Statement from the Working Class Party of Michigan

Nov 9, 2020

The following statement was issued by the Working Class Party of Michigan. This statement and other information about WCP can be found on the independent website, https://workingclassfight.com.

In the midst of an election campaign presented by the two big parties as a do-or-die contest, the Working Class Party effectively maintained our base, built up since 2016, when Working Class Party first made it on to the ballot in Michigan.

This election took place in the middle of a pandemic created not only by the virus, but also by the actions of the two big parties, which both have drastically cut funding for public health, leading to tens of thousands of deaths that should not have happened. The campaign was carried out in the middle of an economy in collapse caused by the actions of the capitalist class to increase its profits by driving down the standard of living of the population, and by the actions of state and city governments to cut jobs in public services so public money could be diverted to that same capitalist class. And it was carried out even as police continue to act as an invading army in popular areas, particularly in areas where black people live, or where young people congregate.

Neither party has an answer to these crises because each of them, in their own way, support the right of the capitalist class to run the economy, to drain wealth out of it, and to use the violence of the state in support of this outright robbery.

Having no real answer to any of these crises, having carried out no policies that could improve the lives of the population, both parties made the election turn around the person of Trump. Are you for or against him?

Working people do not need any saviors to act in their defense—neither Trump, nor those who want to replace Trump. Working people can defend themselves.

We believe that the working class, based on its position in the very midst of the productive economy, can carry out a fight for its own needs and interests. Working people have the intelligence, the knowledge and the experience of working collectively which comes from producing the goods and services the whole society needs. Resting on this intelligence, knowledge, skills, and capacity to organize, they will in the future organize society to serve the whole population. And we are convinced that its most class conscious members will work to overcome the divisions that its enemies push to splinter the working class.

This is what the Working Class Party believes. This is what the Working Class Party said as it campaigned this year, even while it was blocked from getting around much by the restrictions of the pandemic.

The fact that people gave their votes to Working Class Party in the midst of this situation shows that there are thousands of people who want to see the working class build its own organizations and carry out the fights that need to be had.

The following are the results of the 2020 votes for the 12 candidates put forward by Working Class Party (Michigan) in 2020.

For State Board of Education, a state-wide contest:

• Mary Anne Hering, 146,526 votes, 1.46%; and
• Hali McEachern, 82,236 votes, 0.82%.

For U.S. Congress:

• District 5, Kathy Goodwin, 8,068 votes, 2.27%;
• District 9, Andrea Kirby, 9,030 votes, 2.25%;
• District 12, Gary Walkowicz, 11,146, 2.90%;
• District 13, Sam Johnson, 5,247 votes, 1.86%; and
• District 14, Philip Kolody, 2,476 votes, 0.74%.

For State House:

• District 4, Linda Rayburn, 1,014 votes, 3.36%;
• District 7, Kimberly Givens, 1,210 votes, 3.51%;
• District 14, Simone R. Coleman, 1,938 votes, 4.75%;
• District 15, Larry Darnell Betts, 970 votes, 2.41%; and
• District 75, Louis Palus, 1,216 votes, 3.03%.

We know that elections will not change our fate. But we have confidence in the capacity of the working class to organize and fight.