Vol. 72/No. 13      March 31, 2008

Militant/Mitra Sharma

Alyson Kennedy, Socialist Workers Party candidate for vice president of the United States, addresses a political science class at Borough of Manhattan Community College March 12.

The campaign meeting of 25 at Hunter was sponsored by the student government. “On behalf of myself and the Undergraduate Student Government, it’s interesting to hear from those other than Democrats and Republicans,” said Jessica Zannikos, who chaired the meeting. “It’s important to know all the choices we have.”

“The kind of government we need is a workers and farmers government,” Kennedy told the students. “That will come to power as the result of a fight by a revolutionary movement in the millions against the class rule of the tiny propertied minority that rules today.”

A workers and farmers government will take immediate measures to defend the working class, she said, from instituting a massive public works program at union-scale wages to create jobs, to enforcing affirmative action in hiring, to halting immigration raids and deportations. Such a government will immediately withdraw U.S. troops from Afghanistan, Iraq, and all the other countries where they are based.  
 
‘The best qualified candidates’
This program, she explained, makes her and her running mate, Róger Calero, “the best qualified candidates in the race.” The solutions Barack Obama, John McCain, and Hillary Clinton offer to the current economic and social crisis of capitalism are policies in the interests of the wealthy. They spell more wars, unemployment, and attacks on the wages and living conditions of those who work for a living.

“Speaking as a young voter, I see Obama as the lesser of three evils, but then again, he seems to be about the same as the rest,” said one student. “How about a ‘none of the above’ movement? Would that be an effective tactic?”

“There is a way to vote for what you’re for in this election: vote SWP,” said Kennedy. “We are the only candidates with a program that defends working people and we’re serious about getting elected. If we’re not on the ballot in your state, ask for a write-in ballot.”

“Democracy is often associated with capitalism. Is that a problem for socialists?” someone else asked.

“There is no democracy for workers under capitalism,” Kennedy replied. “All the democratic rights and social gains we do have, such as Social Security and unemployment benefits, have been won in struggle. Today the U.S. rulers are using ‘antiterror’ laws to further undermine our struggles to organize unions, combat race and sex discrimination, and fight for jobs.”

Cuba, the socialist candidate noted, is often referred to as “totalitarian” by the capitalists, but in Cuba workers and farmers have won real democracy. When the workers and farmers government there began taking land owned by wealthy farmers and distributing it to landless peasants, they met resistance from the big landowners. The government nationalized their property to meet the needs of the majority.

It did the same thing when workers called on it to take action against business owners who were hoarding or refusing to produce. They nationalized these companies and placed them under control of the workers. “That is democracy,” said Kennedy.

A student asked what Kennedy thought about the recent farm bill adopted by Congress. “The bill has measures to benefit wealthy farmers, not working farmers,” Kennedy replied. A workers and farmers government will halt farm foreclosures. It will guarantee the cost of production to working farmers, including inexpensive credit, she explained. No farmer who rents land or owns title to it would face eviction.

Kellen Monsano, a sociology student at Hunter, thought that Kennedy “supported her points very well.”

“It makes sense,” he told the Militant. “Whoever has the power makes the rules. It’s not a democratic government here at all, maybe on paper.”

On March 15, Kennedy joined a rally of some 2,000 Service Employees International Union members and supporters. The action was called to support the nursing home workers on strike against Kingsbridge Heights Rehabilitation Center in the Bronx. “Prices are going up for everything—food, rent, gas, and they’re cutting our health care,” striker Jeffrey Wojciechowski told Kennedy.

Dan Fein contributed to this article.
 
 
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Young Socialists at N.Y. colleges join in debate over 2008 elections  
 
 
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