Talking about Socialism

"ALL THAT is solid melts into air, all that is holy is profaned."

In The Communist Manifesto, Karl Marx and Frederick Engels used these words to describe the constant turmoil and tumult of capitalism that distinguished it from earlier epochs of human history. Fast forward 165 years, and Marx and Engels would no doubt be both astonished and unsurprised by the economic, political and social issues of our time.

Without question, capitalism's technological accomplishments during the last century and a half are stunning. Marx and Engels, who lived at the dawn of capitalism, before the electrification of cities, would likely be awestruck by the digital revolution, and by the advances of medical science and space travel.

On the other hand, much as they predicted in the Manifesto and many other writings, the gap between rich and poor has grown obscene--to the extent that eliminating the extreme poverty endured by some 500 million people around the world would barely make a dent in the fortunes of the world's 1,200 billionaires.

Marx and Engels would not be at all surprised to learn that unbridled, profit-driven industrial production might, in a matter of decades, make the earth uninhabitable--or that millions of people, even in the U.S., the richest nation on earth, are denied access to the wonders of 21st century medical advances because they don't have health insurance.

In the U.S., the social and political landscape has changed remarkably rapidly in recent decades, even as it remains stiflingly the same. Interracial marriages were illegal in many states a couple generations ago--today they are common. Women have entered the workforce--in the U.S. and around the world--in unprecedented numbers. The U.S. Supreme Court is due to make a ruling on same-sex marriage in the coming weeks, and there's a fair chance that this most conservative of American political institutions will rule in favor of equality. And yet racism, sexism and homophobia daily constrain, distort and oppress the lives of millions.

Attendees of the Socialism 2013 conference, on June 27-30 in Chicago, want to make sense of this contradiction. More than 130 sessions at the conference--which is sponsored by the Center for Economic Research and Social Change and cosponsored by the International Socialist Organization, publisher of SocialistWorker.org--will take up questions of relevance to those seeking to contribute to social justice in our time.

"Imagine going from a panel led by students combating rape culture on college campuses to a historical talk on lessons from the 1970s feminist movement, and ending the day chanting, 'Show me what a feminist looks like!' in a room with 1,000 other radicals," said Madeline Burrows, a student activist for women's rights. "I've been to the past six Socialism conferences, and I leave each year inspired and energized."

THE AIM of the conference is an informed debate about our world--to decipher what is and will remain solid, and what will melt into air--in order to develop a strategy for changing it.

Glenn Greenwald--the Guardian columnist who broke the story of the National Security Agency's monitoring of all phone and Internet communications--had this to say about Socialism 2013:

As someone who speaks at all sorts of political gatherings every year, I can say with certainty that no event assembles more passionate activism, genuine expertise and provocative insights than the Socialism conference. This will be my third straight year attending, and what keeps me coming back is how invigorating and inspiring it is to be in the midst of such diverse and impressive activists.

Socialists and Marxists have an undeserved reputation for being confusing or downright unintelligible--but the Socialism conference is annual antidote. As actor, playwright and author Wallace Shawn said:

I would come every day if it ran 365 days a year. I think the word socialism sometimes makes people think, "This is going to be complicated and difficult. I need to know economics in order to understand it, and maybe it'll be over my head." I mean, I was afraid of that myself. But I've learned a tremendous amount, and I found it fascinating. It's a great experience, and I think everyone should try to come.

It's crucial for those who want to change the world to develop a strategy for doing so, and one that rests on a solid foundation, not one that might evaporate. The aim of the transformation of the world by a self-conscious movement of working people in all their diversity--Black, Latino, Arab, Asian and white; gay, straight and trans; men and women; young and old; and on and on--demands nothing less.

According to Joseph "Jazz" Hayden, a founding member of the Campaign to End the New Jim Crow and AllThingsHarlem.com:

This will be my third year attending the Socialism conference, and I look forward to the strong feeling of togetherness, youthful energy and the intellectual exchange of knowledge and experience that brings us all together. At the conference, there's not just discussion of what's wrong with the American policy of mass incarceration, but also practical ideas about how to do something about it. This truly is "what democracy looks like."

This point--that activists can and must get together to clarify their ideas in order to be more effective at making a difference--is what makes the Socialism 2013 conference different. The event brings together the breadth of radical political theory with day-to-day practical efforts to change today's world--all with an eye to the future transformation of capitalism.

If you're still deciding whether to come to Socialism, consider the lyrics of Gil Scott-Heron's "The Revolution Will Not be Televised," which exhorted those on the sidelines to plunge into the struggle for a better world.

The revolution will not go better with Coke.
The revolution will not fight the germs that may cause bad breath.
The revolution will put you in the driver's seat.
The revolution will not be televised.

(But it might be tweeted--#Socialism2013)