International Socialist Organization

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This article is about the International Socialist Organization in the United States. There is also the International Socialist Organisation (Australia), the International Socialist Organization (New Zealand), and the International Socialist Organization (Zimbabwe).

The International Socialist Organization (ISO) is a revolutionary socialist organization in the United States. The group identifies with the politics of International Socialism and the Marxist political tradition that American socialist writer and activist Hal Draper called "socialism from below".[1]

Contents

[edit] Publications

The organization publishes an online and print newspaper, Socialist Worker with a bi-monthly Spanish language supplement, Obrero Socialista, and a bi-monthly magazine, the International Socialist Review. For much of the ISO's history Socialist Worker was printed weekly, but in February 2008 the organization announced a change to a biweekly print schedule with more regular updates to the website. [2] The ISO also has a publishing house, Haymarket Books started in the year 2000, which publishes both new titles and classics from the socialist tradition. Haymarket Books collaborates with many other independent publishers on common publishing projects and events.[3]

[edit] History

The ISO originated in 1977 when members of the International Socialists (IS) criticized the leadership of that organization for abandoning its strategy of rank and file work in the trade unions, and developed a different position regarding the 1974 revolution in Portugal. This led the dissident group to form a faction of the IS, called the "Left Faction". As a result, the IS moved to expel the group from its organization, which led the Left Faction to start its own political organization.[4]

The new group took the name "International Socialist Organization" and began publication of Socialist Worker as a focus for organizing.[5] The ISO adopted the political theories developed by members of the British Socialist Workers Party (SWP), including the theory of state capitalism. State capitalist theory identifies the former Soviet Union and Eastern Bloc as exploitative class societies driven by military competition with private Western capitalism rather than as deformed workers' states, as Trotsky describes in his The Revolution Betrayed.[6]

Having a small membership in the 1980s, the ISO found that its primary organizing efforts toward rank and file work in the unions was unsustainable. From the early 1980s, the group began organizing and recruiting on university campuses. The decision to focus primarily on students was regarded as a necessary retreat, given the conservative nature of the Reagan era.[7]

In the 1990s the ISO expanded[citation needed] and participated in a series of movements and campaigns, including the movement against the first Gulf War[citation needed] and other US military interventions[citation needed], against racism,[8] and for abortion rights.[9] The group was involved in building a number of the major protests against corporate globalization in the late 1990s,[10] and has been active in opposing what it refers to as "US imperialism" connected with the "war on terror" in the wake of September 11th, including the invasion of Afghanistan as well as the Iraq War.[11] The group has also been active in opposing Israel's occupation of Palestine.[12]

In 2001 the ISO was expelled from the International Socialist Tendency (IST) after a dispute between the British SWP and the leadership of the ISO. This dispute was framed by the SWP as a critique of the ISO's conservative approach to the anti-corporate/anti-capitalist movement.[13] The ISO disputed this claim and criticized the SWP for maintaining what the ISO viewed as an exaggerated perspective for the 1990s, which the SWP termed 'the 1930s in slow motion.'[14]

[edit] Activities

The ISO has involved itself in a number of local and national activist efforts. These include the antiwar movement[15], ending the death penalty[16], support for gay marriage[citation needed] and abortion rights[citation needed], the struggle for immigration rights,[citation needed] among others[citation needed]. Today the ISO is involved in grassroots efforts across the country[citation needed], including opposition to the United States war on terror.

The ISO does not support either the Republican or Democratic party, which it views as representatives of corporate power and empire. The group has however, actively campaigned for the Green Party in various races and assisted Ralph Nader's presidential campaigns in 2000 and 2004.[citation needed] In 2006, one of the ISO's leading members in California, Todd Chretien, challenged Diane Feinstein for Senator on the Green Party ticket, receiving 1.7 percent of the vote.[17][18][19]

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ Draper: The Two Souls of Socialism
  2. ^ A new era for Socialist Worker
  3. ^ CBSD | Publisher Information
  4. ^ Fisk, Milton (1977). Socialism From Below: Origins of the ISO. Hera Press. Retrieved on 2008-02-12. 
  5. ^ "Celebrating our 500th", Socialist Worker, 2002-02-01. Retrieved on 2008-02-23. 
  6. ^ Cliff, Tony (1974). State Capitalism in Russia. Bookmarks. Retrieved on 2008-02-12. 
  7. ^ Lacny, John (2003). ISO: The Joy of Sects. What Next Journal. Retrieved on 2008-02-12.
  8. ^ DeNeen Brown; Amy Argetsinger. "Klan Taunts, Is Taunted in Dueling Rallies in Annapolis", The Washington Post, 1998-02-08, p. B04. Retrieved on 2008-02-13.  Accessed via Lexis-Nexis.
  9. ^ Bennett, Philip. "Abortion protesters face off at clinic", The Boston Globe, 1992-09-15, p. 29. Retrieved on 2008-02-13.  Accessed via Lexis-Nexis.
  10. ^ Angela Couloumbis; Maria Panaritis and Diane Mastrull. "With no warning, clashes begin; police chase roving bands through city", The Philadelphia Inquirer, 2000-08-02, p. AA01. Retrieved on 2008-02-13.  Accessed via Lexis-Nexis.
  11. ^ Campo-Flores, Arian. "A New Peace Movement, Too", Newsweek, 2001-10-01, p. 60. Retrieved on 2008-02-13.  Accessed via Lexis-Nexis.
  12. ^ Featherstone, Liza. "The Mideast War Breaks Out on Campus", The Nation, 2002-05-30. Retrieved on 2008-02-13. 
  13. ^ Split in the IST
  14. ^ SWP Statement
  15. ^ http://www.campusantiwar.net/news/counter-recruitment/sf_state_students_hold_rally_counter_marine_recruiters.html
  16. ^ Protesting Bush's Execution Machine
  17. ^ http://vote.ss.ca.gov/Returns/ussen/00.htm
  18. ^ United States Senator; Green Party Election Information June 6, 2006 Election
  19. ^ Feinstein may encounter Green challenge in'06 - Inside Bay Area

[edit] External Links