(also available as a flyer)
In 1984, as reported by The Washington Post and the Columbia Journalism Review, Ralph Nader, the perennial Green Party presidential candidate, had the entire editorial staff of Multinational Monitor, a magazine Nader founded and funded, fired shortly after they applied to the NLRB for union recognition. Nader, thanks to his investment portfolio, was worth $2.9 million dollars in 2000.
Peter Camejo, the perennial Green Party candidate for Governor of California, is not just a bourgeois politician from exclusive Walnut Creek, but a politician who is a capitalist. Camejo, described by the San Francisco Chronicle as running a “$1 billion investment firm,” is the sole proprietor/owner of “The Camejo Group,” a brokerage firm with employees. Camejo also draws a salary as the Chairman of Progressive Asset Management, another investment firm, with 29 branches nationwide. Camejo has repeatedly promised to drop out of the California gurnatorial race in favor of his fellow plutocrat, right-wing commentator Ariana Huffington, should she eclipse him in the opinion polls. Meanwhile, Campus Greens are reportedly leaning towards supporting the Democrat Dennis Kucinich for President in 2004. The Green Party, which “fully supports” U.S. troops in Iraq (Green Party webpage, “Greens to Run Hard Against Bush in 2004.” 7/31/03), has said it will run a “strategic” campaign in 2004, i.e., the Green candidate, if there is one, will not campaign in states where there is a close presidential race. A Green Party spokesman in California said that either Kucinich or Dean, both Democrats, would be acceptable, and another California Green commented that “ “There are many ways that Greens can help a Democratic contender beat President Bush” (GPCA Press Release, 6/30/03).
It should be very clear from the above that the Green Party is neither
“left-wing” nor “a third party.” The Greens, who repeatedly nominate
the rich, are demonstrably becoming just another set of cheerleaders for the Democrats. What
working people need is our own party, a mass party of labor based on the trade unions, to
fight for power on a socialist program. Under capitalism, the boss picks the
worker’s pocket every day: working people receive only a small portion of the wealth
we create. The rest of it goes to the members of the boss-class, to capitalists like Nader
and Camejo. Only the realization of a socialist program can change this, and that will
require class struggle of monumental proportions. If you are tired of being lied to by
capitalist politicians and ripped off by the boss-class, then contact us, the Workers
International League.