Ryan confronts capitalist candidates in S.F. race

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Joseph Ryan speaking to over 200 delegates at San Francisco Centr | Labor Council meeting on Aug. 10. Other candidates are (left to right) Roger Boas, Warren Hinckle, and Je in Molinari.

SAN FRANCISCO-With two months left in the San Francisco mayoral race, the socialist campaign is already making an impact.

On Aug. 3, Joseph Ryan, the Socialist Action candidate, was the first mayoral contender to submit signatures endorsing his right to be on the November ballot-turning in over 6000 names to the Registrar of Voters. With the petition drive successfully completed, the Ryan campaign will now focus on reaching out to San Franciscans with the socialist program for jobs, not In a city suffering from deteriorating schools, skyrocketing rents, attacks on unions, and an unchecked AIDS epidemic, a program that puts human needs before profits will get a good hearing.

Capitalist candidates

The capitalist candidates in the mayoral race—virtually all Democrats-are spending more time attacking each other than attacking the problems that plague working people in what was once a strong union city.

The candidates include:

• John Molinari, a member of the Board of Supervisors who is supported by incumbent mayor Dianne Feinstein.

Formerly a Republican, Molinari switched his loyalty to the Democratic Party years ago so he could have a fruitful career in this strongly Democratic Partycontrolled city.

• Art Agnos, a California state assemblyman who is trying to pose as the "real liberal" in the campaign.

Agnos tries to project himself as a friend of the small businessperson and working people. His campaign and the Democrats and the Republicans, you should endorse the socialist campaign.

slogan is: "Who will be able to afford to live in San Francisco?" However, since Agnos is independently wealthy-due to some shady real estate deals recently exposed in the press-this is obviously a question he doesn't have to ask of himself.

• Louise Renne, the San Francisco city attorney who smiles a lot and says very little.

Renne's campaign slogan is: "She's not supported by the fat cats." Of course she neglects to mention that her husband is one of the fat cats—a prominent San Francisco millionaire.

Other candidates include Roger Boas, former city manager and owner of the most successful auto dealership in the city; Cesar Ascarrunz, a wealthy night club owner who runs in every election; and Warren Hinckle, a popular columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle who tries to pattern himself after New York's Jimmy Breslin.

Virtually all the major candidates are businesspeople, employers, or are very rich. There is certainly no real choice here for working people and the oppressed.

Labor Council debate

After being excluded (un-invited) from previous candidates' meetings, Ryan was finally able to confront these candidates in a head-on debate organized by the San Francisco Central Labor Council on Aug. 10.

The meeting was organized to select which candidate the labor council would endorse. While it was assured in advance that the endorsement would go to either Molinari or Agnos, the labor delegates from the 75,000member council were willing to listen to the socialist alternative.

At the labor meeting, all the capitalist candidates promised that if elected they would be "friends" of unions, "accessible" to unions, and "fair" to unions. But they all stopped short of saying concretely what they would do for unions when there was a fight with the employers.

In contrast, Ryan was very concrete. On the issue of jobs, he said funds should be provided for building lowThe following are the opening remarks made by Joseph Ryan, the Socialist Action candidate for mayor of San Francisco, at the San Francisco Central Labor Council "Candidates Night" on Aug. 10, 1987. Over 200 delegates were in attendance.

Brothers and Sisters, As you know, the labor movement in San Francisco and throughout the country is in deep trouble. Locally, it has become increasingly hard, if not impossible, to win strikes.

Police are used to herd scabs and attack picketlines. Judges issue injunctions that violate our first amendment right to mass picket. And with this as the background, the employers are confident they can defeat us in their quest for more concessions and takebacks.

Look at the example of the auto mechanics, who have been on strike for over a year and are limited to one picket per gate; or the retail clerks, who in 1984 were harassed and arrested by police because they wanted to mass picket for their economic and democratic rights during that strike and lockout.

We are in a situation today where we face vicious attacks against our living standards and both our hands are tied behind our back. And all this is happening in a city that is renowned nationally for being a strong cost housing, schools, and medical facilities. "Our hard-earned tax dollars should be used for construction-not destruction," he said.

"The labor movement," Ryan said, "should propose a mass construction program for the Black community of Hunters Point to provide union jobs and services. This is a far better alternative to the dangerous consequences of militarizing the bay through homeporting the U.S.S. Missouri at Hunters Point."

Ryan addressed the problem of strike-breaking by San Francisco employers. When the other candidates were asked what they thought the role of the police should be during strikes, only Roger Boas, the car dealer, answered: "Police shouldn't be involved, but, on the other hand, public safety must be maintained and the best way to solve labor disputes is through binding arbitration."

The silence of the other capitalist candidates could only mean that they agreed.

Boas's answer didn't win much applause from labor delegates who have seen one strike after another defeated by court and police intervention against effective picketlines.

Ryan, however, was delighted to answer the question and jumped up to respond:

"The role of police during strikes should be that they are nowhere to be found. The police are strike-breakers, henchmen for the employer, and they have the blood of hundreds of workers on their hands. As mayor-and SOCIALIST union town. All this is happening in a city where the so-called "friends of labor"-Democrat or Republican-have invariably been elected.

It wasn't always this way. San Francisco became a strong union town because of the sacrifices and militancy of the workers. The progressive social reputation of San Francisco and its good standard of living were built on the struggles of working people in the 1930s and '40s.

Blood was spilled, heads were cracked, injunctions were challenged, and working people mobilized by the thousands to defend their interests. But today we see these conquests being attacked and betrayed.

All of the candidates up here tonight are asking for your endorsement. With the exception of myself, they are all Democrats or Republicans and they are all business people. Some of them, in fact, are employers. They all believe that the employer has a right to make a profit. They all say that they are qualified to represent the interests of everyone.

The situation we as working people face, however, is that the profits the employers make are based on cutting our wages, gutting our benefits, and breaking our unions. To claim to represent everyone-bosses and workers alike-can only be a statement that is designed to fool us.

The most progressive outcome Millie Gonzales that could come out of this meeting tonight would be that you endorse and run Walter Johnson [secretary-treasurer of the San Francisco Central Labor Councill for mayor of San Francisco on a labor program independent of the Democrats and Republicans.

Only by running one of your own representatives as a candidate can you be guaranteed that you'll have a mayor who won't try to represent the interests of everyone-but will represent your interests, the interests of working people, exclusively.

In lieu of that, however, I am seriously seeking your endorsement for mayor based on a program that can be boiled down to a simple and reasonable idea: working people make the city run, working people should run the city.

The offensive of the employers, their politicians, and their police and courts mean that the labor movement will have to organize working people into their own political party. It's the only way we can protect and defend ourselves.

But I must suggest to you that if you really want to shake up the employers and the Democrats and Republicans, you should endorse the socialist campaign. You'll be sending a message loud and clear to the ruling interests in this city that you are not to be taken for granted. Thank you.

with the help of the labor movement-I would prevent the employers from using police as scab-herders. I would also help striking workers organize to protect themselves from the attacks of police."

This answer elicited sustained applause from the 200plus delegates.

In his summary, Ryan told the Labor Council what they should do to reverse the attacks they face. "It's the working people of San Francisco who have the power to make the kind of changes I'm talking about. The labor movement should reverse it's reliance on so-called "friends of labor" in the Democratic and Republican parties and organize its natural base—the majority of working people-for political action. There is no other way."

At the end of the meeting some of the delegates came up to Ryan to express their appreciation for his views. "You told the truth," one SEIU delegate said, "and I'm glad you came."

While it was clear that Ryan's ideas were wellreceived by many delegates, it'll take more than a class struggle speech to end labor's dependence on capitalist politicians. The labor council voted by voice to endorse both Molinari and Agnos for mayor. Instead of one lesser-evil, there are now two lesser-evils.

In any event, the labor council meeting set a precedent for further face-offs between candidates who want to fool people and a candidate who wants to mobilize people. • ACTION SEPTEMBER 3 1987

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"... if you really want to shake up the employers