RESPONSE-Himelgrin
Marea Himelgrin (73663.2124@compuserve.com)
30 Oct 94 19:58:13 EST
Response to Question #1
by Marea Himelgrin
Socialist Workers candidate for U.S. Senate
The central question confronting humanity today is the social crisis
caused by capitalism and the future of increased exploitation, fascism, and war
that it offers.
The 1987 stock market crash marked a turning point announcing that, as
the imperialist order imposed by the victors of World War II increasingly
unraveled, the world capitalist economy was headed into the worst depression
since the 1930s. These depression conditions mark the world we live in today.
Despite a temporary upturn in the business cycle, capitalists face
declining profit rates and increased competition for markets, pushing them to
ruthlessly downsize companies and cut costs. For working people, whether in
Brazil, Sweden, the United States, or Hungary, it means lower wages and deep
cuts in social programs. The depth of the crisis is manifest in rising infant
mortality, greater numbers of workers left homeless, and the reappearance of
epidemic diseases .
In spite of the pronouncements of capitalist spokespeople and misleaders
in the workers movement, capitalism is not moving toward more democracy or
peace. We are witnessing increasingly centralized use of state power, the rise
of Bonapartism and ultrarightist movements, and greater reliance on military
solutions in the capitalist rulers foreign policy, such as in Haiti, the Persian
Gulf, Rwanda, and Somalia, as competition among the imperialist powers becomes
sharper.
There is a power, however, that can stop the capitalist march toward
fascism and war: the organized working class and its allies. The defensive
struggles today, from the Caterpillar strike and the immigrant rights march in
Los Angeles, to protests against government austerity by Brazilian metalworkers,
to strikes by coal miners in Russia, are evidence of this.
The Socialist Workers campaign puts forward an action program for the
labor movement to confront the economic crisis. These demands, to cancel the
Third World debt, to fight for jobs for all by shortening the workweek with no
cut in pay, and to enforce affirmative action, are key to uniting working people
and overcoming the divisions fostered by the employers. The socialist candidates
are using the campaign to win new forces to oppose Washingtons aggressive
policies toward the Cuban revolution, and to learn from and emulate Cubas
socialist course.
My campaign is the only one in this race to voice the interests of
working people. The socialist campaign also offers a political perspective that
goes way beyond election day and that is decisive for the future to join the
worldwide fight for socialism. If you agree this is a battle worth throwing
yourself into, you should join the Young Socialists or the Socialist Workers
Party.
Contact the Minnesota Socialist Workers Campaign at (612) 645-1674. Or drop by
my campaign headquarters at the Pathfinder Bookstore, 2490 University, St. Paul,
MN 55114.