The Militant (logo)  

Vol. 75/No. 40      November 7, 2011

 
Successful SWP fund-raising
event in Seattle nets $4,100
 
BY OMARI MUSA  
“We’ve had a crash course in what capitalism is,” Jake Whiteside told a meeting of 50 participants at an October 22 Socialist Workers Party event in Seattle that raised some $4,100 for the party. Whiteside is vice president of International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 21 in Longview, Wash. The local is in a fight against a union-busting campaign by EGT Development at the port there.

Jason Lundquist, a member of the local’s labor relations committee, thanked the Militant for telling the union’s side of this battle. He talked about how the court backed the cops, who assaulted members of Local 21 and the Ladies Auxiliary. “The laws have never been on the side of labor and sometimes you have to do what is right to protect your rights,” he said.

Margaret Trowe was the main party speaker. She has been active in spreading solidarity with sugar beet workers fighting a lockout by American Crystal Sugar in Minnesota and North Dakota. This struggle, she said, “is part of the sea change going on in the working class.”

“I think it’s great to hear of the support outside of Longview and I appreciate the positive input from the Militant to get the message out on our fight,” Amanda Bornstedt-Niemi, an ILWU supporter from Longview, told participants. She bought copies of Malcolm X, Black Liberation, and the Road to Workers Power and Is Socialist Revolution in the U.S. Possible?

Nearly $3,000 was collected at a fund meeting in Los Angeles the same day. The featured speaker was Frank Forrestal, who has been writing for the Militant on the fight by 1,300 workers against American Crystal Sugar.

Participants at a similar event in Miami included a longtime Militant reader who is a member of the International Longshoremen’s Association and a woman party members met at an Occupy Miami protest. SWP leader Joe Swanson was the featured speaker.

Responding to a comment about a friend who prefers not to have a union, Swanson said, “I wouldn’t downgrade this worker for his attitude. Most workers we meet today are not in unions and others have had experiences with unions that function as job trusts. It’s in the course of fighting together against the bosses’ attacks that workers will build solidarity and gain the experience needed to make our unions instruments that defend the entire working class.”
 
 
Related articles:
Party-Building Fund week 2 of 7 (chart).  
 
 
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