Socialists urge support of Kerry
Largest group says defeat
of Bush 'most important'

Posted: July 25, 2004
1:00 a.m. Eastern

2004 WorldNetDaily.com

The Democratic Socialists of America Political Action Committee is officially
urging its members to work for the election of John Kerry in the 2004
presidential election.

"Kerry was hardly the first choice of our members," said Frank Llewellyn,
national director of the DSA. "Most supported Dennis Kucinich or Howard Dean in
the Democratic primary elections and would be very critical of Senator Kerry's
voting record on trade issues, as well as his support for the resolution
authorizing the use of force in Iraq; but the most important concern of our
members now is to defeat Bush."

The DSA is the largest socialist organization in the U.S., with 5,500 members
and local organizations in many large cities. It is affiliated with the
Socialist International, a federation of the world's socialist, social
democratic and labor parties. It was founded as a group determined to push the
Democratic Party to the left and has worked closely with the Congressional
Progressive Caucus.

The statement urged DSA members to participate in get-out-the-vote and voter
education projects with other progressive organizations.

"It is very important that progressive movements keep organizing and mobilizing
so that we will be in a position to make demands on a new administration,"
Llewellyn continued.

The Congressional Progressive Caucus is a socialist-leaning bloc of about 60
votes or nearly 30 percent of the minority vote in the lower chamber. Until
1999, the website of the Progressive Caucus was hosted by the DSA.

Following an expose of the link between the two organizations in WorldNetDaily,
the Congressional Progressive Caucus established its own website under the
auspices of the Congress. Another officer of the Progressive Caucus, and one of
its guiding lights, is avowed socialist Rep. Bernie Sanders, the Vermont
independent.

The Democratic Socialists of America's chief organizing goal is to work within
the Democratic Party and remove the stigma attached to "socialism" in the eyes
of most Americans.

"Stress our Democratic Party strategy and electoral work," explains an
organizing document of the DSA. "The Democratic Party is something the public
understands, and association with it takes the edge off. Stressing our
Democratic Party work will establish some distance from the radical subculture
and help integrate you to the milieu of the young liberals."

Nevertheless, the goal of the Democratic Socialists of America has never been
deeply hidden. Prior to the cleanup of its website in 1999, the DSA included a
song list featuring "The Internationale," the worldwide anthem of communism and
socialism. Another song on the site was "Red Revolution" sung to the tune of
"Red Robin." The lyrics went: "When the Red Revolution brings its solution
along, along, there'll be no more lootin' when we start shootin' that Wall
Street throng. ..." Another song removed after WorldNetDaily's expose was "Are
You Sleeping, Bourgeoisie?" The lyrics went: "Are you sleeping? Are you
sleeping? Bourgeoisie, Bourgeoisie. And when the revolution comes, We'll kill
you all with knives and guns, Bourgeoisie, Bourgeoisie."

In the last three years, the Progressive Caucus has been careful to moderate
its image for mainstream consumption.

"The members of the Progressive Caucus share a common belief in the principles
of social and economic justice, non-discrimination and tolerance in America and
in our relationships with other countries," the group's statement of purpose
explains. Most of the members of the Progressive Caucus, including House
Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, opposed authorizing the war on Iraq. In fact,
most Democrats in the House opposed the war resolution. Then House Minority
Leader Gephardt and 81 other House Democrats supported the move.

"The Republican monopoly over all three branches of government has enabled an
unprecedented rightist attack and rollback of the economic, legislative and
policy gains won by the social movements of the twentieth century," said the
statement by the DSA announcing support of the Kerry campaign. "The Bush
administration has steadily gutted the democratic regulatory state begun by the
New Deal and Great Society. This dogmatic commitment to rapacious corporate
domination, combined with the administration's hostility to civil rights, has
led to outright attacks on environmental protection, labor rights, public
education, and the living standards of low-wage workers. In addition, the
right's cultural war in favor of the misnamed "traditional family values"
threatens to turn back the crucial gains of the movements for women's and gay
and lesbian equality. The Bush administration's continued hold on power for
another four years would be a devastating blow to the economic security and
cultural freedoms of most Americans, as well as to the prospects for peace and
stability in much of the world."