First Published: People’s Tribune, Vol. 3, No. 17, August 1, 1976.
Transcription, Editing and Markup: Paul Saba
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The working class and its party, the Communist Labor Party is about to win the 6,000 votes in the August 3 Michigan State primary which will allow General Baker to win a seat in the State Legislature. General’s election will mean that the workers and progressive people of Michigan, and of the entire country, will have taken a major step in the march against oppression, against poor health care, evictions, lay-offs and unemployment, against the threat of war and devastation. This will be a start on the road to a new society a socialist society, in the United States.
The only reason the Communist Labor Party had to enter this primary at all was the enactment of Public Act 94, which changed the election laws in the middle of the election. The state legislators and their capitalist masters created this new law to keep the Communist Labor Party off the ballot. After receiving 33,500 signatures, which qualified the Communist Labor Party for the ballot, the law was changed. The new law forces voters to vote for only one party in the primary. If a person wishes to vote for the Communist Labor Party, running only one candidate, they must give up their right to vote in primary selection of candidates for all other offices. Such a situation has never before existed in the history of this country.
It is clear why the state government does not want the Communist Labor Party on the ballot. The Communist Labor Party is a threat to them because it represents the will of the people, of the workers and progressives of the state of Michigan and the USNA. The state knows that the workers’ representative, General Baker, will not stand by while workmen’s compensation is cut, while Aid to Dependent Children is cut, or while legislation calling for no unemployment compensation for those who quit or are fired are put forward. The state government knows that General Baker will expose the tight links between the bankers and industrialists who hold a noose around the necks of the federal, state and local governments. They know that General Baker will fight against discrimination, speed-up, crime, police brutality and for decent housing, jobs with peace, and equality for all the people.
The government knows that more than ever before the people of this country are looking for a way out of the crisis and despair of capitalism. With this in mind; the state legislature tried to make it impossible for the Communist Labor Party to appear on the ballot but they have not succeeded. They will not succeed. They cannot succeed. The people have rallied in support of the Communist Labor Party. No one can stop the election of General Baker in November. The Communist Labor Party represents all that is honest and decent– a fighting alternative, a socialist alternative for the people of the USNA.
The election of General Baker will have national and international significance. Gen will not just be fighting for and with the workers in Michigan, but with workers across the country and around the world. General Baker will point his finger at the auto monopolies who pay Brazilian workers pennies a day while laying off thousands in Michigan. He will fight against the oil monopolies whose high prices leave millions of people without heat for their children. General Baker will bring to light the backers of the Ku Klux Klan and Nazi Party and show the people that it is the big bourgeoisie who stands behind them.
A state official who represents the interests of the working people can provide leadership in the every day struggles that arise, to expose the behind-the-scene deals, the real benefactors of unjust and outrageous laws. General Baker will help unite these everyday struggles into one mighty struggle, like the small streams which, flowing together form a mighty river, an unstoppable torrent, driving all before it toward its goal.
A vote for the Communist Labor Party and for General Baker is a vote for jobs, peace and equality. We urge all our friends and readers to lend their support–tell your friends, raise in your local trade unions, your PTAs, block clubs, social clubs, and on the floor of your factory. Tell the politicians, tell the people, tell the world–the Communist Labor Party will win on August 3rd; General Baker will be elected in November; the working class will take up the banner of socialism.