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- Salazar, Ruben - One of three raza killed on August 29th, 1970 in a police attack against a large marcha in East Los Angeles during the highpoint of the Chicano Movement.
- Sánchez, Celia - (May 9, 1920 – January 11, 1980) was a leading participant of the Cuban Revolution.
- Sandino, Augusto César - (May 18, 1895 – February 21, 1934) was a Nicaraguan revolutionary and leader of a rebellion against the U.S. military presence in Nicaragua between 1927 and 1933.
- San Martín, José de - Born in Argentina, he was one of the great Libertadores of South America from 1810 - 1822.
- Santa Anna, Antonio López de - .
- Seale, Bobby - Black Panther Party.
- Sectarianism - A narrow and closed political view, that limits what that person or group can struggle with and generally makes that person or group isolated and backward.
- "La Segunda Declaración de la Habana" - A speech presented by Comandante Fidel Castro on February 2, 1962.
- Self-Criticism - The identification of errors or things critical/important to one's own beliefs, thoughts, actions, behavior or results; it can form part of private, personal reflection or a group discussion. This is done to better our practice in political struggle. It goes along with constructive criticism.
- Self-Determination - The right of a people to decide their own political status or government without outside influence. The right for all people to determine their present and future. There are different forms of self-determination, such as the following, which UdB recognizes as primarily relating to the rights of all indigenous pueblos of Nuestra América: Self-affirmation, the right to define and be proud of your indigenous heritage and define your own identity. Self-organization, the right of indigenous people to live according to their own values and priorities. And Self-government, the right of indigenous pueblos to govern themselves according to their own customs and forms of organization. These are all forms of self-determination.
- Self-Interest - .
- Serfs and Vassals - A person in a condition of feudal servitude, required to render services to a lord commonly attached to the lords land transferred with it from one owner to another. A person granted the use of land in return for revering homage, fealty, and military service to a lord or other superior; feudal tenant.
- Sexism - The belief or attitude that one gender or sex is inferior to, less competent, or less valuable than the other. It can also refer to hatred of, or prejudice towards, either sex as a whole (see misogyny).
- Science - A branch of knowledge dealing with a body of facts or truths systematically arranged and showing the operation of general laws.
- Scorched Earth Policy - A policy in which soviet citizens destroyed anything that could be of use to Nazi invaders.
- Short-Term (struggle) - .
- Siqueiros, David Alfaro - .
- Sitting Bull - .
- Slavery - See enslavement.
- Smith, Adam - (1723-1770) A Political Economist from Scotland who wrote an important book about capitalism called The Wealth of Nations. Today people who try to defend the failures of capitalism try to quote Smith as much as they can (even if they never read his books!).
- Social Classes - Having to do with one of the three classes: working, middle, and upper. See "Class".
- Social Crisis - When social classes are fighting each other.
- Social Darwinism - A 19th century concept (referring to the evolutionary ideas of Charles Darwin). A doctrine that the social order is a product of natural selection of those persons best suited to existing living conditions. It was an attempt to give a scientific explanation to justify colonialism, imperialism, and racism.
- Social Democracy - The principles and policies of a social democratic party. Usually within the political spectrum these groups are "center-left" and reformist.
- Socialism - An economic and social system in which all members share the the wealth of society, and the means of production are publicly owned, and managed in way that they benefit the whole nation or society. A socialist is a person or group that works to build a society based on socialist principles. For revolutionaries, socialism is a transitional stage in the movement (going from one place to another), leading in the future to communism. Socialist institutions can be physical places or struggles that teach socialist principles to the community (schools, universities, workplaces, families, etc.).
- Socialization - A continuing process whereby an individual learns and assimilates the values and behavior pattern normalized within his or her culture in social position. This process usually takes place within social institutions.
- Social Institutions - In a capitalist society these are work, education, family, government, religion, media. These frame the general thinking within a capitalist society. There are different social institutions in a socialist society (although some are the same).
- Social Justice - The application of the concept of justice on a social scale.
- Social Movements - Any time when people who live in a society fight for a cause or some demands.
- Social Service Agency - Also know as nonprofit...
- Social Stratification - When the social classes become more and more separate and divided.
- Social Struggle - .
- Social Theory - .
- Social Transformation - When everything in a society is changed completely, also known as a revolution.
- Social Values - Also Social Order, this represents the priorities and ideas that define how people relate to each within a social system.
- Social Welfare - Includes social programs under a welfare state.
- Society - .
- Sociology - The study (or pertaining to the study) of the origin, development, organization or functioning of human society, social relations, and social institutions.
- Socio- (As prefix) - Refers to the social aspects of something - "socio-economic".
- Soldadera - See Adelita.
- Solidarity - This term refers to the ties in a society - social relations - that bind people to one another. It can be a feeling and/or political activity that provides support for the struggles of other people, groups, or nations. It is also a sense that the struggles for freedom and liberation of other oppressed people form a fundamental part of our own struggle for freedom and liberation.
- South America - A southern continent beginning to the south of Central America extending south to Tierra del Fuego (near Antarctica). It includes 13 countries (as well as territories and European colonies): Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, French Guiana (French Colony), Guyana, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, Uruguay, and Venezuela.
- South Africa - A country in south Africa; member of the commonwealth of nations until 1961. 29,600,000; 472,000 sq. miles. Capitals: Pretoria and Cape town.
- Southeast Asia - A region including Indochina, the Malay peninsula, and the Malay archipelago. Important during the the period after WWII because of the numerous communist revolutions in the region. Countries included: Vietnam.
- South Korea - .
- Sovereign - Sovereignty is the quality of having supreme, independent authority over a territory.
- Soviets - Peoples committees set up in Russia that allowed direct control over different sectors of Russia life during the history of the Soviet Union.
- Soviet Bloc - .
- Soviet Union -
- Spanish Colonialism - The Spanish conquest of the Américas and subsequent colonialism. The real numbers of deaths of indigenous peoples across the Américas can never be figured, but estimates place it in the millions. The types of violence, torture, and death used by the Spanish in their insane quest for gold and silver boggles the mind. The conquistadores destroyed indigenous families, villages, cities, and civilizations without hesitation. UdB therefore sees Spanish colonialism as the beginning of the enslavement of Nuestra América. And even into the present, powerful countries like the U.S. look to keep Latin America enslaved in order to guarantee continued access to our natural resources and sell their products in our markets.
- Spinning Jenny - An early spinning machine having more than one spindle, enabling a person to spin a number of yarns simultaneously.
- Spirituality - Spirituality can refer to an ultimate reality or transcendent dimension of the world - an inner path enabling a person to discover the essence of his or her being. Spiritual practices, including meditation, prayer and contemplation, are intended to develop an individual's inner life.
- Stalemate - A political and/or military situation in which no action can be taken or progress made; deadlock.
- Stalin, Joseph - Leader of the Soviet Union during WWII as well as member of the Allied forces that at the end of WWII divided up the world. His leadership was and continues to be controversial to people around the world.
- State - This is a very important concept that refers to the different forms that political authority and political power is expressed/imposed on individuals through the forms of government. Usually, the most obvious form of state power is the ability to "legally" impose a monopoly of violence upon people in all its manifestations - the police, the military, the prisons, etc. The state gives these institutions the "right" to detain, beat, and even kill people who the state feels are a threat to its interests. The state also has forms of control that contain and limit the thinking of people without the use of direct physical violence - the schools, the media, etc. The state also holds authority over economic power, as well as legal institutions. Under capitalism, state power is in the hands of the rich and powerful.
- State Terrorism - State terrorism refers to acts of terrorism conducted by governments to impose fear and contain the struggles of people within its borders. A current example of this is the national use of ICE to conduct raids on our communities to impose fear and keep la raza from protesting - especially around the May 1st events.
- Steam Engine - An engine worked by steam, typically one in which a sliding piston in a cylinder is moved by the expansive action of the steam generated in a boiler.
- Stock Market - The main place where stocks and bonds are traded, and today this is one of the most important parts of the capitalist economy of the world.
- Strategy - An well organized plan of action. The movement needs to develop a strategy that will advance the struggles of our peoples. See "Tactics".
- Strike - Also known as a "huelga". It is a form of protest, and it describes when people stop doing things (working, going to school, etc.) as a way to show that they will not accept some form of oppression any longer, and demand what is right (better wages, a good education, etc.). What workers do when they are fighting for their rights on the job, and the bosses don't want to give them what they want.
- Subjective - In political struggle, something subjective is based on emotions, feelings, and perceptions. To subjective is to deny the concrete or measurable.
- Subjugation - To make submissive, and totally control or dominate.
Superstructure - Anything that is built on top of something else, i.e. a house is a superstructure on top of a foundation that holds its weight. In Marxist thought, the superstructure is everything that take place above the foundation (Base) of economic relations. This includes government, laws, politics, culture, religion, etc.
- Supply and Demand - Supply and demand is an economic platitude under which economists consider the behavior of sellers and buyers and their influence in prices, production and consumption.
- Suriname - .
- Surplus - .
- Surplus Value - .
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