The SWP's 2020 Campaign Platform

The Transitional Program is among the founding documents of modern Trotskyism. Written by Trotsky in 1938, it describes a method by which the revolutionary party can hasten the radicalization of the working class.

The original text is turgid prose--I don't recommend it. But in brief summary, the Party (in this case the Socialist Workers Party--SWP) should put forward seemingly reasonable demands that workers will all agree with, but which are impossible for the ruling class to accommodate. Out Now, referring to American troops in Vietnam, is a classic example. Workers thrilled to the call, demonstrating by the hundreds of thousands against the war, but it was impossible for the US government to precipitously end the war. (Though they came pretty close.)

Trotskyist presidential campaigns are supposedly designed around these so-called transitional demands. Impossible on the one hand; reasonable on the other. The thirteen demands that constitute the SWP's 2020 campaign platform (offered in support of the Alyson Kennedy/Malcolm Jarrett ticket) fail this test. They're completely unreasonable. No doubt the bourgeoisie will be flummoxed--but so will everybody else.

Here is the list:

UNIONS/FOR A LABOR PARTY Support workers’ struggles to organize to defend themselves, to use union power on behalf of ourselves and all working people. Workers need their own party, a labor party. One union for all drivers — taxi, Uber, Lyft, other app-based and car service drivers! Support farmworkers in their fight to organize unions and for safe working conditions.

This is a demand on the working class--not the bourgeoisie, and as such is not transitional. Every Trotskyist grouplet makes the same demand--even the laughable Jeff Mackler. The sentence about drivers is a non sequitur--they're effectively self-employed and can't meaningfully organize.

 AMNESTY FOR ALL UNDOCUMENTED IMMIGRANTS in the US, a life-and-death question for the unions to unite workers and cut across divisions the bosses use to drive down wages. For access to driver’s licenses for all.

Should people who arrive on tourist visas be granted the same amnesty? Or should they get amnesty only after they overstay their visas? Immigration laws don't drive down wages, but instead raise them because they lower competition for jobs. Not clear why they don't demand an end to all driver's licenses--what's the point of issuing them to all? Should 2-year olds be granted driver's licenses if they're undocumented?

JOBS Fight for a federal government-financed public works program to put millions to work at union-scale wages building roads, bridges, hospitals, child care centers, mass transportation and quality affordable housing workers need. Set the minimum wage to allow workers to have a home and support a family.

This paragraph reads like a timewarp from 1932. How is said public works program gonna put millions to work? Most construction projects require very few workers these days. They built a new building on my campus and there probably weren't more than 20 people on the construction site at any one time. And aren't new roads and bridges mostly just pork barrel projects used to siphon money into the pockets of corrupt officials (union and otherwise)? Can The Militant provide even one example of a new road or bridge that is so desperately needed as to warrant such an emergency effort? 

OPPOSE WASHINGTON’S WARS US hands off Iran, Venezuela and Cuba. US troops out of Afghanistan, Korea, the Middle East. End US colonial rule in Puerto Rico.

The US is pulling out of Afghanistan, the Middle East, and (eventually) Korea. We don't have troops in Venezuela or Cuba (apart from the Guantanamo sideshow). And if Puerto Rico wants independence, then please don't let the door hit them on the way out.

CUBA’S REVOLUTION — AN EXAMPLE End the US rulers’ economic war against Cuba; US out of Guantánamo. The Cuban Revolution in 1959 showed it is possible for workers and farmers to transform themselves in struggle, to take political power and uproot capitalist exploitation.

Nobody--not even my comrade-friends--will choose to voluntarily live in Cuba. Those heroic workers and farmers--all they've done is transform themselves into impoverished slaves of the Castro regime.

HEALTH CARE FOR ALL Fight for universal, government-guaranteed cradle-to-grave health care, and retirement income for all.

We already have health care for all. In the worst case it's Medicaid, which is a far sight better than what they get in Cuba. Most Americans have much better health care than that. And apparently my comrade-friends have never heard of social security.

ABORTION Defend women’s right to unrestricted access to family planning services, including the right to safe, secure abortions.

Not clear why the Party takes a position on abortion--how does it further the World Revolution? Do they also support infanticide? What about killing unwanted two-year olds?

ISRAEL & PALESTINE For the recognition of Israel and of a contiguous Palestinian state. For the right of Jews to return to Israel as a refuge in the face of capitalist crisis, Jew-hatred and murderous violence.

I agree with this demand. Whatever else the SWP is, it is not antisemitic. Thank you!

WORKERS CONTROL OVER PRODUCTION The bosses and their government lie to working people about their production costs and profits, while they insist they can’t afford to pay higher wages. Demand they open their books for inspection by workers and consumers. To prevent capitalist collusion and thievery — and their production of shoddy and dangerous goods like the Boeing 737 MAX — workers in their millions will need to fight for control of production, a step towards taking political power and a school for running the economy for ourselves in the interests of all.

The real demand here is for democratic control over business decisions. This will never work because the primary beneficiaries of business are neither workers nor capitalists, but instead consumers. Businesses respond to the marketplace because it is the market that makes consumers happy. It's consumers who demand safe airplanes--not Boeing employees or managers. If Boeing can't deliver then they should go out of business.

“JUSTICE” SYSTEM Fight against police brutality, racist discrimination and the entire capitalist injustice system with its frame-ups, “plea bargains,” onerous bail and outrageous prison sentences, all of which disproportionately hit workers who are Black. For the right to vote for ex-prisoners and all workers behind bars.

So I'm against police brutality, racist discrimination, onerous bail, etc. as much as the next guy. I'm also against high crime. Crime causes poverty, which is the reason some Black communities are poor. Eliminate the crime and everybody gets richer. My neighborhood is mostly Black. Black teenagers play basketball on the street. But there are very few cops around here and nobody is stopped or frisked. That's because there is no crime. My neighbors--whatever their color--are civilized people.

POLITICAL RIGHTS Defend democratic rights — the right to vote, to free speech and assembly and to bear arms, under attack from Democrats and Republicans alike. Stop FBI and other government spying, harassment and disruption.

I know there is a lot of whining and complaining on both sides of the aisle, but I still think that police interference in our democracy is a relatively minor problem.

PRISONER RIGHTS End solitary confinement. End suppression of the Militant, books and newspapers by prison authorities. Abolish the death penalty, an anti-working-class weapon in the hands of the rulers.

I'm sympathetic to this. Prisoners are wards of the state and it is our collective responsibility to take care of them. I think we have not always lived up to the responsibility. I think we should minimize the number of people in prison and in solitary confinement. But some people are just criminals and have to be locked up. I generally oppose the death penalty.

FARMERS — WORKERS ALLIES ON THE LAND To put a halt to farm foreclosures, bankruptcies and skyrocketing rural debt, we demand nationalization of the land. This puts the soil at the service of the farmers who till it, as opposed to control by the banks and landlords. We demand the government guarantee farmers their costs of production, including their living expenses.

Yet another paragraph from 1932. In what parallel universe is The Militant living in? If the government guaranteed costs of production we would end up with huge surpluses of products that consumers don't want to buy. Like everybody else, farmers have to work for the consumer.

Despite the fact that the Kennedy-Jarrett campaign is a professionally run operation (unlike Jeff Mackler's), these demands aren't transitional. They're not even logical. I'm not even clear what the programmatic differences are with the Bernie Sanders campaign.

This blog endorses the reelection of Donald J. Trump for president.

Further Reading:

• Socialist Resurgence Demands Steep Wage Cuts for Healthcare Workers
• Our President is a Pacifist
• Jeff Mackler Interviewed by Paul Duddridge

Note: Due to health issues, blogging may be light for the next few months.