The Freedom Socialist Party
In 1965, Clara Fraser and her second husband, Richard Fraser, helped lead the Seattle branch of the Socialist Workers Party in an exodus from the national organization. They founded the Freedom Socialist Party, which was marked by its commitment to women's liberation, African American freedom, revolutionary socialism, societal and organizational democracy, and principled politics. A turning point in the young party's development was the Frasers' divorce which split the ranks over whether feminist and socialist standards would prevail in party life. The majority supported Ms. Fraser and from that point on, the Freedom Socialist Party was marked by a uniquely deep-going commitment to female equality in both theory and practice. With Branches in the United States, Canada and Australia, they have high hopes of one day becoming a major political party.
The Freedom Socialist Party can best be described as a socialist feminist organization for which is dedicated to the replacement of capitalist rule. They believe that this can be done by using a workers’ democracy that will guarantee full economical, social, political and legal equality to the many diverse groups of people, along with minorities. They describe themselves as Marxists, Leninists, Trotskyists, feminists and humanists. The FSP wants to overcome imperialism, Stalinists bureaucratism, and racist arrogance. Yet, their main goal is to inject the socialist movement with the ideas of Trotsky feminism in order to prepare it for victory in the "crucial decade."
The platform for the Freedom Socialist Party believes that working class must liberate itself through socialism. Consequently, they want to try and become a mass working class party. Also, they believe that the class has the strategic power, numbers, need, and opportunity to effect a transformation of society. The FSP fight for the struggles of minorities against racism, sexism, and sexual repression of gays and lesbians. They also believe that among the most doomed and vulnerable people of capitalism are the children, elders, the disabled and prisoners. In other words, anyone who is not a profitable worker. Therefore, the Freedom Socialist Party strives for universal human rights. Lastly, the Freedom party believes that the environment should be kept safe by the people, not large corporations, and that technology should be used wisely and humanely so not to destroy the earth or its inhabits.
Although the Freedom Socialist Party doesn’t have a member from their own party running on the ticket for President, they have endorsed other candidates.
The Libertarian Party is considered America’s largest third party and believe in total individual liberty including pro-drug legalization, pro-choice, pro-home schooling etc. They also believe in total economic freedom which means they want a traditional laissez-faire approach. They believe that there is a correlation between lower government and more freedom. They want each person to have as much individual rights as they possibly can.
This party is necessary to the United States because it expands upon the ideas of a major party, and improves them by strengthening foreign policy and reducing the national debt. The party also strongly encourages individuals to take responsibility of their own lives, and not be dependent upon other people. This is evident in both the party name, and one of their planks concernin...
In 1969, at its ninth national convention, the organization of college-age activists known as the Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) was in disarray. Having formed only nine years earlier, it became the ideological basis for the New Left -- highly critical of the government’s policies on war and most importantly, fervent supporters of racial equality. By its ninth national convention, it had grown to be 100,000 members strong, consisting of various alliances and parties, with over 300 chapters all across the continental United States. During the convention, the turmoil of its own inner-politics and conflict between parties lead to a splintering (Green, “The Weather Underground”). The expulsion of the Worker-Student Alliance and the Progressive Labor party by the Revolutionary Youth Movement was strategic -- a coup...
It was not, until 1921, that the Catholic Women’s League, Montreal Local Council of Women and the Fédération National Saint-Jean Baptiste determined to gain Quebec women the right to vote and to disprove the theory that women were unfit for politics.25 Baptiste was able to promote a maternalism movement, meaning the ability to support their arguments with examples of maternity.26 It was also a way to differentiate those who promoted the maternal ideology as a positive aspect of women from the movements striving for equality.27 Although, Baptiste and new women’s committee wanted to change their strategy to support an education campaign, by demonstrating that the right to vote was not to “change their sphere of action in life, but rather to raise and ameliorate social life.”28 In this way, Quebec could see women implicating themselves within society and trying to positively influen...
From 1960 to 1990 the women’s movement in Canada played a significant role in history concerning the revolution of women’s rights. Although it was a long road coming for them, they were able to achieve the rights they deserved. Women struggled for equality rights to men but primarily their rights as a person. Since the 1960s women’s rights had significantly changed, they had to work hard for the rights that they have in the present day. Females across the nation started speaking out against gender inequality, divorce, and abortion. This uprising coincided with the Women’s Movement. Through the Royal Commission on the status of women they were able to gain equality rights and they were able to have access to legal abortions through the Charter Rights of Freedom and obtain no-fault divorce through the Divorce Act of 1986.
At this point, the difference perspective in ideology and political action has divided the women movement into some feminism types; socialist, Marxist, radical, liberal and many others. While liberal feminist focus their struggle for equality on civil, economic, and political rights, and education, the feminist socialist and Marxist believe women 's oppression is “the product of the political, social and economic structure within which individuals live.” (Tong, 1998: pp.94). Although some other people suppose that the feminist Marxist and socialist is quiet different, but both of them believe the source of women oppression are capitalism and patriarchy. The Marxist feminism is rooted in 19th century thinker such as Marx and Engels, whether
In the U.S., feminism is understood as the rights of women (usually affluent white women) to share the spoils of capitalism, and imperial power. By refusing to fully confront the exclusions of non-whites, foreigners, and other marginalized groups from this vision, liberal feminists miss a crucial opportunity to create a more inclusive and more powerful movement. Feminist movements within the U.S. and internationally have long since accepted that, for them, feminism entails the communal confrontation of not only patriarchy, but capitalism, imperialism, white supremacy, and other forms of oppressions that combine together and reinforce their struggle. It means the fighting for the replacement of a system in which their rights are negated in the quest for corporate and political profit. It includes fighting so that all people anywhere on the gender, sexual, and body spectrum are allowed to enjoy basic rights like food, housing, healthcare, and control of their labor.
Whereas the women’s suffrage movements focused mainly on overturning legal obstacles to equality, the feminist movements successfully addressed a broad range of other feminist issues. The first dealt primarily with voting rights and the latter dealt with inequalities such as equal pay and reproductive rights. Both movements made vast gains to the social and legal status of women. One reached its goals while the other continues to fight for women’s rights.
Despite being the constant underdog and loser in major elections third parties make some significant contribution to the political spectrum in the United States. Third Party Agendas are taken serious by the Democratic and Republican Parties and specific pieces of the Third Party Agendas are sometimes adopted by the two major parties. Third parties give discontented voters other alternatives. The Republican and Democratic Parties have been known to operate in similar styles and third parties give the voter the opportunity to express their discontent. The third parties in the United States are policy advocates and often are more specific about were they stand ideologically. Often the Republican and Democratic Parties try and take a moderate approach to political issues, and third parties are more conservative or liberal when it comes to political issues. Also, third parties tend to do exactly the opposite when their agenda concerns social issues. Then there is the ?spoiler factor? a Third Party Candidate can collect enough votes to change the outcome of a Presidential Election.
The Socialist Party of the United States of America was formally organized at a unity convention in Indianapolis in 1901. The two merging groups were the Social Democratic Party of Eugene Victor Debs and the "Kangaroo" wing of the older Socialist Labor Party. From the beginning the Socialist Party was the organization for American radicals. Its membership included Marxists of various kinds, Christian socialists, Zionist and anti-Zionist Jewish socialists, foreign-language speaking sections, and virtually every variety of American radical. The Socialist Party historically stressed cooperatives as much as labor unions, and included the concepts of revolution by education and of "building the new society within the shell of the old." The Socialist Party aimed to become a major party; in the years prior to World War I it elected two Members of Congress, over 70 mayors, innumerable state legislators and city councilors. Its membership topped 100,000, and its Presidential candidate, Eugene Debs, received close to a million votes in 1912 and again in 1920.
Through the 20th century, the communist movement advocated greatly for women's’ rights. Despite this, women still struggled for equality.
What does the word ‘feminist’ mean to you? For some, it is the striking image of the Famous Five, a group of suffragettes who garnered the right to vote for Canadian women. Nellie McClung, along with four other passionate women, helped bring recognition to women’s rights. To begin with, she scarcely received 6 years of education, but she managed to shape Canada’s future when she moved to Winnipeg in her late 30’s. It began with her and four other women who pursued the case for women to be recognized as ‘persons’ under Canadian law. Today, her legacy is recognized, and the parks and schools in her name are proof of that. Nellie McClung was brave and strategic and she shaped the lives of Canadians and Albertans.
Liberalism is a political ideology that was founded on the basis of equality and liberty. According to Liberalism, life, liberty, and property are rights people are born with and they should not be taken away. In Liberia, the main political party is the Unity Party which is a liberal party that focuses on economic Liberalism. In South Africa, the Democratic Alliance is a liberal party that wants an open opportunity society. Although these two nations are faced with many issues involving the liberty of their citizens, they hope to better their country through the ideology of Liberalism.
The focus of The Women’s Liberation Movement was idealized off The Civil Rights Movement; it was founded on the elimination of discriminary practices and sexist attitudes (Freeman, 1995). Although by the 1960s women were responsible for one-third of the work force, despite the propaganda surrounding the movement women were still urged to “go back home.” However the movement continued to burn on, and was redeveloping a new attitude by the 1970s. The movement was headed by a new generation that was younger and more educated in politics and social actions. These young women not only challenged the gender role expectations, but drove the feminist agenda that pursued to free women from oppression and male authority and redistribute power and social good among the sexes (Baumgardner and Richards, 2000).
At the mere age of 20, Diana Spencer married Prince Charles of Wales and became her Royal Highness Princess Diana. Her untainted innocent appearance made it easy for the citizens of England to like and accept her into the Royal Family. Although her marriage started off as a seemingly perfect fairytale, the people of England soon came to discover her marriage as well as her life in the Palace was anything from unbroken. Princess Diana is a hero for the way she loved, cared, helped, and related to others during her time.