{"id":7234,"date":"2022-07-21T08:00:00","date_gmt":"2022-07-21T12:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.tempestmag.org\/v01_2020\/staging\/?p=7234"},"modified":"2022-07-25T23:25:56","modified_gmt":"2022-07-26T03:25:56","slug":"why-we-are-going-to-socialism-2022","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tempestmag.org\/test02\/2022\/07\/why-we-are-going-to-socialism-2022\/","title":{"rendered":"Why we are going to Socialism 2022!"},"content":{"rendered":"

A<\/span>fter almost four decades, the annual Socialism Conference<\/a> has established itself as a critical and unique esource on the U.S. Left. One of the only events that brings together people from all over the country for sustained, intentional Left political debate and discussion. The four days of Socialism represents the confluence of the lessons and inspiration of radical history and politics with the activists and movements changing our world right now. The Tempest Collective<\/strong> is honored to be one of the endorsers of the conference and because of the change to a September date, we want to make sure Socialism 2022 is part of everyone\u2019s plans. Here we present three comrades – Phil Gasper, Haley Pessin, Natalia Tylim – offering their reminiscences and motivations. We hope to see you in Chicago!<\/p>\n

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Natalia Tylim<\/h4>\n

W<\/span>hen I joined the socialist movement in 2006, the annual Socialism Conference became the cornerstone of my year. There is nothing that can duplicate taking the time for a full weekend to take stock, collectively with activists from around the country and the world, of the state of class struggle and the tasks for the year ahead. <\/p>\n

The last conference before the pandemic hit with full force was in the summer of 2019. At the time, the people of Hong Kong were in full rebellion in defense of sovereignty. The rollout of the Brexit referendum was being negotiated. Jair Bolsonaro was being confronted by feminists in the streets of Brazil with chants of \u201cEle N\u00e3o.\u201d In the United States, it was year three of Trump\u2019s presidency\u2014and the socialist movement was growing, specifically Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), which was quickly becoming a base of operation for socialists of all stripes and outlooks. DSA was seeing some electoral breakthroughs on the local level, leading to fresh and new debates about socialist electoral strategy. For many, these electoral conversations were built around a hope, arguably elevated to a strategy, that Bernie Sanders would be the Democratic Party nominee against Trump in 2020 and catapult the developing socialsit movement into a new historical moment.<\/p>\n

The year 2019 feels like a lifetime ago. The Left is in a much more difficult place with a Joe Biden administration now overseeing the multiple-headed crises we face. I keep coming back to the energy and sense of possibility that was so infectious in the socialist movement when Trump was president. And it keeps bringing me back to the same issue\u2014that political training, spaces to debate both the short-term expressions and long-term dynamics of the period we are in, combined with the building up of independent, grassroots, democratic infrastructures of the socialist Left is not a step that we can skip. Often this means starting with one-on-one conversations and with basic political education. <\/p>\n

This might pale in comparison to hearing socialism discussed on national television, or seeing how many people in polls seem to agree with socialist demands. But in the absence of a ground game, we cannot build a stronger force capable of using elections, strikes, protests, and campaigns to win our demands. <\/p>\n