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
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
Oct 28, 2024
We are a week away from the 2024 election. The record of the two big parties and all their candidates stands clear. They are defenders of the capitalist system, ruled by its drive for profit.
Capitalism condemns many people to unemployment, temporary or part-time work, forcing others to work overtime, and everyone to work too hard. Exploitation of labor is produced by the capitalists’ drive to amass profit.
This capitalist system creates inflation, driving down our standard of living, giving banks, financial groups and corporations the way to rob society of even more wealth.
All of this has been overseen by the two big parties.
Capitalism condemns people around the world to war. In this country, schools, roads and water systems are starved for funds so military spending can prop up the profits of every big corporation.
But the problem is not just money, it is war, actual, bloody war. Today, the U.S. military is involved in wars in Ukraine and Gaza, in shadow wars throughout Africa and the Middle East. It is preparing for war tomorrow to grab China’s market.
Military spending and these wars are the work of the two big parties.
We won’t change a society so terribly destructive as this one through an election. No, the working class must wrench control from the capitalist class and its two big parties. Workers will have to engage themselves in wide social struggles. They will have to build their own party.
In 2024, we are not yet there, this party does not yet exist. But in this election, working people can show they are fed up with the disasters the two parties have created. They can refuse to throw their vote away, refuse to vote for either party. In some states, they can show they are committed to having their own class build its own party—by voting for candidates who call for a working class party.
The Working Class Party has been on the ballot in Michigan since 2016. Today, there are 15 candidates.
Everyone in Michigan can vote for these two Working Class Party candidates: Mary Anne Hering, running for State Board of Education, and Suzanne Roehrig, for Wayne State University Board of Governors.
More than half the people in the state can vote for a Working Class Party congressional candidate: Liz Hakola in the 1st Congressional District; Lou Palus, 3rd District; Kathy Goodwin, 8th District; Jim Walkowicz, 9th District; Andrea L. Kirby, 10th District; Gary Walkowicz, in the 12th District; and Simone R. Coleman, 13th District.
Six other people are running for State Representative positions: Mark DaSacco, State District 2; Larry Darnell Betts, District 3; Linda Rayburn, District 7; Logan Ausherman, District 8; Hashim Malik Bakari, District 13; and Linda Green-Harris, District 16.
The Working Class Party of Illinois has been on the ballot in one congressional district in Illinois since 2022. This year, Ed Hershey is running in Illinois’s 4th Congressional District.
People who want to see the working class build its own party have worked twice to put Juan Rey on the ballot as an independent congressional candidate—this year in California’s 37th District.
It will not be built in an election. But in voting for these candidates, working people can send this message to the rest of their class: “We need our own party. Hurry up! We need to organize ourselves—and us, we intend to do it!”