You're right, Miriam. Anyway we go will be difficult at best, and
possibly impossible at worst.
But raising up a new Party from the grass roots up, would avoid having
to spend years trying to overcome a deeply entrenched "Old Line" Party
Establishment. Both major parties are now very controlled from the
top down. But of course, to build new state support, which must be
done in order to place a new Party on the national ballot, is equally
difficult. We know that the current system is organized to protect
itself, so it makes road blocks wherever it can. I just figure that
fresh enthusiasm would be better spent building from the ground up a
People's Party, rather than put in lots of effort only to be
discouraged over trying to "reform" an existing Party.
The odds are against Americans becoming educated politically, and
taking over the government. And it seems just as unlikely they will
build a new party on which they all can agree. When I look at it that
way, I might as well look for the pot of gold at the end of a rainbow.
Still, if someone can tell me a more productive way of spending my
time, I'll give it a look.
Carl Jarvis
On 6/9/16, Miriam Vieni <miriamvieni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Carl,
I don't understand why yiu think it would be more effective to begin from
scratch, to start a new workers' party, rather than to try to take over the
existing Democratic Party. Either alternative is incredibly difficult. But
at least, the Democratic party is recognized in all fifty states. Making it
a working class party means fighting its leadership which is what Sanders is
trying to do and you see how hard that is. The Green Party is basically
fighting for working people and peace, has existed for years, manages to get
on the ballot in many states, and is still unknown to most working people.
What makes you think that a totally new party would be more effective or
easyer to construct? Given the world we live in, the power of multinational
corporations and the military power of the US are factors that aren't going
to be easily swept away. The goal is a totally new system, but the means
may involve compromise, may be circuitous.
Miriam
-----Original Message-----
From: Carl Jarvis [mailto:carjar82@xxxxxxxxx]
Sent: Thursday, June 09, 2016 11:12 AM
To: blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Cc: Miriam Vieni
Subject: Re: [blind-democracy] ‘A voice for the excluded’
Alyson Kennedy hits most of the critical nails squarely on the head.
But there is no way that her platform could make even a small dent in the
programs being carried out by the American Corporate Empire(ACE).
It seems to me that there is a growing number of working class Americans
coming to realize that we need a major change in our leadership. But far
too many still believe that it can somehow be done within the existing
system. Evidence the numbers who are urging Sanders to, "heal the
Democratic Party by endorsing Clinton". For me, that would make everything
Sanders claimed to be concerned with, a lie of the most immense
proportions.
Bernie might wish Hillary good success, but release his supporters and his
delegates to vote their conscience. Or he might urge them to organize a
true Working Class Political Party, and begin organizing for the 2020
election. It will take all of that time to become registered in all 50
states. But 2020 is a symbolic year, a year of
Vision(20/20) But trying to work within the "Two Headed One Party"
system would be like Henny Penny sitting down with Foxy Loxy to plan the
future of the hen house.
Carl Jarvis
On 6/9/16, Roger Loran Bailey <dmarc-noreply@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
http://themilitant.com/2016/8023/802350.html
The Militant (logo)
Vol. 80/No. 23 June 13, 2016
‘A voice for the excluded’
Cuban youth paper interviews Socialist Workers Party candidate
The following interview appeared in the May 8 issue of Juventud
Rebelde, the newspaper of the Union of Young Communists of Cuba, under
the headline, “Alyson Kennedy: A Voice for the Excluded.” Translation
is by the Militant.
❖
Most people think that only two parties participate in the U.S.
presidential elections, the Democrats and Republicans. But others
persist in raising a different class viewpoint, despite the system
rendering them invisible.
BY JUANA CARRASCO MARTÍN
The U.S. election campaign is reaching its climax with the two major
parties selecting their candidates. Hidden behind this show is a
system that defends a single set of interests — those of big capital,
the world of finance, the arms industry, the polluters of the earth’s
climate, the exploiters of workers in [their] backyard and of the
wealth and goods produced by professionals, workers, and peasants in
much of the world, where the imperialist multinationals plunder and
intervene.
However, though buried by the media, which has its own part to play in
this show, there are small parties — often persecuted, sidelined, and
excluded — that bring to the streets and, when possible, into the
election booths, the real interests of working people.
A small woman with an easy smile, plainspoken, convincing, and firm,
she presents the other side, though not of the same coin. On the
contrary, she exposes and condemns what is actually taking place
across the United States in 2016.
Alyson Kennedy is the Socialist Workers Party candidate for president.
She is joined by Osborne Hart on the SWP’s presidential ticket, which
was announced February 12.
On May 1, Kennedy marched with the Cuban people in the International
Workers Day Parade along Havana’s Avenida Paseo. She participated as
part of a delegation of mothers and relatives of victims of police
violence in the United States. She took advantage of an exchange with
Juventud Rebelde to speak about what’s taking place in her country and
her impressions of her first trip to Cuba.
You are the Socialist Workers Party candidate in the November 8
general elections, but all we hear about are the Republican and
Democratic Party campaigns.
“The main thing the U.S. elections are revealing is the deep crisis
within the bourgeois Republican and Democratic political parties. We
have seen how candidates Donald Trump (Republican) and Bernie Sanders
(Democrat) are receiving substantial support because they present
themselves as being different from the other politicians. They portray
themselves as if they aren’t part of the political machine. That’s why
they are getting a lot of support, including from many workers who
take part in their rallies.
“There are reasons for this. We must remember the deep worldwide
economic crisis and how it is felt in the United States as well. The
government says there is an economic recovery, but unemployment
remains high. It’s higher than we’ve seen in years, because there are
workers who aren’t included in the statistics.
“While campaigning I’ve met workers who’ve told me they haven’t found
jobs since the 2008 economic downturn,” says Alyson, who has supported
the strike this year by 40,000 workers at Verizon, the
telecommunications company, the largest work stoppage in the United
States in many years. The workers have had no contract since August,
while Verizon is seeking to cut pensions and to allow the outsourcing
of work. Verizon says it has trained thousands of nonunion employees
to replace striking workers.
Kennedy says that for all U.S. workers, “wages continue to stagnate.
Forty percent of the U.S. workforce earn less than $15 an hour, which
is not enough for a family to live on. This has led many workers to
begin to question what is happening in the United States and to have
less confidence in what the Democratic and Republican parties are
doing in relation to this crisis.”
But these candidates talk about change.
“That is what’s behind the support Trump and Sanders are receiving.
But no matter who is elected, there will be no changes that improve
the situation of working people.
“All significant change in the United States — such as the fight
against racial segregation, the struggle for unionization in the
1930s, the anti–Vietnam War struggle, the struggles of women for the
right to abortion — has been won through demonstrations in the
streets. That’s also true for the struggles we’ve seen recently, like
the fight for unions, to raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour and
against police violence.”
This resolute statement by the political activist is based on her long
personal experience as a worker and union organizer. Alyson Kennedy,
who joined the socialist movement in 1973, was a coal miner in
Alabama, Colorado, Utah, and West Virginia. She joined the United Mine
Workers of America (UMWA) in 1981 and was one of the leaders of a
strike in Utah in 2004.
She was part of the first wave of women who entered the mines in the
United States in order to break down divisions based on sex and to
strengthen working-class solidarity. She joined the Coal Employment
Project, an organization that defended the right of women to work in
the mines and fought against workplace harassment.
She’s familiar with the struggles carried out by the UMWA in the 1960s
and 1970s for job safety. Those strikes, which shook the country, won
the right to refuse to work under unsafe conditions. She recognizes,
however, that the movement has been eroded and that today the majority
of U.S. mines don’t have unions. This is what Alyson talks to U.S.
workers about.
She doesn’t do so from the outside or from a theoretical view of the
class struggle. Today Alyson Kennedy works in Chicago at a Walmart,
the largest chain of retail stores in the world, condemned in many
countries for the exploitative conditions it imposes on its workers and
employees.
“That’s why I, as a candidate of the Socialist Workers Party, and my
running mate Osborne Hart, as well as our other candidates for Senate
and other offices, get a good reception from workers, because they are
open to discussing a revolutionary perspective,” she says.
“Workers know they’re being exploited, they know what’s happening in
the country and in the world,” says Alyson Kennedy, who emphasizes
that one of the issues that this campaign addresses is opposition to U.S.
involvement in the Mideast. “And many workers are also willing to hear
about the Cuban revolution,” she adds.
You mentioned Cuba. What brings you to our country, at the time of the
May Day celebration?
“I’ve come to Cuba as part of a delegation of working-class women who
are fighting against police brutality, of which there are many victims
in the city where I live, Chicago.
“This is my first visit to Cuba, although I know a good deal about the
island. Through the party’s activity we educate about Cuba and worked
for years for the release of the Cuban Five, and we educate about the
need to end the embargo (blockade).
“In spite of the short time I’ve been here, I’ve been able to see the
country first hand, and this will greatly help me explain to workers
there why Cuba is an example for us. If Cuba was able to make a
revolution and create a society that addresses workers’ needs, we can
do it in the United States, too,” the socialist leader emphasizes.
She explains why she thinks this is clearly and certainly possible:
“We have a long history of struggle in the United States, as well.
Workers in the United States must become aware of what they’ve won
through struggle. We have to realize the power we have and our own
worth.”
She concludes her words for the readers of Juventud Rebelde with a
pledge:
“I want you to know that when we return we’ll redouble our efforts in
the fight against the blockade and for the return of the territory
occupied in Guantánamo, which belongs to Cuba. Having been here helps
us realize why it’s important to continue to fight for our rights.”
Related articles:
Join SWP in campaigning for working-class program Militant fund over
the top!
Militant Fighting Fund April 2- May 24 (Final) Join the Socialist
Workers Party campaign in 2016!
Active Workers Conference--Classes
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