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   Vol.66/No.29           July 29, 2002  
 
 
Socialist Workers in Minnesota near
goal in gubernatorial ballot drive
 
BY TOM FISKE  
Supporters of the Socialist Workers Party candidates in Minnesota have collected 1,300 of 2,000 signatures needed to put their candidates for governor and lieutenant governor, Kari Sachs and Samuel Farley, on the ballot.

Two co-workers of Sachs at the GFI meatpacking plant are among the supporters of the socialist campaign. At a July 6 candidates forum at the Pathfinder bookstore one said he agrees with the "demands of the socialist candidates. I come from a country in Africa. We need radical measures to stop the intervention of imperialism in Africa. It is imperialism which is the main cause of our problems. But we also have to stop the attacks on workers in the United States."

"Our campaign got a good hearing when supporters distributed leaflets outside the plant gate where I work," said Farley. The candidate for lieutenant governor has been active in the fight to organize a union at Dakota Premium Foods, a beef slaughterhouse in South St. Paul. "Almost everybody took the leaflet. Two people in one car bought copies of Perspectiva Mundial. The following day there was lots of discussion inside the plant."

Also running on the SWP slate of candidates is Rose Engstrom. She is running for U.S. Congress, 5th C.D., centered in Minneapolis. Engstrom, 31, is also a meat packer. She has been active for a number of years in labor struggles and fights against police brutality and racism.

Gov. Jesse Ventura, who leads the Independence Party, has announced he will not run for a second term. But the party’s candidate for the top state office, along with that of the Green Party, is being given "major party" status in the big-business media and by the state government.

At the public forum announcing the campaign, Samuel Farley explained, "The SWP campaign is the only campaign independent of the capitalist political setup. Our campaign is part of the resistance to the capitalist offensive against working people. We call upon workers and working farmers to begin recognizing, discussing, and especially acting in their own independent interests, which have nothing in common with the ruling capitalist class."
 
 
Related articles:
Support the socialist campaigns
SWP campaigns announce candidates in Florida, New York, and Washington  
 
 
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