There is great interest in socialism in the US, but little understanding of what the struggle for socialism entails. The capitalist media is trying to channel pro-socialist sentiment toward the Democratic Party and portray it as a mildly reformist program that involves no fundamental change in the allocation of wealth, let alone the overthrow of existing property relations. It is a “socialism” that can even attract the support of thoughtful and socially conscious investment bankers.

But socialism can only be realized by the conscious political mobilization of the American and international working class in the greatest revolutionary struggle in history. The working class must prepare itself for this struggle by learning the lessons of the 20th century, which was the scene of the greatest revolutionary upheavals of history. It must learn the history of the Fourth International, the revolutionary socialist opposition to Stalinist counter-revolution.

Either the working class carries out the revolutionary overthrow of capitalism or it will be subjected to fascistic dictatorships and catastrophic wars. The political alternative that stands before humanity is not mild reform or the status quo, but revolutionary socialism or capitalist barbarism.