The Legacy of Leon Trotsky and U.S. Trotskyism

Attend the Conference on:
The Legacy of Leon Trotsky and U.S. Trotskyism:
Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow
FRIDAY JULY 25, SATURDAY JULY 26 & SUNDAY JULY 27TH 2008.

FLYER FOR THE CONFERENCE

Attend the Conference on:
The Legacy of Leon Trotsky &
U.S. Trotskyism:
Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow JULY 25, 26, 27th, 2008
Fordham University, Rose Hill Campus, Bronx, N.Y.

A diverse group of veterans of the Trotskyist movement have organized
a conference to discuss and better understand past and present
struggles, to clarify issues and to build the socialist movement today
and tomorrow. It’s shaping up to be an exciting event!

Speakers will include:
Esteban Volkov, Leon Trotsky’s grandson,
Celia Hart, Cuban Revolutionary (likely via electronic hook-up)
Bryan Palmer, author of “James P. Cannon and the Origins of the
American Revolutionary Left, 1890-1928”
Ahmed Shawki, Editor of International Socialist Review
Gus Horowitz, SWP National Anti Vietnam War Director, and founding
national co-coordinator, Student Mobilization Committee

Plenary Sessions: a sampling
Permanent Revolution and the Evolution of World Realities . Social
Movements and Class Struggle in the US. What Kind of Political
Organization Do we Need? Lessons of the Socialist Worker’s Party
Experience . Venezuela & Latin America

Workshops

SWP Memory Project Students and Youth Health Care
The National Question Women’s Liberation Antiwar
Electoral Action Gay Liberation and Rights Cuba
Labor The Environment Immigration

Theoretical and political perspectives to be discussed:
What remains relevant in the Trotskyist theoretical and political
tradition? What do developments of the late 20th and early 21st
century indicate regarding the value of such concepts as permanent
revolution, workers’ states (and/or workers’ and farmers’
governments), workers’ democracy, the revolutionary potential of the
working class, the revolutionary potential of social movements, Lenin
on the vanguard party and democratic centralism, imperialism, the
national question, and the relation of democratic struggles to the
revolutionary struggle?

And what we should do now?
What is the best way to organize for change in the world today? What
is the political situation that we face, particularly from the
standpoint of those who continue to want to create a socialist
society? What is the situation in Cuba today and how does that impact
permanent revolution in Latin America in countries such as Venezuela
and Bolivia? What are the dynamics in the MiddleEast created by US
Empire building and US wars? What is happening on the Left, in the
unions, in the immigrant rights movement, the antiwar movement, among
environmentalists, and in other social movements? And what are the
lessons of the SWP experience that can help to point the way forward
today?

Dates: Friday noon – Sunday 3PM., July 25-27, 2008
Location: Fordham University, Bronx, New York

Cost: $60/day for room (dorms) and board (3 meals/day, on-site
cafeteria) + a registration fee of $40/full conference or $25/day

Donations: We would like to offer scholarships to defray registration
costs and expenses for those unable to afford them. Please send
pledges (payable before the conference) or donations to: Paul LeBlanc,
9000 Babcock Blvd. Pittsburgh, PA 15237 leblanp1@LaRoche.edu

For more information, or to help in planning and organizing the
conference (we welcome your participation!), contact the Conference
Coordinators:
Linda Thompson: 203 453-2770, lthompson321@aol.com on the East coast Robin David: 415 285-8548, robindavid@speakeasy.net on the

West coast

The Conference Planning Committee: Tom Bias, Steve Bloom,
Robin David, Alexei Folger, David Keil, Paul LeBlanc, Ahmed Shawki,
Sharon Smith, Asi Somburu, Kwame Somburu, Zakiya Somburu, Linda
Thompson, Dave Walters

SCHEDULE FOR THE CONFERENCE on
THE LEGACY OF LEON TROTSKY AND U.S. TROTSKYISM
July 25, 26, 27, 2008

FRIDAY

11:00 AM – 1:00 PM: Registration and LUNCH

1:00 – 1:15 pm: Opening/Greetings

1:15 – 3:15 PM: Permanent Revolution and the Evolution of World
Realities Since the 1960s
•Ahmed Shawki, editor, International Socialist Review
•Suzi Weisman, author, Victor Serge: The Course is Set on Hope
•Alan Benjamin, editor, The Organizer
•Linda Thompson, Feminist Organizer, former member of the SWP and YSA
for 22 years

3:15 – 3:30 PM: BREAK

3:30 – 5:30 PM: Workshops

5:30 – 7:00 PM: DINNER

7:00 – 8:15 PM: James P. Cannon and U.S. Trotskyism
•Bryan Palmer, author, James P. Cannon and the Origins of the American
Revolutionary Left

8:15 – 8:30 PM: BREAK

8:30 – 8:45 PM: Introductory Remarks (to the film) – Esteban Volkov,
Trotsky’s grandson, Curator, Trotsky Museum, Coyoacan, Mexico

8:45 – 10:15 PM: “Trotsky in Mexico” (new documentary – U.S. Premiere)

SATURDAY

8:00 – 9:00 AM: BREAKFAST

9:00 – 9:30 AM: Registration

9:15 – 9:30 AM: Opening Remarks

9:30 – 10:00 AM: Reflection on the Legacy of Leon Trotsky – Esteban
Volkov

10:00 – 11:30 AM: Lessons of the SWP Experience: 1960 – 1980
•Robin David, 20-year veteran of the SWP and YSA, former SWP candidate
•Kipp Dawson, veteran of the SWP and YSA, former leader of the Student
Mobilization Committee to End the War In Vietnam

11:30 AM – 1:00 PM: LUNCH

1:00 – 2:30 PM: What Happened to the SWP?
•Linda Thompson, former Leader Anti-Vietnam War Movement, former SWP
candidate for office
•Paul Le Blanc, author, Lenin and the Revolutionary Party, former SWP
member
•David Walters, Founder of Encyclopedia of Trotskyism On-line (ETOL),
former SWP member

2:30 – 3:45 PM: Workshops

3:45 – 4:00 PM: BREAK

4:00 – 6:00 PM: Social Movements and Class Struggle in the U.S.
•Kwame Somburu, author, A Succinct Analysis of African American
History from 1776 to 1877, a Black Nationalist since 1960, former
member and candidate of the Freedom Now Party and the SWP
•Marilyn Vogt-Downey, International Coordinator, Committee for the
Study of Leon Trotsky’s Legacy & International conferences
•Dan Kaplan, Executive Director, AFT Local 1493, San Mateo, CA.,
former member SDS, YSA, SWP, SA, supporter of Socialist Organizer

6:00 – 7:30 PM: DINNER

7:30 – 9:30 PM: Revolutionary Struggles in Latin America
•Celia Hart (video) Cuban Revolutionary & Writer, Trotskyist
•Dr. Eloise Linger, Asst. Professor of Politics & LA Studies, SUNY
•Martín Sanchez, Consul General of Venezuela in Chicago
•Gerry Foley, International Editor, Socialist Action, former editor,

International Viewpoint, the English-language journal of the Fourthnternational/United Secretariat.

9:30 – 11:00 PM: July 26th Celebration

SUNDAY

8:00 – 9:00 AM: BREAKFAST

9:00 – 9:15 AM: Opening Remarks

9:15 – 10:45 AM: Building the Revolutionary Party
•Sharon Smith, National Organizer, ISO, and author, Subterranean Fire:
A History of Working-Class Radicalism in the U.S.
•Steve Bloom, National Committee of Solidarity* (id only) expelled
from the SWP 1983, managing editor of the Bulletin in Defense of Marxism
.Tom Trottier, National Committee, Workers International League

10:45 – 11:00 AM: BREAK

11:00 AM – 12:30 PM: Revolutionary Socialists and the Antiwar Struggle
•Gus Horowitz, Founding National Co-Coordinator of the Student
Mobilization Committee & former member of SWP National Committee
•Tom Bias, Co-Managing Editor, Labor Standard, President, Northwest
New Jersey Peace Fellowship, former member of the FIT
•Chris Gavreau, Former SWP member, Coordinator, CT United for Peace
Coalition
•Leia Petty, National Coordinating Committee, Campus Antiwar Network,
ISO member

12:30 – 12:45 PM: BREAK to get box lunches

12:45 – 2:15 PM: Workshops and BOX LUNCH

2:15 – 2:30 PM: Closing