Socialist Alternative

Last month, on Nov. 11, 2006, Socialist Alternative put on our first Socialist Minnesota conference, which was a huge success!  We will continue to have this conference again annually, and hopefully continue to learn and improve it in coming years.  The day consisted of 4 sessions of leadoffs and discussion, followed by a party in the evening.  The attendance for most of the conference was about 50 people, which surged up to about 70 people for the session where Ty Moore, a Socialist Alternative member, debated Ed Felien, editor of the local progressive newspaper The Pulse.

At the first session, “The End of the American Dream?”, we had a great leadoff by Bryan Koulouris, who was visiting from our branch in Boston.  This was followed by some of the best discussion we’ve ever had at any meeting, public or private, featuring economic perspectives, historical data, and powerful personal testimony about the effects of the low-wage economy, lay-offs, and so on.

The breakout sessions all went well too.  We had four great leadoffs on revolutionary developments in Mexico, the War on Terror and next steps for the anti-war movement, poverty-wage jobs, and abortion rights.  These were followed by active and participatory discussions in smaller groups that allowed for more back-and-forth and the chance to get to know a few people at the conference better.

As mentioned before, the debate was the main attraction in terms of numbers.  Ty Moore debated Ed Felien of the Pulse on whether to support progressive Democrats or to argue for a political alternative to the two parties of big business.  The debate and its subsequent discussion again brought out an extremely high level of political discussion, and the crowd there showed overwhelming support for our ideas.

The final session on Reform or Revolution started off with a fantastic leadoff by Katie Quarles, the founding member of the Minneapolis branch of Socialist Alternative, and a very good political discussion afterwards.  In fact, a member who decided to join after the conference said Katie’s leadoff was decisive in convincing her to join, because she felt she now had a good grasp of what it really meant to be a socialist.

On top of this, we also had a party that evening after the conference, which was a load of fun for all, plus it was a great fundraiser to help us pay for continuing and expanding our work.  Thanks to everyone who joined us to make a fun end to a great day.

Overall, I would say that the event was an overwhelming success.  I think it would be awesome to try and build it even bigger and better next year than this time, honing it over the years into the most exciting and inspirational political event in the area.  Thanks to everyone who came to the conference and helped make it so awesome, whether for one session or for the whole thing.  The discussions couldn’t have been so amazing without you.  Hopefully we’ll see you again!