Seeks to “build a revolutionary socialist movement in the
working class and allied sectors of the oppressed”
Views nonwhites, women, and homosexuals as "oppressed" demographic groups
Works to replace capitalism with socialism
Founded
by self-identified “revolutionary socialists” in 1986 to combat
“the ascendancy
of Reaganism,” Solidarity today seeks,
by means of “activist
work,” to “build a revolutionary socialist movement in the
working class and allied sectors of the oppressed.” Foremost among the oppressed, in Solidarity's estimation, are nonwhites who
suffer the sting of the ubiquitous racism
that creates “poverty and misery for millions” of Americans. To counteract such
institutionalized bigotry, Solidarity supports “the struggle for
affirmative action” and other compensatory measures designed to help “people
of color” to “figh[t] for dignity and power and self
determination.”
Solidarity
identifies women
as a second “oppressed” demographic who, as a result of conservative misogyny, not only are paid
inordinately low wages for their labor, but also must ward off constant attempts to deprive them of their “reproductive
rights.” To address these alleged problems, Solidarity fights
for what it terms “women's liberation” and “women's equality.”
Beginning in the early 1990s, Solidarity was part of the “clinic
defense” movement that “pushed back violent attacks against
women and healthcare workers, and mobilized with others against the
physical blockades of reproductive health clinics.” Today the organization supports
"equal-pay" legislation giving female plaintiffs greater latitude to
seek legal restitution for alleged workplace discrimination.
Solidarity
also supports
“lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) liberation,”
on behalf of this third broad category of the “oppressed.”
Specifically, the organization condemns “the
existing heterosexual family system” that “forces children into
a rigid, heterosexual mold, and oppressive, limited definitions of
masculinity, femininity and sexuality.” Further, says Solidarity,
homosexual partnerships should be granted “equal recognition and
support with married and unmarried heterosexual couples”; lesbians
and gay men should have “full rights to custody of their
children”; and “the unjustified bias in adoption and foster
placement toward 'traditional' or 'normal' households must be
eliminated.”
By
Solidarity's reckoning,
the aforementioned demographic groups are among the many inevitable victims of capitalism,
“an outmoded social system now deep in crisis.” "Humanity will only be freed from the barbarism of
war, environmental devastation, poverty, unemployment and declining
living standards for millions," Solidarity says, "when capitalism has been displaced by a
rational, planned, democratic, and participatory economic system:
socialism."
Solidarity
rejects both
the Republican and Democratic parties as “capitalist” entities that are “fundamentally anti-working
class, racist and sexist”—i.e., insufficiently radical. Consequently, the organization opposes
“any form of participation in, or support for, these parties.”
Rather, “we call for the working class and its allies to form a
new, independent political party that fights for their needs.”
Not
restricting itself solely to issues of domestic politics within the United
States, Solidarity describes itself as an organization of
“internationalists” who “support movements for
self-determination and national liberation throughout the world and
the struggles of workers for better living standards and social and
political power everywhere.” Specifically, it “fight[s] against
U.S. aggression and imperialism” in such far-flung places as
Central and South America, Indonesia, Iraq, the Balkans, and
“Palestine,” among others. In a related endeavor, Solidarity likewise opposes “the buildup of the U.S. war
machine”—calling
for
“unilateral disarmament in the U.S.” while supporting
“the independent peace movements of Eastern
Europe.”
To promote its values and agendas, Solidarity encourages
all of its members to: (a) contribute to the online discussion bulletins
on the organization's website, and (b) attend Solidarity's retreats,
workshops, and “Summer Schools” that focus on strategy, theoretical
development, and “big picture” political and
economic analysis. Some Solidarity members are organized in a caucus
supporting the Fourth International,
which has sections in numerous countries.
Solidarity also produces
Against
the Current,
a bimonthly magazine featuring articles by members as well as
revolutionary activists and intellectuals from social movements around the world. The publication's most notable
advisory
editor
is Noam Chomsky.
Solidarity
has at least 22 local and regional branches
in the United States, based in such major cities as
Los Angeles, San Francisco, Washington DC, Atlanta, Miami, Chicago,
Baltimore, Boston, Ann Arbor, Detroit, New York, Cincinnati, Houston,
Dallas, Austin, San Antonio, Portland (Oregon), Philadelphia, and
Providence.
