A couple of years ago, when I wrote the Washington Central Democratic
Party headquarters, and advised them that I no longer called myself a
Democrat, I told them that I really did not need to do this since the
Democratic Party had abandoned me long ago.
Carl Jarvis
On 7/23/19, Roger Loran Bailey <dmarc-noreply@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
https://themilitant.com/2019/07/20/swp-campaigns-among-coal-miners-workers-in-kentucky/
???We need to break with the Democrats, Republicans???
By Maggie Trowe
Vol. 83/No. 27
July 29, 2019
From left, Samir Hazboun, SWP candidate for Kentucky lieutenant
governor, and Alyson Kennedy, SWP presidential candidate in 2016 and
former coal miner, talk with Lita Melton, retired union miner James
Melton, and farmer Jessica Ison at Whitesburg farmers market July 13.
Militant/Dean Hazlewood
From left, Samir Hazboun, SWP candidate for Kentucky lieutenant
governor, and Alyson Kennedy, SWP presidential candidate in 2016 and
former coal miner, talk with Lita Melton, retired union miner James
Melton, and farmer Jessica Ison at Whitesburg farmers market July 13.
HAZARD, Ky. ??? ???The threats and sanctions against Iran and the wars the
wealthy capitalist rulers carry out abroad are an extension of their
exploitation and abuse of working people here in the U.S.,??? Socialist
Workers Party leader Alyson Kennedy told 26-year-old Kendra Canada when
she and a campaign supporter knocked on Canada???s door here July 12.
Canada, who was caring for her 8-year-old and three-month-old sons, told
Kennedy that her coal miner brother, like other employees of Blackjewel
Coal Co., had several thousand dollars of wages taken back out of his
bank account when the mine owners filed for bankruptcy the previous week.
???He???d been put on and laid off repeatedly by Blackjewel,??? Canada told
Kennedy. ???Last Friday he and his wife deposited his $3,000 paycheck and
headed for Florida for a much needed vacation with their kids. When they
tried to use their debit card, it was declined.
???They???re going to Harlan for meetings with other miners to discuss what
to do,??? she said. ???Probably the owners will reopen as a ???different???
company and go unpunished.???
Kennedy, a former underground coal miner who was the SWP candidate for
U.S. president in 2016 and ran for mayor of Dallas earlier this year, is
joining Malcolm Jarrett, SWP candidate for Pittsburgh City Council, on a
national campaign tour to advance the party across the country. The
first stop was Kentucky.
Kennedy and Jarrett will speak at public meetings and to the media, join
local party members talking to workers on their doorsteps, and
participate in labor and social protest actions, promoting the need for
workers and farmers to break with the Democrats and Republicans. Amy
Husk is SWP candidate for governor and Samir Hazboun for lieutenant
governor in Kentucky.
???The capitalist class that exploits us here doesn???t care how many
soldiers come back torn apart or killed,??? Malcolm Jarrett, right, SWP
candidate for Pittsburgh City Council, told army veteran Tyrel Sanderson
in Louisville, Kentucky, July 13. He replied, ???You???re right about
that.???
Militant/Jacquie Henderson
???The capitalist class that exploits us here doesn???t care how many
soldiers come back torn apart or killed,??? Malcolm Jarrett, right, SWP
candidate for Pittsburgh City Council, told army veteran Tyrel Sanderson
in Louisville, Kentucky, July 13. He replied, ???You???re right about
that.???
Kennedy got a warm reception in eastern Kentucky coal country July
12-13, campaigning with Hazboun and two supporters. The Hazard Herald??
here and the Mountain Eagle?? in nearby Whitesburg interviewed Kennedy
and Hazboun.
Ben Gish, editor of the Mountain Eagle, said his parents founded the
paper and it backed the United Mine Workers union. They had subscribed
to the Militant?? for years, he said. Local cops had burned the Mountain
Eagle??? s office down in 1974 because of its pro-union stance.
???We???re used to coal companies using bankruptcy courts to cheat
workers,???
Jessica Ison, 26, a farmer from a coal mining family, told Kennedy and
Hazboun at a farmers market in Whitesburg. ???They file bankruptcy, change
owner, change the name and reopen as ???another company,?????? she said.
???I remember when South East Coal did the same thing around here in the
1990s,??? James Melton, 67, a retired union miner and family friend of
Ison, added.
Ison, Melton and Melton???s wife, Lita Melton, were interested in the SWP
program. The Meltons subscribed to the Militant.
Knocking on doors in Hazard, Hazboun met Rhonda Curtis, whose husband
was a nonunion strip miner for 27 years and is now bed-ridden, fighting
for disability benefits. A former Republican, Curtis said she liked the
SWP platform. ???People really need to know your names,??? she told Hazboun,
???and that workers are running.??? She said she???d like to organize a
meeting when the candidates return to the area.
Jarrett met Tyrel Sanderson, 27, a construction worker, when he and
campaign supporter Jacquie Henderson knocked on Sanderson???s door in
Louisville???s West End the next day. ???The SWP candidates are opposed to
Washington???s wars that sacrifice workers here to kill workers in other
countries,??? Jarrett said. ???These wars are carried out so the rich can
get richer attacking working people. The same class that exploits us
here doesn???t care how many soldiers come back torn apart or killed.???
???You???re right about that,??? Sanderson replied. ???And it???s not just
the
soldiers who get torn up. Their families do too. I was working 70 hours
a week and still couldn???t pay the bills, so I signed up for two tours of
duty, in Afghanistan and Iraq. By the time that was done I didn???t have a
family anymore.???
???We shouldn???t have to use all our energy just to survive,??? said
Jarrett.
???We???re not animals! We need to work together to change this, to stand
together in solidarity. That???s why we???re for using union power to defend
ourselves, every worker, and not look at what the bosses??? government
says about some immigrants??? papers or the age, sex or color of any of
us. I think we can learn from what working people in Cuba have done
since they made a revolution in 1959, showing it???s possible to begin to
transform themselves as humans as they took power and uprooted
capitalist exploitation.???
Working people need to organize
Husk and Dan Fein, one of four SWP campaigners who came down from
Chicago to help out, talked with five young men sitting on a porch in
the West End. Husk explained that she???s running a working-class campaign
against the two parties of the rich. ???What are you going to do about the
cuts they???re making in social services, like here in Louisville???? Robert
Gummer asked.
???We have to organize a fight to keep them from cutting our services,???
said Husk. ???Both the Democrats and Republicans have cut the social wage,
as William Clinton did when he ???ended welfare as we know it??? in the
1990s.???
???I know that???s right,??? said Justin Bray. ???I don???t like either
party.
I???ve never voted.???
???We???ve never gotten anything by voting,??? said Husk. ???We have to
fight
like workers did during the labor upsurge in the 1930s depression or the
Civil Rights movement in the ???60s.??? All five pulled out a dollar and got
a Militant. Two gave their phone numbers so SWP members could arrange to
stop back and have more discussion.
SWP campaigners also joined the picket line of Teamsters Local 215
members on strike against Irving Materials concrete company in
Evansville, Indiana; and organized a campaign barbecue, a press
conference on the steps of the state Capitol in Frankfort, and a July 13
evening public campaign meeting in Louisville.
???Workers live paycheck to paycheck,??? Jarrett said at the Louisville
meeting. ???The capitalists don???t care if we have to work two or three
jobs to make ends meet. They don???t care if eight or nine cab drivers in
New York commit suicide when the medallions they went into debt for drop
in value due to increased competition with Uber and Lyft drivers, whose
rates are being cut by their bosses as well.???
He said from what he???d seen in Kentucky, the SWP has some real
opportunities to pursue.
In Frankfort July 15, Kennedy hailed the victory of the Gibson family,
owners of a small bakery in Oberlin, Ohio, who won an award for $25
million in damages in a lawsuit against Oberlin College officials for
their race-baiting smear campaign (see article on front page).
???The Gibsons refused to roll over and give up. They said ???No!??? to the
race-baiting attack, got widespread backing of working people in
hard-hit Lorain County, and won,??? she said. ???The SWP candidates will be
talking about the importance of the Gibsons??? victory and why it is an
example for working people everywhere in defense of our rights.???
Campaign with the Socialist Workers Party candidates!
Related Articles
Socialist Workers Party 2019 election 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???
SWP calls for workers control of production, safety at PG&E
SAN FRANCISCO ??? Joel Britton, Socialist Workers Party candidate for
mayor of San Francisco, was the first speaker at a public hearing here
July 9 sponsored by Pacific Gas & Electric Company and the California
Public Utilities Commission, the state???
In This Issue
Front Page Articles ???SWP campaigns among coal miners, workers in Kentucky
??????Fight for amnesty for immigrants in the US!???
???New stage in bakery???s fight against Oberlin ???racism??? smear
???Amazon warehouse workers protest against speedup and harassment
???Victory over ban in Kansas prisons boosts ???Militant??? fight in
Florida
???US, British rulers step up threats against Tehran - US hands off!
Feature Articles ???Divisions wrack Democrats as race-baiting charges fly
Also In This Issue ???SWP calls for workers control of production, safety
at PG&E
???Telecom bosses on trial for driving workers to suicide
???Socialist Workers Party champions desegregation fight
???Walmart???s attendance policy shows need for a union
Editorials ???Ruling is gain for working class
On the Picket Line ???17,000 workers strike Walmart in Chile over wages,
job security
???London train cleaners join 48-hour work stoppage
???California grocery workers rally for wage raise, more work hours
Books of the Month ???Debs: ???Our hearts are with the Bolsheviki in
Russia???
25, 50 and 75 years ago
Letters
?? Copyright 2019 The Militant?? -?? 306 W. 37th Street, 13th floor -?? New
York, NY 10018?? -?? themilitant@xxxxxx
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Voltaire
??? Those who can make you believe absurdities, can make you commit
atrocities. ???
??? Voltaire,
