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Social Democrats, USA | |
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| Abbreviation | SDUSA |
| Founded | December 30, 1972 |
| Preceded by | Socialist Party of America |
| Newspaper | New America (until 1985) |
| Youth wing | Young Social Democrats |
| Ideology | Social democracy[1] |
| Political position | Center-left |
| International affiliation | Socialist International (1973–2005)[citation needed] |
| Colors | Red |
| Website | |
| socialistcurrents.org | |
| This article is part of a series on |
| Socialism in the United States |
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| Part of a series on |
| Social democracy |
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Social Democrats, USA (SDUSA) is a social democratic organization established in 1972 as the successor of the Socialist Party of America (SPA). The SPA had stopped running independent presidential candidates though retains the term "party" in their name.
SDUSA, which was fiercely anti-communist, pursued a strategy of political realignment intended to organize labor unions, civil rights organizations and other constituencies into a coalition that would transform the Democratic Party into a social democratic party. The realignment strategy emphasized working with unions and especially the AFL–CIO, putting an emphasis on economic issues that would unite working class voters. SDUSA opposed the Senator George McGovern's "New Leftist" approach, pointing to the rout suffered in the 1972 presidential election. As a result, some SDUSA members, like Penn Kemble and Joshua Muravchik, were associated with neoconservatism. SDUSA's activities have included sponsoring discussions and issuing position papers. SDUSA has included civil rights activists and leaders of labor unions such as Bayard Rustin, Norman Hill and Tom Kahn of the AFL–CIO as well as Sandra Feldman and Rachelle Horowitz of the American Federation of Teachers (AFT). Internationally, the group supported the dissident Polish labor organization Solidarity and several anti-communist political movements in global hot spots. Using the "social democrat" label rather than "socialist" was meant to disassociate the group from the Soviet Union.[2] SDUSA, while social democratic, is also still "committed to the vibrant democratic socialist movement".[3]
SDUSA's politics were criticized by former SPA chairman Michael Harrington, who in 1972 announced that he favored an immediate pull-out of American forces from Vietnam and coined the term "neoconservative". After losing all votes at the 1972 convention that changed the SPA to SDUSA, Harrington resigned in 1973 to form the Democratic Socialist Organizing Committee, the forerunner of the Democratic Socialists of America.
- ^ "Principles". Social Democrats USA. Retrieved February 10, 2020.
- ^ "Socialist Party now the Social Democrats, U.S.A." The New York Times. December 31, 1972. p. 36. Retrieved February 8, 2010.
- ^ Hacker, David (2008–2010). "Heritage". Social Democrats USA. Retrieved February 10, 2020. "While concentrating on developing social democratic programs for the here and now, we have not given up our vision of the new socialist society that incremental change would eventually bring. We are still committed to the vibrant democratic socialist movement of the near future and our socialist vision of the far future beyond our lifetime and our children’s lifetime. ... We view the terms "social democracy" and "democratic socialism" as being interchangeable."