Socialist Action is a Trotskyist political party in the United States. It publishes the monthly Socialist Action newspaper,[1] has a youth affiliate called Youth for Socialist Action (YSA),[2] and is associated with the Fourth International.
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Socialist Action was founded in 1983 by a group of veteran socialist activists who state that they were expelled from the Socialist Workers Party for defending the ideas of Permanent Revolution, class independence, and continued support for the reunified Fourth International.[3]
Socialist Action has run candidates for elected office on a number of occasions. It views electoral campaigns as a way to promote socialist politics, as well as to advocate on behalf of issues that the organization is promoting. As a result of legal challenges, Socialist Action does not have to disclose who the financial supporters of its election campaigns are because of demonstrable government harassment of past socialist candidates.[4]
Socialist Action is the only Trotskyist group in the U.S. that has gotten a member elected to public office. SA member Adam Ritscher was elected to the Douglas County Board of Supervisors in Northern Wisconsin in April 2006.[5] Other examples of Socialist Action election campaigns are Jeff Mackler's 2006 write-in campaign for U.S. Senate in Northern California and Sylvia Weinstein's 1988 campaign for San Francisco Board of Education, in which she won 21,000 votes.[6] In 2010, Socialist Action ran Christopher Hutchinson[7] for the Connecticut's 1st congressional district. Hutchinson gained 955 votes or 0,42%[8].
Socialist Action has gone through a variety of splits and fusions over the course of its history. Currently it is actively involved in a wide range of social justice movements in the United States. SA members are in leadership positions in a range of groups that make up these movements, such as the National Assembly to End the U.S. Wars & Occupations, the United National Antiwar Conference, the Climate Crisis Coalition, the Mobilization to Free Mumia Abu-Jamal, Lynne Stewart Defense Committee, Grassroots Immigrant Justice Network, and a number of trade union locals.
Socialist Action has its national office in San Francisco. It also publishes various books and pamphlets through its publishing arm, Socialist Action Books.
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