Candidate for Representative in U.S. Congress
District 13, Michigan
Sam Johnson was a Chrysler worker, known widely in the plants as someone who stood up against the company, not only for himself, but for other workers. He was active at Dodge Main, Lynch Road, retiring from McGraw Glass in 2000. During more than 30 years, he represented a working class policy in the plants, sometimes as an elected representative, always as a worker who joined with other workers to face the attacks from the auto companies.
Sam began his life in Alabama, under Jim Crow. He learned from his family not to accept the racism of the Klan and the cops, who were often the same.
His mother sent him to LA when he was 20, hoping to keep her son alive. Sam was a witness to the black rebellion in Watts, 1965, and then, after he came to Detroit, to the 1967 rebellion here.
Whether in the plants or in the community, Sam has always been a fighter, a man who sees the big picture and speaks out for his class.
Sam was a candidate in the 2014 U.S. elections, where normally the working class has no voice. All through the campaign, he spoke for the working class. Along with four other people, he was part of a slate whose slogans were: "For a Working Class Fight, for a Working Class Policy."
Nearly 17,000 people voted for four of these candidates, and another 15,000 for the fifth person, who was uncontested. Despite the fact they were running as "non-party" candidates, without a party name on the ballot, they got a hearing.
Based on the results in 2014, Sam and the other four candidates, along with many of their supporters, decided to do the work to put Working Class Party on the ballot.
The 50,000 people who signed their petitions to get on the ballot attest to this fact: in the working class there are people who understand that the working class needs its own party.
Sam Johnson's book, giving an account of his life, a militant life, was published in 2014. It's called: A Fighter All My Life.
