Socialist Salon Monthly Discussion Forum

Socialist Salon is DSA's monthly forum to discuss the politics, economics, theory, and practice of democratic socialism. Come to Socialist Salon and share your insights! Socialist Salon Monthly Discussion Forum is generally held on the Third Thursday of the month. The closest metro station is Capitol South.

This month our topic will be

"Why Be a Socialist in the 21st Century U.S.?: Towards a Socialist Strategy"

Joseph M. Schwartz, DSA Vice-Chair and Professor of Political Science at Temple University, will lead a discussion on socialist strategy at the July 18th DC DSA monthly salon. Schwartz will discuss why while the global economic crisis has given rise to protest movements against neo-liberal austerity it has yet to generate a revived left strong enough to govern in the US or western Europe. How a "next left" might be constructed will be the topic of his talk and our discussion.

Suggested reading:

1. Time to Build the Next Left

http://www.dsausa.org/the_voters_defeated_the_right_time_to_build_the_left

2. Towards Freedom http://www.dsausa.org/toward_freedom

3. Where we stand http://www.dsausa.org/where_we_stand

4. The Boys who cried debt

http://www.dsausa.org/the_boys_who_cried_debt

5. The Politics of Race http://www.dsausa.org/the_politics_of_race

Three more lengthy pieces have been uploaded to the meetup site.

To find them go to the More tab at the top of the page and then to Files.

The three articles are:

Perry Anderson, "Homeland," New Left Review, May -June 2013 (which touches on themes Schwartz's talk with discuss);

Joseph Schwartz, chpt 6, "Globalization and Democratic Equality" in The Future of Democratic Equality (Routledge, 2009)

Joseph Schwartz, chpt, 5, "Casino Capitalism," in The Future of Democratic Equality (Routledge, 2009).

Joseph M. Schwartz is the winner of several university teaching awards. Schwartz’s most recent book, The Future of Democratic Equality: Reconstructing Social Solidarity in a Fragmented United States (Routledge, 2009) argues that rampant inequality can only be overcome if diverse, but disempowered social groups build a sense of solidarity founded upon their common humanity. The book recently won the American Political Science Association’s prize for the best recent book in political theory. His first book, The Permanence of the Political (Princeton, 1995) won the North American Society for Social Philosophy best book award.

Long active on the democratic left, Schwartz began his activism as a high school activist in the movement against the war in Vietnam. He also participated actively in the anti-apartheid movement in the United States, as well as the fight for single-payer health care and affordable housing. Schwartz writes frequently in Dissent, In These Times, Tikkun, and other progressive publications.