BY ANDREA ALEGRÍA  
LOS ANGELES, October 28—“I’m convinced the working class is completely capable of transforming the world,” says Diana Newberry, sitting in front of an extensive library with books on Fidel Castro, Che Guevara, Nelson Mandela, Lenin, and Marx at the headquarters of the Socialist Workers Party.

The site, at Central Avenue and 42nd Street, is her campaign headquarters in her fight for the District 14 City Council seat.

“The capitalist system is the root of all the problems that we’re facing,” asserted this 32-year-old activist, whose cause, she said, is that of defending workers from the attacks by the ruling class.

Newberry firmly believes there should be free health care and equitable social security for all. She also defends union power in order to counteract, as she put it, the abuses of unscrupulous bosses who pay miserly wages and exploit their employees.

“The system is based on profits, and it’s a ‘dog-eat-dog’ society,” she explains. “It’s about time people have a working-class alternative on the ballot.”

Newberry, the 16th of 17 children born and raised in Ohio, has worked hard jobs since she was very young. She has worked on the railroad in Pennsylvania and in hat and garment factories in Los Angeles. She currently works as a meat packer. She never attended university or college, but her passion for the socialist movement has taken her to several cities across the country. About four years ago, she arrived in Boyle Heights.

This candidate assures us that she would use the city council position to champion the socialist cause. For starters, she would fight for all working people to have affordable housing.

“I’m excited that more and more people are receptive to these ideas. And it’s not some utopia. It’s already been done in Cuba, when the workers took power there,” she says, pointing out “there will be no peace until there’s a revolution in this country.”
 
 
Click to see a list (.pdf) of Socialist Workers Party candidates.

What the Socialist Workers Party stands and fights for (.pdf)  
 
 
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