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TODAY o August 24, 2000
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Candidate pushes socialism in presidential bid
Saeed Ahmed - Staff
Thursday, August 24, 2000
Like most third-party candidates, James Harris harbors no illusions of winning
the White House in November. But in his case, he says it's because he doesn't
want to, since real change is never effected through votes.
And yet here he is, traversing the country --- on leave from his job as a
garment worker in Decatur --- and calling on workers to overthrow the
capitalist system in favor of a socialist state.
Harris is the presidential candidate for the Socialist Workers Party, which
espouses a brand of politics fashioned after Cuban leader Fidel Castro's style
of Marxism.
"It serves the purpose of the rich capitalist class to entrap workers in the
two-party system," he said, of his decision to run. "We are the independent
alternative, advancing the interests of the working people."
For 52-year-old Harris, it's his second run at the White House. In 1996, he
finished 10th in the general election, garnering 8,500 votes --- about 0.01
percent.
This year, he hopes to do better, even though he's on the ballot in only 11
states --- the same ones as the last time. Georgia, with its tough ballot
access laws, isn't among them.
Still, Harris is making a three-day swing through the state this week, capping
it off with a rally at Valdosta State University this afternoon.
"Women's rights, civil rights and the end of apartheid didn't happen because
they were put to a vote --- they started on the streets," he said. "That's why
we are going to states where we aren't on the ballot to build up a groundswell
because we know we won't be voted in."
The Socialist Workers Party, which started in 1938 as a splinter group from
the Communist Party, has fielded candidates for president in every election
since 1948. In recent years, it has been in electoral decline, capturing a
dwindling number of votes.
The party's platform calls for basic human rights for all, such as universal
health care, redistribution of wealth and free education. It touts Cuba as a
model socialist state, and calls for dismantling the military and arming
farmers.
Add to the mix, the Socialist Party --- which preaches the same liberal
doctrine but is staunchly anti-Communist --- and parties with similar
sounding names, such as Socialist Equality Party, Socialist Labor party and
even Nationalist Socialist White People's Party, and it's easy to see why
Harris' campaign has to strain to be heard.
Nevertheless, Harris, a Cleveland State University graduate who works
blue-collar jobs as part of the party mandate to better organize workers, is
confident about his chances of bringing about change through his campaign.
"I don't think I will give a big speech and all of a sudden there will be an
explosion of activity," he said. "But workers won't take this brutal assault by
the wealthy minority forever. They are being pushed to the limit and they will
fight back, and we're an adjunct to the participants to spur it on."
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