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Militant/Diana Newberry
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Joel Britton (center), SWP candidate for California governor, campaigns in downtown Los Angeles September 13. With him is campaign volunteer Darryl Sheppard (left), who came from Washington, D.C., to campaign with Young Socialists for Britton.
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Britton, Socialist Workers Party (SWP) candidate for California governor, recorded this personal audio message through the Federal Voting Assistance Program of the Department of Defense. The statement will be available to all members of the U.S. military, their families, and other U.S. citizens abroad.
In his message, the SWP leader spelled out programmatic demands to defend working people in the face of a deepening capitalist economic crisis worldwide. The Socialist Workers campaign’s “‘Jobs for All!’ program calls for a massive program of government-funded public works and a shorter work-week at union scale to spread available work,” he said. “We call for a big increase in the minimum wage. We call for cost-of-living protection in all union contracts, unemployment payments and other social benefits. We demand debt relief for working farmers and a stop to foreclosures on their farms by the banks.
“We defend affirmative action. We back women’s access to abortion,” he continued. “We call for an end to Washington’s economic war on Cuba and support normalizing relations.
“We call for immediately and unconditionally bringing the troops home from the Balkans, Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, Korea, Iraq, and Afghanistan. End the occupations by U.S. forces now!” (see editorials section for full statement).
This revolutionary working-class program—disseminated not just by the candidate, but also by the Young Socialists for Britton, who are among the candidate’s most enthusiastic campaigners—has sparked interest among working people in South Central Los Angeles and other working-class districts in this city and across the state. Workers and youth have stayed to listen and exchange views with the street campaigners and have picked up campaign literature, Pathfinder books, and copies of the Militant and Perspectiva Mundial. Discussions have taken up most of the political issues of the day.
Ricardo Hernández, a sewing machine operator, for example, met Britton in the downtown garment district here September 13. Hernández told the socialist candidate that he opposes the recall of Democratic Governor Gray Davis. “We should let him finish his term,” the garment worker said.
Britton responded that while he did not campaign for placing the recall on the ballot, he is urging a “yes” vote to remove Davis from office. “Whenever working people have the opportunity to remove a capitalist politician from office we should take advantage of it,” he said.
“The bosses rule over us through the Democratic and Republican parties,” Britton stated. “The bosses don’t just run the garment shops and other factories, they run the government. We need to build a movement that will replace the exploiters with a workers and farmers government.”
Hernández countered that he liked Davis because he had signed a law recognizing undocumented workers’ right to a driver’s license without having to show a Social Security card.
Britton said that Davis’s September 5 approval of the bill, which will go into effect January 1, was a by-product of years of protests by workers and immigrant rights organizations. The governor had vetoed similar legislation twice before, Britton pointed out. He noted that Davis had said he would support a driver’s license bill on the condition that it require applicants to have jobs, and allowed the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) to conduct background checks. The recent legislation dropped both provisions.
“The fight around the driver’s license is far from over,” Britton noted. “For one, the DMV has not issued details on how immigrants will get their licenses. Many are concerned that the DMV will allow the police and other cop agencies easy access to its records, including addresses and fingerprints. “I am opposed to discrimination against immigrants,” Britton said. “The government uses repressive measures to heighten insecurity and fear among immigrants, hoping to maintain them as a super-exploitable labor pool and to discourage involvement in unionization efforts and other social and political fights.”
Between 1980 and 2000, California’s Latino population doubled to 11 million people, or almost one-third of the population. Most are of Mexican origin.
Britton has discussed the socialist alternative with workers looking for jobs, as well as employed workers dissatisfied with low wages. In the past year, some 8,700 garment manufacturing jobs have been slashed in Los Angeles County. The industry today employs 64,000 workers—a 12 percent decline from a year ago.
The candidate has also called for guaranteed health, disability, and pension benefits, along with lifetime health care. These demands have come up in discussions on the sharp attack on workers’ compensation just approved by the California State Legislature. Davis says he will approve the $5 to $6 billion in expenditure cuts proposed there—which will affect programs for vocational rehabilitation, chiropractic treatment, and physical therapy.
“I am opposed to these cuts,” Britton said in an interview. “If the bosses wanted to reduce injuries, they would slow down the speed of the assembly lines. We don’t have to accept their speedup drive. The frequency of carpal tunnel and other repetitive injuries is unnecessary. There are many factories where workers, desperate for a job, offer their limbs in exchange for a weekly wage.
“What is happening is outrageous,” Britton added. “Under capitalism health care is an industry designed to make profits off of human misery. We need to build a movement that will put an end to this, like in Cuba.”
On September 11 the socialist candidate joined a Young Socialists for Britton campaign table at California State University’s Long Beach campus. One student expressed interest in having Britton speak before his class. The young socialists are taking the campaign to the campuses, setting up meetings, and arranging interviews with campus newspapers and radio stations. A series of campaign activities will be held at California State University, Monterey Bay in Seaside, and in the Napa Valley September 24-26.
Meanwhile, the campaign continues to receive numerous e-mail inquiries. One woman liked what Britton had said in defense of the Cuban Revolution on Channel 11 Fox News. “I really like what you wrote in the voter info guide. I hope your words are real,” wrote a San Diego resident. Another told Britton that she is “considering voting for you, and would greatly appreciate if you would be willing to answer a few questions about your platform.” Her questions covered women’s rights, education, unemployment benefits, regulation of monopolies, and legalization of drugs.
Britton has submitted a two-minute video, “State Your Case,” to LA36, a public-access educational channel in Los Angeles. On September 16 he will be interviewed on “Bull Sessions,” a program on KPAY News, Clear Channel Chico-Radio. KPAY is the leading news talk station in Butte County.
The Gateway company has offered free digital cameras to the 135 candidates in the race on the condition they are used to take photos of the candidates campaigning. The photos are posted on the Internet and are available to the public. Britton accepted the offer. His photos can be found at www.candidatecamera.com. On this web site’s home page click “campaign albums” and then click “Joel Britton.”
| Three-judge panel of U.S. court rules that California recall vote must be put off |
On September 15, a three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals approved a request by the American Civil Liberties Union to postpone the vote on whether to recall California governor Gray Davis. The full court will review the ruling. The judges made the decision on the grounds that antiquated voting machines in several California counties must be replaced prior to the ballot. If the ruling stands, the election will be moved from October 7 to March of next year. |