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Socialist Equality Party (United States)
Socialist Equality Party (United States)
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The Socialist Equality Party (SEP) is an American Trotskyist political party. SEP first formed in 1964 as the American Committee for the Fourth International, created by expelled members of the Socialist Workers Party. SEP and its previous forms were associated with the International Committee of the Fourth International (ICFI), a Trotskyist political international.

Key Information

SEP describes itself as a revolutionary socialist party, because the SEP believes capitalism is "beyond reform"[1] and only "a revolutionary movement that has as its aim the establishment of workers' power" can win socialism.[2]

Notable members include David North, Jerry White, and Joseph Kishore.

History

[edit]

Background

[edit]
Main article: Revolutionary Tendency

In the 1950s, most Trotskyists in the United States were members of the Socialist Workers Party (SWP), which was part of the Fourth International's (FI) tendency International Committee of the Fourth International (ICFI).[3]

In 1958, SWP adopted a policy of "regroupment": Pursuit of former members of Stalinist communist parties, who had been disillusioned by the Secret Speech.[3]: 844–845 

In 1961, Tim Wohlforth, James Robertson, and other SWP members who opposed regroupment created a tendency within the SWP, the Revolutionary Tendency (RT). RT saw the SWP as shifting toward the FI's other tendency, the International Secretariat of the Fourth International (ISFI), led by Michel Pablo. RT opposed "Pabloite" politics[3]: 864–865  and Pablo's "entryism sui generis" plan, in which Trotskyists would maintain separate parties but personally enter into communist and social democratic parties. RT developed links with the Socialist Labour League in Britain, led by Gerry Healy.[3]: 917  Lyndon LaRouche was briefly an RT member.[3]: 945 

In 1962, the RT split: Robertson's majority kept the name. Wohlforth's minority renamed itself the Reorganized Minority Tendency (RMT).[3]: 866 

In 1963, in preparation for merging the ICFI with the ISFI, Wohlforth was removed from the SWP's Political Committee.[3]: 924 

Formation

[edit]

In November 1963, the SWP expelled Robertson and the RT, who created the Spartacist League. Robertson's appeal was denied in April 1964.[3]: 917–918 

In September 1964, the SWP expelled Wohlforth and the RMT, who created the American Committee for the Fourth International (ACFI) and launched the biweekly Bulletin of International Socialism.[3]: 866, 917–918, 924  [4] ACFI maintained connections with Gerry Healy and the (non-merged portions of the) ICFI, which they considered the legitimate Trotskyist movement. ACFI became the American section of the ICFI.[citation needed]

Wohlforth argued that the split was due to their demand for discussion of the decision by the Sri Lankan Trotskyist Lanka Sama Samaja Party to participate in the national government.[3]: 924 

Subsequent history

[edit]
Former SEP logo

In 1966, ACFI renamed itself to the Workers League (WL).[3]: 866 

In 1973, WL entered serious organizational crisis. About 150 members and most of its founding leaders left. At Healey's insistence, Wohlforth was forced out of leadership.[3]: 927 

In 1985, ICFI split in two. The Workers Revolutionary Party (WRP) in Britain argued that ICFI should support nationalist leaders like Saddam Hussein and Muammar Gadhafi.[3]: 928  In 1985, the WRP expelled Gerry Healy, and WL sided with the ICFI majority over Healy's minority.[3]: 929 

In 1995, parties affiliated with ICFI each renamed themselves as Socialist Equality Party. In 1998, the ICFI launched the World Socialist Web Site.[5] ICFI runs the publishing house Mehring Books, formerly named Labor Publications.[6]

In 2006, the Socialist Equality Party relaunched its student movement (the Students for Social Equality) as the International Students for Social Equality (ISSE). In 2012, the SEP renamed the ISSE as the International Youth and Students for Social Equality (IYSSE).[7]

Ideology

[edit]

SEP is a Trotskyist party.[1]

SEP supports a "revolutionary struggle against capitalism" and rejects socialist reformism, stating that "our aim is not the reform of capitalism, but its overthrow".[1] In its list of transitional demands, the SEP includes: Universal employment, universal healthcare, ending foreclosures and evictions, workplace democracy, high inheritance taxes, nationalization of large corporations, and replacement of the volunteer-based US military with "popular militias controlled by the working class and with elected officers".[1]

Election results

[edit]

The SEP has fielded electoral candidates in the United States for local, state, and federal offices. SEP candidates usually run as official SEP candidates on their own ballot line.

No SEP candidate has yet won an election.

Presidential elections

[edit]
Year Presidential candidate Vice presidential candidate Popular votes % Electoral votes Result Ballot access Notes Ref
2024 Joseph Kishore Jerome White 4,659
0.00%
 0 Lost
41 / 538
 running as a Socialist Equality Party candidate [8]
2020 Joseph Kishore Norissa Santa Cruz 345
0.00%
 0 Lost
9 / 538
 ran as Socialist Equality Party candidate [9]
2016 Jerome White Niles Niemuth 382
0.00%
 0 Lost
0 / 538
 ran as write-in candidate [10]
2012 Jerome White Phyllis Scherrer 1,279
0.00%
 0 Lost
17 / 538
 ran as Socialist Equality Party candidate [11]
2008 Jerome White Bill Van Auken 18
0.00%
 0 Lost
0 / 538
 ran as write-in candidate [12][13]
2004 Bill Van Auken Jim Lawrence 1,857
0.00%
 0 Lost
45 / 538
 ran as Socialist Equality Party candidate [14]
1996 Jerome White Fred Mazelis 2,438
0.00%
 0 Lost
43 / 538
 ran as Socialist Equality Party candidate [15]
1992 Helen Halyard Fred Mazelis 3,050
0.00%
 0 Lost
33 / 538
 ran as Workers League candidate [16]
1988 Edward Winn Helen Halyard 18,693
0.02%
 0 Lost
59 / 538
 ran as Workers League candidate [17]
1984 Edward Winn Helen Halyard 10,798
0.01%
 0 Lost
71 / 538
 ran as Workers League candidate [18]

Congressional elections

[edit]
Year Candidate Chamber State District Votes % Result Notes Ref
2006 Bill Van Auken Senate New York Class 1 6,004
0.1%
 Lost [19]
2006 Jerome White House Michigan MI-12 1,862
0.8%
 Lost [20]
2018 David Moore Senate California Class 1 24,601
0.4%
 Lost Top two primary [21]
2018 Niles Niemuth House Michigan MI-12 2,200
0.8%
 Lost [22]
2018 Kevin Mitchell House California CA-51 1,473
1.9%
 Lost Top two primary [23]

Statewide elections

[edit]
Year Candidate Office State District Votes % Result Notes Ref
2021 David Moore Governor California 31,160
0.4%
 Lost urged a "No" vote on the recall [24]
2003 John Burton Governor California 6,748
0.1%
 Lost urged a "No" vote on the recall [25]

State legislature elections

[edit]
Year Candidate Office State District Votes % Result Notes Ref
2016 Naomi Spencer State House West Virginia 16th 921
2.3%
 Lost [citation needed]
2010 D'Artagnan Collier State House Michigan 9th 138
0.7%
 Lost [citation needed]
2006 Joe Parnarauskis State Senate Illinois 52nd 1,894
3.4%
 Lost [26]
2006 Eric DesMarais State Senate Maine 32nd 296
2.3%
 Lost [26]

Local elections

[edit]
Year Candidate Office Area District Votes % Result Notes Ref
2013 D'Artagnan Collier Mayor Detroit 91
0.1%
 Lost [27]
2009 D'Artagnan Collier Mayor Detroit 1,265
1.4%
 Lost [citation needed]

See also

[edit]

References

[edit]
[edit]
Revisions and contributorsEdit on WikipediaRead on Wikipedia

Socialist Equality Party (United States)

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from Grokipedia

The Socialist Equality Party (United States) (SEP) is a Trotskyist founded in through a congress held in , dedicated to organizing the international for the overthrow of and the establishment of via revolutionary means. As the American section of the International Committee of the —traced to Leon Trotsky's 1938 initiative against Stalinist degeneration—the SEP upholds core commitments to materialist dialectics, the theory of , and opposition to nationalist or reformist deviations within . The party's principles emphasize international , rejecting "" in favor of a unified world socialist led by workers to seize political power, nationalize under democratic control, and eradicate exploitation, , and inequality inherent to the profit system. It critiques , particularly U.S. , demanding immediate withdrawal from conflicts and redirection of resources toward social needs. Organizationally, the SEP adheres to , fostering internal debate while enforcing unified action, and maintains historical continuity through prior formations like the Workers League (1966) amid splits combating Pabloite revisionism and . In practice, the SEP intervenes in U.S. elections not to seek parliamentary reform but to expose capitalism's bankruptcy and build revolutionary consciousness, fielding candidates such as Joseph Kishore for president and Jerry White for in 2024. It disseminates its program through the , analyzing global crises from a Marxist standpoint independent of establishment narratives often skewed by institutional biases toward status-quo . While electoral impact remains marginal, reflecting broader challenges in penetrating worker consciousness amid pervasive opportunism, the SEP prioritizes theoretical clarity and cadre development over short-term popularity.

Origins and Formation

Trotskyist Roots and Pre-SEP Organizations

The Socialist Equality Party traces its ideological origins to the Trotskyist movement, which emerged in opposition to the Stalinist degeneration of the Soviet Union and the Third International. Leon Trotsky, a key leader of the 1917 Russian Revolution, developed the theory of permanent revolution, arguing that socialist transformation in less-developed countries required international extension to advanced capitalist nations, rather than reliance on national isolation or staged development under bureaucratic control. In 1938, Trotsky founded the Fourth International to preserve authentic Marxism against Stalinism's suppression of inner-party democracy and revolutionary internationalism, attracting adherents who viewed the Comintern as irredeemably compromised by Moscow's dictates. Post-World War II, the faced internal divisions over strategy toward Stalinist parties and . In 1953, a faction led by the British Socialist Labour League (SLL), under and Pierre Lambert, established the International Committee of the Fourth International (ICFI) to combat "Pabloist" tendencies, which advocated deep entrism into existing mass parties and predicted their potential radicalization without independent Trotskyist leadership. The ICFI emphasized rebuilding the on orthodox Trotskyist foundations, prioritizing the independent mobilization of the against both capitalist and pseudo-socialist bureaucracies. This split rejected adaptations seen as liquidating revolutionary principles in favor of tailing reformist or Stalinist forces. In the United States, the Socialist Workers Party (SWP), the original section of the , increasingly aligned with the Pabloist International Secretariat after 1953, endorsing reunification efforts that diluted anti-revisionist critiques. This prompted opposition within the SWP's youth organization, leading to expulsions in 1964 of members including Tim Wohlforth, who formed the American Committee for the Fourth International (ACFI) to realign with the ICFI's defense of . The ACFI published Workers Fight and focused on exposing the SWP's abandonment of Leninist principles, such as independent party-building. The ACFI reorganized as the Workers League in November 1966, marking its formal establishment as the US section of the ICFI through a founding congress that adopted a program of revolutionary internationalism. Under leaders like David North, the Workers League published the Bulletin of the Workers League and intervened in labor struggles, such as opposing the ' no-strike pledges during the 1970s economic crises, while critiquing both Democratic Party illusions and rival socialist groups for . The organization grew modestly, emphasizing theoretical education and opposition to US in , but remained committed to small-scale cadre-building over mass opportunism. By the and early 1990s, it intensified scrutiny of Gorbachev's as a bourgeois restoration in the USSR, predicting the 1991 collapse as validation of Trotsky's analysis of bureaucratic degeneration. The Workers League operated until 1996, when it reconstituted as the Socialist Equality Party to advance toward broader working-class intervention while upholding the same Trotskyist continuity.

Establishment in 1996 and Initial Split

The Workers League, a Trotskyist organization established in the 1960s as the U.S. section of the International Committee of the (ICFI), initiated the process of reorganizing into the Socialist Equality Party (SEP) in June 1995. National Secretary David North presented a detailed report to the league's membership on June 25, 1995, arguing that the existing cadre-based structure limited its ability to address the escalating social crisis in the United States, including rising inequality and the erosion of workers' rights following the end of the . North emphasized the need for a party form capable of broader recruitment and intervention in mass struggles, while upholding the Trotskyist principles of and opposition to , , and Pabloite liquidationism. On February 12, 1996, the Workers League formally announced the establishment of the Socialist Equality Party as its successor organization. The SEP adopted the name to signify its orientation toward building a mass revolutionary party of the , distinct from the narrower "league" framework that had constrained expansion amid the political shifts of the , such as the perceived decline of traditional labor organizations and the unchallenged dominance of U.S. . This transition maintained organizational continuity with the Workers League's leadership, publications like the Bulletin, and international ties to the ICFI, without documented evidence of a significant internal factional split at the time of founding; dissenting views, if any, were resolved through the league's established democratic-centralist procedures prior to the announcement. North continued as a central leader, later formalizing his role as SEP national chairman. The formation reflected the ICFI's broader strategic assessment that the objective conditions—intensified class antagonisms and the bankruptcy of —demanded renewed efforts to construct sectionally rooted parties globally.

Historical Development

1980s-1990s Activities and Publications

During the , the Workers League (WL), the organizational predecessor to the Socialist Equality Party, focused its activities on advancing Trotskyist principles within the American working class, emphasizing intervention in labor disputes and criticism of the bureaucracy as an obstacle to independent . The WL campaigned for the establishment of a independent of the Democratic and Republican parties, intervening in strikes such as the 1980s oil workers' disputes to argue for rank-and-file committees to challenge union leadership collaboration with employers. Its theoretical work included opposition to opportunist tendencies within the International Committee of the (ICFI), contributing to the 1985-1986 resolution of internal crises that reaffirmed Trotskyist orthodoxy against nationalist deviations. The WL's primary publication was the Bulletin of the Workers League, a newspaper issued from the organization's Detroit headquarters that provided Marxist analysis of domestic economic crises, international , and betrayals by Stalinist and social-democratic groups. Running bi-weekly by the mid-1970s and continuing through the 1980s and 1990s, the Bulletin featured articles on events like the 1989 Eastern European upheavals and U.S. race-class tensions, alongside pamphlets such as The War Comes Home: Race, Class and in America. These materials prioritized first-principles exposition of and internationalism over reformist or identity-based approaches, reflecting the WL's rejection of "petty-bourgeois" movements in favor of proletarian program-building. In the 1990s, WL activities intensified around electoral interventions, including the 1988 presidential campaign platform that called for mobilizing workers against capitalist globalization and union sellouts. The organization marked its 25th anniversary in 1991 with public meetings examining the historical fight against Pabloite revisionism and for orthodox Trotskyism in the U.S. Publications continued to document these efforts, compiling Bulletin articles into volumes on contemporary crises, such as the 1989 collection addressing the dissolution of Stalinist regimes as a vindication of Trotsky's critique of bureaucratic degeneration. This period's work culminated in the WL's February 12, 1996, announcement of its transformation into the Socialist Equality Party, aimed at expanding into a mass vehicle for revolutionary socialism amid escalating capitalist contradictions.

2000s Expansion and Online Presence

In the early 2000s, the Socialist Equality Party intensified its efforts to extend its influence amid rising global tensions, including the , 2001 attacks and the U.S. in 2001 and in 2003, which the party characterized as manifestations of imperialist aggression. The SEP positioned itself as a critic of both major U.S. parties, arguing that the Democratic and Republican establishments facilitated these wars and domestic measures. This period saw the party announce its first national presidential election campaign on January 27, 2004, nominating candidates to advance a program opposing , defending workers' rights, and calling for the overthrow of through socialist revolution. The campaign, conducted primarily through public meetings, distribution, and the party's publications, aimed to recruit members and build a base among disillusioned workers, though it garnered minimal electoral support reflective of the party's small size. Parallel to these initiatives, the SEP's online presence expanded significantly via the (WSWS), launched in 1998 as the voice of the International Committee of the . As global internet users grew from roughly 413 million in 2000 to 1.9 billion by 2009, the WSWS capitalized on this to publish daily analyses, reaching an international audience with perspectives on , labor struggles, and opposition to reformist tendencies within the broader left. The site covered events like the 2000 U.S. recession and dot-com bust, framing them as symptoms of capitalism's inherent crises, and by mid-decade had established itself as a platform for serialized historical works and critiques of narratives. This digital shift allowed the SEP to bypass traditional print limitations, with WSWS articles emphasizing the need for independent working-class politics over alliances with bourgeois parties. The party's national membership convened periodically, such as in , on January 8-9, 2005, to assess post-2004 election dynamics and strategize amid perceptions of a Bush administration "mandate" for further social attacks. These gatherings underscored the SEP's focus on theoretical education and cadre development rather than mass organizational growth, with expansion measured in terms of ideological influence rather than numerical branches. By the late , as precursors to the 2008 financial crash emerged, the WSWS amplified warnings of , attributing it to unchecked financial speculation and class polarization, thereby solidifying the party's online role in fostering Trotskyist consciousness. This approach, while effective for niche dissemination, remained constrained by the SEP's sectarian rejection of broader left coalitions, limiting tangible offline expansion.

2010s-2025 Campaigns and Responses to Crises

In August , the Socialist Equality Party held its First National Congress, adopting a revolutionary program emphasizing the mobilization of the against in response to the ongoing global and rising following the 2008 market collapse. The congress, attended by delegates from across the , resolved to intensify efforts to build an international Trotskyist movement, critiquing the Obama administration's bank bailouts and austerity measures as continuations of capitalist exploitation rather than solutions to economic distress. The SEP launched its 2012 presidential campaign with Jerry White as candidate for president and Phyllis Scherrer for vice president, focusing on demands for nationalizing major banks and industries under worker control to address exceeding 8 percent and wage stagnation. White's platform rejected support for or , denouncing both major parties as instruments of the responsible for the crisis. The ticket secured in select states and received 1,130 votes nationwide. Amid the protests that emerged in September 2011, the SEP intervened to argue that the movement's lack of a class-based program and leadership by middle-class elements doomed it to co-optation, calling instead for workers to form independent rank-and-file committees; it condemned the November 2011 police eviction of Zuccotti Park as a defense of Wall Street's interests by the Democratic Party-aligned establishment. In 2016, the SEP again fielded Jerry White for president, with Niles Niemuth as vice-presidential candidate, campaigning against the escalating U.S. interventions in and the domestic growth of , where the top 1 percent captured over 90 percent of income gains since 2009. The platform demanded the immediate withdrawal of U.S. forces from the and an end to CIA-orchestrated regime-change operations, attributing rising authoritarian tendencies under Obama to the crisis of bourgeois . White and Niemuth received fewer than 2,000 votes, reflecting the party's emphasis on theoretical clarification over electoral . Throughout the decade, the SEP responded to events like the 2014 by rejecting race-based interpretations in favor of class analysis, arguing that police violence stemmed from the breakdown of the capitalist state amid , not inherent systemic decoupled from economic foundations. The 2020 presidential bid featured Joseph Kishore as the SEP's nominee, conducted virtually amid the that had infected over 1 million Americans by election time and exposed inadequacies in the profit-driven . Kishore's campaign called for reallocating spending—then at $738 billion annually—to fund universal healthcare and worker-led production of protective equipment, criticizing both and for subordinating to corporate profits. The SEP's Sixth National Congress in 2020 adopted a resolution framing the pandemic as a historic turning point accelerating class struggle, advocating global socialist measures to eradicate the virus rather than nationalistic vaccine hoarding. Kishore garnered under 1,000 votes. In the lead-up to 2024, the SEP's Eighth National Congress in August analyzed the intensification of imperialist conflicts, including the U.S.-backed and persistent surges killing thousands monthly, as symptoms of capitalism's terminal decay. Joseph Kishore ran again for president, with Jerry White as vice-presidential candidate, on a platform demanding the of oligarchic wealth—estimated at $5 trillion held by U.S. billionaires—to finance social needs and oppose all wings of the as enablers of endless war and . The campaign included public meetings and online interventions urging workers to reject Democratic appeals to and racial division, positing instead the independent political organization of the international for socialist revolution; preliminary results as of October 2025 showed negligible vote totals, consistent with the party's strategic focus on cadre-building over reformist illusions. The SEP has maintained that responses to crises like exceeding 9 percent in and housing unaffordability— with median home prices surpassing $400,000—require not palliatives but the overthrow of private ownership of production.

Ideological Framework

Core Trotskyist Principles

The Socialist Equality Party (SEP) maintains that its ideological foundations rest on the orthodox Trotskyism defended by the International Committee of the Fourth International (ICFI), which it recognizes as the authoritative continuation of the Fourth International established by Leon Trotsky in 1938 to combat Stalinist and social-democratic betrayals of the working class. This commitment emerged from historical struggles against revisions of Trotskyism, including Pabloist tendencies in the late 1940s and early 1950s that sought to subordinate the revolutionary party to Stalinist or nationalist movements, leading to the ICFI's formation in 1953. The SEP views these defenses as essential to preserving the program of world socialist revolution against opportunist dilutions. Central to the SEP's Trotskyism is the theory of permanent revolution, which posits that in nations of belated capitalist development, the bourgeoisie proves incapable of resolving democratic tasks such as land reform or national independence without sparking socialist contradictions, necessitating proletarian leadership that extends the revolution internationally. The party asserts: "The socialist revolution begins on the national arena, it unfolds towards the international arena, and is completed on the world arena," explicitly rejecting Stalin's doctrine of "socialism in one country" as a nationalist deviation that substituted bureaucratic caste rule for genuine internationalism and contributed to the Soviet Union's dissolution in 1991. This principle underscores the SEP's insistence that national sections of the working class must align with global struggles to achieve socialism, rather than pursuing isolated or reformist paths. Internationalism forms the strategic core of SEP , requiring analysis of objective over parochial or nationalist perspectives, with the ultimate aim of establishing a United Socialist States of the . The traces this to Trotsky's of the Comintern's degeneration under , emphasizing the need for a to overcome defeats like the rise of in , where Stalinist policies subordinated workers' movements to bourgeois governments. In practice, this manifests in the SEP's subordination to the ICFI's authority, prioritizing trans-national coordination against and capitalist crises. The SEP employs dialectical materialism as its philosophical method, conceiving society as a dynamic process driven by class antagonisms and objective historical laws, rather than subjective voluntarism or idealist interpretations. This materialist outlook informs its rejection of Stalinism not merely as a policy error but as a counter-revolutionary caste that restored capitalist property relations under bureaucratic cover, vindicated by the 1991 counter-revolution. Complementing this is the transitional program, which seeks to "help the masses in the given stage to find the bridge between present demands and the socialist program of the revolution" by advancing demands that expose capitalism's limits and mobilize workers toward seizure of power. The SEP positions these elements as indispensable for building revolutionary consciousness amid contemporary global contradictions, such as economic inequality and imperialist wars.

Stances on Imperialism, Class Struggle, and Revolution

The Socialist Equality Party (SEP) regards as the highest stage of capitalism, characterized by the predatory drive of major powers, particularly the , to resolve economic crises through aggression and global resource redivision. The party condemns U.S.-led interventions since 1991, including the "war on terror," as pretexts for expanding , and extends this critique to contemporary conflicts such as NATO's proxy war in against and support for Israel's actions in Gaza, viewing them as escalations toward potential . SEP resolutions assert that cannot coexist with , rejecting justifications like "" interventions promoted by pseudo-left groups, and demand the working class's independent opposition to all forms of . In the SEP's analysis, class struggle constitutes the central mechanism for confronting and capitalism's contradictions, with the international positioned as the sole force capable of abolishing exploitation. The party emphasizes educating workers to reject and union bureaucracies, which it accuses of subordinating labor to imperialist agendas, and advocates forming rank-and-file committees to coordinate global strikes and protests. Drawing on Trotskyist principles, the SEP insists that class struggle must transcend national borders, fostering against attacks on social rights and fostering awareness of capitalism's global crisis as the root of and inequality. The SEP advocates socialist as the only viable response to imperialism's trajectory toward barbarism or oblivion, rooted in Leon Trotsky's theory of , which holds that bourgeois-democratic tasks in underdeveloped nations must transition immediately into socialist measures led by the , extending internationally. This perspective frames the current epoch as one of crisis, where the must seize state power to reorganize society for human needs, rejecting and Stalinist "" as capitulations to . The party traces its strategy to the Fourth International's founding principles, prioritizing the construction of a Trotskyist to overcome the "" and achieve a worldwide socialist federation. In its 2024 election program, the SEP reiterated that requires workers' independent mobilization to expropriate the capitalist class, warning that without such , escalating imperialist conflicts threaten nuclear annihilation.

Rejections of Reformism and Other Ideologies

The Socialist Equality Party (SEP) maintains that has entered an irreversible , rendering reformist approaches—such as gradual improvements through legislation, welfare expansions, or electoral concessions—incapable of resolving its contradictions or alleviating mass exploitation. Instead, the party insists on the necessity of a led by the international to expropriate the and establish a socialist economy organized through democratic and global planning. This stance extends to a critique of , which the SEP accuses of systematically subordinating proletarian interests to the , as evidenced by historical instances where social democratic parties facilitated , preparations, and the suppression of strikes under the guise of pragmatic governance. In opposition to , the SEP condemns it as a deformation of that betrayed the principles of international by substituting bureaucratic nationalism for genuine , culminating in the restoration of in the by 1991. Drawing from Leon Trotsky's analysis, the party views not as an inevitable stage of but as a parasitic that stifled workers' and aligned with imperialist pressures, thereby necessitating the independent program of the . The SEP also rejects Pabloism—a post-World War II revisionist tendency within —as a form of liquidationism that dissolved the revolutionary party's independence by advocating "" into Stalinist, social democratic, or nationalist organizations, subordinating Marxist theory to opportunistic adaptations to mass movements. This critique traces Pabloism's origins to the early , when figures like argued that objective historical forces would compel Stalinist parties to play a progressive role, a perspective the SEP holds undermined subjective revolutionary leadership and led to the political degeneration of groups like the U.S. Socialist Workers Party in the . Additionally, the party opposes , which it characterizes as a petty-bourgeois that fragments the by emphasizing racial, , or ethnic divisions over unified class struggle, ultimately benefiting affluent layers seeking influence within the capitalist framework rather than dismantling it. The SEP argues that such approaches, promoted by sections of the Democratic Party and academic elites, obscure the objective material basis of inequality rooted in production relations and divert energy from the fight for .

Organizational Aspects

Leadership Structure and Key Figures

The Socialist Equality Party (SEP) maintains a centralized leadership structure aligned with its Trotskyist orientation, featuring a National Congress as the supreme authority that convenes biennially to formulate policy resolutions and elect the party's guiding bodies. This congress, established following the party's founding in 2008, selects a National Committee to direct ongoing activities between sessions, emphasizing in decision-making and adherence to the International Committee of the . At the apex of the elected leadership stands the National Chairman, currently David North, who has held the role since at least the early 2000s and was reelected in 2022; North also chairs the International Editorial Board of the , the SEP's primary media organ, and has shaped the party's theoretical framework for over five decades through writings on Marxist history and internationalism. The National Secretary position, handling operational and campaign responsibilities, is occupied by Joseph Kishore, elected to the role in 2008 and reelected in both 2022 and 2024; Kishore, active in the movement since 1999, has run as the SEP's presidential candidate in 2016, 2020, and 2024, focusing on critiques of capitalist crises and calls for workers' mobilization. Supporting roles include the Assistant National Secretary, with Lawrence Porter serving until at least 2022 and Kathleen Martin elected to the position in 2024, alongside figures like Jerry White, the 2024 vice-presidential candidate and labor editor who joined the SEP's predecessor in 1979 and has documented industrial struggles extensively. The leadership's emphasis on intellectual and propagandistic work over mass organizing reflects the SEP's sectarian approach, prioritizing ideological purity over broader alliances.

Membership, Affiliated Groups, and Media Outlets

The Socialist Equality Party (SEP) operates as a cadre-based organization, emphasizing recruitment of committed revolutionaries trained in Trotskyist theory and practice, rather than mass membership drives characteristic of reformist parties. Exact membership numbers are not publicly disclosed, reflecting the party's focus on qualitative development over quantitative expansion. It convenes national congresses every two years, with the Eighth Congress held in August 2024 to assess political perspectives and organizational tasks. The SEP also conducts biennial summer schools for members, such as the International Summer School in August 2023 and August 2025, to deepen theoretical education and international coordination. As the United States section of the International Committee of the Fourth International (ICFI), founded in 1953 to defend orthodox , the SEP maintains close ties with sister Socialist Equality Party sections in other countries, including , Britain, , , , , , and several others, forming a global network committed to building a . Within the US, the SEP supports affiliated initiatives such as the International Youth and Students for Social Equality (IYSSE), a campus-based group advocating socialist internationalism and opposing , and the International Workers Alliance of Rank-and-File Committees (IWA-RFC), which seeks to organize independent worker committees against union bureaucracy and capitalist exploitation. The SEP's principal media outlet is the (WSWS), an online daily publication launched by the ICFI in , which provides Marxist analysis of global class struggles, imperialism, and economic crises while promoting the SEP's program and electoral campaigns. The WSWS operates without advertising revenue, relying on reader donations, and has expanded to include sections in multiple languages to reach an international audience. Additional publications include theoretical works from Mehring Books, the SEP's publishing arm, focusing on Trotskyist history and contemporary critiques.

Electoral Engagement

Presidential Election Campaigns

The Socialist Equality Party (SEP) has conducted presidential election campaigns since , framing them as interventions to expose the crisis of American capitalism, critique the , and advocate for the independent political mobilization of the toward socialist revolution, rather than seeking electoral success through reformist means. These efforts emphasize internationalist Trotskyist principles, opposition to , and rejection of alliances with Democratic or Republican parties, which the SEP regards as instruments of the ruling class. Campaigns are coordinated through the party's (WSWS) and public meetings, prioritizing theoretical education over broad or mass organizing. In the 2012 presidential election, the SEP nominated Jerry White for president and Phyllis Scherrer for vice president, achieving in limited states and receiving 1,130 votes nationwide. The campaign focused on the post-2008 , arguing that measures and bank bailouts demonstrated the incompatibility of with social needs, and called for workers' expropriation of major corporations. White, a longtime SEP member and WSWS journalist, conducted public meetings in industrial cities like to link to the need for international . The 2016 campaign again featured Jerry White as the , paired with Niles Niemuth, amid rising and the Trump-Clinton contest. White addressed forums on themes such as versus , denouncing both major candidates as representatives of warring factions within the financial elite and urging rejection of in favor of global class struggle. remained restricted, with vote totals in the low hundreds nationally, including write-in support in select areas like , where White received five votes. The SEP used the effort to analyze the election as a symptom of 's breakdown, predicting intensified class conflict. Joseph Kishore, the SEP's national secretary, served as the 2020 presidential candidate, running alongside Norissa Santa Cruz, in a contest overshadowed by the and economic shutdowns. The platform indicted both Biden and Trump for prioritizing corporate profits over , demanding of the industry and opposition to . With minimal , primarily as a write-in or independent, Kishore garnered negligible votes, such as one in , reflecting the campaign's emphasis on online statements and WSWS articles over voter outreach. For 2024, the SEP nominated Joseph Kishore for president and Jerry White for vice president, announcing the slate in February via National Chairman David North to elevate consciousness of the threat of and under either . The campaign, detailed on socialism2024.org, targeted issues like the Gaza genocide, US-NATO escalations in , and domestic , insisting on revolutionary overthrow of the state rather than parliamentary illusions. Limited to scattered ballot lines, such as in where Kishore received 13-19 votes in small municipalities, the effort yielded under 1,000 national votes, consistent with prior showings. The party's Eighth National Congress in August 2024 reaffirmed the campaign's role in building a Trotskyist amid perceived .

Non-Presidential Electoral Efforts and Results

The Socialist Equality Party has conducted limited non-presidential electoral campaigns, mainly in U.S. races and occasional state-level contests, viewing such efforts as opportunities to disseminate its Trotskyist program rather than pursue winnable offices. These initiatives have consistently yielded negligible vote percentages, consistent with the party's small membership and rejection of reformist electoralism in favor of revolutionary mobilization. In 2006, the SEP fielded Eric Desmarais as its candidate for State Senate District 32, where he received 296 votes, comprising 2.3 percent of the total in the general election. This result, while modest, represented an early state-level intervention aimed at highlighting class issues in a rural district. David Moore ran as the SEP's U.S. Senate candidate in California's 2018 primary, securing 14,504 votes or 0.4 percent, finishing ahead of several independents and the nominee despite lacking institutional support. Moore again campaigned in the , advocating worker mobilization against austerity and war, but obtained fewer than 5,000 votes amid a field of 46 candidates and overwhelming rejection of the recall. In 2024, Doris Canaday declared as the SEP nominee for U.S. Senate in , focusing on opposition to and capitalist crisis, but did not qualify for the general due to access barriers. The SEP has not mounted verifiable campaigns in other gubernatorial, state house, or local races in recent decades, prioritizing national presidential bids and online agitation via the to build theoretical cadre over broad voter outreach.

Criticisms, Controversies, and Reception

Sectarianism and Internal Disputes

The Socialist Equality Party (SEP) traces its origins to a series of splits within Trotskyist organizations aimed at preserving what its leadership regards as orthodox Trotskyism, beginning with the 1964 formation of the American Committee for the Fourth International as an opposition to the Socialist Workers Party (SWP), which later became the Workers League in 1967 and renamed SEP in 1986 following the International Committee of the Fourth International (ICFI) rupture with the Workers Revolutionary Party (WRP). The 1985-1986 crisis, precipitated by revelations of WRP leader Gerry Healy's sexual and physical abuses of members alongside unprincipled alliances with nationalist regimes such as those of Saddam Hussein and Muammar Gaddafi, led to Healy's expulsion on October 25, 1985, and the WRP's suspension by the ICFI on December 16, 1985, for rejecting international oversight and concealing its internal degeneration. David North, then leading the US Workers League, played a central role in demanding a full accounting of these political and moral failings, framing the split not merely as financial or personal but as a deeper opportunist deviation from Trotskyist internationalism, resulting in the reconstitution of ICFI sections committed to "historical continuity" with Trotsky's program. Critics from rival socialist organizations have characterized the SEP's approach as excessively sectarian, alleging it fosters isolation by denouncing other left groups as irredeemably revisionist or infiltrated by state agents, exemplified by the Workers League's decade-long financing (1970s-1989) of Alan Gelfand's against SWP leaders, which accused them of FBI and collaboration in Trotsky's —a claim courts dismissed as baseless—and by persistent labeling of the SWP as a "CIA front" without retraction. This stance extends to rejecting in unions, which the SEP views as dominated by a , and broader social movements like or efforts, prioritizing instead the recruitment of a small cadre devoted exclusively to propagating its theoretical line via the (WSWS). Such positions, while defended by SEP leadership as essential to combat , have drawn accusations of prioritizing doctrinal purity over practical class struggle, with dissidents claiming it alienates potential allies and limits mass engagement. Internal disputes within the SEP and ICFI sections have frequently culminated in expulsions of members challenging the leadership's tactical or interpretive rigidity, often justified as defending Trotskyist principles against "disloyalty" or external influences. In 2021, provisional member Shuvu Batta was expelled on February 27 for distributing an internal critique by another member decrying the party's "sectarian" dismissal of union organizing efforts, such as the Amazon BHM1 drive, and was publicly accused by National Secretary Joseph Kishore of acting as an agent for the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU); similarly, Peter Ross's membership was revoked on March 24 by North and Kishore for defending Batta. In the French Parti de l'Égalité Socialiste (PES), leading contributor Samuel Tissot was expelled on April 1, 2024, following a disciplinary process critics described as rigged, ostensibly for questioning the ICFI's claim to unbroken Trotskyist continuity and alleged ties to external detractors, despite his extensive WSWS contributions exceeding 150 articles. Parallel conflicts emerged in the Sri Lankan section, where over 12 members faced expulsion between and 2023, including Nandana Nannetti and Jayasekera on May 6, 2023, for violations such as sharing social media posts from mass protest initiatives like the Colombo Action Committee and advocating greater internal democracy amid perceived neglect of on-the-ground struggles (e.g., the GotaGoGama movement); the expelled appealed to North for oversight, but leadership upheld the actions as necessary to curb factionalism and uphold discipline. These incidents, documented primarily by dissident accounts from former members aligned with rival Trotskyist platforms, highlight a recurring pattern where tactical disagreements—over union work, mass interventions, or historical interpretations—escalate to accusations of or infiltration, reinforcing critiques of centralized control under North's longstanding influence while SEP responses frame them as purges of revisionist tendencies akin to historical Trotskyist struggles.

External Critiques of Practical Efficacy and Isolation

Critics from rival socialist organizations, such as the Freedom Road Socialist Organization, contend that the Socialist Equality Party's doctrinal opposition to trade unions severely hampers its ability to engage workers practically, viewing union leadership as inherently "counter-revolutionary through and through" and thus abstaining from labor organizing efforts. This stance, rooted in the party's Trotskyist analysis of bureaucratic betrayal, results in a deliberate isolation from workplace struggles where broader socialist currents seek influence, limiting the SEP to propagandistic interventions rather than building militant bases. Such critics argue this reflects a broader ultra-left deviation, where theoretical intransigence supplants tactical flexibility needed for mass mobilization. External assessments from Marxist commentators highlight the SEP's sectarian rejection of alliances with other left formations, denouncing them as opportunistic or reformist, which perpetuates organizational insularity and precludes any meaningful coalition-building. Former members have echoed this, critiquing the party's policy as disconnected from real proletarian dynamics, prioritizing abstract critiques of "" and over concrete intervention in class conflicts. This approach, while consistent with the International Committee of the Fourth International's emphasis on ideological purity, is faulted for yielding no scalable revolutionary vehicle, as evidenced by the SEP's persistent marginal status amid rising social antagonisms since its founding in 1964. Electoral participation underscores these inefficacy claims: despite fielding presidential candidates in multiple cycles, including Joseph Kishore in 2020, the SEP garners vote totals in the low thousands nationally, often under 0.01% of the popular vote, signaling failure to resonate beyond a narrow cadre. Observers from traditions note this stems from an "abstentionist" practice—treating elections as mere platforms for exposition rather than vehicles for recruitment or agitation—abandoning potential entry points into working-class consciousness. While such critiques emanate from ideologically opposed factions within the left, the empirical absence of growth or influence validates concerns over the SEP's self-imposed isolation, contrasting with historical experiments that briefly achieved wider traction through adaptive tactics.

Broader Impact and Failures in Mass Appeal

Despite over five decades of existence and regular participation in elections, the Socialist Equality Party has exerted minimal influence on mainstream American political discourse or policy outcomes. Its campaigns have consistently garnered insignificant vote totals, underscoring a lack of broad resonance among voters; for instance, in the 2024 presidential election, SEP candidate Joseph Kishore secured just 2,330 votes nationwide, or 0.04% of the total popular vote. Historical patterns mirror this, with the party failing to surpass a few thousand votes in any presidential race, reflecting structural barriers to electoral viability rather than temporary setbacks. The party's broader contributions remain confined to niche intellectual and propagandistic efforts, primarily via the (WSWS), which disseminates Trotskyist analyses of global events and critiques of . While WSWS has cultivated an online audience for detailed exposés on economic crises and , this has not translated into organizational growth or tangible shifts in working-class mobilization, as the SEP prioritizes theoretical purity over pragmatic alliances. Critics from rival socialist factions argue this insularity—manifest in denunciations of unions, Democratic Party reforms, and other left organizations as inherently opportunistic—perpetuates a cycle of marginalization, deterring potential adherents who seek immediate, coalition-based action. Failures in achieving mass appeal stem from the SEP's unwavering commitment to revolutionary , which rejects electoralism as a path to power in favor of fostering cadre-based consciousness amid capitalism's collapse. This doctrinal rigidity, while consistent with the party's origins in the International Committee of the , empirically hampers outreach; unlike more flexible formations that have expanded through issue-based campaigns, the SEP's emphasis on abstract internationalism and rejection of "reformist" tactics yields no measurable uptick in membership or support. Proponents within the party maintain that true mass appeal awaits objective conditions of crisis, yet decades of stagnant results—coupled with internal focus on polemics against perceived revisionists—suggest causal factors rooted in strategic isolation rather than external conspiracies alone.

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