Vol. 72/No. 41      October 20, 2008

Staff writer Michael Phillips reported that in the first week of October, in the midst of the debate over a $700 billion bailout for Wall Street banks, Calero released a statement saying the capitalist financial crisis “poses the urgent need for a revolution in this country, a socialist revolution that will throw the billionaire ruling families out of power and replace them with a workers and farmers government.”

“Mr. Calero, a 39-year-old Nicaraguan meatpacker, is on the ballot in the five states that allow noncitizens to run for president, even though the Constitution bars them from serving,” the article explained. “Mr. Calero said in an interview that should the party win, he is confident voters would approve a constitutional amendment allowing him to take office.”

The Journal reporter joined Dellinger, who works as a meat packer, and another socialist worker as they set up a literature table to distribute campaign information, the Militant newspaper, and Pathfinder books at the University of Maryland in College Park. He wrote:

“Mr. Dellinger…taped up a few posters. ‘U.S. Troops Out of Iraq and Afghanistan,’ said one. ‘For a Workers and Farmers Government,’ said another.

“He carefully put books on a rack for easy viewing. ‘Malcolm X Talks to Young People,’ ‘Fascism: What It Is and How to Fight It,’ and ‘The Communist Manifesto’… .

“Some ignored him. Some shunned him. Out of curiosity some picked up copies of The Militant.”

The article went on to report that while still a student Dellinger had visited Cuba. “Two weeks on the island convinced him that Mr. Castro’s brand of socialism met the needs of people in a way capitalism had not,” Phillips wrote. “He was tempted to stay, but fellow American socialists told him he was needed in the fight at home.”

Talking to students at the table, Dellinger “focused his pitch on the demise of capitalism,” the article continued. ‘What do you think about the crisis on Wall Street?’ he asked Jihan Asher, a 17-year-old freshman studying education.

“Ms. Asher responded: ‘I still don’t know quite how it’s going to impact me personally.’

“Ms. Asher is neither a Washington resident, nor old enough to vote for Mr. Dellinger. But she bought a $5 subscription to The Militant and signed up to receive party email alerts. For Mr. Dellinger, that was victory enough.”

The article also mentioned the Communist Party USA and the Socialist Party USA. It quoted CP national chairman Sam Webb stating that, “Bailing out the biggest financial corporations is a far cry from what we have in mind when we think about socialism.”

It reported that the SP calls for “a nationwide moratorium on home foreclosures, a tax on every financial transaction in order to fund social services, a 6% additional tax on anyone with an income greater than $5 million and a new national health-insurance program.”
 
 
Related articles:
Socialist Kennedy gets hearing in Seattle
SWP presidential campaign tour schedule
Socialist Workers List of States on the ballot  
 
 
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