Honoring Leaders in the Fight for Global and Local Democracy
2001 Debs-Thomas-Bernstein Award
Ed Clark and Dessima Williams
John Maher, Michael Harrington Lifetime Achievement Award
June 12, 2001
Event Scrapbook
Ed Clark regaled his experiences in the socialist youth movement of the early 1960's, when as president of the Student Peace Union he worked with Norman Thomas, among others. Julius Bernstein helped get Ed his first organizing job in Boston with the International Ladies Garment Workers Union, telling him, "You're a Socialist - don't embarrass us!" Ed is shown here enjoying one of the other speakers.
Dessima Williams' moving and inspirational speech recounted how a young graduate student in the U.S. came to find herself appointed UN Ambassador from Grenada's new revolutionary government. Reflecting on the bitterness and sorrow of seeing their promising movement collapse, leading to military coup and ultimately a U.S. invasion, Dessima affirmed her conviction gained from experience that "Socialism without democracy cannot survive, but ultimately, neither can democracy without socialism."
John Maher received the Michael Harrington Lifetime Achievements Award - along with a book on the lifetime achievements of Socialism! - from former Boston DSA Chair Harris Gruman. John reminisced on how as a young radical from Texas he first came to Boston in 1962 to work for the H. Stuart Hughes campaign for U.S. Senate (against Ted Kennedy!), receiving unexpected help and friendship from trade unionists like Arnold Dubin and Nick Roussos. He urged us to be more evangelistic with our socialist beliefs, affirming that only socialism can really offer an alternative in many current debates. Awards Committee
Doug Butler, Kathy Casavant, Jack Clark, Harris Gruman, Julie Johnson, Eleanor LeCain, Marcia Peters, Mike Prokosch, Bruce Raynor, Bob Ross, Rep. Frank I. Smizik
Boston DSA presents awards annually in memory of Eugene V. Debs, Norman Thomas, Julius Bernstein and Michael Harrington. Debs and Thomas were national leaders of the Socialist Party; Julie was a local and regional leader in labor, civil rights and socialist movements. Mike, of course, founded Democratic Socialists of America and was America's leading socialist until his untimely death in 1989.
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