Polltical independence: Only effective way to fight against gov't, employer offensive
1991Nat Weinstein 1991-09Read it in the scan (PDF at ETOL), page 1 →
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The formation of a mass workers' party in this country-independent of the parties of the bosses—-could well go down in history as labor's Declaration of Independence. It would have a potential significance equaling the action of the Continental Congress on July 4, 1776.
Now, for the first time, a national organizing committee has been created by trade unionists to promote a political break from the Democrats and Republicans the two parties of big business.
Labor Party Advocates (LPA) is a new membership organization founded by Oil, Chemical, and Atomic Workers Secretary Treasurer Tony Mazzochi. LPA is recruiting union officers and rank and filers to help spread the word about the need for an American labor party based on the trade unions.
This positive development comes at a time when American working people are experiencing one of the most intensive assaults on their living standards in history. The quality of life for the great majority of the working class has steadily worsened on every front.
In the last 20 years, real wages of all workers have been increasingly driven down, with the biggest losses suffered by older workers cast out of their jobs by the closing down of mines, mills, and factories. Many of these highly skilled workers face permanent unemployment or jobs at MacDonald's hamburger-servers' wages.
Growing numbers of our sons and daughters are also taking the brunt of this (continued on page 9, in “Socialist candidate Jacobs fields questions on S.F. radio”)