-------- Original Message -------- Subject: [nyc@] Talk by Eric Laursen, Wed, Nov 16, NYC - Social Security's origins and the battle for its future Date: Tue, 08 Nov 2005 14:12:04 -0500 From: Eric Laursen <laursene at earthlink.net>
Wednesday, November 16 at 7:30 pm
The People's Pension: The Anarchist Origins of Social Security and Today's Battle Over Its Future
Eric Laursen
One of the hottest US domestic political debates today is over the future of Social Security. The crown jewel of the New Deal, Social Security is the basic old-age income protection program for elderly and disabled American workers. It's also the most successful anti-poverty program in US history, and has always been overwhelmingly popular.
But a patient, well-funded, and determined conservative coalition has been fighting to dismantle Social Security for more than 20 years now. Ultimately, they expect to win. Why?
We will explore the reasons why the closest program the US has to true mutual aid is in mortal danger. These go back to the original ideas behind Social Security, which have their roots in the early anarchist and socialist movements at the beginning of the 19th century. Social Security and workers' compensation originally were conceived as a cooperative way for workers to supply each others' mutual needs. In the late 19th century, the original conception was co-opted by the state.
The US was the last major country to institute Social Security for retired workers, during the Great Depression. It wasn't something that Washington did willingly, but because it was forced to by a remarkable popular uprising called the Townsend Movement. After Social Security was instituted in 1936, however, that popular movement was given no role in running the program, which became merely another bureaucratic institution (although a very successful one). That left it vulnerable to conservative critics and Wall Street interests who argue that Social Security is a "bad deal" for workers.
This talk will offer some perspectives on how popular, autonomous organizing can offer a real alternative to the privatization movement and in so doing, reclaim the movement for lifetime worker security by rediscovering and reactivating the anarchist roots of Social Security.
Eric Laursen is an independent journalist, activist and anarchist living in New York City. He has written for a wide variety of publications including Practical Anarchy, the Village Voice, In These Times, The New Formulation, The Nation, Institutional Investor, the AICPA Journal of Accountancy, and the forthcoming issue of Perspectives on Anarchist Theory. He has worked with the NYC Direct Action Network, the International Solidarity Movement, NoRNC Coalition, and other activist networks and alliances. Laursen is currently completing a history of the Social Security privatization wars.
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