BY SHIRLEY PEŅA
DES MOINES, Iowa - On August 16th, the Iowa Socialist
Workers campaign was certified for ballot status for the
campaign of James Harris and Laura Garza for U.S. president and
vice president, Shirley Peņa for U.S. Senate, and Richard
McBride for Representative in the 4th Congressional District.
Supporters of the socialist campaign secured 1,968 signers for the Harris/Garza ticket, 1,696 for the campaign of Shirley Peņa and 400 for the candidacy of Richard McBride. The state of Iowa required the socialist campaign submit 1,500 signatures for the two state-wide campaigns and 300 for the 4th C.D. campaign.
The socialist campaigners organized their petitioning effort to take advantage of every opportunity where crowds of people would gather - from the weekly Farmers Market in Des Moines to the Iowa State Fair annual parade. Throughout the course of the petitioning drive, campaigners ran into a large number of working people who remembered previous socialist election campaigns and were eager to see more socialist candidates on the ballot.
On August 3rd, a team of socialist campaigners traveled to Waterloo, Iowa to petition and speak to working people about a recent INS raid at the IBP pork processing plant.
When asked about the situation at IBP, one meatpacker, Salvador, explained that "IBP works with INS to pick out workers they don't like. They can't deport all of us, because if they did, they wouldn't be able to run the plant."
A group of Latino workers asked why it seemed that only Latino workers were targeted by the INS, why not Asian workers? The socialist campaigners explained that the rulers target Latinos because of their growing political weight in the US and the role they play in the strengthening trade unions today.
One Black couple became interested in the issue of Ireland, and purchased a Militant, following a discussion of the ways in which the capitalist class divides us as a class.
A retired John Deere worker who campaigners met outside K- Mart explained that he worked there now to pay for his wife's medical expenses - in spite of the fact that he had worked at Deere for a number of years. He expressed an interest in Cuba and their medical system after talking with the petitioning team.
Petitioners also spent a considerable of time petitioning at the Iowa State University campus. One youth sent in a coupon indicating an interest in joining the Young Socialists. They also met an agriculture major who wanted to know more about how Cuba organizes agriculture and attending the World Youth Festival in Cuba next year.
A highlight was petitioning on-the-job, which netted over 100 signatures at three workplaces. McBride, an IBP packinghouse worker said, "It was a challenge petitioning, at times, due to the fact that when you're working, it's difficult keeping blood off the petition sheets. This meant most of my petitioning had to be done in either the locker room or the cafeteria.
"One day a co-worker, Eduardo, who is seen as a fighter at the plant, volunteered to circulate my petitions in the cafeteria - especially among my Spanish-speaking co-workers. At the end of five minutes he returned the petition sheet to me with a dozen signatures on it."
Shirley Peņa is a member of UAW 997 at Maytag in Newton.
BY ANDY BUCHANAN
BOSTON - New England supporters of the socialist candidates are in the thick of a month-long campaign to place James Harris and Laura Garza on the ballots in Rhode Island and Vermont. One thousand signatures are required to get on the ballot in each state, and campaigners plan to turn in twice the amount needed.
Teams of petitioners in the area of Providence, Rhode Island, near Brown University report a lively response to the campaign. "Many people are expressing disgust with the course of the Clinton administration as it drives against working people, and are open to discussing an alternative, working-class perspective", campaign supporter Brock Satter reports. Satter traveled from New York to help gather support for the socialist campaign and recruit to the Young Socialists. Several young people have already signed up for more information about the campaign, and the socialists aim to hold a meeting with them later in the week.
"Socialist campaigners aim to wrap up the drive in Rhode Island over Labor Day weekend and then we'll be moving on to open the campaign in Vermont" says Andrea Morell, the director of the campaign in New England. "Volunteers and funds to help this effort are urgently needed." For more information on how you can help, call the New England Socialist Workers Campaign Center at (617) 247 6772.
BY ABBY TILSNER
NEW YORK - The Socialist Workers campaign scored a victory against the onerous, reactionary, and undemocratic requirements for ballot status on August 19 when supporters turned in nearly 24,000 signatures to the New York State Board of Elections in Albany for James Harris and Laura Garza. This number far exceeded the required 15,000 signatures set by the state of New York and the goal of 22,700 set by campaign supporters.
The Socialist Workers campaign also succeeded in getting one of five candidates for U.S. Congress on the ballot. Campaign supporters in New York filed over 5,300 signatures for Eleanor Garcia, the Socialist Workers candidate in the 12th District. This again exceeded the state's requirement of 3,500 and campaigners' own goal of 5,000. The others will be running as write-in candidates.
The press conference at the filing in Albany was attended by WGY radio. WGY later aired Garcia stating that the Socialist Workers candidates are using their campaign to speak out against the bipartisan attacks on Social Security and that they look to the workers and farmers government in Cuba as a way forward in this country.
WASHINGTON, D.C. - Socialist campaigners in Washington, D.C., filed over 4,100 signatures August 19 to put Harris and Garza on the ballot in the District of Columbia. They also turned in over 3,600 signatures for Sam Manuel, Socialist Workers candidate for delegate to the House of Representatives. "In the coming weeks we will be campaigning to build the national demonstration to demand equal rights for immigrants taking place October 12 in Washington, D.C.," said Manuel at a news conference when the petitions were submitted.
"To the Democrats' and Republicans' phony minimum wage workfare programs we call on the labor movement to lead an international movement for jobs at decent union scale wages for all; spread the available work around by instituting a 30-hour workweek with no reduction in pay; launch emergency public works programs to construct and repair schools, roads, bridges, and hospitals.
"To fund these projects we should tax the rich, not working people. This should be done with a steeply graduated progressive income tax that eliminates all the tax loopholes for the wealthy," Manuel stated.