Posted by: admin 4 months, 2 weeks ago
As of July 1, Working Class Party will be on the ballot in Illinois’ 4th Congressional district, with Ed Hershey as its candidate. Volunteers collected 10,538 signatures to make this possible. This was far more than the 6,803 signatures required by state law. Thousands more liked the idea of building a new party for the working class but could not sign because of immigration status or because they live outside the district.
Many agreed that working people are in crisis, and that Republicans and Democrats both serve the big corporations which are driving down workers’ standard of living, pulling us into wars, and encouraging working people to blame other workers for our problems, instead of the wealthy class that is really responsible. Working Class Party volunteers expressed the idea that the working class is the only force that has the interest and power to take on these crises, and they found an echo among those they spoke with.
After 90 days on the streets, talking to people in front of stores, at festivals, in parks, and at El stations, the small group of people who gathered these signatures have made it possible for voters in this district on the Southwest Side of Chicago and its near suburbs to express in the elections their agreement that the working class needs its own political organization.