Marxism Conference in Detroit Attracts Midwest Activists
Panels presented on the history and contemporary struggles against capitalism
By Abayomi Azikiwe
Editor, Pan-African News Wire
A conference in Detroit sponsored by the local branch of Workers World Party (WWP) and youth organization Fight Imperialism, Stand Together (FIST) was held on Aug. 23-24. The event brought together members and supporters of WWP from Michigan, Ohio, Illinois, Wisconsin and Virginia along with other activists seeking to learn more about Marxist-Leninist theory and the current struggle for socialism in the United States and around the world.
The gathering took place amid an ongoing movement in Detroit against the bank-imposed economic crisis and forced bankruptcy. Many of the talks drew upon the lessons learned over the last eight years in efforts to win a moratorium on foreclosures, evictions and utility shut-offs as well as holding the financial institutions accountable for the damage caused to the working class and nationally oppressed in the current period.
Entitled “Marxism: The Science Behind the Struggle”, the conference in its call for participation stated that “There is a resurgence of the anti-people, anti-worker agenda of the banks and corporations which is devastating the working class and the nationally oppressed. Job losses, increasing unemployment, racism and war are the day-to- day realities of the majority of people here in the United States and around the world.”
This statement continued noting that “In the U.S. we are in the citadel of world capitalism and imperialism. Our responsibility is enhanced due to the role of the ruling class in their efforts to extract even more profits from the misery under which we are forced to live.”
Five Panels on Various Aspects of the Global Class Struggle
The first panel on Aug. 23 “The Science of Marxism” featured presentations by Jerry Goldberg on “where to begin and what is to be done; a brief view of a revolutionary party in struggle.”
Later Tom Michalak of Detroit FIST discussed “dialectical and historical materialism – understanding class struggle.” This panel was chaired by Debbie Johnson, a leading member of the Detroit branch and an activist in the Moratorium NOW! Coalition.
In the second panel entitled “Imperialism and the struggle for national liberation and self-determination in the belly of the beast” presentations were made on the central role of the African American people in the overall movements against racism and global capitalism. During this session a brief history of WWP in the struggle against neo-colonialism, imperialism and for self-determination and national liberation across the world was reviewed ranging from the Chinese Revolution, the African Revolution, the movement in defense of Robert Williams and the African American community in Monroe, North Carolina during the 1960s, the national mobilization to defend busing in Boston during 1974, support for affirmative action, the Southern African liberation movement, etc.
Joe Mchahwar, youth activist and FIST member, addressed the issue of the “militarization of the state” in contemporary U.S. society drawing on the developments in Ferguson, Missouri where numerous police agencies backed up by the National Guard violently suppressed mass demonstrations demanding justice for Michael Brown who was gunned down by a white police officer on Aug. 9. Monica Moorehead of New York, WWP Secretariat member and Workers World newspaper managing editor, was scheduled to attend the conference an address this panel but was sent to cover develops in St. Louis County.
A third panel on “struggles in the belly of the beast” was chaired by Andrea Egypt of the Detroit branch and an activist in the Michigan Emergency Committee Against War & Injustice (MECAWI). Presentations were made by Kris Hamel, a co-founder of Moratorium NOW! Coalition and a managing editor of Workers World, Susan Schnur of the Cleveland branch, and Sharon Feldman of Detroit.
Topics touched on included the struggle of municipal employees against cutbacks, privatization and pension thefts; the crisis in mental health services under capitalist austerity; the struggle for equality led by the LGBTQ communities and the pioneering role of WWP extending back over four decades; lessons from the mass actions in Wisconsin, the occupy movement, Chicago teachers strike, defense of former political prisoners Cece McDonald and Marissa Alexander, etc.; the current right-wing assault on reproductive rights for women, and other issues.
The fourth panel, also chaired by Andrea Egypt, was entitled “the death throes of capitalism” where talks were delivered by Debbie Johnson on the true meaning of austerity; Jill White of Chicago on growing food deficits among working class and oppressed people in the U.S.; Martha Grevatt discussed the present conditions in the auto industry and the need for the trade union leadership to take a class-based political approach to the fight against deteriorating working conditions, attacks on the eight-hour day and cuts in real wages.
On the morning of Sun. Aug. 24, the concluding panel was held entitled “building a socialist future.” Presentation were given by Mike Shane on “organizing and politicizing the working class and the role of a transitional program in the struggle”; Cheryl LaBash, contributing editor for Workers World discussed “Socialism and struggle: a view to Cuba and Latin America; David Sole, a co-founder of the Detroit branch reported on the contemporary anti-imperialist struggle; along with Tom Michalak who talked about these issues from a working class youth perspective.
The summation of the overall theme of the concluding panel was described on the agenda as “Dare to struggle – dare to win: understanding and embracing Marxism, the answer to a dying economic system of racism, war, exploitation and imperialist domination. What side will you be on?
Participants in the conference pledged to build on the understandings and suggestions advanced during the two-day gathering. Activists from Milwaukee proposed a tour by Michigan activists in the fall that would visit several cities in the state of Wisconsin.
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Note: This writer, Abayomi Azikiwe, made two presentations during the conference on the ongoing struggles for self-determination, national liberation and socialism as well as the need to understand and expose the role of the banks and corporations in the imposition of austerity and political repression being enhanced against African American and other people of color communities in the U.S. and oppressed nations throughout the world.
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Panels presented on the history and contemporary struggles against capitalism
By Abayomi Azikiwe
Editor, Pan-African News Wire
A conference in Detroit sponsored by the local branch of Workers World Party (WWP) and youth organization Fight Imperialism, Stand Together (FIST) was held on Aug. 23-24. The event brought together members and supporters of WWP from Michigan, Ohio, Illinois, Wisconsin and Virginia along with other activists seeking to learn more about Marxist-Leninist theory and the current struggle for socialism in the United States and around the world.
The gathering took place amid an ongoing movement in Detroit against the bank-imposed economic crisis and forced bankruptcy. Many of the talks drew upon the lessons learned over the last eight years in efforts to win a moratorium on foreclosures, evictions and utility shut-offs as well as holding the financial institutions accountable for the damage caused to the working class and nationally oppressed in the current period.
Entitled “Marxism: The Science Behind the Struggle”, the conference in its call for participation stated that “There is a resurgence of the anti-people, anti-worker agenda of the banks and corporations which is devastating the working class and the nationally oppressed. Job losses, increasing unemployment, racism and war are the day-to- day realities of the majority of people here in the United States and around the world.”
This statement continued noting that “In the U.S. we are in the citadel of world capitalism and imperialism. Our responsibility is enhanced due to the role of the ruling class in their efforts to extract even more profits from the misery under which we are forced to live.”
Five Panels on Various Aspects of the Global Class Struggle
The first panel on Aug. 23 “The Science of Marxism” featured presentations by Jerry Goldberg on “where to begin and what is to be done; a brief view of a revolutionary party in struggle.”
Later Tom Michalak of Detroit FIST discussed “dialectical and historical materialism – understanding class struggle.” This panel was chaired by Debbie Johnson, a leading member of the Detroit branch and an activist in the Moratorium NOW! Coalition.
In the second panel entitled “Imperialism and the struggle for national liberation and self-determination in the belly of the beast” presentations were made on the central role of the African American people in the overall movements against racism and global capitalism. During this session a brief history of WWP in the struggle against neo-colonialism, imperialism and for self-determination and national liberation across the world was reviewed ranging from the Chinese Revolution, the African Revolution, the movement in defense of Robert Williams and the African American community in Monroe, North Carolina during the 1960s, the national mobilization to defend busing in Boston during 1974, support for affirmative action, the Southern African liberation movement, etc.
Joe Mchahwar, youth activist and FIST member, addressed the issue of the “militarization of the state” in contemporary U.S. society drawing on the developments in Ferguson, Missouri where numerous police agencies backed up by the National Guard violently suppressed mass demonstrations demanding justice for Michael Brown who was gunned down by a white police officer on Aug. 9. Monica Moorehead of New York, WWP Secretariat member and Workers World newspaper managing editor, was scheduled to attend the conference an address this panel but was sent to cover develops in St. Louis County.
A third panel on “struggles in the belly of the beast” was chaired by Andrea Egypt of the Detroit branch and an activist in the Michigan Emergency Committee Against War & Injustice (MECAWI). Presentations were made by Kris Hamel, a co-founder of Moratorium NOW! Coalition and a managing editor of Workers World, Susan Schnur of the Cleveland branch, and Sharon Feldman of Detroit.
Topics touched on included the struggle of municipal employees against cutbacks, privatization and pension thefts; the crisis in mental health services under capitalist austerity; the struggle for equality led by the LGBTQ communities and the pioneering role of WWP extending back over four decades; lessons from the mass actions in Wisconsin, the occupy movement, Chicago teachers strike, defense of former political prisoners Cece McDonald and Marissa Alexander, etc.; the current right-wing assault on reproductive rights for women, and other issues.
The fourth panel, also chaired by Andrea Egypt, was entitled “the death throes of capitalism” where talks were delivered by Debbie Johnson on the true meaning of austerity; Jill White of Chicago on growing food deficits among working class and oppressed people in the U.S.; Martha Grevatt discussed the present conditions in the auto industry and the need for the trade union leadership to take a class-based political approach to the fight against deteriorating working conditions, attacks on the eight-hour day and cuts in real wages.
On the morning of Sun. Aug. 24, the concluding panel was held entitled “building a socialist future.” Presentation were given by Mike Shane on “organizing and politicizing the working class and the role of a transitional program in the struggle”; Cheryl LaBash, contributing editor for Workers World discussed “Socialism and struggle: a view to Cuba and Latin America; David Sole, a co-founder of the Detroit branch reported on the contemporary anti-imperialist struggle; along with Tom Michalak who talked about these issues from a working class youth perspective.
The summation of the overall theme of the concluding panel was described on the agenda as “Dare to struggle – dare to win: understanding and embracing Marxism, the answer to a dying economic system of racism, war, exploitation and imperialist domination. What side will you be on?
Participants in the conference pledged to build on the understandings and suggestions advanced during the two-day gathering. Activists from Milwaukee proposed a tour by Michigan activists in the fall that would visit several cities in the state of Wisconsin.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Note: This writer, Abayomi Azikiwe, made two presentations during the conference on the ongoing struggles for self-determination, national liberation and socialism as well as the need to understand and expose the role of the banks and corporations in the imposition of austerity and political repression being enhanced against African American and other people of color communities in the U.S. and oppressed nations throughout the world.
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