Category Archives: News

Nov 06

Vote Yes on Proposal 3

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The Socialist Party of Michigan calls on all working people of our state to vote YES on statewide Ballot Proposal No. 3 at the November 8, 2022 election. Proposal 3 would secure state constitutional protection of the right to abortion and ensure that reproductive choice is not reduced to a symbol of choice between the two capitalist parties.

Though safeguarding abortion access from legislative infringement in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court’s violent abrogation of bodily autonomy, Proposal 3 is only a half measure that retains the contradictions and class chauvinism of the past 50 years. Only when comprehensive health care gains recognition as a fundamental right can it truly be said that every individual has a fundamental right to reproductive freedom.

As reflected in the Socialist Party of Michigan Platform, the SPMI calls for the right to free abortion and contraception on demand without interference or coercion. Accordingly, we call for the immediate repeal of the Hyde Amendment and all other legislation that limits access to abortion services, thus denying the right to choose to millions of women, particularly low-income women, women of color, and young women

Socialist Party USA Women’s Commission Statement on SCOTUS Overruling Roe


Oct 06

SPMI Demonstration Against the U.S. Blockade of Cuba (Kalamazoo)

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Sunday October 9, 2022

Demonstration Against the Cuban Embargo
1:30 PM Kalamazoo Federal Building
410 W Michigan Ave.
Kalamazoo Michigan 49007
(Corner of W. Michigan Ave. and Park St.).


SPMI State Meeting
2:30 PM
Shakespeare’s Pub
241 E Kalamazoo Ave.
Kalamazoo, MI 49007

End the Blockade! / Terminar el Bloqueo!
Socialist Internationalism and the Cuban Revolution

The Socialist Party stands in unequivocal solidarity with the Cuban Revolution, and the Cuban people, and against the imperialist blockade and all attempts at regime change. Socialist internationalism means standing with all nations victimized by imperialist domination and exploitation, but especially those nations in which the working classes have built their own states. Socialists living in the US have a duty to do what they can to oppose and undermine imperialist aggressions and interventions. Aiding comrades, especially those who have made successful revolutions must be a priority for socialists around the globe.<BR><BR>

For more than 60 years the Cuban people have suffered because of the illegal blockade of Cuba by the US. The blockade has cost the Cuban economy over $100 billion over its more than six decade existence. This blockade policy constitutes a war crime under the Geneva Convention, to which the US is a signatory. It has also been condemned annually for nearly a quarter century by an overwhelmingly lopsided vote in the UN General Assembly. This illegal, inhumane, and completely failed policy must end…..

Download Full Statement (Leaflet)

Oct 22

2020 Statewide Ballot Proposals: Vote No on 1, Yes on 2

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Vote No on Proposal 1

The Socialist Party of Michigan calls for rejection of statewide ballot proposal 2020-01. Under present provisions of the Michigan Constitution, royalties derived from oil and gas drilling on public lands were initially directed to the Natural Resources Trust Fund (NTRF), which provides grants to local governments for the purchase of land for recreation and for development of recreation facilities. Since 2011, when the NTRF reached its $500 million cap, oil and gas revenues have been shifted to the State Parks Endowment Fund (SPEF), which provides funding for the state park system. Continued funding for NTRF grants has in turn been limited to that derived from interest and earnings on the Trust Fund’s financial investments.

Although the proposal would reallocate oil and gas drilling revenues to the NTRF once the SPEF reaches its $800 million cap, that ceiling is not projected to be reached until the 2050s. In the meantime, the proposal would replace the NTRF’s current 25% limit on spending for the development and renovation of recreation facilities with the mandatory allocation of at least 25% of available funds for that purpose. As a result, the NTRF board and state legislature would be free to redirect the majority of NTRF funds presently allocated to acquiring land for environmental conservation. The proposal would also require that at least 20% of the SPEF’s funds be used for capital improvements.   

With the backing of DTE Energy and the Michigan Oil and Gas Association, the proposal’s real purpose is to renew the oil and gas industry’s greenwashing of drilling and fracking operations and maintain its environmentally disastrous extraction from public lands as the condition for their protection and enjoyment. By driving up investments tied to greater maintenance and operations expenses, the proposal further aims to heighten budgetary pressure for increased fossil fuel extraction.

The Socialist Party of Michigan calls for public ownership of the energy industry, a massive investment in wind, geothermal, biomass, and hydroelectric power to end our dependence on fossil fuels, a state and national moratorium on hydraulic fracking, and full funding for parks and natural resources conservation through steeply graduated income taxation and a democratically planned economy centered on public use and sustainability rather than private profit.  

Vote Yes on Proposal 2

The Socialist Party of Michigan calls for approval of statewide ballot proposal 2020-02. The proposal would add language to the Michigan constitutional provision affording limited protection from warrantless searches and seizures so as to include electronic data and electronic communications.

Although the proposed amendment does little more than incorporate existing Fourth Amendment case law, while failing to rectify more glaring shortcomings of the present state constitutional language, we stand unquestionably on the side of any measure to expand civil rights protections and limit the powers of the police.