Day 3, Session 2—Beyond Bernie: The Crisis of Labor & The Left in the United States

A presentation and discussion with Mark Dudzic

The rise of neoliberalism has weakened and demoralized labor and left movements throughout the advanced capitalist world but its impact has been particularly devastating in the U.S. We will discuss the reasons for that as well as the various dysfunctional responses from the U.S. left to this crisis as it became increasingly marginalized and powerless. We will review the 1990’s effort to launch a Labor Party in the U.S. based primarily in the institutional labor movement and the reasons for its demise. We will explore the prospects and possibilities for independent working class politics in the wake of the Bernie Sanders presidential campaign.

Mark Dudzic is the National Coordinator of the Labor Campaign for Single Payer and is a former local union and district council president of the Oil, Chemical and Atomic Workers (now part of the United Steelworkers). He served as National Organizer of the Labor Party after the death of party founder Tony Mazzocchi.