Program for 2005-2006 (draft)
Caucus: Multi-Tendency Tendency

Principal Author(s):
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i. Summary
The Multi-Tendency Tendency proposes the following Program for action of the Socialist Party USA for the 2005-2007 session (session start at the close of the October, 2005 Convention and ends at the opening of the October, 2007 Convention). No provision is iron-cast or set in stone; the Program is intended to be adaptive as conditions change.

ii. Historical Context
This Program is intended to break the deadlock that has been paralyzing the SPUSA into inaction for many years. It contains provisions for neutralizing conflicts, expanding the SPUSA, working on a delimited set of goals, and other needed reforms.

iii. Format
The following outline and explanations presume the reader to be familiar with the conditions and recent history of the SPUSA. This lends a certain brevity which is a convenience for those who have been here a while, but may leave some new members in the dark.

I. Direct Action ("Movement")
A. National Action Network
1. Rick VanWie started this; it is a decentralized mechanism to get Locals up and ready to participate in direct actions of their choosing
2. Requires minimal time and effort, while attaining great power.
3. Is, itself, flexible and adaptive, thus requiring no micromanagement and/or periodic restructuring. B. Entering Existing Movements
1. Co-Op Movement
a. Establish minimal standards for what the SPUSA accepts as a Co-Op with which it will work
b. Obtain lists of Co-Ops, their products, other relevant info
c. Distribute said list via web (make paper copy available for cost of printing and mailing), recommend buying from them instead of oppressor-based enterprises.
d. Invite Co-Op reps to meetings to speak on how to create Co-Ops and how to further aid those currently in business.
2. Union/Labour Movement
a. Leave strike participation decisions, etc, to the National Action Network [see I. A.].
b. Otherwise, invite labor movement/union speakers to tell us how to further help in supporting their efforts
3. Open Source Movement
a. Consider establishing an SPUSA distribution of Linux. Send a disc to those who make a small donation.
b. Encourage members to participate therein
c. Establish that OpenOffice is the de facto standard we shall use for inter-Party documents, since OpenOffice is free and available on the most common platforms
d. Establish more connections with the Open Source movement and make use of available software from same if it works well
C. Boycott Index
1. Establish an index, with an individual member to update the database regularly, of businesses that donate money to causes to which the SPUSA is opposed, that provide services to or are subsidiaries of military contractors (we cannot, for example, boycott General Dynamics by refusing to buy their ICBMs; we have to hit them by attacking any connections they have), that are owned by crooks (like Dubya), etc.
2. Have index available on-line in a searchable database. Use four fields:
a. Product name
b. Company name
c. Reason for boycott
d. Alternative product name/manufacturer (redirect business to Co-Ops, for example)
3. Also make index available on paper for cost of printing and mailing.
II. Electoral Action
A. Ballot Access
1. Ballot Restrictions
a. Each state has hoops to jump through to be allowed to run candidates for office. These are easily researched (Ballot Access News has a simplified chart on their web page.)
b. Determine the number of registers voters or signatures (whatever they require) for each state in which we have members
2. Socialist Activists
a. Inactive ("paper") members wil probably not get signaturess, registrants, or help out in any way.
b. Divide the total amount of work to be done by the number of active people in that state or local; doing so gives us a numeric list which we can use do determine where the Party as a whole should aim for first. Ballot access in the easiest location(s) first. Other tactical considerations apply, of course: for example, if a state is surrounded by five states, each of which has ballot access for the SP, do not start organizing in the surrounded state; it has been effectively captured and persons within that state will ordinarily arise and start to organize it. [This works; Oregon had active or starting locals in all of the Counties surrounding Douglas County at one point. Someone suggested that working on organizing Douglas County, but the SPO decided to work elsewhere. People from Douglas County later contacted the SPO about starting a chapter there.]
c.
3. Candidates
a. BEFORE seeking ballot access, make sure that you have candidates who not only WILL run, but people who WANT to run.
b. Take the time to make certain that the candidates know what to do before they start.
4. Petitioning
a. Initiatives to get laws on the ballot are direct democracy; they empower people and are under-utilized in the SPUSA.
b. Circulate progressive and popular petitions at the same time as one to get ballot access; shows the Party at work which is better than showing the Party's good intentions.
B. Hand Counting
a. The DieBold machines do not work; many other election machines are also of little or no value because they are inaccurate. People are getting irate and aware about this. Canda requires that votes be hand-counted. Evidence that hand-counting is more accurate than machine-counting exists. The advantage of machine-counting is that it is faster.
b. Draft initiative petitions and circulate them in states in which the most horrendous hacking and errors are documented. Florida and Ohio, anyone?
C. Minimum Wage
a. Most states have their minimum wages set as the same as the Federal minimum wage. Some states have minimum wages *lower* than the Federal (Kansas, Ohio...). Some have none at all (Alabama, Arizona, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Florida just got one).
b. Draft legislation in the states where we have any members at all and go after initiative petition, if possible, or after the legislature, if we must.
D. Bottle Bill
a. Some states have no bottle bill. Washington is a good target for a bottle bill, because it currently has the highest minimum wage in the nation; i.e., it's in a progressive mood.
b. Draft legislation state by state and seek to pass. E. Health Care
a. Locate sources of funding that can be used for state or county (or even city) programs to establish health care services.
b. Draft legislation (petition or otherwise) to try to implement these

III. Other Actions
A. 2016 Project
1. Creating a habitat for socialism has been a challenge, especially without any mass base
a. Target classes whose populations graduate in 2016 for speaking about socialism.
b. Continue to target the same population from 2005 until the year 2015; this way, we create a generation that is accepting of socialism, has heard about it or has friends who heard about it, etc.
2. Recommend starting a second such effort, such as a 2024 Project, before the conclusion of the 2016 one.
B. Calender
1. Create a calender which has, on each page, a graphic and text on history in the upper section, the actual calender in the lower section (you know, like, the basic calender format). Include important events in the calender section such as IWD, which is not on "normal" calenders, filing deadlines for ballot access in various states, deadlines for filing for candidacy, etc.
2. This could be sold at a slight markup to help offset how much it will probably cost...

IV. Infrastructure Changes
A. Eliminating the Cenralization of the System
1. Establish Regions: groups of states that work together/ Add elected Regional Coordinators, which could be a small board or an individual -- let each region decide what works best for them.
2. Establish network of State Secretaries. Divide the work of the National Office among them, so that we replace one worker with a decentralized group of volunteers, freeing up the cost of having paid staff.
B. Establishing the Caucus System
1. To eliminate internecine fighting, formalize the Caucuses, to be recognized in a method similar to Locals, with representation determined by proportional representation.
2. This will require an Amendment to the SPUSA Constitution.
C. Publications
1. From hence, establish that the SPUSA will use only tree-free paper; such as straw/hemp blend or the resin/inorganic filler paper developed by Milcher Media.
2. Update all literature.
D. From Gender Parity to Gender Cooperation
1. If gender parity rules are to exist, then they must make sense: by simply requiring gender parity, with nothing more, we have brought a meaningless tokenization to female Party members, which merely adds insult to injury and does nothing to encourage female members to participate.
2. Names of Locals: recommend gender parity in the naming of new Locals. Cannot see how we could be taken seriously if we proposed that this be *required*.
3. Have female NC select male Alternates as Assistants (one per each); and male NC members select female Alternates as Assistants (again, one apiece) -- this goes a steop beyond equal gender representation to forcing gender cooperation. The theory that same would arise naturally from the parity requirement has not been happening.

V. Expel Melvin Little
None of the proposals here are more important than this one.

VI. The candidates we are running for office:
A. Chosen based on qualifications, not on POP!-ya-lur-ity.
B. [list them, w/qualifications]