EE.UU.: “In the background, This is the empowerment of the working class”

Interview with Julia Salazar, Socialist candidate for the state Senate in New York. After the unexpected victory of the Democratic Socialist Alexandria Ocacio-Cortez in the Democratic primary in the Bronx and Queens on a national deputy who was ten mandates in office, the head of the Democratic Caucus Nancy Pelosi declared that socialism is not on the rise. It was like a real estate agent informing that the house is haunted; the only reason to mention is that there have been visions, the squeaky stairs.
In September, New Yorkers will be able to nominate another member of the Democratic Socialists of America. and Brooklyn, Julia Salazar -of 26 years- It is running for the Senate in New York, with a platform that proposes a single state health system, housing as a human right, protect public education from privatization, expand the right to collective bargaining, and end the imprisonments and mass deportations.
Meagan Day, Jacobin, Salazar spoke with on the failures of the Democratic Party establishment, the difference between Socialist and progressive, and how democratic socialist candidates must be accountable to the working class once they get charges.

MD: How did you socialist?

JS: My family emigrated to the US. of Colombia when I was a baby, and my mom ended up raising us my brother and me as a single parent, workers without college degree. My family was not politically active and my mother developed quite conservative and reactionary ideas, So that was my surroundings when I grew up.
I started working in a supermarket at fourteen, and I worked during high school in the service sector, and I gradually began to realize certain cognitive dissonance between his political vision around me and my own interests. As someone who survived on welfare, these things seemed to me increasingly contradictory.
I studied at Columbia and worked as a maid, babysitting and cleaning departments. It was through political education I received in college, combined with the development of my own class consciousness, I came to identify as possibly Socialist.

MD: When did you get involved in activism?

JS: My first experience was to organize my building. He lived in a building in Harlem that was administered by an abusive and neglectful company, calefaccionaba not building properly in winter, and he refused to make urgent repairs to be habitable units for tenants. I had 21 years, He had no legal training, but I went to the website of the City and decided that, legally, We could retain vacation. Then I talked to my cohabitants and neighbors organized a rent strike.
Withheld rent for three months. Finally, For administration judicializó. I arrived at the court house with a full documentation about the conditions of the building, and in fact we started grants the owner. Although, Of course, the company did not renew my contract, and the department had no rent control, so we increased the rent and were forced to move. For me, Nevertheless, exemplified experience me and cemented the need for systemic change.

MD: How do you define democratic socialism?

JS: In general terms, be democratic socialist is to hold the vision of a world where everyone's needs are met. We fight for a society in which it is valued more people than gain, where everyone has access to the things they need, not only to survive, but to develop. In my campaign this translates into more immediate specific policy positions, including a state single health system, expanding statewide system of rent stabilization and implementation of a universal rent control, end cash bonds and policies aimed at ending the mass incarceration.

MD: What distinguishes a democratic socialist progressive?

JS: A democratic socialist recognizes that the capitalist system is inherently oppressive and actively works to dismantle and empower the working class and the marginalized of society. Socialists recognize that in capitalism the rich, through private control of industry and property that should be public, They accumulate exploiting the working class wealth and marginalized sectors. This perpetuates and exacerbates inequality structurally.
Progressive falls short in proposing reforms that help people but not necessarily transform the system. But, If you do not propose universal rent control and, frankly, eventual abolition of private property although that's not my electoral platform because it is not very realistic- the only thing you do is to kick the problems forward.
What it means to be a democratic socialist lawmaker is fighting for changes that have a positive material effect on the lives of people, but also bring us closer to a truly socialist economic system.

MD: Sounds to me like a progressive and democratic socialist can agree on some key policy proposals, but, for a democratic socialist, the goal is to empower the working class to win more battles against capitalism; while for progressives it is more palliative.

JS: Yes, It's like harm reduction. They describe.

MD: What have been the major failures of the Democratic Party establishment, and what interests they represent today?

JS: Fijate statements we've seen in the last week, since Alexandria Ocacio-Cortez Joe Crowley defeated in the Democratic primary for his congressional district in New York. The dominant wing, liberal centrist, Democratic Party, It is completely divorced from what most of which are affiliated workers- they want, and policies that are identified. I think what we're seeing is that the base of the Democratic Party has a much larger political imagination that the establishment of the party, both federal and local politics.
So the main problem is the lack of political imagination, to address each dispute from a position of engagement rather than a position of readiness to fight for the working class and the marginalized sectors.

MD: What possibilities socialists think they have to transform the Democratic Party into a force that fights for workers? You can redirect, or is merely a tool for developing independent socialist policies?
JS: I think definitely the latter. My feeling is that the reorientation of the Democratic Party is, in the best case, a secondary objective, no central. Ultimately, the party system limits, in fact, the rights of people. And I can not see the Democratic Party as a vehicle for socialist democratic revolution, then it would be foolish and shortsighted that democratic socialists we put a lot of effort and resources to this project.

MD: At the same time, others say that the Socialists should only nominate candidates outside the Democratic Party. What would you answer them?

JS: You would have to say that the more than 150.000 people in my district, They are living every day with the fear of being evicted from their homes, and they are affiliated with the Democratic Party in a state with closed primaries. It is undoubtedly strategic here in New York but not everywhere, it is clear- postularte as a Democrat if you want to come to power as a leftist. To mobilize people around socialist policies, you have to be challenged Democratic voters. And you can not do that in any way meaningful without competing the Democratic primary in my district.
I recently put my DSA member (Democratic Socialists of America) Jabari Brisport, who was a candidate of the Green Party. His district is different from mine. I think it would be great if we could all avoid the Democratic nomination, and I think it's an important issue for colleagues who are presented under different circumstances. But if we tried that in this district, I really doubt that people identify, let alone vote, a candidate of a third party in the general election.

MD: The main objective of a socialist campaign is getting charges and legislating, or build a movement and spread a message? If it is the latter, how electoral politics contributes to that goal?

JS: The goal is to build a movement. Otherwise, in the long run, we would only be reformers. Part of this construction is to show our power, show people that we want to add, the movement is growing and viable. We also need to convey that, to build this movement, we must radically challenge the systematic attempts to alienate and isolate ourselves from each other. Communicating this is one of the most important components of a campaign like mine.
further, it is important to effectively choose candidates who can get to the legislature and fight for policies that effectively transform the lives of workers. The choice is a short-term goal, while the long-term goal is to build a movement. But the two are not mutually exclusive. How people respond to these campaigns -for example Alexandria Ocacio-Cortez, how people responded to a Latino worker, Democratic socialist, It was elected in the Bronx for the federal Congress- You can have a huge impact on the movement, nationwide.
Electoral campaigns of democratic socialists enthuse people to get involved in the socialist movement in the United States. Y, although I think Alexandria Ocacio-Cortez is to the left of Bernie Sanders, and I'm to the left of Bernie, There is no doubt that his campaign generated an incredible level of interest in socialism. When I mention campaign and democratic socialism, people identify, first, con Bernie, because he popularized the concept in his election campaign.

MD: What is the nature of your involvement in DSA? How integrated is the organization in your campaign?

JS: DSA is absolutely integral my campaign, particularly at. I have been actively involved in DSA-NYC almost two years ago. I'm on the organizing committee of the Socialist Feminist Task Force of our regional, before driving the agenda of the regional, I do a lot of administrative work and have participated in many regional campaigns.
Were, to a large degree, DSA companions, one of whom is now head of my campaign- that convinced me postularme. The national electoral strategy DSA has influenced our campaign strategy, and co-DSA are militating since we launched the campaign in April. Then DSA has played a key role in this campaign from the beginning.

MD: What do you think of the wave of strikes teachers? It is a new dawn of union militancy? Y, if so, that generated? And what is the role of organized labor in the struggle for a socialist world?

JS: The strike is the most powerful tool we have organized workers against the bosses. So, see stopping mass workers, and they states already had laws that defend the "right-to-work" before Janus,1 It is deeply inspiring. The socialist movement has to be led by the working class, then when we see workers grouped in solidarity to stop, It is significant for the socialist movement. further, labor problems are related to all the problems facing the working class, like health, and it was tremendous to see that teachers highlighted during strikes.
A true socialist movement will only be realized with the working class taking power, and exercising power we have today. In the state of New York, state workers have no right to strike by the Taylor Law. Part of my platform, on which I have spoken to people the trade union movement throughout my campaign, we have to amend the law to allow Taylor to stop state, especially now. In the country's post-Janus, the strike will be the most powerful tool for workers.

MD: Going back to what we talked about earlier, It occurs to me that a good example of the distinction between a progressive and a democratic socialist candidate, It might not necessarily progressive fight to reform both the Taylor Law, because progressives, to a large degree, They think that officials can handle things. For example, improvements can offer workers the minimum wage increase. A socialist not only wants to pass legislation on behalf of the working class, but remove the obstacles of self-organization of the working class militant.

JS: It is right. In the background, This is the empowerment of the working class, and that means much more than favorable reforms. There is no doubt we need to expand and fully fund the social safety net. But if we do that without altering the basic structures that oppress people and keep in wage slavery, We never see lasting social change.

MD: We know that the party apparatus is powerful in Albany (the state capital of New York). At the same time, capitalists everywhere exercise power over the political process, directly, financing campaigns, and indirectly, with the threat of lockout and disinvestment. So, the Ganas, what pressures and obstacles deputy expect to find as a driver of a democratic socialist program? And what strategies have to meet these challenges without compromising socialist principles?

JS: I anticipate that work within the New York State Legislature will be difficult, when different interests always trying to compromise the integrity of legislators. I recently saw in New York to a group called progressives in the state Senate, When they took their seats, They entered into an agreement to share power with the GOP. You imagine that I do not care much who have betrayed the Democratic Party, but they betrayed the working class. They did that, not only to form a bloc with Republicans, but to deliver the power that the electoral process had given them and confident. I do not think they did it because they were all Republicans secretly; they did it because they negotiated an agreement that it would be beneficial, which would result in more funding for their districts in the budget and better prospects for their careers. That commitment would, after all, to serve their own interests.
I think that will always be private interests competing for the favor of legislators and exerting different pressures, and the best way -that accountable to the workers say, of people who would vote for a socialist- It is to stay committed to them materially, for example not accepting corporate donations. The importance of a grassroots campaign, It is not only a beginning. In practice, means that if you're elected in a campaign financed entirely by the movement, there is a greater likelihood that you remain committed to the movement.

MD: In California, Gayle McLaughlin made a democratic socialist campaign as a candidate for vicegovernment. I do not win, but one of his ideas besides being financially committed to the working class- It was to form a "shadow cabinet" of leftist movement committed to help you make decisions and keep balanced. Officials have voices of the establishment over him all the time; its goal with this idea was to create a counterweight explicitly surrounding himself with people who, invariably, would provide a different analysis. What do you think?

JS: It makes a lot of sense. A democratic socialist lawmaker has to be driven, first, a policy of class and a materialist analysis. To that end it is important to surround yourself since the beginning of people who are committed to that vision.
For example, in my campaign we are not hiring any consultant. Not that consultants are bad in principle, socialist but my staff and I are deeply reluctant to add people who say that we will commit our core socialist values. You have to keep the same standard when creating a staff as a legislator elected. Members do not necessarily have to be contributing members of DSA, but make sure that people advising us that this is not rooted in the system that oppresses us.

1. Janus. AFSCME: opinion of the 27 June 2018 Supreme Court took the unions the power to collect contributions from non-members.