Some background on Social Democrats USA, from Politics1:
The SD-USA has only fielded candidates for local office, and has been only nominally active since the 1980s. The SD-USA is a small group more ideologically centrist, staunchly anti-communist leftists who were more directly aligned with the Democratic Party in the 1970s-1980s than the more traditionally leftist Democratic Socialists of America (DSA). In fact, the views of the SPUSA in 1972 caused the DSA (then named the DSOC) to splinter away in a ideological rift. The SD-USA refused to support George McGovern for President that year because of his opposition to the Vietnam War — versus the DSOC, which supported McGovern and an immediate end to the war. SD-USA also disputes the claims of DSA and SPUSA to be the true heirs to the legacy of Eugene Debs and Norman Thomas, claiming instead that the SD-USA “is the only legitimate successor” to the party of Debs and Thomas. However, by 2010, SD-USA eventually ceded all rights to the name “Socialist Party USA” to the SPUSA (and, interestingly, retired SPUSA national chair and two-time Presidential nominee David McReynolds now writes columns for the SD-USA’s website). The Socialist International stripped SD-USA of full member status in 2007, deeming SD-USA to be a defunct organization. The SD-USA remnant which still functioned was a mere shell of what it once was several decades ago. SD-USA began a reorganizing process in 2009, with a new leadership team. SD-USA held a nation convention in 2012 and is currently focused on rebuilding the group.
From the SDUSA website:
On October 23/24 of this year, Social Democrats USA held its biennial convention in Pittsburgh— more specifically, Carnegie, Pennsylvania. The first day consisted of internal working meetings of our organization. But Friday was reserved for a Public Forum. The forum has two sessions, spliced together into a single video. The total duration of the video is 2 hours and 53 minutes. Our thanks to Jordan McMillen at Cut N Run Studios for the video work. And thanks to Hans Gruenert for the use of the Theater.
Session I focuses on political issues; it features:
•Dr. Sheri Berman, Professor of Political Science, Barnard College
Dr. Berman is an expert on the development of Social Democracy in Europe; she is also a member of the SDUSA Advisory Council
•Herb Engstrom, member of the Executive Committee of the California Democratic Party, and an SDUSA member
•Joe Ryan, Adjunct Professor of Political Science at St. Francis College, and an SDUSA member
Session II (starting at 1:40:00) focuses on labor issues; it features:
•A video that the SEIU made to publicize the plight of UPMC workers
•Ben Brewer, SEUI Asst. Organizing Director of health care workers in Pennsylvania
•Jim Staus, former UPMC worker who was fired for engaging in labor organizing
•Jeff Ballinger, international labor rights activist, and former SDUSA Executive Director
We will be editing this 3 hour video into smaller pieces to make it a little easier for consumption. But for now, enjoy. CLICK HERE