The Militant - Vol.64/No.30 - July 31, 2000 -- Thousands sign to put socialists on NY ballot
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A socialist newsweekly published in the interests of working people
Vol. 64/No. 30July 31, 2000

Come to the Active Workers ConferenceCome to the Active Workers Conference
 
Thousands sign to put socialists on NY ballot
 
Photo - see caption below
Militant/Hilda Cuzco
Socialist campaigner petitions in Manhattan on July 17. Nearly 13,000 people have signed in support of socialist candidates' right to appear on ballot. Campaigners aim to get 30,000 signatures by August 21.
 
 
BY JOE BROOKING  
NEW YORK--At the end of the first full week of campaigning, Socialist Workers campaign supporters in New York state have netted a total of 12,773 signatures on nominating petitions. On the first Sunday alone, more than 5,000 people in New York City signed the petitions.

"This is a great start to our drive to win ballot status in New York," said Don Mackle, one of the organizers of the Socialist Workers petitioning campaign here. "At this rate we'll exceed our goal of marching into the Active Workers Conference in Oberlin, Ohio, with well over 20,000 signatures in hand." Campaign supporters plan to turn in 30,000 signatures to place the names of James Harris for president, Margaret Trowe for vice president, and Jacob Perasso for U.S. Senate on the New York ballot by August 21. This is double the legal requirement of 15,000 signatures.

Socialist campaigners have also begun to collect signatures to place Paul Pederson, 24, a worker in Pathfinder's printshop and a leader of the Brooklyn branch of the SWP, on the ballot for U.S. Congress in the 12th District. This working-class district includes sections of Brooklyn as well as the Lower East Side and Chinatown in Manhattan.

Don Mackle noted, "We will collect signatures for Pederson by 'piggybacking' them with the signatures for the presidential and senatorial candidates. That means asking people to sign two separate petitions on one clipboard. Getting Pederson on the ballot is going to require a concerted effort as part of the overall campaign we're waging, but we will do it successfully." The socialist campaign plans to file 7,000 signatures for Pederson, twice the legal requirement.

At huddles before petitioning teams hit the streets, and in wrap-up sessions after several hours of work, campaigners have commented on the interest in the socialist campaign's revolutionary perspective expressed by a good number of those who sign the petitions. An even greater number of people readily sign--whether or not they agree with the socialists' political views--out of deeply felt support for the democratic right to be able to consider all the candidates running in the elections, not just the Democrats and Republicans.

John Hawkins, who is the Socialist Workers candidate for U.S. Congress in the 15th District, was the top petitioner on July 16. He collected 195 signatures in five hours on 125th Street in Harlem. Hawkins says he told people that he is running for Congress, and was petitioning to get his running mates on the ballot. "Many people are interested in workers running for office--candidates who are involved in working-class struggles, from the fight to get a union at Dakota Premium Food in St. Paul, Minnesota, to the strike by workers at Domino Sugar in New York. They like the idea of fighting for a government of workers and farmers, which is a new idea for most."

Workers and young people are often drawn to the prominent signs on campaign literature tables demanding an end the death penalty, jailing of killer cops, that the U.S. Navy get out of Vieques, Puerto Rico and other issues. They quickly sign the petitions when they find out that there is a political campaign that champions these demands.

Some drop a contribution in collection cans and are pleased to know that the campaign is entirely financed by donations from working people, not wealthy people. Several have signed the special "interest cards" to ensure they will get contacted about upcoming political events sponsored by the socialist campaign or other political activities.

Elizabeth, 23, recently graduated from college, joined her first socialist petitioning team on a busy street corner in Manhattan. After an hour and a half she had collected 37 signatures, a good showing. "Some people heard the word 'socialist' and said 'No,' " she said. "But most people were pretty dissatisfied with the current system. Police brutality was a big issue. Several people asked me about the case of Mumia Abu-Jamal," who is on death row in Pennsylvania and is fighting for his freedom.

When torrential rain drenched the city on Saturday, July 15, the socialists did not miss a beat. They went into the subway stations to collect signatures, where they reported excellent results. And two campaign teams went upstate, which turned out to be drier.

In Albany, Mindy Brudno, a railroad conductor, hosted the visit of a campaign team. She joined the team, commenting that it went "far better than I expected!"

Another campaign team collected more than 300 signatures upstate in Buffalo. In New York City, Jacob Perasso, socialist candidate for U.S. Senate, joined supporters outside a rally of several thousand home health-care workers organized by the hospital workers union, Local 1199.

On the streets of Manhattan's Garment District, campaigners met a group of young Puerto Rican janitors who said they are interested in starting a union to improve their wages and conditions and be treated like human beings with rights.

"We have also found interest in our political perspectives in every working-class area we've been to," said Mackle. "On Sunday our big hitters were coming back with around 150 signatures after five hours of petitioning. That reflects the changes going on in the working class today, the growing mood of combativity."

 
 
 
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