Seattle Branch Meeting
Wednesday, May 20, 7pm
University of Washington School of Social Work Room 026 (4101 15th Avenue NE)
Political discussion: What is Socialism? (45min)
As Eric Ruder and Phil Gasper note in their respective articles in the latest International Socialist Review socialist ideas—however confused and distorted—have found their way into mainstream discussion in a way that would have been hard to imagine before the right wing started accusing Obama last summer of being a follower of Karl Marx. Ruder and Gasper begin by analyzing the distorted definitions of socialism, and finish by reviving the much more attractive vision of socialism as fought for by workers’ movements of the past and given theoretical expression by its most famous proponents, Karl Marx and Frederick Engels. Join us for a discussion of these articles and what the resurgence of socialist ideas means for activists today. If you haven't picked up a copy of the magazine, you can check out Eric Ruder's article “What is socialism” online.
Socialism 2009 Conference updates (15min)
The west coast meeting of our annual Socialism 2009 conference is a little over a month away! We'll have a brief update on registration, reading plans to get ready for the conference, publicity and logistics.
Anti-Budget Cuts Coalition at UW (30min)
Several of our members on campus are involved in the newly formed Anti-Budget Cuts (ABC) coalition to fight cutbacks at the University of Washington. Hear about how the organizing is going so far and plans for the coming weeks.
Announcements (5min)
