Socialist Party of Indiana
For Socialism and the Working Class
The Socialist Party of Indiana (SPI) is comprised of working-class Hoosiers who are committed to the socialist tradition of uplifting the material conditions of the working class and placing power in the hands of the people. Rampant exploitation, corporatism, and private ownership are desired and expected outcomes of Indiana capitalism. The SPI proudly embraces socialism and seeks to move beyond the capitalist system which, for too many Hoosiers, has made life unaffordable, unlivable, and unsustainable. This commitment to socialism and against capitalism is how the SPI distinguishes itself from the two current major political parties, which serve only their corporate donors. SPI serves the people.
The Core Four
Expanding upon the current Bill of Rights of the U.S. and Indiana Constitutions, the SPI asserts that the following four additional rights are crucial to secure so that all Hoosiers, regardless of background or circumstance, may pursue their aspirations, be treated with dignity, and live fulfilling lives:
The Right to Full and Fair Employment.
The SPI envisions a state government that provides opportunities for Hoosiers in need of work, security for those who cannot, and protection from unfair and unjust employers. It is unacceptable, in a state in desperate need of reconstruction and development, for the Indiana state government to be unable to provide work for those who seek it. There are far too many railways to be built, students to be taught, manufacturing industries to be revitalized, poems to be written, and sick to be treated. While work provides material benefit to the state, it also provides community, purpose, and a sense of pride to the worker. Workers are entitled to employment with comfortable pay, the freedom to decide where they labor, and to attain training in the pursuit of industries with which they are unfamiliar.
The Right to Universal Healthcare.
All people deserve a life of health and wellness, free from the dread of surging medical costs and insurmountable debt. Whether health complications arise early or late in life, by individual action or random selection, makes no difference to the SPI. The SPI calls for immediate medical debt forgiveness, the end of the privatization of healthcare through the nationalization of the American healthcare system, and the expansion of existing Medicaid, Disability, and Social Security Benefits.
The Right to Quality Housing.
Safe, consistent shelter is necessary for survival. Yet housing in Indiana has become wildly unreliable and inaccessible. Through rent inflation and wage stagnation, Hoosiers have worked themselves to the bone to avoid the ever-looming threat of eviction even while corporate landlords and mortgage lenders make enormous profits. Many working Hoosiers are one crisis away from being on the streets and becoming yet another unhoused person - and many Hoosiers are already without a safe, reliable home. Homelessness is a failure of capitalism and an inevitable result of wealth consolidation being elevated over the humanity of its citizens. The SPI asserts that the government must guarantee safe, affordable housing for all.
The Right to Comprehensive Education.
Education must be universally provided to all regardless of stage of learning. Hoosiers must be granted every opportunity to pursue their education and seek knowledge both old and new regardless of personal identity or background. Accessibility must go hand-in-hand with quality. As such, the SPI calls for setting a high and consistent standard of excellence for course material offered across the state so that even the poorest among us can receive the same quality of education as the rich few. To bar people from comprehensive education, through discrimination of wealth or place of origin, robs the people of their ability to arm themselves with the scholarship necessary to shape and experience the world around them. The SPI will fight to ensure schools remain open, fully funded, and fully public.
Excising Big Money Influence from Indiana Politics
Private influence of Indiana politics is most apparent through the large sums of money funneled from the profits of corporations into the pockets of politicians. This bribery, which is thinly disguised as "lobbying" or billionaires exercising their "free speech," has destroyed faith in our democracy by placing an uneven amount of power and influence into the hands of the ultra-wealthy. Politicians who accept these bribes and legislate for their own enrichment likewise have ruined what it means to be a civil servant, as working Hoosiers feel they have no genuine representation. Powers both foreign and domestic are using these bribes to control our democracy. This must end immediately. The SPI demands the overturn of Citizens United, public funding of all political campaigns, and seeks to itself be funded by the working class and the institutions, unions, and coalitions we have collectively built.
The Expansion of Democracy into the Workplace
To be a socialist is to be a lover of democracy. Radical change to Indiana's present democratic process is sorely needed to bring forth a truly representative democracy that values the voice of each citizen equally. However, change to bureaucracy is insufficient in addressing the day-to-day lived experiences of the working class. To achieve this, democracy must be expanded to include that sacred place in which workers spend one-third of their lives: the workplace. Workers are entitled to the fruits of their labor and as such must have democratic say in what they produce, how it is produced, and where they do so. Through worker cooperatives, they can elect managerial representatives, decide the business operations and strategic directions of the firm, and determine the distribution of profits. Worker control of the modes of production through democratic means, and through government assistance, abolishes the private ownership of the factories, land, and tools necessary for society to flourish. The mission of the party cannot be considered fulfilled until this is achieved in whole.
Commitment to Peace and Solidarity
Hoosiers - alongside our fellow Americans across this country - are peace loving people, with no desire for harm or global conflict. Workers, especially those in manufacturing states like Indiana, are exploited as our depraved officials funnel taxpayer dollars into the war machine while defunding our domestic social services which could heal our sick, feed our hungry, and educate our children. The SPI recognizes the struggle of the international working class - who suffer from America's disregard of international law - as inseparable from the economic crisis here at home. The SPI is committed to Indiana and the U.S. rejecting this imperialist pattern and using our resources and energies to be a domestic and global instrument of peace and solidarity.
Commitment to Ending Oppression
The SPI commits itself to equity for all and recognizes that achieving equity will require repairing historic harms against oppressed peoples. Therefore, the SPI commits itself to acting in solidarity with all oppressed groups, including but not limited to anti-racism and migrant solidarity, queer and trans liberation, resisting islamophobia, and disability justice. Only by fully embracing the identity of a good neighbor and seeking to truly make right for the historical and modern-day transgressions of our capitalist system, may we begin the long path to being a global force of a true peace - free of all oppression and exploitation - and not one of conquest nor idealist division.