By DAVE DANIELS
The room was packed in Hamden, Conn., on April 5 as activists gathered at “The Solution is Socialism 5” conference, hosted by the Connecticut branch of Workers’ Voice. Attendees came from all over the East Coast and as far away as California to hear a wide range of speakers on topics such as the U.S. and world political situation, immigration, gender oppression, the Syrian revolution, climate change, trade-union struggles, and the attack on civil liberties.
A banner behind the main stage that read “Oppose the New McCarthyism,” “Hands Off Immigrant Workers and Students,” and Defend Civil Liberties” set the tone of the conference in light of the increasing attacks on working people from the Trump administration.
The keynote speaker was Blanca Missé, a socialist activist, educator, and trade unionist. She put Trump’s attacks in the context of the deepening crisis of U.S. and world capitalism, the collapse of the U.S. as the world’s strongest imperialist power, and the ascendancy of China as a world power. Blanca described Trump’s threats to annex Greenland, for instance, as part of the struggle with China for world dominance, which raises the specter of all-out war between the two super-powers. She said that the way out of this crisis, ultimately, was to mobilize the power of the masses to overturn the capitalist system.
After Blanca spoke, the conference attendees divided into breakout rooms for more intense discussion. Some heard noted Marxist economist Michael Roberts speaking on an online connection, while others joined groups to discuss how to fight gender oppression and the climate crisis.
Following a lunch break, the conference heard a talk by the esteemed author, activist, and educator August Nimtz, author of “The Ballot or the Streets or Both” and “Lenin’s Electoral Strategy from 1907 to the October Revolution of 1917.” Professor Nimtz spoke on his latest book, “Marx and Engels and their Contribution to the Democratic Breakthrough.”
The conference then heard from Ramah Kudaimi, who spoke on the importance of the Syrian Revolution, which recently saw the overthrow the dictatorship of Bashar al-Assad. Speaking of her background as a child of the Syrian diaspora, Kudaimi pointed out how important the overthrow of Assad was, and made a strong case against those who claim that Assad was somehow a force against U.S. imperialism.
In the final session, the conference heard from activists on the front lines of the struggle for the rights of immigrant workers and students and against deportations. All morning and afternoon, conference goers visited the book table and bought socialist literature, tee-shirts, and other items.
The conference ended with a call for the attendees to all become involved in, as August Nimtz aptly put it, the “laboratory of the class struggle.”