Turkey needs Socialist Laborers Party (SEP). Why?

Turkey needs Socialist Laborers Party (SEP). Why?

 Because,

• Turkey needs working-class politics that will push aside the polarization of the society based upon identities and life style.
• In Turkey, we have extreme conditions of poverty and inequality. Actually the labor struggle is not weak, however working-class politics are unattended! For instance, the strike wave of metal workers in Turkey was one of the worldwide industrial class movement and it does highly concern all of the laborers and the poor of Turkey. However it was handled as a situation of secondary importance and entered the agenda of Turkey only for a very brief of time.
• Thus, a voice for struggle of social equality, a voice for working class is needed.

To Stop AKP

• The only way to stop AKP is labor struggle and working-class politics. It’s the only way to tear away the poor that in most instances support AKP, from this party.
• If this is achieved, class consciousness will thrive and the working class will join the radical labor struggle. In order to achieve this, working class needs to have a socialist alternative.
• We must to get out of the suffocating atmosphere of identity polarization, one of the biggest obstacle in front of the class struggle. We should stop the rise of identities, the tension between identities and polarization of identities. As we have seen in Middle East, this polarization which can cause ethnic and sectarian slaughter and its sole antidote is class struggle and internationalism. The rise of this flag will shoot forth a new life.
• The class struggle, that attract workers from different ethnic backgrounds, religious sects and life styles and the party of socialist laborers, as a political expression of it, might change the fate of Middle East.
• The socialist alternative gaining strength in Turkey will be a huge hope for Middle East. This is because Turkey is the most convenient country in Middle East for the socialism struggle that the emancipation of workers and brotherhood of peoples lies in.

Ideological-Political Transformation is Needed

• CHP (Republican People’s Party) is not a party against exploitation and imperialism. HDP (People’s Democracy Party) represents the oppressed Kurdish people in current situation but it does not have a labor-based agenda. HDP, as a party that adopts the identity politics, is not a force against capitalism and imperialism.
• The socialist movement in Turkey is only a remnant of past. With current composition, the socialist movement cannot be the politic expression of class struggle and the youth radicalism that thrived in Gezi.
• In such a country that is very fertile on raising revolutionaries, there are historical and ideological reasons for the left being that much ineffective. That’s why socialist left needs to enter an essential process for total restoration and reckoning with their past. In order to this to take place, we need political subjects that will incline this process.The new party of socialist workers should take on this task.
• If socialist left does not explain the 20th century and reckon with the past, it cannot explain history and life. Without reckoning with Stalinism, socialist left won’t be able to gain the ideological and intellectual hegemony again.
• Socialist left, today, in Turkey cannot provide a theoretical expression to its cadres and sympathizers.
• What lies behind the theoretical inadequacy, indifference and apathy of socialist left is that the hesitation of the old leaders to face Stalinism. Because it is known that every serious analyze of class struggle and history will eventually reach up to the criticism of Stalinism.
• Socialist left tries to make up for its theoretical inadequacy by adapting to identity politics. This is the dead end but nothing for socialism. We need to change this situation by using Marxism to generate answers for the present problems.
• In this manner, we must re-establish the intellectual hegemony of socialism in the society.

To Win the Youth to Marxism

• Without qualified cadres, we can’t contend against capitalists, bourgeoisie state and imperialism. Therefore, it is needed to raise qualified Marxist cadres by overcoming the superficiality of socialist left. Further, we should gain the new generation to Marxism.
• As it is seen in Gezi uprising, this country has the new generation which joined with their own creativity and originality to the progressive ideas and they become radical against AKP rulership. This generation didn’t join the organized struggle since socialist alternative couldn’t embody itself. Yet, if socialists make a difference in practice, the most progressive elements of this generation wouldn’t hesitate to join socialist struggle.
• To win Marxist cadres among youth and to lead them to laborer neighborhoods, working class areas and all around the country would mean that country would meet revolutionary theory and practice. This, undoubtedly, bears fruits.

The Political Culture of the Left Should be Changed

• In current situation, one of the inadequacy of socialist left is the deficiency of energetic work. Public opinion has the “hardworking” image of the revolutionaries. Essentiality is to remunerate this image. To be able to offer a holistic character of industriousness, the cadres should  a have strong perspective, realistic aims and “claim” shaped by central orientation.This is the only way to motive the cadres.
• On the other hand, the realization of the political objectives is only possible with concrete campaigns which follows the agenda of laborer masses and addressing the vital issues. It is very important to comprehend the mood of the masses, to analyze the balance of powers correctly and to show up with concrete campaigns and slogans.
• Socialist left should know how to organize people during their campaigns, to enter the new areas and it never pushes aside the idea of constructing the political alternative.
• Socialist left should learn to put into practice the united front and the joint campaign constructed on concrete demands. To fight together, it is needed to get rid of illness of competitiveness and turfism and to leave the bureaucrat moods and to raise the solidarity with revolutionary sincerity. That is to say, it is a necessity to beat the current degenerate culture and construct the new one.

Defending of Democratic Gains

• It matters a lot to defend democratic gains against authoritarian one party-one man regime of AKP. For instance, it is needed to be able to the voice of public opposion against the arrestments of the academicians. It is important not to be led by life style based polarization in this struggle.
• It is needed to defend the self-determination right of Kurdish people and to try for making the government restart the negotiation period. It is essential for the unification of worker to construct internationalist tradition among laborers against the rising nationalism in the context of Kurdish issue.
• We should deal with the struggle of the oppressed identities like Kurdish, women, Alevi, LGBT and ecological struggle in a revolutionary basis for the anticapitalist transformation of the society.

Forward for Socialist Laborers Party!

For the evaluations, responsibilities and aims above, we should get ready to change the left in Turkey by creating Socialist Laborers Party. The issue is historical breakthrough. This is not an easy task, especially under such compelling situations. On the other hand, at any price, this construction process should be completed. The initiative for Socialist Laborers Party is ready to achieve this duty.