If socialist sentiment is undeniably on the rise, an organized socialist movement is only in its infancy. As we continue to reflect on how to transform this new interest in socialism into an organized political force, the preceding history of the Socialist Party of America may provide some insights.
Think of Occupy, Black Lives Matter and the Bernie Sanders Campaign as waves, all of them leading to the next wave. Instead of measuring one against another, we would do better to see their connections and possible relations. In order to unite people belonging to different movements into a longterm, organized radical force in this country, we would do well to begin, as C.L.R. James advised, with what they do.
In the discourse of “slavery,” the textile workshops and their thousands of migrant workers are a sort of black hole where another type of humanity is concentrated, one that is never fully recognized as such, other than under the idea of complete foreignness.
In a text that can be read as their founding manifesto from late 1972, to which Foucault was the only named contributor, the Groupe Information Santé discusses the political nature of the inquiry, the need for marginalized groups to assert their power, and claims that medical issues are at the forefront of class struggle.
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