In fact, the Democratic Party abandoned the Working Class some years
back. It probably became noticeable during Bill Clinton's reign, but
the transition to big money was well under way during the Ronald
Reagan years..actually, long before, if you believe as I do that the
Working Class never has had a serious voice in this government. At
best we have had some significant gains in who is represented and who
gets to vote. Beyond that, the Working Class has little voice in the
international activities of the USA. Nor do we really have much to
say about social changes or building public infrastructure, or the
quality of our public education, or the function of our Postal System.
In fact, the Working Class is almost without voice in the drafting of
Laws and Rules and Regulations that control our lives.
If, in fact, FDR had not entered the White House following Herbert
Hoover's disastrous four years, and injected a small dose of socialism
into the collapsing Capitalism's Expansionism that was running the
nation into ruin, we might well be living under a very different sort
of government today. As it is, we protest, gather in angry crowds,
strike and make small temporary gains, only to have them eroded away.
The United States desperately needs a true working class party. But a
quick check throughout our history will underscore that the American
Oligarchy will not permit such a threat to its position of control.
Look at the current efforts to raise the minimum wage to $15 per hour.
Actually, to raise it to the level of the 1968 level, $2o would come
closer. By the time the fighting is done and the dust settles,
inflation will make $15 a starvation wage.
How can there be so much confusion when any worker can sit down with
paper and pencil and figure out how much it takes to run a household?
Twenty-five years ago I was earning $25 an hour. Today secretaries in
the same agency earn $25 per hour. That $25 is not enough in cities
like Seattle, to pay rent and feed a family of three. The job I was
paid $53 thousand a year to do is now bringing down $85 thousand, and
people earning that amount struggle without a second income. So,
while I support a raise in the minimum wage, it is only a stopgap
solution. Under Capitalism we will never find a common meeting place
with the Ruling Class, and agree on a way of ensuring a decent life
for all Americans. We can't rely on the Ruling Class. They have
things going their way. All Americans need to have a government that
cares for them like America cares for its Oligarchy.
Carl Jarvis
On 7/16/19, Roger Loran Bailey <dmarc-noreply@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
https://themilitant.com/2019/07/13/working-people-need-to-break-with-democrats-republicans/
???Working people need to break with Democrats, Republicans???
By Nancy Boyasko
Vol. 83/No. 26
July 22, 2019
Militant/Roy Landersen
John Studer, Socialist Workers Party national campaign director, and Lea
Sherman, SWP candidate for New Jersey General Assembly, speak at
Militant Labor Forum in Union City July 6.
UNION CITY, N.J. ??? ???The 2020 presidential election campaign has been
launched by the Republicans and Democrats. Over the next 16 months the
Socialist Workers Party candidates and their supporters will present the
need to break with the capitalist two-party system, in discussions with
workers on their doorsteps in cities, towns, and rural areas and at
labor and social protests,??? John Studer, SWP national campaign director,
told 28 people attending the inaugural Militant Labor Forum at the new
forum hall and campaign headquarters in Union City, northern New Jersey,
July 6.
The party is running a national slate of candidates throughout the
country advancing a fighting program for working people to confront the
economic, social, and moral crisis capitalism has created. The New
Jersey forum featured three of these candidates ??? Lea Sherman and
Candace Wagner, the party???s candidates for New Jersey General Assembly
and Seth Galinsky, its candidate for New York City public advocate.
There is widespread interest in finding a road forward among working
people, Studer said, a break from the crisis-ridden capitalist system,
with its wars, economic crises and the carnage it inflicts on our class.
In this context, he said, the party is organizing Alyson Kennedy, the
SWP candidate for president in 2016 and its candidate for Dallas mayor
this year, and Malcolm Jarrett, SWP candidate for Pittsburgh City
Council, on a series of national trips to campaign across the country.
They will campaign in Kentucky July 12-14 and the following weekend in
Pittsburgh, helping put Jarrett on the ballot.
???They will join the party candidates Amy Husk and Samir Hazboun for
Kentucky governor and lieutenant governor, campaigning in coal-mining
areas in both eastern and western Kentucky,??? Studer said, ???and bring
solidarity to striking workers who drive ready-mix trucks and pour
concrete at Irving Materials in Evansville, Indiana.???
Militant/Maggie Trowe
Amy Husk, SWP candidate for Kentucky governor, talks with factory worker
Jason McCray in Evansville, Indiana, July 6, campaigning in support of
Teamsters on strike against Irving Materials there. Bosses are pushing
to cut dental and other benefits in new contract.
Lea Sherman pointed to the U.S. government???s most recent war threats
against Iran. ???Washington maintains troops and bases all over the world
to defend the ruling class???s political and economic interests,??? she
said.
???The sanctions they impose on Iran, Venezuela, and Cuba weigh heaviest
on the working classes,??? Sherman added. ???The SWP demands ???U.S. rulers
hands off!??? and unconditionally defends the sovereignty of countries
under attack from Washington and demands an immediate end to the
economic war being waged against workers there.???
Galinsky described how he joined a rally of striking taxi drivers May 8,
and said the SWP campaign is a voice for solidarity with drivers looking
for ways to fight assaults on their wages. There are 100,000 taxi and
app-based drivers in New York City that the bosses have pitted against
each other in their drive for profits.
???Drivers need a single union for all???
???Drivers need a single union for all, whether yellow cab, black car,
Uber, Lyft, or other e-hail drivers,??? he said. ???In the course of coming
together to fight we can transform ourselves, and change society from
top to bottom.???
Wagner, a rail worker, described discussions among her co-workers about
the contenders for the Democratic Party???s presidential nomination.
???Several Democratic candidates back the Green New Deal, which is modeled
on President Franklin Roosevelt???s New Deal ??? put in place to convince
working people that the capitalist government held the solution to the
crisis workers faced during the Depression in the years leading up to
and through the second imperialist world war,??? she said.
The SWP campaign points in the opposite direction ??? to workers???
capacities to unite and struggle together against the bosses and the
parties that serve them to change the conditions they face. A
working-class road forward, she said, points to the need to overturn
capitalism and replace it with a workers and farmers government.
Amnesty for undocumented workers
Erika Remegio from the immigrant rights group Cosecha, which has been
leading the fight in New Jersey to win access to driver???s licenses for
undocumented workers, also addressed the meeting, describing the fight
that group is waging. ???We want respect, we came here to work,??? Remegio
said.
Some immigrants, she noted, ???have lost family members because they were
afraid to go to the hospital or lacked transportation to get help.???
Drivers without licenses face steep fines, jail and even deportation.
She invited those at the meeting to come to Cosecha Family Day in
Matawan, New Jersey, July 14.
Sherman described her participation in several of Cosecha???s actions for
driver???s licenses, and how the Socialist Workers Party calls for the
unions to fight for amnesty for all workers in the U.S. without papers.
???This is the road to overcome divisions imposed by the ruling class and
to build the labor movement and unions,??? she said. ???The capitalists rake
in massive profits by keeping us divided.???
Participants at the forum kicked in over $1,000 towards the
refurbishment of the new hall and the expansion of the stock of
revolutionary books SWP campaigners will use to introduce the party???s
program.
If you???d like to find out more about the SWP campaign, contact the
branch nearest you.
Related Articles
2020 election debates show crisis of bosses twin parties
The televised debates unfolding between the two dozen Democrats jostling
to become the party???s presidential candidate take place amid a yearslong
political crisis unfolding among the parties of the U.S. capitalist
ruling families. They fear that sooner or later their???
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???
In This Issue
Front Page Articles ???US hands off Iran! End sanctions now!
???2020 election debates show crisis of bosses twin parties
???Almost half of all US workers live ???paycheck to paycheck???
??????Working people need to break with Democrats, Republicans???
???US rulers step up economic war against Cuba and Venezuela
??????Militant??? fights censorship by Florida, Kansas prison officials
Feature Articles ???Ethiopian Israelis fight police brutality, racism
Also In This Issue ???Protests mark 2 years since Grenfell fire disaster in
UK
???Sudan military lifts siege, agrees to rule with opposition
???50,000 New Zealand teachers shut the schools down, win higher pay
???Kansas Department of Corrections Letter
Editorials ???Join fight against prison censorship!
On the Picket Line ???Airport, catering workers say, ???One job should be
enough!???
???Ramp workers protest working conditions at Miami airport
???Indiana Machinists strike for health care, living wages
???New Zealand workers who care for disabled strike for contract
Books of the Month ??????Mandela pays tribute to Cuba???s internationalist
fighters???
25, 50 and 75 years ago
?? Copyright 2019 The Militant?? -?? 306 W. 37th Street, 13th floor -?? New
York, NY 10018?? -?? themilitant@xxxxxx
--
---
Voltaire
??? Those who can make you believe absurdities, can make you commit
atrocities. ???
??? Voltaire,
