“Socialism for Skeptics” is a short pamphlet
containing articles by Clara Fraser previously published in the magazine
Freedom Socialist. Fraser was the founder of the Freedom Socialist Party (FSP),
the world's first Trotskyist-feminist party. Known in Seattle as the “The
Grande Dame of Socialism”, some of her opponents (OK, it was the Spartacist
League) derisively called her “Ms. Seattle Six-Gun” after her column “Thelma
& Louise R Us” went off the press (it's not included in this little
volume).
The pamphlet isn't particularly interesting, being a collection of very basic
pro-socialist/pro-revolution arguments, a lot of pep talk, and a (somewhat
surprising) longing for the Soviet Union, which – despite its Stalinist
bureaucracy – was mostly historically progressive in Fraser's estimation. I had
expected the FSP to have a more positive and “Mandelite” view of the collapse
of the Soviet bloc. The Grand Dame sounds like Ted Grant!
Mildly entertaining the pamphlet is, but no more. I'm not a Trotskyist
(although I could perhaps pass for a feminist on a good day), but I don't think
“Socialism for Skeptics” is very useful even for revolutionary socialists…
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