Socialism is a range of economic and social systems characterised by social ownership of the means of production and workers' self-management, as well as the political theories and movements associated with them. Social ownership can be public, collective or cooperative ownership, or citizen ownership of equity. There are many varieties of socialism and there is no single definition encapsulating all of them, with social ownership being the common element shared by its various forms.
Socialist Alternative (SA) is a Trotskyist political party in the United States. It describes itself as "a national organization fighting in our workplaces, communities, and campuses against the exploitation and injustices people face every day" and "a community of activists fighting against budget cuts in public services; fighting for living wage jobs and militant, democratic unions; and people of all colors speaking out against racism and attacks on immigrants, students organizing against tuition hikes and war, women and men fighting sexism and homophobia".
The Socialist People's Front is a left-wing political party in Lithuania formed out of the December 19, 2009, merger of the Front Party and Lithuanian Socialist Party. Held at Vilnius University, the party's foundation featured 102 delegates. The merger was approved by an affirmative vote of 96 delegates, with three against and one abstaining. The leader of the Lithuanian Socialist Party, Giedrius Petružis, refused candidacy for chairperson of the merged party, claiming a desire to return to academic life. The leader of the Front Party, Algirdas Paleckis, was unanimously chosen as the leader of the SPF.
The anti-austerity movement refers to the mobilisation of street protests and grassroots campaigns that has happened across various countries, especially in Europe, since the onset of the worldwide Great Recession.
The anti-austerity movement in the United Kingdom saw major demonstrations throughout 2011. While agreeing that the country faced a financial crisis, organisations including some UK trade unions, argued that the Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition government was pushing deep spending cuts rapidly and without proper consultations or consideration for the impact on the public. They believed that most of the government cuts were designed to target the working class, while big businesses, and financial businesses, in particular businesses with connections to British MPs, were going unpunished whilst avoiding paying any tax, despite their perception that the latter was the main reason for the financial crisis and the subsequent recession.
The Occupy movement was an international progressive socio-political movement that expressed opposition to social and economic inequality and to the perceived lack of "real democracy" around the world. It aimed primarily to advance social and economic justice and new forms of democracy. The movement had many different scopes, since local groups often had different focuses, but its prime concerns included how large corporations control the world in a way that disproportionately benefited a minority, undermined democracy and caused instability. It formed part of what Manfred Steger called the "global justice movement".
Occupy Austin was a collaboration that began on October 6, 2011 at City Hall in Austin, Texas as an occupation and peaceful protest. It is affiliated with the Occupy Wall Street movement that began in New York City, and also with the "Occupy" protests in the United States and around the world. At the center of the occupation is the General Assembly, where the community comes out and tries to come to consensus on proposals for action.
Occupy The Rose Parade (OTRP) was a four phase Occupy demonstration and protest by approximately 10,000 Occupy Movement activists that was held on January 1 and January 2, 2012 as part of the Occupy movement at the Tournament of Roses Parade in Pasadena, California held on January 2, 2012. The main organizer of the 2012 OTRP, Pete Thottam, is a Los Angeles based Occupy volunteer, attorney and longtime antiwar activist. Phase 1 of the demonstration was on Sunday, January 1. It was organized by a separate group from the Occupy Pasadena group protesting locally, with no affiliation or endorsement between the two although a number of members of Occupy Pasadena actively participated in and helped organize the Occupy The Rose Parade demonstration. Rose Parade and Pasadena officials authorized the Occupy the Rose Parade movement to march at the end of the parade, after all the floats have passed and the phalanx of police cars moves through, but while the crowd is still in place.
Eugene Puryear is an American journalist, author, activist, and politician. In 2014 he was a candidate for the at-large seat in the DC Council with the D.C. Statehood Green Party. In the 2008 and 2016 United States presidential elections, Puryear was the vice presidential nominee of the Party for Socialism and Liberation (PSL).
The 2012 presidential campaign of Stewart Alexander, democratic socialist political activist, began informally shortly after the 2008 presidential election. Having campaigned for the nomination of the Socialist Party USA in 2008 and ultimately becoming the Vice Presidential nominee of that party for that election year, Alexander was frequently mentioned as a possible candidate for the 2012 Socialist Party USA presidential nomination.
Kshama Sawant is an American politician and economist who serves on the Seattle City Council. She is a member of Socialist Alternative, a democratic socialist party. A former software engineer, Sawant became an economics instructor in Seattle after immigrating to the United States. She ran unsuccessfully for the Washington House of Representatives before winning her seat on the Seattle City Council. She was the first socialist to win a citywide election in Seattle since Anna Louise Strong was elected to the school board in 1916.
Martha Lena Morrow Lewis (1868-1950), commonly known by her middle name Lena, was an American orator, political organizer, journalist, and newspaper editor. An activist in the prohibition, women's suffrage, and socialist movements, Lewis is best remembered as a top female leader of the Socialist Party of America during that organization's heyday in the first two decades of the 20th Century and as the first woman to serve on that organization's governing National Executive Committee.
Democratic socialism is a term used to refer to the socialist political philosophy which advocates political democracy alongside a socially owned economy, with an emphasis on workers' self-management and democratic control of economic institutions within a market or some form of a decentralised planned socialist economy. Democratic socialists argue that capitalism is inherently incompatible with the values of freedom, equality and solidarity and that these ideals can be achieved only through the realisation of a socialist society. Although most democratic socialists are seeking a very gradual transition to socialism, democratic socialism can support either revolutionary or reformist politics as a means to establish socialism.
Edward Michael Harrington Jr. was an American democratic socialist, writer, author of The Other America, political activist, political theorist, professor of political science, radio commentator and founding member of the Democratic Socialists of America.
Socialist Action is a Trotskyist political organisation in Hong Kong. It is affiliated to the Committee for a Workers' International (CWI). It works closely with the CWI sections in China and Taiwan. It describes itself as being based on the method and analysis of Marxism, to politically re-arm and organise the working class in the fight for a socialist world. They oppose the billionaire-dominated Chinese Communist Party (CCP) dictatorship, which they claim has made China the 'Sweatshop of the World' with one of the most extreme wealth gaps on the planet. They stand for the creation of fighting independent trade unions by Chinese workers to fight against capitalist exploitation and authoritarian rule.
A socialist state, socialist republic, or socialist country, sometimes referred to as a workers' state or workers' republic, is a sovereign state constitutionally dedicated to the establishment of socialism. The term "communist state" is often used interchangeably in the West specifically when referring to single-party socialist states governed by Marxist–Leninist, or Titoist in case of Yugoslavia political parties, despite these countries being officially socialist states in the process of building socialism. These countries never describe themselves as communist nor as having implemented a communist society. Additionally, a number of countries which are not single-party states based on Marxism–Leninism make reference to socialism in their constitutions; in most cases these are constitutional references alluding to the building of a socialist society that have little to no bearing on the structure and development paths of these countries' political and economic systems.
Carlos Ramirez-Rosa is an American politician. He has served as the alderman for Chicago's 35th Ward since May 18, 2015, and 35th Ward Democratic Committeeman since 2016. Prior to his election to the Chicago City Council, he worked as a community organizer with the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights, and a congressional aide to U.S. Representative Luis Gutiérrez.
