The Spark

the Voice of
The Communist League of Revolutionary Workers–Internationalist

“The emancipation of the working class will only be achieved by the working class itself.”
— Karl Marx

Michigan 2016:
Let the Workers Voice Be Heard

Sep 19, 2016

In August, a new party was officially recognized in the state of Michigan: the Working Class Party. We reproduce below a leaflet issued by the new party. It appeared on the website: www.workingclassfight.com and is borrowed from there.

There is more information about the new party on that website, including a link that takes you to an interview that aired on Michigan Public Radio on August 22, featuring one of the new party’s candidates, Mary Anne Hering. She discusses what militants had to do to get the party on the ballot, what it stands for and what they hope to accomplish with the elections, given that they understand elections cannot change the situation of working people.

MICHIGAN 2016: LET THE WORKERS VOICE BE HEARD

We joined with others to put Working Class Party on the ballot this year in Michigan:

  • To let working people express their anger,
  • To insist that workers should not pay the cost of the bosses’ crisis.

We say emergency measures are needed:

  • To put a halt to unemployment,
  • To stop the slide in our standard of living,
  • To stop the destruction of public services and schools,
  • To stop the poisoning of children’s minds and bodies.

We say that the wealth of this society must be taken and used to pay for emergency measures protecting the health, lives and well-being of ordinary people.

Putting a party on the ballot won’t change our situation, we know that.

  • It will take a fight of the working class to put its hands on the wealth that is today hoarded by a handful of banks, a couple hundred large companies and a tiny wealthy capitalist class.

But by putting this party on the ballot in Michigan, we are planting a flag.

A vote for the Working Class Party can show that there are thousands of people who say:

  • That they are fed up with Democrats and Republicans, who both represent only the big companies and banks, the capitalist class;
  • That they are convinced the working class needs to speak for itself, putting forward its own answers.

And those thousands of people can begin to change the situation!

For the Working Class Party,
Sam Johnson, Mary Anne Hering, Gary Walkowicz