The Fist and Rose Caucus is an Effort to Take Over!

FROM WILLIAM P. STODDEN, ESQ

Monday, January 26 2004


Comrades, On the occasion of this most serious matter before us today,

I would like to add several other things that our good Comrades in this Party may not have known, but should:

1. I was one of the original, authenticos, orthodoxos to call for the expulsion of Little. As a matter of fact, while some may accuse me of revisionism, I think it is nonetheless necessary to point out that my first act as a member with voting privileges in this Party in January of 2000 was to call for *MR.* Little's expulsion. This portrays an ideological purity and continuity that is both within the spirit of our Party AND one that Melvin lacks. My continued efforts, as well as the efforts of our close associates both in North Carolina and Oregon, shows that nothing has changed and in fact Melvin's crimes against the revolution have continued unabated for at the very least four years.

2. Melvin's Fist and Rose "Caucus" (it may be more legitimately called the "Fist and Rose CULT") if we can even call it that, since it seems to be populated only by him, is not only a thinly veiled attempt to take over the Party and force conformity to his militant radically moderate position, but it is also a thinly veiled attempt to change the very moniker of the Party to one of his liking. He has argued tirelessly that the symbol that represents the Party should not be the more popular "hands across the globe" picture, but the older and popularly jetisoned Fist and Rose symbol. This shows, if nothing else that Melvin represents the reactionary tendency of Party symbols that is currently a scourge plaguing our Party and keeping us small, with a limited base of support in the general population.

3. Melvin has exploited his and my personal bonds of friendship to further his radical pro-ACLU, pro-SI aims. While I do not recall any specific, explict recruitment attempts of me or other Comrades into his Cult, I do remember a number of personal expressions of solidarity, the most recent just a couple days ago, from Melvin. In this most recent one, Melvin expressed his personal affinity for me and said:

"What I always liked about you (Bill Stodden) is that we are as different as two people can be in our perspectives inside the Socialist Party, yet we never held any personal resentment against each other. Yours is the the tradition of Rosa Luxemburg while mine fits the world view of Eduard Bernstein. The point?"

The point IS that these are code words for "Join the Fist and Rose Caucus because we like each other." However, what really set off the red alarm claxons is his final statement:

"You are my Comrade and Friend, and I look forward to sharing a smoke and joking around about our perspective every tow years now."

"...[S]haring a smoke and joking around" is a proved code for Melvin's insidious little group, and is based on the activities he and his group do at their clandestined meetings. And the fact that he used the craftily chosen "Tow years" instead of "two years" is the proverbial flick of the nose at me. TOW is really a secret acronym for "Take Over World". This code was intended to signal me, that if I knew what he was talking about, namely concerning forcing the SP to join the Socialist International, which seems to be Melvin's pet project I would join his caucus.

Well, I and hundreds of thousands of my Comrades in the Socialist Party are wise to you, Melvin Little. I am not going to help you take over the world with your perverted position or schemes of internal domination! I am not going to help you subvert a Party that I have dedicated so much time and effort to. Not only is it anti-socialist to talk about world domination, but it is also just plain unethical, and I will have no part in your plot.

As for Little's expulsion, I join Michael Marino and countless other Comrades in demanding the expulsion of this perennial troublemaker. I think Melvin is the biggest threat to the status quo within our Party that we face today, bigger than the ProChester-Antichester fight, bigger than the proCuba-antiCastro fight, hell, even bigger than the South Dakota-Raul Cano/PSDV-Bay Area three way beef. As such, we need to get rid of this thorn in the side of our Party, for the betterment of the Party and the People of the United States.

Most Sincerely (and you know I mean it because my usual salutation is "serenely")
William Stodden
Organizer in South Dakota