One of the insights of the Occupy movement has been a growing skepticism toward the Democratic Party among a wide layer of its activists. That skepticism, however, will be challenged by the drumbeat to support the “lesser evil” in November, and to keep Republicans from being elected.

With tens of millions out of work, facing foreclosures or desperately trying to keep their head about water, and disgust at the two corporate parties is at record levels; how should progressive-thinking workers and the left approach this election?

In the middle of the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression, with tens of millions suffering mass unemployment, wage cuts, rising poverty, and homelessness, the Republican candidates have shown their complete indifference to the suffering of huge sections of society.

Longview, Washington has become ground zero for one of the most important, intense battles in both the labor and Occupy movements. It's crucial that unions, Occupy activists, workers, and young people everywhere mobilize to Longview to help defend living wage union jobs when the EGT multinational corporation attempts to load grain on a ship without ILWU labor.

Two days before Christmas, 2011, President Obama signed a bill that forces a decision on the controversial Keystone XL pipeline within 60 days as part of a two month payroll tax cut extension. The Keystone XL pipeline would transport oil from the tar sands in Alberta, Canada to refineries in Texas.

The December 12 west coast port blockade marked an extremely significant step forward for the Occupy movement. This coordinated disruption of international commerce significantly expanded upon the successful shutdown of the Port of Oakland six weeks before on November 2. By directly disrupting international trade and taking up common causes with the labor movement, the Occupy movement escalated its tactics from its initial approach of symbolic occupations of central squares to actively shutting corporations down and cutting into their profits.

As we move closer to the November 23 deadline for the Congressional “Super Committee” to present its plan to cut $1.5 trillion from the federal budget deficit, both major parties have put forward proposals which sharply attack Medicare, Medicaid, and other social programs. If these policies go through, it will be the most devastating attack on New Deal programs since they were first established. Massive struggles need to be organized to defeat these cuts.

On November 2, the events in Oakland represented a new peak for the whole occupy movement – up to 20,000 came together to defend our right to protest against all attempts to crack down with police brutality. They didn’t limit themselves to demonstrations alone. Teachers left their schools, public sector workers went on sick-out, and the port was shut down. Unions called for support for the demonstrations when Occupy Oakland called for a “general strike.”

Around the country, Socialist Alternative activists are playing an important role building the Occupy Wall Street protest movement and putting forward proposals for how it can grow in numbers and power. Here are four recent speeches from Socialist Alternative members at occupations in Seattle, Philadelphia, Boston, and Bellingham, WA, discussing next steps for the movement.

Once again, attempts to break up the Occupy movement through police violence have backfired on city authorities. Occupy Oakland's call for a general strike tomorrow, November 2nd, in response to the brutal police attack on October 25th, promises to be a major show of strength by organized labor in Oakland. Solidarity demonstrations across the country will show the potential power of the working class and also help to raise consciousness about the role of police as defenders of big business interests.

In the face of growing police repression of Occupy Wall Street protests across the country, and now that Occupy Seattle faces a critical juncture, we are urgently appealing for support from activists, workers and students in Seattle, around the U.S. and internationally.

The explosion of the Occupation Movement demonstrated growing anger at the corporate policies coming from politicians in Washington. While many workers and young people were already clear about the role of Republicans, now more and more are seeing that the Democrats are also dedicated to the pro-corporate agenda.

The Super Committee has been meeting behind closed doors since mid-September, with no disclosures to the public. Their intention is to spring their plan on the public as late as possible, in order to reduce the time for angry protests to appear. This committee is nothing more than a bipartisan axe-man to inflict further pain on the working people who suffer the most from the financial crisis.

On Saturday, October 1 the NYPD arrested over 700 protesters on the Brooklyn Bridge, as Occupy Wall Street started its third week of action. This anti-corporate occupation movement, now spread to dozens of cities around the country, is highly energetic and is gathering more support from unions and the wider public and attracting new activists.