Eugene Puryear, February 28, 1986 (Charlottesville, Va.) -
VP candidate for Party for Socialism and Liberation (aka Independent aka Unaffiliated) (2008)
VP candidate for Party for Socialism and Liberation (aka Liberty Union Party) (2016)
Running mate with nominee (2008, 2016): Gloria Estela La Riva (b. 1954)
Popular vote (2008): 5,921 (0.00%)
Popular vote (2016): 6,204 (0.00%)
Electoral vote (2008, 2016): 0/538
The campaign (2008):
In the middle of campaign 2004, the San Francisco branch of the Workers World Party split and helped form the Party for Socialism and Liberation. To outsiders even within the Left, the difference between the WWP and PSL seemed minuscule as both entities support repressive regimes (e.g. North Korea) and seem to mirror each other in a philosophy frequently described by observers as neo-Stalinist.
In an Aug. 1, 2004 statement from the PSL, the split from WWP reads like it was more about form rather than content--
While we are in the first stage of creating a new revolutionary party, we have a long tradition as leaders and organizers inside the Marxist movement in the United States, as well as in the anti-war and anti-racist movements, in the labor movement, and in the other mass movements inside the United States. As former leaders and members of Workers World Party, we defend that group's historical tradition and mission, particularly that of its founder Sam Marcy. Although we believe that the Workers World Party leadership is no longer capable of fulfilling that mission, we still consider it to be a progressive organization with many honest activists.
The PSL fielded their first Presidential ticket in 2008 with perennial candidate Gloria La Riva as the standard bearer and Eugene Puryear as her running-mate. In order to make a point, political parties on the Left frequently nominate candidates who would legally be unable to assume office in the event of a victory and Puryear, who was under the Constitution-mandated age of 35 to serve as Vice-President, falls into that category. In some states a stand-in was required. Robert Moses fit that bill.
The La Riva campaign posted an abstract of the platform on their webpage--
U.S. OUT OF IRAQ NOW
End the wars in Iraq & Afghanistan. Bring all the troops home now.
Stop U.S. blockades & sanctions against Cuba, Iran, Venezuela, Korea, Sudan and everywhere.
End U.S. aid to Israel—Support the Palestinian people’s right of self-determination.
Free Puerto Rico.
International friendship and solidarity, not imperialist domination.
FIGHT THE CORPORATE BOSSES
Full employment—decent jobs for all. Job training for youth & the unemployed.
Raise the minimum wage to $15/hour now.
Free, quality healthcare for all.
Expand and guarantee social security for all retired workers, disabled and unemployed people.
Stop union-busting, expand the right to organize, including card-check recognition.
Free, high quality education from pre-school through college.
Housing is a right—End foreclosures and evictions.
Stop environmental destruction—Make the polluters pay.
Rebuild New Orleans—Right of return for all survivors.
EQUAL RIGHTS FOR ALL
Fight racism and the racist criminal “justice” system.
Defend women’s reproductive rights, including the right to choose.
Full rights for all immigrants.
Reparations now for the African American community.
Eliminate anti-LGBT laws—Equal marriage rights for all.
Equality for disabled people.
Stop police brutality and mass incarceration.
Free Mumia Abu-Jamal, Leonard Peltier, the Cuban 5, Angola 3, S.F. 8 and all political prisoners.
SOCIALISM
End the rule of the billionaires, bankers and militarists—fight for workers’ democracy.
We need a sustainable economy based on meeting people’s needs, not making the rich richer.
We need socialism!
La Riva/Puryear were on the ballot in Arkansas (0.10%), Vermont (0.05%), Florida, Louisiana, New York, and Washington (0.02% each), and New Jersey (0.01%).
The campaign (2016):
The La Riva/Puryear ticket was nominated again for the 2016 election, and again Puryear was still too young to serve if elected. La Riva's substitute running-mates were Dennis Banks (California [Peace and Freedom Party], Colorado, Iowa, New Mexico) and Sarah Sloan (Maryland).
The strength of Bernie Sanders' campaign in the Democratic Party was a mixed issue for the PSL. On their webpage they did not consider him a real socialist--
He does not call for nationalizing the corporations and banks, without which the reorganization of the economy to meet people’s needs rather than maximizing the profits of capitalist investors could not take place … He is clearly seeking to reform the existing capitalist system.
However, in an article by Molly Ball in The Atlantic covering Puryear and the PSL, the VP nominee said there was a positive side to the Sanders movement--
“He has revealed that there are millions of people who not only are progressive on the issues, but in a more holistic way are willing to refer to themselves as socialist,” he said. “It’s exciting to know that young people haven’t lost all hope.” And yet, when it comes to substance, Puryear considers Sanders’s policy ideas inadequate. “Our economy as it’s currently constructed cannot possibly provide enough decent employment for the number of people being born every single day,” Puryear said. The solution, in his view, is to take the aggregate product of society’s labor and, rather than let the market allocate it mostly to the upper classes, divide it to meet everybody’s needs.
... he believes 2016 could be a watershed year for socialists, thanks in part to Sanders. If, as seems likely as of this writing, Sanders falls short of the nomination, Puryear expects to see a large bloc of newly engaged leftist voters seeking a far-left electoral alternative to Hillary Clinton. He hopes they will discover the PSL. “We will make explicit appeals to [Sanders’s] supporters to back our socialist ticket over Secretary Clinton, who we feel is much further from their views than ours,” he said. Which is to say that Bernie Sanders could, in losing, score a win for American socialism.
The La Riva/Puryear ticket could be found on the ballot in Washington (0.12%), Vermont (0.10%), New Jersey (0.04%), and Louisiana (0.02%). They were also write-in candidates in Connecticut, Delaware, Kansas, Minnesota, New York, and West Virginia. Of the impressive 74,405 popular votes (0.05%) gained nationally by La Riva in 2016, the ticket with Puryear accounted for 6,204 of them.
Election history:
2014 - District of Columbia Council At-Large (DC Statehood-Green Party) - defeated
Other occupations: author, journalist, editor, member of National Committee of the Party for Socialism and Liberation, talk show host on Sputnik radio network
Notes:
The Workers World Party endorsed Green Party nominee Cynthia McKinney in 2008, and did not run Presidential tickets in 2012 or 2020.
