Criminal
02-06-2006, 08:33 AM
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Socialist_Party_of_America
According to this Wikipedia article, the Neo Conservative movement was created, in no small part by former socialists. Many were former Trotskyists. It seemed that this branch saw the threat of communism as being more important than the promotion of Socialism
Cold War and work in Reagan Administration
In the 1970s and 1980s, members of the SDUSA were sometimes derisively referred to as "State Department socialists" for their support of hard-line Cold War policies. Prominent SDUSA members served in the Reagan Administration on the staff of the State Department, Labor Department and on Jeane Kirkpatrick's staff when she was US Ambassador to the United Nations. SDUSA members have long been prominent at the National Endowment for Democracy and Freedom House.
Influence on Neoconservative movement
A number of former members of the SDUSA serve in the current administration of George W. Bush including Paul Wolfowitz, Elliott Abrams, and Ken Adelman.
Although some former members are now neoconservatives, and as an organization had a major role in the birth of neoconservatism, they profess to have many differences with neoconservatism. For instance, they strongly support workers' rights at home and overseas and oppose many of the Bush administration's domestic policies. In the 1980s the SDUSA was perhaps best known for its support of Poland's Solidarity trade union.
One of its leading members was the late civil rights hero Bayard Rustin, though by the 1980s he was distant from the organization and focused most of his energies on the issue of gay rights. Other notable members have included Ben Wattenberg, Sandra Feldman, and Ronald Radosh.
There has been much speculation that the death of the group's long time leader Penn Kemble will be SDUSA's demise. This tone was strongly felt in the recently published reminiscences of SD veteran Joshua Muravchik in Commentary magazine.
According to this Wikipedia article, the Neo Conservative movement was created, in no small part by former socialists. Many were former Trotskyists. It seemed that this branch saw the threat of communism as being more important than the promotion of Socialism
Cold War and work in Reagan Administration
In the 1970s and 1980s, members of the SDUSA were sometimes derisively referred to as "State Department socialists" for their support of hard-line Cold War policies. Prominent SDUSA members served in the Reagan Administration on the staff of the State Department, Labor Department and on Jeane Kirkpatrick's staff when she was US Ambassador to the United Nations. SDUSA members have long been prominent at the National Endowment for Democracy and Freedom House.
Influence on Neoconservative movement
A number of former members of the SDUSA serve in the current administration of George W. Bush including Paul Wolfowitz, Elliott Abrams, and Ken Adelman.
Although some former members are now neoconservatives, and as an organization had a major role in the birth of neoconservatism, they profess to have many differences with neoconservatism. For instance, they strongly support workers' rights at home and overseas and oppose many of the Bush administration's domestic policies. In the 1980s the SDUSA was perhaps best known for its support of Poland's Solidarity trade union.
One of its leading members was the late civil rights hero Bayard Rustin, though by the 1980s he was distant from the organization and focused most of his energies on the issue of gay rights. Other notable members have included Ben Wattenberg, Sandra Feldman, and Ronald Radosh.
There has been much speculation that the death of the group's long time leader Penn Kemble will be SDUSA's demise. This tone was strongly felt in the recently published reminiscences of SD veteran Joshua Muravchik in Commentary magazine.