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The Party for Socialism and Liberation (PSL) is a Marxist-Leninist political party in the United States.^[2] It was created as the result of a split within the ranks of Workers World Party (WWP). The San Francisco branch and several other members left WWP in 2004. No reason has ever been officially given for the split by either party. The PSL has since established two national offices in Washington, D.C. and in San Francisco alongside 23 local branches across the country. In 2008, Gloria La Riva and Eugene Puryear ran for President and Vice President on the first PSL ticket. In November 2011, Peta Lindsay and Yari Osorio were announced as the PSL's presidential ticket in 2012.

Views[link]

Domestic social policy[link]

The PSL sees as its main goal the formation of a revolutionary workers' party, based upon the ideology of Marxism-Leninism. This party would lead a revolution and pave the way towards socialism. Under socialism a new government of working people would be formed. The PSL proposes many radical changes to be implemented by this government. In the political sphere all elected representatives should be recallable, securing freedom of speech for the working class (except in the case of xenophobia or bigotry and to prevent re-establishment of the capitalist system) and the elimination of corporate influence from politics.

Concerning economics the PSL would, among other measures, prohibit "the exploitation of labor for private profit", implement a working week of 30 hours and the eradication of poverty through the introduction of a basic income guarantee. The PSL would grant the right of self-determination to all oppressed nations of the US, such as "African Americans, Native, Puerto Rican and other Latino national minorities, the Hawai’ian nation, Asian, Pacific Islander, Arab and other oppressed peoples who have experienced oppression as a whole people under capitalism". The current US "colonies", which according to the PSL are "Puerto Rico, Samoa, Guam, the Virgin Islands and the Mariana Islands", will be granted independence. The PSL would end the occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan and close all foreign military bases of the US.^[3]

International affairs[link]

Historically, the PSL is generally positive on the former Soviet Union, describing the October Revolution as "the single biggest event that shaped global politics in the 20th century". The PSL acknowledges that the New Economic Policy of Lenin led "to a re-polarization of social classes, especially in the countryside". The PSL blames the reforms initiated by Mikhail Gorbachev for the fall of the Soviet Union.^[4]

The PSL supports the government of Cuba, and while critical of the current Chinese government, it views the Chinese Revolution favorably. The PSL also supports the Bolivarian Revolution in Venezuela – a frequent topic in its magazine. It has endorsed activities that call for the release of the Cuban Five – deemed political prisoners by supporters – and called for the extradition of Luis Posada Carriles from the US.^[5]

The PSL supports the rights of nations to self determination. It has been outspoken in condemning the state of Israel and its role in the Middle East. The PSL also led demonstrations against the Israeli invasion of Lebanon in July 2006. The PSL supports the right of return for Palestinian people.

Antiwar movement[link]

The PSL is a member of the steering committee of the Act Now to Stop War and End Racism Coalition (A.N.S.W.E.R.). As one of the most active members of the coalition, PSL has gained notice for successfully forging ties with Arab and Muslim American groups such as the Muslim American Society, Al-Awda and the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee.

Office locations[link]

The national offices of the Party for Socialism and Liberation are based in San Francisco, California and Washington, D.C.

The PSL also maintains branches and centers in Austin, TX; Albuquerque, NM; Baltimore, MD; Boston, MA; Chicago, IL; Columbus, OH; San Diego, San Jose, Santa Cruz, Inland Empire and Los Angeles, CA; Miami, FL; New Haven, CT; New Paltz and New York City (Harlem), NY; Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, PA; Phoenix, AZ; Seattle, WA; Sioux Falls, SD; and St. Louis, MO.^[6]

Electoral participation[link]

The PSL often fields candidates for public office. However, because of most states' difficult ballot access rules, the party sometimes uses the ballot line of a different party or is on the ballot as an independent. The PSL has used the ballot line of the Green Party or the Peace and Freedom Party in the past. The party did manage to get on the ballot in 12 states for the 2008 presidential elections, with Gloria La Riva and Eugene Puryear as respectively president and vice president. The PSL managed to gain 6,821 votes, finishing 10th, out of a field of 23 candidates .^[7] Below is a selection of other races that the PSL have contested.

Publications[link]

The party's main publication is the biweekly newspaper, Liberation,^[12] which replaced a quarterly magazine, Socialism and Liberation^[13] PSL outlines its political perspective, including its assessment of the current international and domestic situation in the pamphlet "Who We Are, What We Stand For".^[14]

See also[link]

	Politics portal
	United States portal

• List of political parties in the United States

Notes[link]

External links[link]

• plsweb.org Party's official website (released July 2006)
• AnswerCoalition.org official site
• VotePSL.org PSL 2012 electoral candidates' website
• Socialism and Liberation Magazine

Richard Becker (3 December 1887 in Hamburg – 16 March 1955 in Bad Schwalbach) was a German theoretical physicist who made contributions in thermodynamics, statistical mechanics, superconductivity, and quantum electrodynamics.

Education[link]

Becker’s studies in zoology started in 1906 at the Albert Ludwigs University of Freiburg, where he earned his doctorate in 1909 under August Weismann. After hearing lectures by Arnold Sommerfeld at the Ludwig Maximilians University of Munich, Becker turned his professional interest to physics. He also studied physics under Max Born at the Georg-August University of Göttingen, and Max Planck and Albert Einstein at the Humboldt University of Berlin. Becker competed his Habilitation in 1922 under Planck.^[1][2][3]

During World War I, Becker worked in German industrial organizations, including the Kaiser-Wilhelm Institut für physikalische Chemie und Elektrochemie and the lighting manufacturer Osram.^[1][2]

In 1919, Sommerfeld recommended three of his students as qualified to become physics assistant to the mathematician David Hilbert at Göttingen. The list included Adolf Kratzer, Becker, and Franz Pauer. Kratzer, first on the list, went to Göttingen.^[4][5]

Career[link]

Upon Habilitation, Becker became a Privatdozent at the University of Berlin. In 1926, he became ordinarius professor at Technische Hochschule Berlin (Today: Technische Universität Berlin.) and head of the new physics department there.^[2][3][6]

In 1935 Sommerfeld, the theoretician who helped to usher in quantum mechanics and educated a new generation of physicists to carry on with the revolution, reached the age for which he could achieve emeritus status. The Munich Faculty drew up a candidate list to replace him as ordinarius professor of theoretical physics and head of the Institute for Theoretical Physics. There were three names on the list: Werner Heisenberg, who received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1932, Peter Debye, who would receive the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1936, and Becker - all former students of Sommerfeld. The Munich Faculty was firmly behind these candidates. However, academic supporters of Deutsche Physik and elements in the Reichserziehungsministerium (Acronym: REM, and translation: Reich Education Ministry.) had their own list of candidates and the battle commenced.^[7]

Adolf Hitler had come to power in Germany on 30 January 1933 and Max Born had taken leave as director of the Institute of Theoretical Physics at the Georg-August University of Göttingen on 1 July of that year and emigrated to England. In 1934, Fritz Sauter, while only a Privatdozent, was brought in to Göttingen as acting director of the Institute of Theoretical Physics (ITP) and lecturer on theoretical physics; Born was officially retired under the Nuremberg laws on 31 December 1935. Sauter, who had been an assistant to Becker at the Technische Hochschule Berlin, continued as the acting director of the ITP until 1936, when Becker was appointed director of the ITP and ordinarius professor of theoretical physics, after the REM eliminated Becker’s position at Berlin and reassigned him to Göttingen.^[8] Becker remained there as director until his death in 1955.^{[1][2][3][9][10]}

In 1954, Becker became president of the Deutsche Physikalische Gesellschaft.^[11]

Becker’s students included Eugene Wigner, who received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1963, Wolfgang Paul and Hans Georg Dehmelt, who shared the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1989, and Herbert Kroemer, who received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2000.^[1]

Books[link]

• Richard Becker Theorie der Elektrizität. neubearbeitung des Werkes von M. Abraham (Teubner, 1933)

• Richard Becker Theorie der Wärme (Springer, 1950, 1966, and 1985)

• Richard Becker Vorstufe zur Theoretischen Physik (Springer, 1950)

• Richard Becker, author and Fritz Sauter, editor Theorie der Elektrizität. Bd. 1. Einführung in die Maxwellsche Theorie (Teubner, 1957, 1962, 1964, and 1969)
  • Richard Becker, author, Fritz Sauter, editor, and Ivor De Teissier, translator Electromagnetic Fields and Interactions, Volume I: Electromagnetic Theory and Relativity (Blaisdell, 1964)

• Richard Becker, author and Fritz Sauter, editor Theorie der Elektrizität. Bd. 2. Einführung in die Quantentheorie der Atome und der Strahlung (Teubner, 1959, 1963, 1970, and 1997)
  • Richard Becker, author, Fritz Sauter, editor, and Ivor De Teissier, translator Electromagnetic Fields and Interactions, Volume II: Quantum Theory of Atoms and Radiation (Blaisdell, 1964)

• Richard Becker, author and Fritz Sauter, editor Electromagnetic Fields and Interactions Revised in 1964, and in a single volume. (Dover) ISBN 0-486-64290-9

• Richard Becker, author and Fritz Sauter, editor Theorie der Elektrizität. Bd. 3. Elektrodynamik der Materie (Teubner, 1969)

Bibliography[link]

• Beyerchen, Alan D. Scientists Under Hitler: Politics and the Physics Community in the Third Reich (Yale, 1977) ISBN 0-300-01830-4

• Hentschel, Klaus, editor and Ann M. Hentschel, editorial assistant and Translator Physics and National Socialism: An Anthology of Primary Sources (Birkhäuser, 1996) ISBN 0-8176-5312-0

• Constance Reid Hilbert (Springer, 1996) ISBN 0-387-94674-8

References[link]

1. ^ ^{a b c d} Becker – biologie.de
2. ^ ^{a b c d} Author Catalog: Becker – American Philosophical Society
3. ^ ^{a b c} Hentschel, 1996, Appendix F; see the entry for Richard Becker.
4. ^ Becker – Hilbert assistant position, 2 September 1919
5. ^ Reid, 1996, p. 153.
6. ^ Bekcer – TU Berlin
7. ^ Beyerchen, 1977, pp. 153–167.
8. ^ Richard Becker was forced to make the transfer from Berlin as part of the general anti-theoretical policies promoted under Deutsche Physik - his position at Technische Hochschule Berlin was eliminated - and on the basis of the Law on the Retirement and Transfer of Professors as a Result of the Reorganization of the German System of Higher, an ordinance passed in 1935 and related to the Law for the Restoration of the Professional Civil Service. See Hentschel, 1996, pp. 340–341, and Hentschel, 1996, pp. 96–97.
9. ^ Hentschel, 1996, Appendix F; see the entries for Fritz Sauter and Richard Becker.
10. ^ Beyerchen, 1977, pp. 38–39.
11. ^ DPG – biologie.de