UNION CITY, N. J. — “We are living through a watershed moment in politics, following Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine and Hamas’ Oct. 7 slaughter of Jews in Israel,” said Joanne Kuniansky, Socialist Workers Party candidate for U.S. Senate from New Jersey, at a meeting here to launch the party’s campaign and plans to get on the ballot.
SWP candidates are using their campaign to back Israel’s war to defeat Hamas, she said, and joining fights to combat Jew-hatred in the U.S.
“Whether the horrors of World War III will be inflicted on humanity depends on forging a communist leadership to lead tens of millions of workers to take power. The SWP campaign points the road forward to building that leadership,” she said.
Kuniansky was joined on the panel by Lea Sherman, the SWP’s candidate for U.S. Congress in New Jersey’s 8th District.
Sherman described the growing confidence workers have to use their unions to take on attacks by the bosses and make gains in wages and working conditions. She pointed to recent strikes by teachers in Newton, Massachusetts, and nurses in New Brunswick, New Jersey. “The teachers defied a judge’s back-to-work order, and escalating fines against their union, while nurses faced a court order restricting their picket lines.”
Workers and our unions have a big stake in defending constitutional freedoms, she said. “Democrats lead the attack on these protections. Donald Trump is a special target and they have 91 indictments against him. We say drop the charges.”
Excited applause greeted the announcement by John Studer, the SWP national campaign director, that the party was running Rachele Fruit for president and Margaret Trowe for vice president. Fruit and Trowe made brief remarks and joined SWP campaigners the following day to get the effort underway to win ballot status in the state.
Campaign supporters will collect more than double the 800 signatures required to get the presidential ticket on the ballot, the same number for Kuniansky and two-and-half times the 100 needed to get ballot status for Sherman.