Socialists victorious in Portuguese election

LISBON — The Socialist Party of Portuguese Prime Minister António Costa scored a comfortable victory in Sunday’s general election but failed to secure an absolute majority in parliament.

The result opens up the possibility of a renewal of Costa’s partnership with parties on the far left, which has allowed a Socialist minority government to rule for the past four years.

“The Socialist Party has clearly won this election and strengthened its political position,” Costa told cheering supporters in the early hours of Monday morning. “The Portuguese want a new, stronger Socialist government, able to govern with stability.”

Spain’s Socialists score big election victory

MADRID — Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez’s Socialists scored a big victory in Sunday’s national election, though they will still have to seek coalition agreements to stay in power.

With over 99 percent of the ballots counted, the Socialists won about 29 percent of the vote and 123 of the 350 seats in parliament — a huge step up from the 85 seats they now have. This puts them well ahead of the second-placed conservative Popular Party on 66 seats. The liberal Ciudadanos won 57 seats, the far-left Podemos and its allies 42 seats, and the far-right Vox 24 seats.

AOC, Bernie Sanders confuse inequality with poverty

“Socialism,” anathema to many but a path worth exploring to others, has been packaged nicely as “democratic socialism” (a hilarious oxymoron) by millionaire author Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and proselytized by neophyte Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) who, like the president, invents statistics extemporaneously.

But in all fairness, neither is a socialist in the true sense of the term, meaning a belief in government ownership of production and the abolition of private property.

{mosads}Since more than half of Democrats, millennials and minorities hold socialism in higher regard than capitalism, one wonders if these groups truly understand what life is like, say, for the average Cuban. On the other hand, Americans as whole, according to Gallup, prefer capitalism 56 percent to 37 percent.

“Socialism” vs. “capitalism” is a false dichotomy

Suddenly there’s a lively debate on both the left and the right about the specter of socialism in America. According to Gallup, Democrats now view socialism in a more positive light than capitalism. And Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a card-carrying member of the Democratic Socialists of America, became an instant political star after she clinched the Democratic Party’s nomination for the New York 14th District’s House seat.

Communism is hip again – but until it means liberty, count me out, comrade

I am not a communist. Literally. Though God knows I have been called one for demanding a tea break when working in Florida. I half-pretended to be one when I worked for Marxism Today, the magazine of the Communist party of Great Britain, but I never joined. Which was lucky really, because when the business manager forgot to pay the electricity bills and everyone got sent home, they didn’t get paid as they were in the party, but I did.

Want to Elect Socialists? Run Them in Democratic Primaries

There are currently 7,383 state legislators in the United States. Nine of them are affiliated with the Vermont Progressive Party. One of them is an independent from Alaska who caucuses with the Democrats.

This is the grand sum of the left presence in American state legislatures outside the Democratic Party. There has been a single instance of federal-level victory in my lifetime—Bernie Sanders’s election as an independent to the U.S. House, then Senate, in Vermont. No one else has even come close. And Sanders, after thirty years as an Independent, elected to seek the presidency through the Democratic primary.

'Profiting Without Producing' stands to restrain finance and fight for socialism

Profiting Without Producing: How Finance Exploits Us All

by Costas Lapavitsas

 

(Verso Books, 

2014; 

$34.95)

Economics professor Costas Lapavitsas' new book Profiting Without Producing: How Finance Exploits Us All,delving into the elusive world of finance, that place where fortunes are made seemingly out of nothing, but with such dramatic impact on the world economy. Lapavitsas tackles one of the most innovative and perhaps most controversial concepts in political economy: financialization. Aaron Leonard recently corresponded with professor Lapavitsas via email to ask him about his new book and its wider implications. 

NDP ditches socialist albatross just when it might be an asset

It’s richly ironic that New Democrats, who laboured for years to shed the albatross of “socialism” so they could gambol like Liberals in the fields of electoral bliss, finally succeeded last weekend just when the word may no longer be cursed.

I say that because Merriam-Webster’s online dictionary has announced its two most searched words last year were socialism and capitalism — with socialism in the lead . Left-wing scholar Gar Alperovitz , from whom I gleaned this info, also cites a Rasmussen poll finding Americans under 30 “almost equally divided” on preferring one or the other; and a Pew poll showing those between 18 and 29 prefer socialism 49-43 per cent. They finally managed to seriously downgrade socialism in the preamble to their constitution just when it might start working for them. It’s a pity they didn’t keep featuring it; at best it’s now a boutique item.

NDP votes to take 'socialism' out of party constitution

The NDP voted Sunday to take references to socialism out of the party's constitution, a controversial move to modernize that the party had to set aside two years ago.

Delegates voted 960 to 188 in favour of the change. The result was met with cheers of "NDP! NDP!"

The move was supported by popular former leader Jack Layton, who died shortly after leading the party to its best-ever federal election result in 2011. Layton felt the party needed to modernize the preamble in order to appeal to more Canadians.

The NDP should stay true to its socialist roots

On Wednesday, April 3, delegates to the upcoming convention of the New Democratic Party received a message from our president, Rebecca Blaikie, about yet another suggested replacement of the preamble to our constitution.

That the party brass is taking another shot at changing the constitution comes as no surprise to any New Democrat. This is, at least, the third consecutive convention where we’ve seen similar attempts from the top. At the 2009 Halifax convention, there was suggestion that the “New” in the NDP’s name might be dropped so that we’d become the “Democratic Party.” Together with the presence of many Obama strategists at that convention, it suggested a rightward shift that would turn the NDP into a party of the centre like the American Democrats. The opposition to any such move was so great that it was not even proposed.

Canadian politics and the 's' word

The latest score: Neoliberalism = 824  Democratic socialism = 7

Okay, I made that up. Democratic socialism hasn't scored that many points in a long time, at least not on the federal Canadian political scene. In fact the route has been so complete, that even mention of the "s" word in considered a political liability -- and so it is, that at its upcoming policy convention the NDP will once again debate whether it should abandon any reference, prominent or otherwise, to democratic "socialism".

The NDP and its radical roots

In preparation for its upcoming Montreal convention (April 12-14), the New Democratic Party released a proposed new preamble to the party constitution. The draft from a committee of distinguished party members predictably got the attention of the Toronto Globe and Mail editorial board. It is about time the NDP rid itself of its "poisoned historical roots," exclaimed the Globe.

The NDP was formed in Calgary as the CCF (Co-operative Commonwealth Federation) in 1932, year three of the Great Depression, which would only end in 1939, with the onset of World War II. In 1933 the party adopted its program, known as the Regina Manifesto.

Shedding 'socialism' bad move for NDP?

OTTAWA -- For the third time in as many policy conventions, NDP party brass are pushing to change the NDP constitution to tone down references to socialism and open the door to modern policies on resource development.

It is, inevitably, giving rise yet again to questions about whether the NDP is abandoning its roots, walking away from the core beliefs of supporters, in order to become a more palatable, less-lefty option for voters in Canada, the majority of whom sit in the mushy political middle.

NDP ponders deleting socialism from its guiding statement

OTTAWA — NDP brass are taking a second shot at jettisoning some of the socialist baggage that many — including Leader Tom Mulcair — feel might hold them back in the next federal election.

A committee of senior NDP members is recommending the party modernize its guiding statement by making it less ideological and dropping most of its many references to socialism.

A proposed rewrite of the opening lines of the NDP constitution was sent to party members Wednesday, in advance of next week’s policy convention in Montreal.

Resolutionary Socialism: Why a leftist agenda within the NDP is futile

There can be little doubt anymore, other than to the willfully blind, that neither the federal NDP nor any of its provincial wings are socialist parties.

The shift towards centrism and the embrace of neo-liberal hegemonic economic ideas, such as Tom Mulcair's recent backing of corporate free trade deals, has become obviously irreversible. Even worse, Mulcair has now backed away from his previously critical comments about the oil sands, and has won praise from the business press for his "political maturity," which is little more than a code phrase for having abandoned important principles around the environment and climate change.

Hardheaded socialism makes Canada richer than U.S.

On July 1, Canada Day, Canadians awoke to a startling, if pleasant, piece of news: For the first time in recent history, the average Canadian is richer than the average American.

According to data from Environics Analytics WealthScapes published in the Globe and Mail, the net worth of the average Canadian household in 2011 was $363,202, while the average American household’s net worth was $319,970.