Socialist Wins Historic 27% Against WA House Speaker — Sawant to debate Frank Chopp and call for left challenge to Democrats in Seattle’s 2013 elections
Socialist Alternative candidate Kshama Sawant received over 10,000 votes for WA state house of representatives while running against Frank Chopp, the sitting speaker of the house and one of the most powerful politicians in Washington State. In this press release, we call for a united slate against democrats in Seattle, and call for challenges nation-wide.
Wisconsin Recall: Democrats Paved the Way for Walker’s Victory — A party of the working class is needed to defend workers in Wisconsin and beyond
By George Martin Fell Brown and Richard Payton 
Many activists around the state are understandably disheartened by the fact that what began last year as a powerful mass movement involving rallies of tens of thousands, occupations and sick-outs, has in the end led to Walker remaining in office. The right will undoubtedly take the election results as a mandate for further attacks on working people. The blame for this lies with the leadership of the unions and the politicians of the Democratic Party, who diverted a mass movement of the working class into an electoral battle between the two parties of big business. To prevent future defeats, it is vital that workers learn the lessons of the Wisconsin recall and break from the two-party system.
The popular energy present last spring, both in Madison and all over the state, carried the potential for real, progressive change. Many of the protesters involved were experiencing their first taste of direct political activity, and countless Wisconsinites threw themselves into the grassroots, on-the-ground work of the recall campaign. At the time, the recall, which would not have been even a possibility without the protests of February and March, was presented by the union leadership and state Democratic politicians as the only way forward for the movement. These activists’ enthusiasm and zeal is evidenced by the nearly one million signatures supporting the recall of the governor gathered around the state in just a few months.
Wall Street Has Two Parties, We Need One of Our Own!
Among workers and the Democrats’ liberal base, outrage at Obama and party leaders has reached new heights. The president who many hoped would revive the New Deal appears determined to bury it instead. Obama’s approval ratings by mid-August dipped below 40% for the first time in his presidency.
Channeling the growing mood of indignation, liberal star Keith Olbermann, host of Current TV’s Countdown, came out swinging after the deal was announced:
“There is a tide pushing back the rights of each of us, and it has been artificially induced by union-bashing and the sowing of hatreds and fears. … It will continue and it will crush us, because those who created it are organized, unified, and hell-bent, and the only response is to be organized, unified, and hell-bent in return. We must … protest this deal, and all the goddamned deals to come, in the streets. We must rise - non-violently, but insistently. General strikes, boycotts, protests, sit-ins, non-cooperation, takeovers.”
Divisions within the Democratic Party machine are deepening. Twelve AFL-CIO unions declared they would boycott the 2012 Democratic National Convention, which they traditionally pour millions into. Veteran liberal Rep. John Conyers blasted Obama, saying:
“The Republicans - Speaker Boehner or Majority Leader Cantor - did not call for Social Security cuts in the budget deal. The President of the United States called for that… My response to him is to mass thousands of people in front of the White House to protest this.” (Salon.com, 8/1/11; video here)
Unfortunately, true to form, Conyers is more bark than bite and no protests were organized. Nonetheless, such statements reveal the deep anger among working people Democrats rely on for votes. And while some union leaders will organize symbolic protests, none are talking about a real break with the Democrats.
