Election time is coming, and working people in Iowa, like their counterparts across the country, are being bombarded by messages from their mis-leaders in the AFL-CIO bureaucracy to cast their ballot for the so-called “friends of labor” Democrats in order to “keep out the right” and “promote a dialog for change.” But as in past years there are no substantial differences between the twin parties of capital. Though former governor and current Republican nominee Terry Branstad may offer a more firey anti-immigrant rhetoric than his Democratic opponent Chet Culver, such as his reactionary call to bar the children of undocumented workers from attending public schools, both candidates are fundamentally the same on all the major issues of the day. Socialist Action opposes any support for the two corporate parties, as well as fringe pro-capitalist parties like the Libertarians.
There are two ballot measures being presented this year. Socialist Action endorses a ‘Yes’ vote on Measure 1, which would dedicate a portion of sales tax revenue for the preservation of natural resources.
Measure 2, which proposes to call a statewide Constitutional Convention, is being used by the Establishment Right and enemies of civil rights to roll back the tremendous gain that the Iowan people have made – the victory of marriage equality over chauvinism & discrimination – and amend the State Constitution so that the second-class status of LGBTQ citizens is codified into the highest laws of the state. Marxists believe in fighting every measure that seeks to disrupt the class unity of the working class, like the way the gay-straight divide weakens our common fight against capitalism. We also believe that racism, sexism and homophobia are just so many tools of the ruling capitalist class to further oppress and hold down the working class beyond the level of standard wage labor exploitation. VOTE NO ON MEASURE 2, and tell the state that whether you’re gay or straight, you will not stand for discrimination!
When it comes to endorsing candidates, Socialist Action adheres to three principles. First, the candidate must stand on a clear working class program. Even if that program is not explicitly socialist it must be a labor oriented program that bases itself on the concrete needs of the workers and their allies. Second, the candidacy cannot be seen as an end unto itself. The ballot box is an important arena of struggle for working people but it is not the arena of struggle. Under the “dollar democracy” that capitalism affords us, elections are, as Karl Marx once said, a chance for the working class “to choose which particular representatives of the exploiting classes are to repress them.” So labor candidacies must have the perspectives of building existing social movements, such as a workers’ or socialist party, a union campaign, the defense of immigrant rights etc. And third, Socialist Action does not endorse candidates who stand on a cross-class platform that is not explicitly for the working class and its allies.
With those criteria in mind, there is not much to choose from this election cycle. As a first preference, Socialist Action endorses the act of spoiling your ballot by leaving the candidates’ section blank as a register of protest against the politics of the ruling elite. If spoiling your ballot is not amenable to you, Socialist Action calls to vote for candidates of the Socialist Workers’ Party, which, although we do have serious criticisms of the SWP (Socialist Action was founded in 1983 after being undemocratically expelled from the SWP for defending the practices of internal democracy in the Party and adherence to the program and method of Trotskyism), represents a class vote for socialism against the bosses’ politics.
Here are the SWP candidates on the ballot:
David Rosenfeld and Helen Meyers – Governor and Lieutenant Governor
Margaret Trowe – Secretary of Agriculture
Rebecca Williamson– U.S. Congress, District 3
Of course, whether Branstad or Culver win the election, it will fall on working people to continue their struggle against austerity, education cuts, and the repression against our immigrant and LGBTQ brothers and sisters. Only by continuing these struggles and breaking the movement and union allegience to the Democratic Party can we lay the groundwork for the construction of a mass party of labor that will fight in our own interests. In Connecticut, Socialist Action is running Christopher Hutchinson for U.S. Congress to build our Party and agitate directly for socialism, and the South Carolina Labor Party is for the first time running against the Democratic and Republican parties to agitate for labor’s class independence.
The biggest battles are yet to come. If you agree with the perspectives laid out in this election statement, we invite you to join Socialist Action and help us fight for a world without wars, cutbacks and discrimination.
The Hawkeye Worker 
Posted on October 20, 2010
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