Socialist Horizon was launched on August 20, 2024 at a meetup held in Chicago during the protests against the Democratic Party’s continued funding and execution of the Israeli genocide against the Palestinian people. The call to meet was made to analyze and oppose capitalism and the bourgeois two-party system, to oppose US imperialism and genocide in Palestine and support full Palestinian liberation, as well as to understand and prepare for resisting the drive towards global war. There was a further emphasis on the urgent need to begin to organize with working class people to engage directly in class struggle and develop working class organizers, leaders, and fighters. 

The meeting was attended by over 40 people, representing several different organizations as well as individuals in different parts of the country. There was a consensus that we need to begin to build an ‘organization of organizations’ as well as involve individuals who are interested in getting organized in their locales. Special emphasis was placed on the need to build solidarity between socialists and organizations as a means to create trust, to develop and apply Marxist theory and analysis to the struggles in which we are engaged, and to construct a democratic and non-sectarian organizing method and political culture in which all members and participants fell welcomed, are included, and feel confident to contribute in our collective organizing processes.  

FOR A SOCIALIST FUTURE

Capitalism is a worldwide political and economic system in which the working majority is exploited by a capitalist minority that owns the means of production. Only the international working class, struggling collectively, has the power to oppose it, to permanently eliminate it, and to fashion a new system that democratically meets human needs. We call for a socialist society, a world based on workers’ ownership of and control over the collective product of human activity, paving the way to the abolition of class entirely. 

MARXISM

Our political practice is based on the fundamental principle that the history of all hitherto existing societies is the history of class struggle. We stand in the tradition of international revolution, anti-colonialism, building workers’ power, etc. Marxism is a growing and evolving body of theory, and we also acknowledge the contributions of ecosocialist, socialist feminist, and social-reproduction theories. We ground our political theory in a materialist conception of history, which means that we see real human struggle, not abstract ideas or fate, as the motive force for all historical change. We see both natural and historical processes as dialectical and complex, not mechanistic or preordained.

A REVOLUTIONARY HORIZON

We support the struggles of workers and oppressed people for economic and social reforms, both for their own sake and to develop the power and effectiveness of workers’ organizations. The capitalist state can never emancipate the international working class from exploitation, imperialism, ongoing environmental collapse, or the threat of fascism. The working class needs an entirely new and different political form, a democratic workers’ state, that can only be achieved by the abolition of the state in its current form. 

NO FAITH IN ELECTORALISM

Elections can help propagate working-class demands, force concessions from the ruling class, and serve as a platform for socialist ideas. However, electoralism is not the primary approach of revolutionary organizations. We do not support candidates of capitalist parties like the Democrats or the Republicans. We do, however, support independent socialist candidates who work to oppose the capitalist state and who actively promote the power of the workers and oppressed in our workplaces, homes, schools, and the streets.

OPPOSITION TO IMPERIALISM

The struggle for socialism is international. It requires coordinated struggle of workers and oppressed people across national boundaries. We stand in solidarity with the struggles of the global South and oppressed national groups against imperial interference, particularly by the US and NATO countries. We oppose US military intervention everywhere without exception. We support the defunding and demobilization of the US military and the elimination of the arms industry. We support complete elimination of all weapons of mass destruction. We support self-determination for Puerto Rico and all US colonies. We support all nations in their efforts to withstand the encroachment of neocolonialism and imperialism. We support cultural and political autonomy for Indigenous peoples, both in North America and abroad, as well as global efforts toward decolonization.

AGAINST OPPRESSIVE STRUCTURES

Many oppressed groups worldwide are engaged in struggles against structures of inequality and discrimination under capitalism. We maintain that the destruction of these structures of oppression is an essential part of socialist struggle. We oppose white supremacy, misogyny, homophobia, transphobia, ableism, national chauvinism, and all forms of oppression. We support the struggle for immigrant rights, and for Black and Indigenous liberation. We oppose cisheteronormativity and fight for the full social equality of women and LGBTQ+ people. We support the right of oppressed groups to self-defense, self-determination, and self-organization. We support dismantling the police and carceral systems and denounce them as inherently white supremacist institutions. We reject the neoliberal idea that peaceful protest is  the only valid form of resistance, and we affirm the right of oppressed people to resist by any means necessary.

COALITION-BUILDING

We look forward to working in coalition with any group or organization fighting for the emancipation of humankind. We welcome any opportunity to work alongside activists fighting for the rights of women, oppressed minorities, immigrants, and labor. We are dedicated to supporting community organizations combating police violence, gentrification, imperialist war, ecological despoliation, and homelessness. However, we are an autonomous and independent Marxist organization. We are not liberals. We are not engaged in activism for activism’s sake. We will not abandon or disguise our Marxist principles in deference to coalition partners.

TOWARDS A REVOLUTIONARY PARTY 

The ruling class is highly organized and disciplined and uses their capital to control the courts, the police, the military, the schools and universities, and much of the print and electronic media. To effectively oppose it, we ourselves must respond with discipline and organization informed by historical struggles. Therefore, we are committed to the task of performing the groundwork for an independent workers’ party. We aim to build an independent militant socialist organization rooted in our communities that, in fighting today’s struggles, also wins larger numbers to the fight for socialism.