Working Class Party

The Working Class Party is a political party based in Detroit, Michigan.[1][2] The Working Class Party competed in the 2016 Michigan election, presenting three candidates. It filed eleven candidates in the 2018 election, five for the U.S. Congress, two for the Michigan State Board of Education, and four for the Michigan Senate.[3] As of July 2020, it has ballot access in Maryland and Michigan.

Working Class Party
ChairmanLarry Christenson
Founded2016
HeadquartersDetroit
IdeologyProgressivism
Socialism
Political positionLeft-wing
Website
Working Class Party
  • Politics of United States
  • Political parties
  • Elections

Other candidates who shared many of the same ideas as the Working Class Party appeared as "non-partisan" (independent) candidates on the ballot in Chicago in 2015; in Baltimore in 2016; and in Los Angeles in 2018.[4][5][6]

History

The party can be traced back to a campaign carried out by people around the Trotskyist newspaper The Spark between 2011 and 2013.[7] That campaign focused on the need for the working class to organize independently. Five of the people active in that campaign ran for office in 2014 (although they were on the ballot as non-party candidates). The candidates ran for Congress, for Dearborn School Board and for the Wayne County Community College Trustee. The latter was elected due to his only opponent, the Democratic incumbent, being disqualified before the election.[8]

Despite the harsh ballot access laws in Michigan, the people active in the 2014 campaign managed to put a party on the ballot in 2016. With several dozen others joining the voluntary effort, they turned in more than the required 31,566 petition signatures. In the end they turned in more than 50,000.[9][10] The Working Class Party fielded two candidates for Congress and one for the State Board of Education in Michigan.

Their candidate for the State Board of Education polled many more than the votes needed for the Working Class Party to retain ballot status in the Michigan 2018 elections.[11][12]

Similar campaigns in other states included for alderman in Chicago in the 25th ward. Candidate Ed Hershey received 614 votes (8.23%).[13] In 2016, David Harding was on the ballot for Baltimore's City Council elections, running in the 14th district. He received 1,426 votes, (8.3%).[14] In 2018, Juan Rey ran as a candidate in California's 29th congressional district for the U.S. House of Representatives. He received 944 votes (1.45%).[15]

In the 2018 midterm elections the Working Class Party is running eleven candidates in Michigan: five for the U.S. House, four for the Michigan state senate and two statewide candidates for the Michigan State Board of Education. Most candidates are fielded in districts in and around Detroit, but the party is also contesting districts in Grand Rapids, Flint and Saginaw.[16]

The party is again planning to run candidates for the 2020 elections and has announced David Harding has their candidate in the election for the mayor of Baltimore.[17] [18] As of June 2020 the party has 246 registered members in Maryland[19].

Ideology

The party is actively endorsed by the The Spark[20], however the Working Class Party does not espouse Marxist political positions. The party supports broadly socialist positions such as putting an end to unemployment[21] and stopping the decline of pensions and social security.[22] They call for workers to look into the books of businesses.[23] They call for the unity of workers against the divide created by the bosses.[24] Also the party supports the formation of a larger party for the working class, as both the Republican, as well as the Democratic party, are controlled by big capital[25].

Election results
Year Office Candidate State Votes % Misc.
2014 United States House of Representatives Sam Johnson Michigan 3,466 2.1% 13th district, Detroit and suburbs
2014 United States House of Representatives Gary Walkowicz Michigan 5,039 2.4% 12th district, suburbs of Detroit
2014 Dearborn School Board Mary Anne Hering Michigan 5,153 9.9%
2014 Dearborn School Board Kenneth Jannot Michigan 2,431 4.7%
2014 Wayne County Community College Trustee David A. Roehrig Michigan 15,661 96.5% Elected unopposed, 2nd district
2015 Chicago City Council Ed Hershey Illinois 614 8.2% 25th ward
2016 United States House of Representatives Sam Johnson Michigan 8,835 3.4% 13th district, Detroit and suburbs
2016 United States House of Representatives Gary Walkowicz Michigan 9,183 2.8% 12th district, suburbs of Detroit
2016 State Board of Education Mary Anne Hering Michigan 224,392 2.7% Statewide office
2016 Baltimore City Council David Harding Maryland 1,426 8.3% 14th district
2018 United States House of Representatives Juan Rey California 944 1.5% Nonpartisan blanket primary, 29th district, San Fernando Valley
2018 State Board of Education Logan Smith Michigan 90,670 1.3% Statewide office
2018 State Board of Education Mary Anne Hering Michigan 125,171 1.7% Statewide office
2018 State Senate Hali McEachern Michigan 2,089 2.9% 3rd district, Dearborn
2018 State Senate Larry Betts Michigan 3,879 4.4% 5th district, Dearborn Heights
2018 State Senate Louis Palus Michigan 1,313 1.2% 29th district, Grand Rapids
2018 State Senate Thomas Repasky Michigan 2,954 2.4% 18th district, Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti
2018 United States House of Representatives Andrea Kirby Michigan 6,862 2.2% 9th district, parts of Oakland and Macomb counties
2018 United States House of Representatives Gary Walkowicz Michigan 6,691 2.3% 12th district, suburbs of Detroit
2018 United States House of Representatives Kathy Goodwin Michigan 12,645 4.6% 5th district, Flint and Saginaw
2018 United States House of Representatives Philip Kolody Michigan 4,702 1.8% 14th district, Detroit
2018 United States House of Representatives Sam Johnson Michigan 21,978 11.4% 13th district, Detroit and suburbs
2020 Mayor of Baltimore David Harding Maryland t.b.a. t.b.a.

See also

References
  1. "Statement by Working Class Party of Maryland | Working Class Fight". www.workingclassfight.com. Retrieved 2020-04-21.
  2. "Political_Party_Status_482649_7.pdf" (PDF).
  3. "2018 Michigan Candidate Listing".
  4. "I Stand for a Working Class Fight".
  5. "David Harding, Working Class Candidate".
  6. "Juan Rey: A Worker for Congress".
  7. "Marketplace Leaflets".
  8. "2014 Election Results, Michigan".
  9. "Working Class Party Petition in Michigan Has Enough Valid Signatures".
  10. "Michigan's newest political party gets certified today".
  11. "Political_Party_Status_482649_7.pdf" (PDF).
  12. "Post Election Statement by Working Class Party".
  13. "2015 Municipal General - 2/24/15 Alderman 25th Ward - Please press the "submit" button in the page to see the results".
  14. "Baltimore City Board of Elections, 2016 General Election Results - Election Summary Report" (PDF).
  15. "California Secretary of State, Statewide Direct Primary Election - Statement of the Vote, June 5, 2018 - United States Representative in Congress by District, see page 10 in the 82-congress.pdf file" (PDF).
  16. "2018 Michigan Official General Candidate Listing - 11/06/2018". miboecfr.nictusa.com. Retrieved 2018-10-04.
  17. "WCP Maryland Chooses Candidate | Working Class Fight". www.workingclassfight.com. Retrieved 2020-07-21.
  18. "Michigan: 2020 | Working Class Fight". www.workingclassfight.com. Retrieved 2020-02-05.
  19. Winger, Richard. "Maryland State Board of Elections Tallies Number of Registrants in the Working Class Party | Ballot Access News". Retrieved 2020-07-18.
  20. "Vote for Working Class Party — The Spark #1068". the-spark.net. Retrieved 2020-07-22.
  21. "To Put an End to Unemployment..."
  22. "To Stop the Decline in Our Standard of Living..."
  23. "To Control the Economy..."
  24. "Gary Walkowicz: Main Speech of the WCP Convention".
  25. "Juan Rey: Workers Need to Build Their Own Party | Working Class Fight". www.workingclassfight.com. Retrieved 2020-07-22.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.