(lead article)
Socialists campaign to
unite working people
15,000 signatures turned in for ballot slot
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Militant/ Paul Mailhot
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Socialist Workers candidates in New York City file petitions to get on ballot. Dan Fein (second from left), mayoral candidate; and Tom Baumann (third from left), Manhattan borough president candidate. Others (from left) Sam Manuel, editor of Militant; Olga Rodriguez, campaign supporter; Martín Koppel, campaign chairperson; and Harry D’Agostino, campaign supporter.
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BY OLGA RODRÍGUEZ
AND PAUL MAILHOT
NEW YORK, August 11—“Working people today—across the globe—confront the deepest crisis of the capitalist system in living memory,” stated Dan Fein, Socialist Workers Party candidate for New York mayor at a press conference here today. “Despite statements to the contrary by Democratic and Republican politicians, this devastation is just beginning.”
Flanked by campaign supporters, Fein and Tom Baumann, socialist candidate for Manhattan borough president, were speaking on the steps of City Hall after filing 15,000 signatures with the Board of Elections—double the required amount—to place their names and that of Maura DeLuca, SWP candidate for public advocate, on the November ballot. Fein said that in face of the developing social and economic catastrophe working people need “to take political power out of the hands of the ruling capitalist class” and reorganize society based on the majority’s needs, not the profits of a few.
The socialist mayoral candidate pointed to Cuban working people who made a socialist revolution 50 years ago that put an end to capitalist exploitation. “The Cuban Revolution today remains an example for workers and farmers in this country and worldwide, which is why the U.S. rulers hate and fear Cuba,” Fein said.
Fein said that the Socialist Workers candidates fight alongside fellow working people against employer and government assaults on jobs, wages, social benefits, and rights. The socialist campaign is advancing immediate demands that include: guaranteed unemployment compensation at union scale for all workers until they find a job; a federally funded public works program to create jobs; immediate, unconditional legalization of all undocumented workers; and lifetime medical care and retirement pensions for all. (See campaign platform on this page).
In his statement to the press, Baumann condemned the spreading imperialist wars abroad. “Washington has 177,000 troops in Iraq and Afghanistan,” he said. “The Socialist Workers Party calls for the withdrawal of all U.S. and allied troops from Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and elsewhere. We also demand the immediate closing of all U.S. prison camps, including Guantánamo.”
He called for the unconditional defense of a woman’s right to choose abortion. Baumann said the socialist candidates “advocate quotas in hiring, promotions, and university admissions for Blacks, Latinos, Asians, and women.”
Following the filing of their petitions, Fein and Baumann taped video statements for television in New York City that will also be available on the Internet. The three-minute spots will be aired several times, 10 days before the election, on NYC-TV, a city-owned cable channel and Web site. They also submitted biographies and platform statements about the New York socialist campaign for the Campaign Finance Board voters guide. This printed piece of literature will feature responses from all of the candidates on the ballot, and will be mailed to hundreds of thousands of working people and others who vote in the municipal elections.
The socialist candidates expect the New York Board of Elections to inform them by Monday, August 17, that they will be on the November ballot.
Related articles:
‘Working class needs to take political power!’
N.Y. socialist candidates offer working-class alternative to twin parties
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