Reprinted below is an article that appeared October 13 on the front page of the Hazleton section of the Times-Leader, published in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. Titled "Candidacy of revolution: Huge congressional underdog Farley shares Socialist agenda," the article is based on an interview with Betsy Farley, the Socialist Workers candidate for Congress in the 11th District in Pennsylvania.

BY STEVE MOCARSKY  
HAZLETON--This Hazleton woman mines for coal by day and talks of a revolution for working men and women by night--and she’s running for Congress.

Betsy Farley faces an uphill battle against U.S. Rep. Paul Kanjorski, D-Nanticoke, Republican Hazleton Mayor Lou Barletta and Reform Party candidate Tom McLaugh–lin as a write-in candidate for the 11th Congressional District.

But that’s not deterring the feisty 49-year-old from doing her best to champion the cause of her political affiliation--the Socialist Workers Party--and let others know what’s needed in the country.

"I believe we need a revolutionary movement in this country to bring about a change in political power," she said during a recent interview.

Farley said she’s talking about the kind of revolution that Cuba experienced in 1959, which was "a campaign against a U.S.-backed military ruler to get rid of an economy run for private profit."

She said the U.S. government is not a "true democracy" because the rich are in power instead of the majority of working-class people.

Farley said she grew up in Minnesota and became politically active in high school when she helped organize demonstrations against the Vietnam War. She said she was "kicked out" of high school because she helped organize a student strike to protest a war she believes was fought for nothing more than "political and economic influence."

Farley went on to earn a high school equivalency diploma and worked in the Alabama steel industry for several years. During that time, she helped support the development of unions and strikes in industries including coal mining.

Farley said she found that she liked the Northeast when visiting this area to support a coal miners strike and moved to Nanticoke about three years ago. She’s been living in Hazleton for about two years and worked as a coal miner at Lehigh Coal and Navigation Co.--a strip mining operation in Tamaqua--until it shut down two years ago.

A member of the United Mine Workers union, Farley has worked as a coal miner at Waste Management Processors Inc.--a bank mining operation--since she was laid off.

Farley said the most important issues the nation faces include an impending war with Iraq, "an economic crisis and impending economic collapse, and that the working people not subordinate their struggles to the war drive" and pressure from the government.

"I don’t think Iraq poses a threat to the U.S. at all. I think it’s a fabricated issue to allow the U.S. to increase economic and political influence in the Mideast ... It will be an imperialist war, not a war for democracy.

"This is a war that has nothing to do with the working people of this country. Saddam Hussein isn’t an issue. Wealthy rulers of this country want more influence over the Persian Gulf. They want control of the oil reserve ... It’s a war for the rich and I think people should oppose it," Farley said.

She doesn’t think Hussein would use a nuclear weapon against the United States or another country if he had the capability. "The only country to use a nuclear weapon was the U.S., in full knowledge that the war (with Japan) was about to end."

Other issues important to Farley include national health care for all workers. "You shouldn’t have to depend on your employer to provide health insurance so you can go to the doctor. It should be a right ... guaranteed to every person in this country."

Social Security should be extended "to make it a real pension for people who retire ... It’s criminal that pensions are being gambled away in the stock market," Farley said.

Farley supports increasing the minimum wage to the average manufacturing industry wage and forgiving Third World debt because developing countries can’t support thriving economies if forced to repay it.

Farley also believes the government should support unions rather than industry.

"Whenever this government intervenes in a labor dispute, it always intervenes on the side of the company ... There’s a total disregard for workers’ safety on the job. Black lung is on the rise ... Factory workers, miners, they should have more control over the places we work," she said.

Farley said she welcomes immigration. "It strengthens the working class in this country. It helps to broaden the horizons of ... the working class."

Farley’s platform also supports a shorter work week with no cut in pay; an end to Immigration & Naturalization Service raids and deportation; abolition of the death penalty; a pro-choice stance on abortion; and normalized economic relations with Cuba.

While it appears likely that Kanjorski or Barletta will win the 11th District seat, Farley said voters who agree with her party’s philosophy shouldn’t vote for "the lesser of two evils" because they think she has no chance of winning.

"It’s better to vote for what you want and not get it than to vote for what you don’t want and get it," Farley said, quoting deceased union leader and Socialist Party presidential candidate Eugene V. Debs.

Farley said those who would like to learn more about Socialist views are welcome to visit Pathfinder Book Store on North Wyoming Street in Hazleton, where she works as a volunteer in the evenings.

Even if she doesn’t win in November’s election, Farley said she’ll continue to spread her party’s message.

"It’s a campaign that won’t end on Election Day. It’s a campaign that does not stop when the election is over."  
 
 
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