S.F. socialist candidates speak out on 1988 elections

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The following interview with Joseph Ryan, Socialist Action candidate for Board of Supervisors in San Francisco, and Sylvia Weinstein, Socialist Action candidate for Board of Education, was conducted on Oct. 27.

Socialist Action: You are both candidates for local office in San Francisco. What's been the response to your campaign so far?

Sylvia Weinstein: Wherever Joe or I speak, we get a tremendous response. I think people are happy to see somebody who really talks about the issues and says something different. But the meetings have been much smaller than in past years. I think the national elections are responsible for this.

I think the average voter is just simply nauseated with the choice of Bush or Dukakis. And the same can be said for the local candidates, who refuse to address the problems of cuts in social services, unemployment, and homelessness. I think voters don't see any real difference between the candidates, both locally and nationally.

Joseph Ryan: A recent New York Times poll indicated that 58 percent of people eligible to vote said they'd prefer to vote for someone else. The Times poll further stated that the voter turnout will probably be the smallest since the 1920s. This is an indication that people are fed up with the fact that their living standards are deteriorating, and neither the Democrats or Renow demoralized. Many people thought that Jackson had a chance. We knew better. Jackson's role was to herd working people, Blacks, and the disenfranchised back into the Democratic Party.

So when Dukakis and Bentsen-here's Bentsen who's one of the most conservative members of Congress-were coronated, people became totally demoralized and said, "The hell with it. Neither one of these guys represents what I stand for."

I don't think there has been a right-wing turn in this country. The ruling class has moved to the right—not working people. That's what I hear when I'm out on the streets. As a matter of fact, what I hear is a large number of people say that all the capitalist candidates are crooks. I think the vast majortiy of people understand this and are getting sick and tired of being treated like idiots.

S.A.: What are the main planks of your campaign?

Ryan: The program we advocate for San Francisco is the same program we believe is necessary on a national level. On the local level, we say that the labor movement should break from the Democratic Party and form a labor party. We say they should run their own candidates based on a program that meets the needs of working people. If this was done in San Francisco, it would serve as ¡country.

We think the workweek should be cut from 40 hours to 30 hours with no cut in pay. We think a public works program should be instituted at union scale to put everybody to work. We think all the cutbacks in social services should be reinstated—and expanded. There's only one place we can get the money for this and that's from the corporations, which have gotten away with paying $1 billion less in local taxes over the last 10 years.

S.A.: What is your position on Propositions 96 and 102, the so-called AIDS initiatives on the California ballot?

Weinstein: We're opposed to both of them. All they do is punish the victims of AIDS by taking away their right to confidentiality. It's a right-wing attempt to instill in the population a witchhunt atmosphere toward AIDS victims.

We believe the answer for the AIDS crisis is a massive "Manhattan Project"type program to find a cure. We need a massive influx of funds for research, for a cure, and certainly a vaccine. We believe the drug industry should be nationalized and that AZT should be available free of charge to all AIDS victims. There should be no profit in providing healthcare.

Ryan: The fact that these two propositions, 96 and 102, are on the ballot is the legacy of progressive movements being tied into the Democratic Party. There's a good chance both of these propositions will pass. And a big reason for this is that the gay rights community and their allies have been demobilized. They have all been sucked into the Democratic Party to get Dukakis elected.

We are also opposed to Prop. S and Prop. R, which are two San Francisco initiatives that favor the homeporting of the battleship USS Missouri. The only difference between them is that Prop. S says the city should pay for dredging costs, while Prop. R-sponsored by Mayor Agnos-says the Navy should pay the costs. It's a differece of who gets a better deal-the Navy or the city.

S.A.: There have been increased attacks on the abortion rights movement both here and nationally. What are you doing about that?

Weinstein: Personally I'm going to be out there defending the clinics when the so-called "Operation Rescue" people get into town. They are a fanatical reactionary movement who are trying to impose their opposition to the legal right of women to get an abortion. They're using the methods of the old civil rights movement with quite a different goal. The civil rights movement was fighting to expand the rights of Blacks. This movement is fighting to restrict the rights of women.

S.A.: What about the argument you should vote for the "lesser evil?"

Weinstein: I think it has less and