For each session, we will break down into small groups of 8-12 after the kickoff presentation. The groups will have 40-45 minutes for discussion; you can focus on any one or all of the questions prepared for each session. Pick a person to report to the whole body when we reassemble for the last 40-45 minutes. We are asking each reporter to pull out 3-4 key points for a brief, 3 minute maximum report-back, please include at least one where there were differences of opinion if these did come up. The co-facilitators for each session will then select a few of these points to focus discussion in the entire group.

Questions for Session One: The Current Moment: Where Do We Stand in History?

1. What do you think of Eric Hobsbawm's thesis that "in the late 1980s and the early 1990s an era in world history ended and a new one began"? If you agree, what do you see as the key differences between these two eras? What are the continuities between them? If you disagree with Hobsbawm, what do you think are the key holes in his argument?
2. What about Walden Bello's argument that "with George W. Bush, we are entering a new phase of U.S. imperial democracy" where "Globalization to promote the collective interest of the global capitalist class is out, the nationalist pursuit of supremacy of U.S. corporate interests is in"? What do you see as the key differences and similarities between the Clinton and Bush II strategies? How do you assess current debates over direction that are taking place within the U.S. ruling elite? What is the significance of these differences for prospects and strategy for grassroots movements and the left?

Questions for Session Two: What Can We Learn from the Strategies of the 1930s & the 1960s/70s?

1. Al Richmond argues that an alliance between the left and center was crucial for building the CIO in the 1930s. He also argues that the left made a series of mistakes in the direction of "surrender of independent positions and compromises of principle." From what you know of the 1930s, what do you think of this assessment? From your own experience in today's movements, how have you faced challenges in doing alliance/coalition work? Do you see today's left erring more in the direction of missing chances to participate in big coalitions/alliances, or failing to struggle adequately within broad coalitions?
2. In the 1930s, there were five-six years of depression and efforts at resistance before the CIO took off. In Detroit in the late 1960s, the experience of the League of Revolutionary Black Workers followed 10-15 years of Civil Rights battles and came right on the heels of the "Great Rebellion" of 1967 (the Detroit uprising, bloodiest of the ghetto rebellions of the 1960s). How did these earlier experiences lay the groundwork for the CIO and LRBW? What effect did they have on both mass consciousness and the conscious left? What parallels, if any, are there to today?
3. In both the CIO and LRBW experiences, workers power at the point of production anchored a broad coalition of different class and political forces, as well as organizing efforts beyond the workplace in the community, among students, and in numerous other areas. The fight against racism was pivotal to making gains in and accumulating power in both these experiences as well. Please share any reflections you have on the similarities and differences between the CIO and LRBW experiences coming off the readings. What parallels and lessons if any do these things hold for today?

Questions for Session Three: What May Be Fruitful Strategic Directions Today?

1. Many of the readings argue essentially that a U.S. progressive movement - and the left in particular - can only become a strong, durable force if it is anchored among the key exploited and oppressed constituencies: communities of color, immigrant communities, organized labor, the most oppressed layers of the working class, women, lesbians and gays.
   

   What is your assessment of the roots the progressive movement and the left now have in these sectors? What ways do you think may be most promising to develop or expand these roots? What are your thoughts on the inter-relationship of direct base-building work, broad propaganda work and coalition/united front work?

2. Sam Webb argues that "the overriding task of the moment [is] assembling a broad, all-people's coalition against the Bush administration and its supporters." He insists that: "any attempt to bypass this stage will result in the isolation of the broader left from the very forces that it seeks to influence. The struggle to win tens of millions to higher forms of struggle begins with the struggle against the Bush administration's policies. It is the ground zero of revolutionary politics. Propaganda alone is not enough, even when coming from the most persuasive of us. Masses need their own political experience."
   

   Do you think Webb's perspective is an on-target application of a coalition/united front framework, or do you think it inherently means "surrender of independent positions and compromises of principle"? If you think Webb's strategy is useful, what would be effective ways of the left building such a coalition and maintaining its independent initiative within it? If his perspective is off-base, what do you think would be a better alternative?