In the final weeks of the U.S. election campaign, supporters of the Socialist Workers Party presidential ticket of Rachele Fruit for president and Dennis Richter for vice president are finding widespread interest among working people who are drawn into politics by the unfolding worldwide crisis of the capitalist system.
From actions marking the one-year anniversary of Hamas’ Oct. 7 pogrom in Israel, to building support for workers on strike, SWP campaigners and members of the Communist Leagues in Australia, Canada and the U.K. are making progress toward the fall goal of winning 1,300 Militant subscribers and selling the same number of books by SWP leaders and other revolutionaries, and raising $140,000 for the SWP Party-Building Fund. The campaign runs through Nov. 19.
South Georgia farmer Willie Head took SWP members Sam Manuel and Janice Lynn to Valdosta to talk with several people he knew who were affected when Hurricane Helene hit the predominantly African American community. The SWP campaigners walked around the neighborhood to learn about the devastation. (See article in Militant no. 39.)
Head explained the Militant is a paper he gets each week that covers the struggles of workers and farmers. Two people the SWP campaigners met were familiar with the paper from its support for a fight against police brutality in the area in the early 2000s.
Manuel pointed to the Militant ’s coverage of the response of the Cuban government and working people there to the hurricanes that hit the island. No one is left to fend for themselves, he said, in stark contrast to what working people face here. Three people decided to subscribe to the paper and Head renewed his subscription for another year.
In Canada, Steve Penner reports that he and Joe Young campaigned in Brampton, Ontario. The two Communist League members visited Ben Baby, an information technology worker, who renewed his subscription to the Militant.
Baby told them he “was surprised that some people celebrated Hamas’ attack on Israel” on the anniversary of the Oct. 7 pogrom.
“The capitalist media is full of anti-Israel propaganda,” Penner said. “The Militant explains the true character of Hamas and its goal to kill Jews. It explains why fighting Jew-hatred is a life-and-death question for the working class.
Need to build revolutionary parties
“Working people throughout the Middle East, just as here, need to build revolutionary parties that fight against Jew-hatred and unite working people of all nationalities in a common struggle to take political power into our own hands,” he said. Baby bought a copy of the book, The Fight Against Jew-Hatred and Pogroms in the Imperialist Epoch: Stakes for the International Working Class.
SWP campaigners also found a good reception to the Militant at a protest organized by the National Association of Letter Carriers union in Chicago Oct. 14. The letter carriers are involved in an important labor battle for wage increases and better working conditions. They have been without a contract for over 500 days. At the rally, Naomi Craine, the SWP candidate for U.S. Congress in Illinois, spoke to V. Williams.
“We need fair pay,” Williams said. She signed up for a subscription to the Militant to learn more about other workers’ struggles, and got a copy of The Low Point of Labor Resistance Is Behind Us: The Socialist Workers Party Looks Forward, by SWP leaders Jack Barnes, Mary-Alice Waters and Steve Clark.
One of the challenges, Williams told Craine, is “we live in an instant society, people think everything happens on the phone,” and “the younger generation doesn’t want to work.”
Craine pointed out that in many jobs bosses have imposed two-tier wages, temporary contracts and irregular schedules. This makes it harder for young workers to get a place of their own and start a family.
“These questions have been an issue in many recent strikes, including the autoworkers last year. The labor movement needs to fight to bring generations of workers together,” Craine said. “That’s the road to fight against demoralization and dependency.”
“The SWP calls for a government-funded program of public works, to put millions to work building things we need,” SWP member Lisa Rottach added. “Fighting unemployment is part of uniting the working class, to get strong enough to take political power into our own hands.” Williams said she thought that made sense.
Earlier in the week, Rottach was part of a campaign team that visited Kankakee, Illinois.
“A woman who works at a local vegetable packing plant was wearing a knee brace. She explained how bosses refused to honor her doctor’s note for work restrictions,” Rottach said. “She got the Spanish edition of The Fight Against Jew-Hatred and Pogroms in the Imperialist Epoch and The Low Point of Labor Resistance Is Behind Us. She sent us off with two bottles of water on the warm afternoon.”
To endorse the SWP campaign, join in getting the word out about the SWP candidates and distribute the party’s literature, or to contribute to the SWP fund, contact the party branch nearest you.