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Boastful
of Low Wages?
Working people in South Carolina clearly are hurting, and neither
major party is at all inclined to address their most pressing concerns.
Politicians from both parties boast that the state’s average
wages are 20 percent below the national average. Republicans offer
working people only corporate plunder and bigotry. Democrats abet
them.
In just the last five years, Republicans have sought to divide South
Carolina’s workers over whether the Confederate battle flag
should fly at the state capitol, whether prohibition of same-sex
marriage and civil unions should be written into the state constitution,
and whether evolution should be taught in the state’s public
schools. They have been able to make these into “hot button”
issues because Democrats have not countered them with a political
agenda that seeks to unite working people by speaking to their real,
everyday needs.
“Minimally
Adequate” Education
A recent case in point illustrates the two-party collusion in an
especially striking way. Public education in South Carolina has
been characterized by egregious disparities in funding between poor
and affluent school districts. As in many states, this pattern stems
largely from reliance on local property taxes to fund education.
The result is that forty of the state’s eighty-three districts
are classified as “disadvantaged.” The situation is so
dire in many of these districts that several joined in a lawsuit
against the state for not living up to its obligation to provide
decent education to all South Carolina’s children.
The state Supreme Court ruled this past December that South Carolina’s
only obligation is to provide a “minimally adequate” education.
The remedy the court imposed is that K-3 education must be improved
in the school districts that sued.
Not only does this imply that “minimally adequate” public
education ends after third grade, but politicians are already blaming
parents and talking about funding the necessary improvements by
diverting money allocated for higher grades. This is an approach
to public education that is reminiscent of the ruling planter class’s
hostility to public education for poor and working people in the
19th century.
Why
South Carolina?
Conditions for working people are very bad in South Carolina, to
be sure. But why, some might ask, would the Labor Party target a
state that ranks last in union membership? “We’re not
just a trade union party. The response we’re getting from working
people— union members and others—is really great. I suspected
it would be. In South Carolina, neither party really addresses the
set of basic human concerns—jobs, health, education, housing—in
a systematic way,” says Adolph Reed, co-chair of the Free Higher
Ed campaign.
Petitions
and Party-Building
So the need and support are there. How do we go about building a
party? Although the current organizing efforts got underway in December,
the Labor Party has had a presence—via the leadership of the
South Carolina AFL-CIO and the Free Higher Ed campaign – in
South Carolina far longer. It is this support and initial organizing
that provide a solid foundation from which to build.
The immediate hurdle is that state election law requires presentation
of petitions signed by 10,000 validated registered voters in the
state as a first step toward certification as a recognized political
party.
Since December, organizers have focused signature gathering in three
locations: Charleston, Columbia and Orangeburg. Via attendance at
events such as the Martin Luther King, Jr. Holiday rally at the
state capitol in Columbia and ongoing door-to-door canvassing, booths
at local flea markets and pitches to church congregations and union
meetings, the South Carolina campaign is making its way steadily
to the signature goal.
Getting the word out through both free and paid media has made the
job of collecting signatures much easier. State organizing committee
co-chairs Donna Dewitt and Willie Legette have been featured on
nearly a dozen radio talk shows around the state, and Dewitt was
interviewed on Pacifica nightly news.
The Orangeburg Times and Democrat, the largest paper in that section
of the state, published a front-page article on our effort, which
is available on the Labor Party’s website. The campaign also
has run radio spots in Charleston. Plans are underway to extend
the signature gathering to Greenville, Rock Hill and Florence.
Union
Support
The petition drive is a necessary step toward establishing a state
party. It also feeds into the process of party building by giving
the Labor Party a real presence in unions and communities and involving
people in its work.
To that end, SC AFL-CIO president Donna Dewitt has made party building
a major priority. “We believe the time has come to build a
real political alternative capable of running credible campaigns
and changing the terms of political debate in our state. We are
convinced that it is time for South Carolina’s workers to begin
to speak clearly with their own political voice,” says Dewitt.
Organizers secured invitations to make Labor Party presentations
to nearly 30 local unions and central labor councils around the
state in January alone. “Overall, the Labor Party has been
very well received; union leadership has been open, supportive and
very interested,” reports SC AFL-CIO staffer Linda Houck.
When USW Local 216 in Harleyville went on strike last August, the
company permanently replaced all 138 workers. “When I met with
the local’s president, David Stepp, he didn’t need a lot
of convincing that workers in South Carolina need another choice,”
said Mark Dudzic.
In Charleston, the Central Labor Council and the International Longshoremen’s
Association Local 1422 (of Charleston Five fame), have been significant
forces in advancing both the petition drive and related party-building
by opening doors and providing contacts.
This Charleston experience underscores the practical importance
of anchoring our efforts on a union base, even in a state with the
lowest union density in the country. Activist unions like the Charleston
ILA are forces in their local communities in ways that extend far
beyond the ranks of their membership. And most of the key leadership
that has emerged in the “community” part of the campaign
are in fact former union members or members of union households.
This is consistent with the Labor Party’s fundamental view
that the labor movement must be key in building our party. Not only
is the labor movement a vital source of institutional support for
a Labor Party; it is where workers develop the ability and experience
of defining and organizing around their interests as a class.
Resources
Needed
None of this organizing can happen, of course, without significant
resources. Funds are needed to hire regional coordinators, print
campaign materials and pay petitioners to gather the necessary signatures.
USW Local 675 in southern California has made a sizable contribution
and BMWED Pennsylvania Federation has been instrumental in raising
significant funds. A successful fundraiser attended by Donna Dewitt,
Joslyn Williams (President of the Metropolitan Washington Council,
AFL-CIO) and Nancy Wohlforth (OPEIU Secretary-Treasurer) was held
in Washington, DC on January 9th.
CWA Local 1180 is hosting a fundraiser in New York on February 13,
which will feature special guest Leonard Riley of ILA Local 1422
in Charleston, SC. Nancy Wohlforth is organizing a San Francisco
fundraiser on March 7 and house parties are in the works for Philadelphia,
Chicago and a number of other cities (see What You Can Do Now).
Significant Impact
“I remain convinced that we can have a significant impact in
South Carolina and send a message to the rest of the country that
working people will respond to a political message that addresses
their real needs and concerns even in a state where the two major
parties work overtime to keep them divided,” says National
Organizer Mark Dudzic.
Obviously, our ballot access and party-building efforts have been
underway for far too little time to have had great impact. But with
the support of the South Carolina AFL-CIO, our committed activists
across the state and our growing presence on the radio and in print,
we’ve begun to make a significant dent. While gathering signatures
at a busy Charleston flea market, one of our petitioners approached
a husband and wife. In response to our standard pitch, she immediately
took the clipboard to sign the petition while her husband asked,
“What’s the Labor Party?” She shot him a look of
surprise and said, “Where have you been?” LP
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