Solidarity publishes a bi-monthly left journal, "Against the Current", [ [http://www.solidarity-us.org/atc Against the Current] Web site.] which is produced by an editorial board including Solidarity members and independents.

In 2000, Solidarity endorsed both the Green Party's Ralph Nader and Socialist Party USA's David McReynolds for President (Solidarity permits joint membership in the Socialist Party USA). In August 2004 Solidarity again endorsed the candidacy of Ralph Nader. In 2008 Solidarity endorsed Cynthia McKinney of the Green Party. [" [http://www.solidarity-us.org/node/1604 A Campaign with Issues] ", "Against the Current" editorial, July/August 2008 (accessed 24 July 2008).]

References

* [http://www.solidarity-us.org/indexFS.html Founding Statement] , 1986.
* [http://www.marxists.org/history/etol/document/fit/rebuildindex.htm In Defense of American Trotskyism: Rebuilding the Revolutionary Party] . Edited by Paul Le Blanc. Published by the Fourth Internationalist Tendency, First Edition: December, 1990. Archived on Marxist Internet Archive. Retrieved April 20, 2005.

External links

[http://www.solidarity-us.org/ Solidarity Website]


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Поможем решить контрольную работу

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Solidarity (UK) — Solidarity was a small libertarian socialist organisation and magazine of the same name in the United Kingdom. Solidarity was close to council communism in its prescriptions and was known for its emphasis on workers self organisation and for its… …   Wikipedia

  • Solidarity — Sol i*dar i*ty, n. [F. solidarit[ e], fr. solide. See {Solid}.] An entire union or consolidation of interests and responsibilities; fellowship; community. [1913 Webster] Solidarity [a word which we owe to the French Communists], signifies a… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • solidarity — sol·i·dar·i·ty /ˌsä lə dar ə tē/ n in the civil law of Louisiana: the quality or state of being solidary: existence of a solidary obligation will not presume solidarity Merriam Webster’s Dictionary of Law. Merriam Webster. 1996 …   Law dictionary

  • Solidarity — a ↑trade union which was started in Poland in 1980 by Lech Walesa. Solidarity organized ↑strikes in order to force Poland s Communist government to make political and economic changes. For a time it was an illegal organization and many of its… …   Dictionary of contemporary English

  • solidarity — 1841, from Fr. solidarité mutual responsibility, a coinage of the Encyclopédie (1765), from solidaire interdependent, complete, entire, from solide (see SOLID (Cf. solid)). With a capital S , the name of an independent trade union movement in… …   Etymology dictionary

  • solidarity — *unity, union, integrity Analogous words: consolidation, concentration, unification (see corresponding verbs at COMPACT): cooperation, concurrence, combination (see corresponding verbs at UNITE) …   New Dictionary of Synonyms

  • solidarity — [n] unity accord, agreement, alliance, comradeship, confederation, consensus, federation, fellowship, harmony, indivisibility, oneness, sameness, support, teamwork, unanimity, undividedness, unification, uniformity, union; concepts 664,714,837 …   New thesaurus

  • solidarity — ► NOUN ▪ unity resulting from common interests, feelings, or sympathies …   English terms dictionary

  • solidarity — [säl΄ə dar′ə tē] n. pl. solidarities [Fr solidarité < solidaire: see SOLID & ARY] combination or agreement of all elements or individuals, as of a group; complete unity, as of opinion, purpose, interest, or feeling SYN. UNITY …   English World dictionary

  • Solidarity — For other uses, see Solidarity (disambiguation). Sociology …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”