Vol. 72/No. 8      February 25, 2008

Militant/Seth Dellinger

Róger Calero, right, campaigns at February 9 rally in Richmond, Virginia, against anti-immigrant bills being discussed by state legislature. “As president, I would veto any immigration reform bill that does not include immediate legalization,” he said.

BY NED MEASEL  
WASHINGTON—“As president, I would veto any immigration reform bill that does not include immediate and unconditional legalization of all undocumented workers,” said Róger Calero February 9. The Socialist Workers Party candidate for president began his three-day tour in the Washington, D.C., area by joining 150 immigrants and their supporters in Richmond, Virginia, to protest a raft of anti-immigrant bills being considered by the state legislature.

In discussion after discussion the Socialist Workers candidate spoke about the need for unity among workers and why working people need our own labor party based on fighting unions. Fighting against attacks on workers who are immigrants is part of a larger struggle to advance along this line, he explained.

“As president I would expose the various proposed immigration reform laws in Congress as benefiting the bosses by maintaining immigrants in second-class status to serve as a super-exploited pool of labor,” Calero told a 36-year-old unemployed worker, Gomez.

“This is the kind of candidate we need,” said Gomez, “a worker who is living through the same things as the rest of us.”

Calero pointed to the recent victory of meatpacking workers at Dakota Premium Foods in South St. Paul, Minnesota, who defeated an attempt by the boss to get their union, United Food and Commercial Workers Local 789, decertified. Pointing to how immigrant and native-born workers came together to defend the union there, Calero said the victory was an example for the entire labor movement.  
 
Candidates’ qualifications
That evening, Calero addressed a Militant Labor Forum in Washington. Commenting on the notion that the election of Hillary Clinton would be of historical importance because she is a woman, Calero said, “That historical moment is behind us if you consider the number of women heads of state there have been around the world.” Electing a woman in and of itself hasn’t “improved the conditions confronting women,” he said. What matters above all is the class they represent, and Clinton represents the ruling class.

Part of the discussion following Calero’s talk took up a similar idea that a victory by Barack Obama would represent progress because he is African American. Sam Manuel, Socialist Workers 2008 national campaign chairperson and candidate for Washington City Council-at-large, explained the class differentiation among Blacks in the U.S. today. He noted that Obama has tried to distance himself from struggles in the Black community, such as the fight for justice for the Jena Six that erupted last fall, or protests in his home state of Illinois demanding justice for youth slain by cops.

Manuel said that, like Clinton and John McCain, Obama is backed by prominent ruling class families, major big-business media, and sections of the capitalist class. Unlike when African Americans first began being elected to public office in the 1960s and ‘70s, there is now a long experience with capitalist politicians who are Black who have demonstrated their trustworthiness to the ruling class.

“What would mark progress for the working class,” said Calero, “would be electing a candidate of our own.” Calero noted that he is more qualified to hold the office of the presidency than Clinton, Obama, or McCain, because of his experience as a rank-and-file worker fighting for unionization, against deportation, and to end the imperialist wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The leading capitalist candidates, on the other hand, address these questions from the point of view of how best to advance the interests of a tiny minority of wealthy families in the United States.

The following day Calero and his supporters campaigned among night shift workers as they came out of the A.M. Briggs meatpacking plant in Washington. Several workers stopped to talk. Dwaine Hinson, who has worked in the plant for six years, explained that their union contract is coming up for renewal. “We have to have a meeting with just the workers to discuss what we need,” he said. This didn’t happen last time. “We were just handed a contract and told to vote for it. We can’t let that happen again.”
 
 
Related articles:
Immigrants leaving states with tough laws
Connecticut immigration law draws protest On campaign trail, Kennedy discusses struggles for unionization, legalization
Georgia socialist campaigns for job safety
Socialist candidate: No to hospital closing!
Tour dates for socialist workers candidates  
 
 
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