The Working Class Party held its 2019 convention in Detroit on September 8. Every member of the WCP has the right to attend its conventions, and significantly more than half of those eligible were there, although a number came in late, arriving directly from work. There were also several invited guests, who did not have the right to vote or speak.
Gary Walkowicz, one of the WCP’s Congressional candidates in 2016 & 2018, discussed the political situation, and especially the growth of the right wing, and the attacks on working people. Sam Johnson, also a Congressional candidate in 2016 & 2018 discussed what ordinary people can do to defend themselves, drawing on his own years of experience. Mary Ann Hering, candidate for State Board of Education in both years, talked about how important it was for the WCP to increase the number of its candidates from three in 2016 to eleven in 2018, and encouraged everyone in the room to think about running next time. Finally, the three new Congressional candidates from 2018 – Kathy Goodwin, Andrea Kirby and Philip Kolody – spoke of the fears they had at the beginning, but the pride they had in discovering that ordinary people not only can run for office, but can so easily be heard and appreciated by other workers.
Finally, the Convention decided to run candidates again in 2020, without taking up the issue yet about who they should be. That is something to be decided at the 2020 Convention.
You can find Gary’s speech to the convention here.