Vol. 80/No. 39      October 17, 2016

 

Workers say, ‘What can I do to help the party?’

 
As Socialist Workers Party members engage in workers’ struggles whenever they arise and in day-in day-out discussions on their doorsteps across the country, we find workers who agree with what we say and want to join party members in activity. And they want to read and study the party’s literature and the Militant, and to contribute financially to sustain the SWP’s work.

“I consider myself a socialist,” said Nelson Daggett, a member of the Machinists union and ferry worker, after talking with SWP members John Naubert and Clay Dennison at his home in Mount Lake Terrace, Washington, Oct. 1. “I can’t stand big government and corruption.”

After deciding to subscribe to the Militant and buy two new books published by Pathfinder Press — Is Socialist Revolution in the US Possible? and Are They Rich Because They’re Smart? —Daggett asked, “What else can I do to help the party?” Dennison told him about the Socialist Workers Party-Building Fund and he kicked in $10.

The 10-week appeal for contributions, which runs through Dec. 7, aims to raise $100,000 to sustain the work of the party. Every branch of the party is reaching out broadly to workers in their region for contributions.

The working class is living through a crisis unlike anything any of us have experienced in our lifetimes. Feeling the impact of decades of grinding depression conditions, disturbed by the devastation wrought by 25 years of imperialist war in the Mideast and elsewhere, and unconfident the rulers have any solution to the crisis, millions of workers are open to discussing the need for the working-class to find the road to organizing the exploited and oppressed to take political power.

Reinaldo, a welder and unionist born in Puerto Rico, was pleased when SWP member Tamar Rosenfeld knocked on his door in New Haven, Connecticut, and introduced herself and her party. She invited him to attend the Oct. 9 rally across from the White House to demand Puerto Rican independence fighter Oscar López be freed. He said he was familiar with López and how the U.S. government framed him up.

“I don’t know if we can win independence, after all these years of being a colony and being ‘Americanized,’” he said, but he agreed with the need to fight against the colonial exploitation of the island’s population.

“I think it’s possible both for the Puerto Rican people to win their independence and for us to make a revolution here in the U.S.,” Rosenfeld said. “Things — and we — change qualitatively as our struggles deepen.”

Reinaldo decided to make a donation to the fund on top of picking up a Militant subscription and the Spanish-language editions of Are They Rich Because They're Smart? and Puerto Rico: Independence is a Necessity by Puerto Rican independentista Rafael Cancel Miranda. “Good luck with your work,” he said.

To join the effort or make a contribution, contact the SWP branch in the directory of local distributors.

 
 
Related articles:
Socialist Workers Party-Building Fund
Join SWP campaigning, make a donation
 
 
 
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