The socialist campaigns advance a course of action and a program in the interests of working people around the globe, and have been part of the resistance of working people to employer and government attacks. This includes backing the fight of rail workers at Amtrak for a wage increase; encouraging broad labor support for striking Teamsters at United Parcel Service; building and seeking union involvement in protests demanding an end to police brutality in New York; publicizing the fights of workers involved in union organizing drives; and joining in recent actions in defense of immigrant rights.

These candidates provide the only working-class voice in the elections. They set an example for the labor movement of the need to break from support to the two parties of the super-wealthy minority - the Democrats and Republicans - and chart an independent working-class political course as a means to increase the effectiveness of the struggles of workers and their allies.

The Socialist Workers campaigns defend the Cuban revolution against Washington's unceasing aggression and explain its example for working people. The candidates extend active solidarity and support to struggles for national liberation, from the fight for a united Ireland free of British domination to the demand of the Korean people for the removal of U.S. troops and the reunification of their country. They condemn imperialist military and economic alliances as chauvinist attempts to pit workers of one country against another. They speak out against the drive to expand the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.

The socialist campaigners point a way forward for labor in the fight against the growing and devastating impact of the world capitalist economic crisis by advancing a program to unite working people internationally. Unemployment persists at double-digit levels across much of Europe, is a constant scourge across the Third World, and is higher in the current U.S. economic upturn than in most recessions since World War II. To combat the consequences of this and the drive by the employers to pit the employed against the unemployed, the socialists call for a reduction in the workweek to 30 hours with no cut in pay, along with a massive public works program to build needed infrastructure and social projects such as schools and housing.

The candidates put defense of affirmative action at the center of their campaign, joining protests in Texas, California, and elsewhere that are part of fighting back against reactionary legislation that has already had devastating consequences for enrollment of Blacks and Latinos in a number of university programs. The struggle to push back the government assault on this hard won gain for working people is a crucial one for the entire labor movement.

During the course of the campaign the true relations between the big imperialist powers and the Third World again revealed their true colors with the collapse of what had been touted by the big-business media as the Asian "miracle." Working people are the ones to bear the brunt of the currency devaluation and stock market collapse in Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, and elsewhere. The socialist campaign points to the need for working people and our unions to join together internationally to back the protests against austerity measures that are taking place and to demand an end to the growing and unpayable debt of the Third World to imperialist banks and governments.

The socialist campaign also charts a course for workers and working farmers to join together in a revolutionary struggle to replace the government of the ruling wealthy minority with that of the producing majority, installing a workers and farmers government than can deepen the battle to abolish capitalism and to join with workers around the world in the struggle for socialism.

Over the past months socialists candidates and their supporters around the country report an increased receptivity to their campaign and more opportunities to both join struggles and discuss these central issues in world politics with workers and youth. The Militant encourages our readers to join this effort between now and election day, cast your ballot for the working-class campaign, and to become a part of the socialist movement over the weeks and months ahead.

Listed below are the Socialist Workers candidates for state and local offices. Socialist candidates are running in 10 states and the District of Columbia. Due to undemocratic election laws designed to keep working-class candidates off the ballot, many of the Socialist Workers candidates will not appear on the ballot. Included here are the candidates' ages and union affiliations, where applicable.

FLORIDA

Janet Post, 47, IAM, Executive Mayor of Miami

Rollande Girard, 34, USWA, Miami City Commission District 5

GEORGIA

Doug Nelson, 22, USWA, Mayor of Atlanta X

Arlene Rubinstein, 47, UNITE, School Board *

IOWA

Thomas Altar, 23, UFCW, Mayor of Des Moines ** X

Ardella Blandford, 42, City Council At-Large **

MASSACHUSETTS

Linda Marcus-Leonard, 42, UTU, City Councilor, At-Large in Chelsea

Andrew Buchanan, 39, Mayor of Boston *

MINNESOTA

Jennifer Benton, 28, OCAW, Mayor of Minneapolis **

NEW JERSEY

Robert Miller, 41, UAW, Governor of New Jersey

Megan Arney, 28, State Assembly, 29th District

Brock Satter, 26, USWA, State Assembly, 29th District X

NEW YORK

Olga Rodríguez, 49, IAM, Mayor of New York

Shoghi Fret, 21, UNITE, New York Public Advocate X

Wendy Lyons, 52, UNITE, New York Comptroller

Brian Taylor, 23, Manhattan Borough President * X

OHIO

Steve Warshell, 43, USWA, Mayor of Cleveland *

PENNSYLVANIA

Edwin B. Fruit, 51, IAM, Mayor of Pittsburgh

Leroy Watson, 46, USWA, City Council in the 6th District

TEXAS

Patti Iiyama, 52, OCAW, Mayor of Houston *

Laura Garza, 38, IAM, City Council Position 3 *

WASHINGTON, D.C.

Mary Martin, 45, IAM, D.C. City Council At-Large

(election is December 2) * Write-in candidate

** Was on primary ballot, now a write-in candidate

X Member of the Young Socialists

IAM - International Association of Machinists

OCAW - Oil, Chemical and Atomic Workers

UAW - United Auto Workers

UFCW - United Food and Commercial Workers

UNITE - Union of Needletrades, Industrial and Textile Employees

USWA - United Steelworkers of America

UTU - United Transportation Union  
 
 
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