Status of World Socialist Party (US)
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Marcos, could you possibly get in touch with me via my email at 183606 so I can contact you by email of that is OK with you. Cheers Robin
Robbins I don’t have your email. If you have mine you can write to me . Adam Buick has my emails
Robbins. I already sent you an email
Just to report I am making some progress in looking into the possibility of reviving the WSPUS as the request of the EC. I am more optimistic now that this can happen that when I began doing this. Thanks to the assistance of some comrades in the US I have been able to email quite a few contacts in the US. Although about 20 of these emails have bounced some have found their intended recipient.
I will be drawing up a comprehensive report for the EC in about a month’s time with recommendations about how we can get the WSPUS up and running again as a viable political organisation. The potential for growth in the US is enormous and we should do everything we can to tap into it
Hi all.
I’m a little late to this conversation, but back around January 3rd there were discussions about restructuring, our future and how we the WSM is somewhats stagnant.
There are a few things that I would like to add to that, having been pondering our situation.
First, I would love to discuss better using technology to improve our organisation! I think there are exciting things we could do.
Next, why don’t we hire a PR agency to help us better understand how to reach people? Unless we have anyone with skills in that area who could help us…
And lastly, is that I think we could explore the use of cooperatives as propaganda in the UK. I believe that the Co-operative and Community Benefit Societies Act 2014 provides an amazing legal framework for setting up very imaginative kinds of legal entities. We could become a sponsoring body, meaning we offer model governing documents for various type of legal structure and support their set up. we could position ourselves as a sponsoring body, providing model governing documents to a range of legal structures which can show people the benefits of socialising ownership over private ownership.
One example is that we could have model documents for community library of things. Imagine a catalogue of publicly owned goods, like tents, kayaks, rook racks, lawn rollers, hedge trimmers, etc. High ticket items that capitalism loves to sell us so that it can sit in my loft until I go camping once every 5 years. The idea of tool libraries is already something we have with places like the North Portland Tool Library in the US and Markerspace in London. Why not abstract that to other goods too. It shows people the benefits of socialising the cost of owning these goods in public rather than privately.
We could also have model documents for community kitchens. We spend an inordinate amount of time in the kitchen each day cooking, cleaning and preparing meals. Somewhere on the SPGB site I once read an article which said that under socialism we wouldn’t cook our own meals every day because it’s a massive drain on our own time and resources. Instead we would have community kitchens which cook healthy and nutritious food. So, we create a model whereby communities can set up a legal entity that can purchase, cook and distribute dinners to communities, which could be done at a fraction of the cost of what home-cooking costs working class families. I’d sign up to, and pay for that, to not spend an hour each evening messing up and then cleaning the kitchen. Think of how that could also help elderly communities like in the village where I live.
More simply, we can offer model documents for creating a worker-owned business, rather than a private one. Again, selling otherwise would-be capitalists on the benefits of socialising starting and running an enterprise. Like this guy talks about: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WHys1jc2Png
A comrade did point out to me that in a recent Standard article (October 2018 I think) that we do state coops aren’t the answer, but that doesn’t mean we can’t use them to our advantage!
Any how, I wanted to add these thoughts to the previous discussions.
Hi Neil
I go along with a great deal of what you say. There s an enormous amount of structural waste built into capitalism – like what I called the “extending ladder” phenomenon whereby each little separate household unit owns it own extending ladder which it might use once or twice a year. That’s just daft and a plain misuse of resources. Far better to pool these kinds of things on a community basis
However, I am a little puzzled – how does all this relate to the status of the World Socialist Party in the US? Unless you are referring to the idea of using technology to more effectively reach people and maybe hiring a PR firm to give advice….
I think in the case of the WSPUS there is almost certainly going to have to be a radical change in the structure and procedures of the Party to make it more aligned with the age of the internet. Given the huge size of the country and the small and scattered nature of the membership, communication is going to have to play an absolutely central role to keep everyone in touch with each other and fully committed. Concepts like the Buddy System which the SPGB has agreed to implement (what has become of that?) will become particularly important in the US along with a resuscitated and updated website, a business forum like SPINTCOM, and the widespread adoption of technologies like Skype and video conferencing
It can’t happen too soon!
Hey. I guess it doesn’t — it relates to the SPGB, but from this post onwards, there was some general discussion about organisation of WSM and companion parties.
I suppose my post is very SPGB specific and I’m happy to repost it as a separate thread if required. In fact I was going to when I saw the discussion that happened on this thread.
Hi Neil
OK, yes, I see now where you are linking up with previous conversation on this thread. Still , even so, it might be useful to apply something of what you said to the situation in the US. Do you have any thoughts on this? I am hoping to write up a report next month on my investigation into the WSPUS and would welcome any advice or suggestions from anyone on the question of how to get the organisation up and running again
I don’t think I have a great deal to offer.
However, I will say that via reddit I came across a group of socialists interested in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) who have built quite an impressive online community using Slack as a means of communicating. I requested to join their group, which they use very effectively to organise members from all over the world. They have multiple ongoing projects and initiatives and are growing their member base through it. In addition to real-time chat in Slack, they hold frequent online meetings about their project. They are making very good use of their technology and I don’t see why any other organisations couldn’t do the same.
The main problem of the WSPUS is not technological, it is of organizational character, in some way, it had a similar structure of a vanguard party controlled by cadres, and unwilling to be critical, or to accept any critic. Marx and Engels were just to individuals and their ideas have been spread to several places around the globes because there were peoples willing to spread their ideas in an organizational manner. I started to study socialism body of ideas in a very difficult social situation but there were peoples willing to learn about its principles despite all the limitations
Hi Marcos
Whatever may have been the case in the past, the WSPUS does not seem now to be the same kind of entity you are talking about. There are new people around now and a discernible enthusiasm for reviving the WSPUS. It is very important that we support this development. Clearly, there will have to be new ways of organising activity in the future given the scattered nature of the membership in a big country like the US. These will emerge over time and your contribution would be welcomed
I am more positive about the future of the WSPUS than I was when I started this project at the request of the EC a few weeks ago
Are you intending to investigate and perhaps form closer links with the SPC. Robbo? Will you contact the SPC for their feedback and suggestions?
Since neither party is likely at the moment to engage in electoral process, I think there could be a case made for a merger if members of both parties are willing.
If not that then very closer links as both share common problems, a vast country and a geographic sparse membership. (Although SPC does have an active Toronto branch which is less than a couple of hours drive from Buffalo on the USA border)
Logistically and logically it makes some sense for them to operate as one organization at this time until they develop and grow.
There is a historical precedent for a unified SPC/WSPUS party. The short-lived Socialist Party of North America, 1911 – 1914
There was also the joint publication of the Western Socialist for many years.
Another example would be the WSP (Ireland) operating in constitutionally two separate countries and having dual memberships with the SPGB.
Just a thought if you have not already included the possibility in your plans
Robbin. I think I was talking in past tense because I was informed that the situation has changed
Alan. I support your motion. I think both companion parties are in similar situation. All their membership should join the spgb and become one single organization The spgb can provide technical help to have a more modern internet page
I have suggested a constitutionally unified World Socialist Party, incorporating all the companion parties, Marcos, using the sophisticated by readily available tools of the internet and computers to administer it.
However, I acknowledge from the feedback on the forum that there is no demand for such a party as yet.
Therefore I limited my suggestion to a bilateral agreement between the SPC and the WSPUS, as a more practical proposition.
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