America needs a third political party representing the views of the working class, a spokesman for the Socialist Equality Party said at MCCC Nov. 4.
Tom Tower, from the Ann Arbor branch of the party, held a discussion in the C building entitled, “The Breakdown of Capitalism and the Fight for Socialism.”
Tower said the purpose of the discussion was to explain the need for a third party in the U.S, and also highlight the downfall of the capitalist government.
The talk was sponsored by an MCCC club, the International Students for Social Equality. The club was formed last year, with English professor Terry Telfer as the adviser.
According to Tower, the American people are realizing that both of the current party’s policies are the same.
“The Achilles heel of the working class is the absence of an independent mass socialist movement,” he said.
The Socialist Party recognizes the basic social rights of the working class: the right to a job, the right to livable income, the right to housing and the right to education.
According to the party, there has been a catastrophic decline of American capitalism, Tower said. Obama wants to restore the American economy and capitalism by cutting the lifestyle of working class citizens.
The goal of the Socialists is to “defend the interests [of the working class] and oppose the efforts of the financial and corporate aristocracy,” he said.
The only way this will happen is to construct a third political socialist party, Tower said. The party would then attempt to create a global economy.
Ideally, this would mean that the working class in American would cooperate, rather than compete, with the workers from other countries, such as China and India, he said.
The Obama administration, corporations and the wealthy have used the economic crisis to increase their wealth, according to a party flyer. It added that a warning must be raised with all urgency. The present situation will not simply go away.
A series of meetings will be held to discuss the socialist program and the political strategy for building a working class movement against capitalism.
“If the working class responds to the socialist movement, Tea-Party advocates will be blown to smithereens,” Tower said.
