This Blog will be closing in two weeks. I simply have more work than I can handle and Fist and Rose Tendency has done its thing and moved on. Goodbye to the FART,

The FIST and ROSE Manifesto

The Socialist Party USA Fist & Rose Tendency is a coalition of pro "Second (Socialist) Internationalists" within the Party which seek to establish friendly ties with all of the democratic-left throughout the world. Our primary aim is for the Socialist Party USA to re-establish our traditional past ties with the Socialist International (the worldwide federation of labour, social-democratic, and democratic-socialist-parties). At the present time, it is not feasible for the SPUSA to be a full member of the SI. We are a tiny party at the present, and there are already two official US affiliates that are current members. While current membership non-status is due to finances and already existing membership of other organizations; we believe (as the Socialist Party of Eugene Victor Debs, Victor Berger, Morris Hilquit, Mary Harris "Mother" Jones, Clarence Darrow, Peter Bellamy, Mary White Ovington, Kate Richards O'Hare, Meyer London, Margret Sanger, Crystal Eastman, Norman Thomas, R.W. Tucker, Dave Tucker, Harry Laidler, Sinclair Lewis, Upton Sinclair, A. Philip Randolph, Reinhold Neibuhr, Carl Sandburg, Walter Ruether, Victor Ruether, Gus Tyler, Frank Zeidler, Emanuel Muravchik, Samuel Friedman, Darlington Hoopes, Michael Harrington, Bogdan Denitch, Debbie Mieir, David McReyonlds, James Farmer, Bill & Mae Biggs, Charles Curtis, Max & Sylvia Wohl, J. Quinn Brisben, Eric Fromm, John Cort, Walter Bergman, Carl Shier, Julian Bond, Noman Hill, Fay Bennett Watts, Mulford Q. Sibley, Dick Parrish, Bill Edwards, Daniel Hoan, William Osborn Hart, Robin Myers, Harry Fleischman, Julie Jacobson, Ernst Papanek, and countless trade unionists and human rights activists) that our eventual membership within the SI should be a top priority for the Party, as we grow.

In the age of global hyper-capitalism, our ties to parties and movements which created societies closest to our collective ideals necessitates a political party in the American political landscape which could reach out and develop relations in which we could grow into a mainstream domestic movement. For this, we seek to re-join our Sisters & Brothers within the Socialist International, which could mean fraternal ties, observer status, and eventually official membership status.

In America's current politically conservative direction, we need to see a movement evolve which would establish an alternative to the harsh capitalism of the US Republican Party and the reformed-capitalism of the US Democratic Party. While it is self evident that the Republican's vision of capitalism runs contrary to the aspirations of democratic-socialism, the current leadership of the Democrats runs far short of what we would like to see regarding the fundamental questions of the existing capitalist system. Being critical of the mainstream Democratic leadership these days, we recognize that there are Democrats with politics and ideology consistent with the aims and desires of all of the democratic-left in the United States and around the world. They like to call themselves "liberals" or "progressives," yet they are still marginalized today. They are or should be our political allies, and it is our job to convince them that their ideal of "liberalism" or "progressivism" is synonymous with democratic-socialism.

By working together, we can build a multi-racial working class feminist movement which could result in the formation of a democratic-socialist electoral effort which challenges the harsh capitalism and reformed-capitalism of the current two party system. This can be done through grass-roots activism within the Civil Rights, Immigrant Rights, Feminist, Gay & Lesbian Liberation, Environmentalist, Anti-War, and Trade Union Movements. Upon a successful formation of these united movements, it would be in our collective best interests to have friends from around the world to support our domestic movement for social & economic justice.

We are encouraged by our friends abroad. The past and present achievements of political parties like the Swedish Social Democratic Party, the New Democratic Party of Canada, the French Socialist Party, the Puerto Rican Independence Party, the African National Congress (South Africa), the Israeli Yachad Party, the People's National Party of Jamaica, the New Zealand Labour Party, the Movement for Democratic Change of Zimbabwe, the Norwegian Labour Party, the Mexican Party for Democratic Revolution, the Socialist Party of Argentina, the Portuguese Socialist Party, and the Spanish Socialist Worker's Party just to name a few are excellent examples of how a socialist transformation of society can take place. It may not be "pure," but it is certainly ahead of the situation we are at in the United States. While supporting the Socialist (Second) International, we also seek friendly ties with democratic-socialist-parties outside the SI (the Dutch Socialist Party, the Swedish Left Party, the Danish Socialist People's Party, the newly formed German Left Party, the Brazilian Worker's Party and the Socialist Left Party of Norway among others).

In our domestic activist work, we want our movement to be one that is sane and sensible. This means we reject sectarianism, ideological purity, political correctness, and outlandish rhetoric to which the average person cannot relate. Further we reject authoritarianism whether in comes in the guise of Communism, Fascism, Monopoly Capitalism, or Theocracy. The aims of the Fist-and-Rose Tendency is to make democratic-socialism the political mainstream inside the United States. If you agree with our aims, join us and be counted.

Signatories:

• Eric Bagai
• Nick Brisini
• Walter F. Brown
• David Hacker
• Aram Kolesar
• Christopher Kupchella
• Jill Kupchella
• Melvin Little
• Michael Marino
• Cassidy Martinez
• Ken Myers
• Gabe Ross
• Susan Ross
• Celese Thomas
• Tenkemenin Thomas
• Dwight Welch
• Garland Williams
• Michael Yoder