When I read The Militant I occasionally come across the name of someone
I used to personally know. In this article I notice the name Henry
Dennison who is running for city council in Seattle. I used to know a
Clay Dennison and he was a coal miner when I knew him. This article says
that Henry Dennison is a former coal miner, so I suppose it is the same
person. After all, how many Dennisons are there who would be members of
the SWP? But I am wondering where the name Henry came from.
https://themilitant.com/2019/08/03/amnesty-for-immigrants-is-in-interest-of-all-workers/
???Amnesty for immigrants is in interest of all workers???
By Betsey Stone
Vol. 83/No. 29
August 12, 2019
Militant/Betsey Stone
Alyson Kennedy introduces Socialist Workers Party to farmworker Raul
Hurtada at his door in Salinas, California, July 28.
???The capitalists need to keep millions of immigrant workers here who are
undocumented, so they can superexploit them,??? Alyson Kennedy, the
Socialist Workers Party presidential candidate in 2016, told Richard
Maya, a customer service worker as she was campaigning door to door in
Salinas, California.
???This allows the bosses to drag down wages for everyone,??? Kennedy
explained. ???So it???s in all workers interests to unite and to fight for
amnesty??? for those without what the government calls proper papers.
???I listened to the Democratic Party debate,??? Maya told Kennedy, ???and I???m
concerned that if anyone who wants to can move to the U.S. from other
countries, like some were saying, the U.S. will become like a Third
World country,??? he added.
Millions of workers in less-developed parts of the world, driven by the
impact of the deepening crisis of capitalism, the imperialist powers
plunder of their countries and the lack of any working-class leadership
that points towards working people taking power, decide their only hope
is to emigrate.
???We should build solidarity with workers in other countries who are
fighting against terrible hardships brought about by capitalism and U.S.
domination,??? Kennedy said, ???and above all we should fight for amnesty
for workers here who do not have papers. But we don???t call for open
borders today,??? a demand that would deepen the crisis facing working people.
SWP campaigners explain why pressing for amnesty is central to
rebuilding a fighting union movement. Maya told Kennedy he favored an
amnesty ???for those that are already here.???
Kennedy had joined teams of SWP campaigners discussing the party???s
program with working people on their doorsteps in Hayward, Salinas and
Seaside, California, July 28. Seven subscriptions to the Militant and 10
books on revolutionary politics were sold during the effort.
The night before, she spoke alongside Joel Britton, SWP candidate for
mayor of San Francisco, and Henry Dennison, the party???s candidate for
City Council in Seattle at a Militant Labor Forum in San Leandro,
California.
Dennison described a rally in Seattle he joined in solidarity with the
mobilizations in Puerto Rico that forced the resignation of Gov. Ricardo
Rossell??.
???Working people in Puerto Rico are angry over widespread corruption,
decades of attacks on their standard of living, the capitalist
politicians??? disregard for their lives in the wake of Hurricane Maria
and U.S. colonial contempt,??? Dennison said.
He pointed to the Cuban Revolution and what it shows about the
capacities of working people to engage in revolutionary struggle.
???There, they not only got rid of the dictator Batista, but went on to
replace capitalist rule with a government of workers and farmers,??? he said.
???What is needed here as well as Puerto Rico is independent working-class
political action on a course toward workers taking political power into
our own hands,??? Kennedy added.
???In the U.S., the Democratic and Republican party politicians, whether
they call themselves socialists, liberals or conservatives, share a
common defense of the capitalist profit system and the exploitation of
the labor of working people,??? Kennedy said.
???The SWP candidates say we need to organize independently of the bosses???
parties. We need our own working-class party with a program to organize
and fight for our own interests, challenging the rule of the capitalist
class.???
All three speakers at the forum addressed the deteriorating conditions
working people face, including on the job. Dennison, a rail worker and
member of the SMART-TD union, described the continuing attacks on rail
safety. ???The rail bosses have not given up their attempts to reduce
crews to a single individual,??? he said. ???Very long trains, shorter
training and cutting the workforce are the order of the day.???
???We need to use our unions to stand up to the bosses. And we need
workers control over job conditions,??? he said.
???In the 1960s and ???70s, union miners fought for job safety and the
incidence of black lung plummeted,??? Kennedy, a former miner and a leader
of a 2003-04 strike by miners in Utah, pointed out. ???Now, with the
weakening of the union, there is an epidemic of a new form of black
lung, progressive massive fibrosis.???
Britton described the SWP???s opposition to the decision of the San
Francisco School Board to destroy a mural about the life of George
Washington at a high school in San Francisco. The decision was a blow to
the constitutional right to free speech ??? a right indispensable for
working people as we organize to act together to defend our interests
against the deteriorating conditions of life we confront.
Britton pointed to the danger of censorship to the working class and of
the race-baiting by the opponents of the George Washington mural who
claimed that if you were not Native American or Black your opinion about
whether it should be destroyed or not should be discounted.
???We will continue to stand up against censorship, against race-baiting
and false smears of racism that shut off the political debate that is
needed,??? Britton said.
Related Articles
Socialist Workers Party 2019 campaign program
The Socialist Workers Party???s fighting program to confront the economic,
social and moral crisis caused by capitalism: UNIONS Support workers???
struggles to organize and strengthen unions, to use union power to
defend ourselves and all working people. One union for???
In This Issue
Front Page Articles ???Colonial rule, capitalist crisis fueled Puerto Rico
protests
???Airline, auto bosses target workers to boost profits
??????Amnesty for immigrants is in interest of all workers???
??????Cuban people will resist US embargo and violations of our sovereignty???
???Democrats??? Mueller expos?? falls flat as clashes in party sharpen
???Florida prison officials??? ban on ???Militant??? attacks Bill of Rights
Feature Articles ???Yazidis in Iraq still displaced two years after
Islamic State???s defeat
Also In This Issue ???Joyce Meissenheimer was ???on right side of history???
???US gov???t plans to restart death penalty, target workers
???Black lung at highest rate in decades among miners
???Ohio college posts bond over ???racism??? smear of bakery owners
Editorials ???Cuban Revolution shows workers can win
Books of the Month ???How capitalism is revolutionizing parts of Africa
25, 50 and 75 years ago
?? Copyright 2019 The Militant?? -?? 306 W. 37th Street, 13th floor -?? New
York, NY 10018?? -?? themilitant@xxxxxxx
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George Carlin
??? Tell people there's an invisible man in the sky who created the universe,
and the vast majority will believe you. Tell them the paint is wet, and they
have to touch it to be sure. ???
??? George Carlin
