Some 400 people have already registered to attend the gathering, the heart of which will be the discussion and decisions by the delegates to the convention, the party’s highest decision-making body. The SWP National Committee has submitted a draft resolution, “Their Transformation and Ours,” to be voted on. It is publicly available in issue no. 12 of New International magazine (see New International ad).
The classes will be an opportunity for discussion by all participants.
Four classes draw on the section in “Their Transformation and Ours” that describes the broad social and political trends increasing the strength of the working class, historical trends that increasingly mark this century:
•“The Dictatorship of the Proletariat and Black Workers in the United States,” presented by Joel Britton. Martín Koppel will give this class in Spanish. The main reading for it is a 1933 discussion that Leon Trotsky, a leader of the October 1917 Russian Revolution, held with SWP leader Arne Swabeck. It appears under the title “The Negro question in America” in the Pathfinder title Leon Trotsky on Black Nationalism and Self-Determination (pages 23-34).
•“Back to the Foundations of Marxism: Women, Class, and Family,” by Mary-Alice Waters. The main reading is the 1979 resolution, “Socialist Revolution and the Struggle for Women’s Liberation” contained in the first of the three-volume Education for Socialists bulletin titled “Communist Continuity and the Fight for Women’s Liberation” (pages 37-61).
•“U.S. Capitalism and the Internationalization of the Working Class,” by Anne Kelly.
•“Capitalism, Proletarian Solidarity, and the Declining Hold of State-Enforced Religious Obscurantism,” by Richard Taylor and Ma’mud Shirvani.
•Other classes drawing on the communist movement’s political continuity and themes central to “Their Transformation and Ours” include: “Bolshevism and Stalinism, the Proletarian Struggle for Power, and the Political Counterrevolution that Marked the 20th Century,” by Steve Clark. The suggested reading is the 1937 article “Stalinism and Bolshevism,” contained in Writings of Leon Trotsky, 1936-37.
•“Defending the Vanguard of Our Class: The Bosses, Their Courts, and Imperialism’s Offensive Against Labor,” by Róger Calero.
•“The Working Class Confronts War Profiteering: from the Liberty Ships and Port Chicago, to Point Blank Body Armor Today,” by Maggie Trowe and Omari Musa.
•“1938-45: Proletarianization of the Party and the Test of World War II,” by Dave Prince.
Another class is on “The Working Class and the Transformation of Learning: An Introduction to Socialism,” by Olivia Nelson in English and by Brian Taylor in Spanish. The class is based on the pamphlet by Jack Barnes of the same name.
The classes are designed to encourage further reading and study. Those attending the convention will be able to expand their own libraries by taking advantage of a special book sale offering big discounts—up to 50 percent off (see suggested reading).
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