Socialist Workers Party campaigns among Minnesota workers, farmers

Militant/Dan Fein

Dick Fenner, left, who works for a dairy farmer, talks with SWP campaigner Chris Hoeppner while waiting to deliver livestock outside packinghouse in Long Prairie, Minnesota, May 23.

BY TONY LANE

MINNEAPOLIS — “None of these politicians come through with their promises. We need to do something different to be heard,” Guadalupe Pinto told Socialist Workers Party presidential candidate Alyson Kennedy as she and supporters knocked on doors in Hutchinson, Minnesota, May 22. “I would be happy to collaborate with you,” Pinto said, and took a handful of petitions and campaign flyers to give to friends and for her husband to take to work.

Two other workers who recently subscribed to the Militant took petitions to circulate.

The need for working people to act in our own class interests and the thirst for anything that can strengthen that fight was part of the discussions with many workers that Socialist Workers Party members met. “We all need to unite,” said Stephani Ayala, a former Teamsters member in an engraving plant, as she signed the petition to put the SWP on the ballot and got a subscription to the Militant. “Many workers don’t earn a livable wage. Workers need the Socialist Workers Party.”

During the course of gathering several hundred signatures, SWP campaigners won 31 new Militant subscribers and sold several books. At a May 21 campaign meeting with Kennedy and David Rosenfeld, SWP candidate for Congress, Kennedy talked about participation in a delegation to Cuba with relatives of victims of police killings. “The Cubans we met were shocked when we told them about police brutality under capitalism, and we got a real glimpse of the social relations that exist when workers and farmers make a revolution.”

Rosenfeld had been a panelist at a conference on Malcolm X earlier that day where a debate began about whether Malcolm X’s legacy was relevant only to African-Americans. “The Socialist Workers Party explains Malcolm was a revolutionary leader of the working class,” Rosenfeld said. “He transcended Black nationalism and sought to work with all who want to end exploitation and oppression. He said he was trying to awaken Black people to their worth. That message is vitally important to the working class today.”

Dan Fein, SWP candidate for U.S. Senate in Illinois, joined others talking with packinghouse workers in the parking lot outside Long Prairie Packing plant in Long Prairie, 120 miles north of here. “I came from Miami three weeks ago, when I heard there was hiring here,” Raimundo Olvide told Fein. Several workers there signed the party petitions.

Fein also talked with dairy farmers lined up to bring livestock in. They are hard hit by low milk prices. Several have worked in factories to augment their income.

“I work on a friend’s farm now,” Dick Fenner told Fein. “I worked as a plumber and now I’m on Social Security. But after I pay the bills, there’s nothing left, so I have to work part-time.

Kennedy was invited by supporters of the Socialist Workers Party campaign to meet with 10 of their co-workers at Walmart May 23. Cashier Mary Ellen Nelson told Kennedy she and her husband can’t afford the company’s health plan, which has a $5,000 deductible. “We would be paying off the deductible forever.”

Another worker said she was interested in Republican candidate Donald Trump for his stand against illegal immigration. “I’m not against immigration, but it has to be legal,” she said. “Those illegals are getting all the money and the jobs.”

“The bosses pit us against each other competing for jobs,” Kennedy replied. “They see immigrants as a source of cheap labor. We need to build unity among workers, to fight for a massive government-funded jobs program, for a $15 minimum wage and against all restrictions that prevent one or another group of workers’ ability to find a job.” Eight workers signed to put the SWP on the ballot.

To join in the ballot effort or contribute to the campaign, contact party units listed on page 8 or Socialist Workers Party 2016 Campaign, 227 W. 29th St, 6th Floor, New York, NY 10001. Tel (646) 922-8186. Email: swp2016campaign@gmail.com .

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