Leonard Peltier

 

Leonard Peltier, September 12, 1944 (Belcourt, N.D.) -

VP candidate for Party for Socialism and Liberation (aka Peace and Freedom Party) (2020)

Running mate with nominee: Gloria Estela La Riva (b. 1954)
Popular vote: 9,506 (0.00%)
Electoral vote: 0/538

The campaign:

2020 was the 4th national election for the young party, and in three of those the standard bearer was Gloria La Riva. Her running-mate was Leonard Peltier.

Peltier, a Turtle Mountain Chippewa who was previously active in the American Indian Movement (AIM) had been in prison since 1977. He was convicted of aiding and abetting the 1975 shooting at point blank range of a couple of FBI agents at the Pine Ridge Reservation, SD. Peltier became a fugitive but was arrested a couple months later in Alberta. His case quickly drew controversy while gaining supporters contending he is a political prisoner and the "Free Leonard Peltier" movement was born.

In 2004 Peltier was the Presidential nominee of the Peace and Freedom Party.

La Riva ran on a platform of 10 points, as she did in 2016--

The PSL’s 2020 Ten Point
Socialist Campaign Program

★ 1 |  Make the essentials of life into constitutional rights
The U.S. has more than enough so that all the essentials of life — food, housing, water, education, health care and a job or basic income can be guaranteed rights — rather than distributed only for profit. Create a completely free and public healthcare system. Make education free—cancel all student debt. Fully fund rebuilding of the infrastructure in transport, water and utility systems. Stop all foreclosures and evictions. End all discrimination based on ability/disability.

★ 2 |  For the Earth to live, capitalism must be replaced by a socialist system
Global warming, pollution, acidified and depleted oceans, fracking, critical drought, plastics choking the seas, nuclear weapons and waste — it is clear that capitalism and production for profit are destroying the planet and threatening all life. The crisis is already here, with the most vulnerable and oppressed areas of the U.S. and Global South bearing the brunt. Using truly sustainable energy and seizing the oil and coal companies to stop fossil fuel pollution, are urgent steps needed to reverse climate change. Ultimately, only the socialist reorganization of society can assure the future of the people and the planet.

★ 3 |  End racism, police brutality and mass incarceration-Pay reparations to the African American community
Mass incarceration and racist policing are symptomatic of the 400 years of brutal repression meted out to African-descended peoples in the U.S. and the genocide committed against the Native nations. Reparations must be paid to the African American and Native communities! More than 2.2 million people are behind bars in the largest prison complex in the world. End mass incarceration of oppressed and all working class people. Fully prosecute all acts of police brutality and violence. Free Leonard Peltier, Mumia Abu-Jamal and all political prisoners!

★ 4 |  Full rights for all immigrants
Abolish all anti-immigrant laws. Stop the raids and deportations and demonization of immigrants. Shut down ICE and the concentration camps and reunite families. The government’s war on immigrants must end. The border wall must be dismantled. Amnesty and citizenship for those without documents. Full rights for all!

★ 5 |  Shut down all U.S. military bases around the world—bring all the troops, planes & ships home
U.S. foreign policy uses the pretext of national security to enforce the imperialist interests of the biggest banks and corporations. That is what is behind the endless wars and occupations. Use the $1 trillion military budget instead to provide for people’s needs here and worldwide. Abolish nuclear weapons. Stop U.S. aid to Israel. Self-determination for the Palestinian people, including the right of return. End the U.S. blockade of Cuba and sanctions against Venezuela, Iran and all countries. Independence for Puerto Rico and cancel its debt!

★ 6 |  Honor Native treaties. Free Leonard Peltier now
Both major parties have continued to allow the destruction of Native lands by mining and corporate agricultural interests in blatant disregard of indigenous sovereign rights. 33% of Native children live in poverty and many of America's poorest counties are reservations. The crisis of missing and murdered Indigenous women and the over-incarceration of Native peoples shows the bankruptcy of capitalism from its earliest inception in the Americas until today.
 
★ 7 |  Full equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer people
Fight back against anti-LGBTQ discrimination and violence. Defend marriage equality. Full equality in all matters governed by civil law, including employment, housing, healthcare and education. No to “religious exemption” laws that allow discrimination against LGBTQ people!
 
★ 8 |  Equality for women and free, safe, legal abortion on demand
Stop the attack on women’s reproductive rights and defend Roe v. Wade. Women must have the fundamental right to choose & control their own bodies. Women still earn 22 percent less than men, and the gap is even more severe for Black and Latina women. Close the wage gap and end the gender division of labor.

★ 9 |  Defend and expand our unions
Support the right of all workers to have a union. Fight back against the attacks on collective bargaining. Require employers to recognize card check union votes. Repeal the Taft-Hartley Act. Focusing on low-wage worker organizing, rebuild a fighting labor movement.

★ 10 |  Takeover the stolen wealth of the giant banks and corporations – Jail Wall St. criminals
The vast wealth of the giant banks and corporations is created by workers labor and the exploitation of the world’s diminishing natural resources. The billionaires looted and destroyed the economy. It is time to seize their assets and use those resources in the interests of the vast majority. Power must be taken out of the hands of the super rich, and Wall Street criminals must be jailed.
    
In May 2020 the ticket was also nominated by the Liberty Union Party in Vermont. LU had also selected La Riva in 2016. On the negative side one can find chatter from other Leftist groups who consider PSL to be "tankies" (i.e. Stalinists) in love with despotic regimes as well as being an undemocratic, nontransparent political party to the point of being a cult. There have been allegations for years that PSL has harbored and protected sexual predators and abusers within their ranks.

Peltier withdrew from the ticket on July 20, 2020. The Party's website ran this statement--

Leonard Peltier regretfully withdraws as vice-presidential candidate

The Gloria La Riva for President 2020 Campaign announced today that Leonard Peltier has been compelled to withdraw as our vice–presidential candidate. Leonard’s health has seriously deteriorated in recent weeks and the maximum security prison where he is confined in Florida does not have the medical facilities he requires. He urgently needs compassionate release or commutation of his sentence that has now stretched for 44 years, as well as immediate transfer to a medical facility for proper medical treatment. His legal team -- and we -- believes that all focus must be directed toward his health situation and legal matters before him.

The Party for Socialism and Liberation is deeply honored that Leonard accepted our vice-presidential nomination to run on a ticket with presidential candidate Gloria La Riva. From the start last September, Leonard, a true people’s hero, was enthusiastic about the campaign and remained so until his health and legal circumstances has forced him to withdraw.

The La Riva for President 2020 Campaign and the Party for Socialism and Liberation hold Leonard Peltier in the highest esteem and pledge to continue the struggle for his freedom and the medical attention he urgently needs.

In a message regarding his withdrawal to Gloria La Riva on July 29, 2020, Leonard wrote: 

I know this is a huge disappointment to you as it is mine, that I have to drop out of the campaign with Gloria La Riva. My medical problems are not getting any better. I need to try to get home or at least closer. If so, it would be easier to get out. So please, forgive me if I have disappointed any of you. I did not intend to. Nor was I dropping out because I did not believe in it. I'm seriously hurting. Just know I love you young people who support me. You're awesome. Thank you for your support and love.

"Doksha, Leonard Peltier”

The PSL 2020 vice-presidential candidate will be Washington DC-based long-time activist and fighter for justice Sunil Freeman.

For the second time in a row the Peace and Freedom Party in California nominated La Riva for President, soundly defeating Howie Hawkins' bid.

Ever since the 2008 election the Party's popular vote result has been steadily rising. Their combined 2020 vote was 86,239, finishing in 6th place after the Libertarian, Green, and Alliance parties. 9,506 of those votes were for the La Riva/Peltier ticket in Illinois (0.13%), Minnesota (0.04%) where his name remained in the ballot, and in Texas (0.00%) as the official write-in VP.

The La Riva/Freeman ticket saw their strongest percentages in California (0.29%), District of Columbia (0.25%), New Mexico (0.18%), Rhode Island (0.16%), Washington (0.12%), and Arkansas (0.11%).

Election history:
2004 - US President (Peace and Freedom Party) - defeated

Other occupations: welder, construction worker, auto body shop, activist, author

Notes:
Washington State trivia alert!!!-- Peltier was co-owner of an auto body shop in Seattle ca1965-1972.
 In July 2000 the Washington State Democratic Party passed a resolution in support of executive
 clemency for Peltier.

Sunil K. Freeman

 

Sunil K. Freeman, January 28, 1955 (Raleigh, N.C.) -

VP candidate for Party for Socialism and Liberation (aka Peace and Freedom Party aka Independent aka Unaffiliated aka Liberty Union Party) (2020)

Running mate with nominee: Gloria Estela La Riva (b. 1954)
Popular vote: 76,733 (0.05%)
Electoral vote: 0/538

The campaign:

2020 was the 4th national election for the young party, and in three of those the standard bearer was Gloria La Riva. Her running-mate was Leonard Peltier.

La Riva ran on a platform of 10 points, as she did in 2016--

The PSL’s 2020 Ten Point
Socialist Campaign Program

★ 1 |  Make the essentials of life into constitutional rights
The U.S. has more than enough so that all the essentials of life — food, housing, water, education, health care and a job or basic income can be guaranteed rights — rather than distributed only for profit. Create a completely free and public healthcare system. Make education free—cancel all student debt. Fully fund rebuilding of the infrastructure in transport, water and utility systems. Stop all foreclosures and evictions. End all discrimination based on ability/disability.

★ 2 |  For the Earth to live, capitalism must be replaced by a socialist system
Global warming, pollution, acidified and depleted oceans, fracking, critical drought, plastics choking the seas, nuclear weapons and waste — it is clear that capitalism and production for profit are destroying the planet and threatening all life. The crisis is already here, with the most vulnerable and oppressed areas of the U.S. and Global South bearing the brunt. Using truly sustainable energy and seizing the oil and coal companies to stop fossil fuel pollution, are urgent steps needed to reverse climate change. Ultimately, only the socialist reorganization of society can assure the future of the people and the planet.

★ 3 |  End racism, police brutality and mass incarceration-Pay reparations to the African American community
Mass incarceration and racist policing are symptomatic of the 400 years of brutal repression meted out to African-descended peoples in the U.S. and the genocide committed against the Native nations. Reparations must be paid to the African American and Native communities! More than 2.2 million people are behind bars in the largest prison complex in the world. End mass incarceration of oppressed and all working class people. Fully prosecute all acts of police brutality and violence. Free Leonard Peltier, Mumia Abu-Jamal and all political prisoners!

★ 4 |  Full rights for all immigrants
Abolish all anti-immigrant laws. Stop the raids and deportations and demonization of immigrants. Shut down ICE and the concentration camps and reunite families. The government’s war on immigrants must end. The border wall must be dismantled. Amnesty and citizenship for those without documents. Full rights for all!

★ 5 |  Shut down all U.S. military bases around the world—bring all the troops, planes & ships home
U.S. foreign policy uses the pretext of national security to enforce the imperialist interests of the biggest banks and corporations. That is what is behind the endless wars and occupations. Use the $1 trillion military budget instead to provide for people’s needs here and worldwide. Abolish nuclear weapons. Stop U.S. aid to Israel. Self-determination for the Palestinian people, including the right of return. End the U.S. blockade of Cuba and sanctions against Venezuela, Iran and all countries. Independence for Puerto Rico and cancel its debt!

★ 6 |  Honor Native treaties. Free Leonard Peltier now
Both major parties have continued to allow the destruction of Native lands by mining and corporate agricultural interests in blatant disregard of indigenous sovereign rights. 33% of Native children live in poverty and many of America's poorest counties are reservations. The crisis of missing and murdered Indigenous women and the over-incarceration of Native peoples shows the bankruptcy of capitalism from its earliest inception in the Americas until today.
 
★ 7 |  Full equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer people
Fight back against anti-LGBTQ discrimination and violence. Defend marriage equality. Full equality in all matters governed by civil law, including employment, housing, healthcare and education. No to “religious exemption” laws that allow discrimination against LGBTQ people!
 
★ 8 |  Equality for women and free, safe, legal abortion on demand
Stop the attack on women’s reproductive rights and defend Roe v. Wade. Women must have the fundamental right to choose & control their own bodies. Women still earn 22 percent less than men, and the gap is even more severe for Black and Latina women. Close the wage gap and end the gender division of labor.

★ 9 |  Defend and expand our unions
Support the right of all workers to have a union. Fight back against the attacks on collective bargaining. Require employers to recognize card check union votes. Repeal the Taft-Hartley Act. Focusing on low-wage worker organizing, rebuild a fighting labor movement.

★ 10 |  Takeover the stolen wealth of the giant banks and corporations – Jail Wall St. criminals
The vast wealth of the giant banks and corporations is created by workers labor and the exploitation of the world’s diminishing natural resources. The billionaires looted and destroyed the economy. It is time to seize their assets and use those resources in the interests of the vast majority. Power must be taken out of the hands of the super rich, and Wall Street criminals must be jailed.
    
In May 2020 the ticket was also nominated by the Liberty Union Party in Vermont. LU had also selected La Riva in 2016. On the negative side one can find chatter from other Leftist groups who consider PSL to be "tankies" (i.e. Stalinists) in love with despotic regimes as well as being an undemocratic, nontransparent political party to the point of being a cult. There have been allegations for years that PSL has harbored and protected sexual predators and abusers within their ranks.

Peltier withdrew from the ticket on July 20, 2020 citing ill health. He was replaced by Sunil Freeman. Freeman's biography was provided on the campaign website--

Sunil Freeman is a lifelong activist and cultural worker. He is the child of parents who met as workers at the refugee camp in Kurukshetra during the time of India's independence and partition. Growing up in the Maryland suburbs of Washington D.C., Sunil, along with his family, were active participants in the mass anti-Vietnam War movement, formative experiences that brought Sunil into solidarity with all the movements of the oppressed sweeping the world during that time.

Sunil, a poet and essayist, has contributed to and edited major literary journals. He joined the PSL in 2005 after becoming an organizer with the ANSWER Coalition in the anti-Iraq War movement. Sunil has participated in and organized dozens of events in opposition to US wars abroad, against the US blockade of Cuba, and against criminal sanctions levied by the US against a range of countries.

Sunil is also a disability rights activist working to make all aspects of society accessible to all. Sunil currently resides in Maryland and continues to be active in social justice issues of all kinds.

For the second time in a row the Peace and Freedom Party in California nominated La Riva for President, soundly defeating Howie Hawkins' bid.

Ever since the 2008 election the Party's popular vote result has been steadily rising. Their combined 2020 vote was 86,239, finishing in 6th place after the Libertarian, Green, and Alliance parties. 9,506 of those votes were for the La Riva/Peltier ticket in Illinois (0.13%) and Minnesota (0.04%) where his name remained in the ballot, and in Texas (0.00%) as the official write-in VP.

The La Riva/Freeman ticket saw their strongest percentages in California (0.29%), District of Columbia (0.25%), New Mexico (0.18%), Rhode Island (0.16%), Washington (0.12%), and Arkansas (0.11%).

Election history: none

Other occupations: poet, author, Assistant Director of the Writer's Center

Notes:
Freeman's father was an American Quaker, his mother born a citizen of India.

Karen Redleaf Schraufnagel

 

Karen Redleaf Schraufnagel, July 10, 1963 -

VP candidate for Socialist Action (2016)

Running mate with nominee: Jeffrey Mackler (b. 1940)
Popular vote: ? (0.00%)
Electoral vote: 0/538

The campaign:

Socialist Action was founded in 1983 by a group that had been expelled, or resigned in protest, from the Socialist Workers Party. In turn, SA has seen several splits within their own ranks during their nearly 40 year history. Outside sources have generalized SA as a Trotskyite party.

Although the group had been involved in the election process to some degree at local and state levels, it was not until June 2016 they offered a national ticket. Jeff Mackler, a California retired teacher, union activist, and 2006 SA candidate for the US Senate was nominated for President. His running-mate was Minnesota-based Karen Schraufnagel, founder of Minnesotans Against Islamophobia. Mackler was also the party's National Secretary.

The 2016 SA platform--

1) Abolish the U.S. war machine now!

    Bring all troops home now! Close all U.S. foreign and domestic military bases. End all military spending now – not a penny for war!
    U.S. out of the Middle East!
    No to U.S. overt and covert wars, drone wars, oil wars, privatized death squad wars, sanction and embargo wars or wars for the re-colonization of Africa.
    Abolish NATO and all other imperialist military alliances!
    Self-determination for all oppressed nations and peoples.
    Self-determination for Puerto Rico. No to imperialist-imposed austerity in Puerto Rico. Abolish Puerto Rico’s debt to U.S. banks and speculating hedge funds.
    Self-determination for Palestine! End all U.S. aid to apartheid Israel. For a democratic, secular Palestine with the right of all Palestinian refugees to return. Solidarity with Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaigns.
    U.S. hands off the Cuban Revolution.

2) Immediate conversion to 100% renewable power: sun, wind, geothermal and micro-hydro! Keep all fossil fuels in the ground!

    Guarantee jobs at top union wages for all fossil fuel workers during and after a just and rapid transition to clean and renewable energy systems.
    Immediate conversion to carbon-sequestering agro-ecological farming.
    Immediate halt to expansion of all new fossil fuel extraction and transportation projects
    100% tax on all fossil fuel corporations. Zero profits for the polluters.
    Close down and dismantle the fossil fuel industry, from extraction on up.
    Dramatically expand mass transit – for the least mobile first; reverse urban sprawl and unsustainable development patterns. Remediate and expand our forests, wetlands and natural eco-systems.
    For an immediate cleanup of Native American, African American and Latino communities that have been victimized by environmental racism.
    No to nuclear weapons. Close all nuclear power plants now.
    U.S. reparations and zero interest loans to neo-colonial and island nations suffering from climate change due to past practices of the major industrial and imperialist nations.

3) Jobs for all at top union wages!

    Shorten the work week by 25 percent with no cut in pay so that everyone can work and enjoy more free time. Modern technology should benefit the 99 percent not the boss class one percent.
    Create a massive public works program to provide jobs at top union wages through building homes, converting to 100% renewable power, expanding mass public transportation, constructing hospitals, parks, schools, and other social necessities. Priority should be given to projects where they are most needed—especially in Black and Latino communities.
    Raise all pensions, Social Security benefits, unemployment and disability compensation, welfare, and veterans benefits to top union wage scales and protect them with cost-of-living escalator provisions.
    For $15 and a union now as a first short step on the road to a much higher minimum wage to sustain a quality standard of living.

4) Quality health care, education and housing for all as basic rights!

    Close down the profit-gauging “healthcare” insurance companies and establish a single-payer system in rapid transition to a universal and free national system, that is, socialized medicine.
    Use the savings towards provision of quality health care for all and retraining insurance workers for new jobs.
    Free quality public education at all levels from the cradle to the grave.
    Cancel all student debt.
    Void all drug patents to cut public costs to a minimum.
    Cancel all medical debt.
    End all home foreclosures.
    Establish and expand rent-control to combat the mass-displacement of poor and oppressed communities through gentrification.
    Massive government funding to repair, modernize, and build homes – starting where need is greatest.

5) End the racist, slave labor for profit prison-industrial complex!

    End the racist school-to-prison pipeline.
    Build schools, not jails.
    Free Mumia Abu-Jamal, Oscar Lopez Rivera and all political prisoners.
    Abolish the racist and classist death penalty.
    Prosecute and jail killer cops
    De-criminalize all drugs. Take the profit out of drug trafficking. End the racist “war on drugs.” Massive investment in restorative justice, mental health, and drug treatment services.
    Rapidly empty the prisons while immediately organizing quality, humane rehabilitation facilities to rebuild ruined lives.
    End “zero tolerance” school policies. Cops out of the schools.
    Abolish racist “money ball” extortion schemes including defendant-funded court proceedings, mandatory court surcharges, fines and fees.
    Abolish all racist exclusionary election laws.
    For Black and Latino-organized control of Black and Latino communities. Police out of Black and Latino neighborhoods.
    Reparations for African-American, Puerto-Rican, and Mexican-American communities in compensation for wealth stolen over centuries.

6) Immediate amnesty, legalization and equal rights for all immigrants. End the racist, Islamophobic “War on Terror!”

    End all deportations now!
    Repeal all anti-immigrant legislation.
    Close down ICE
    Demilitarize and open the borders.
    No to the surveillance, persecution, demonization and government-orchestrated frame-up trials in Muslim communities in the U.S. and worldwide.

7) Abolish all racist, sexist and homophobic discriminatory laws and practices!

    Equal pay for equal work.
    Affirmative action with quotas to remedy past discrimination and prevent future discrimination.
    To assure economic independence for women, government-financed, free 24-hour child-care centers and maternity leave with full pay. Guarantee the right of every mother to raise a healthy child.
    End violence against women and the LGBTQI community.
    Repeal the Hyde Amendment. Free unrestricted abortion on demand.
    Reproductive justice now. End coercive contraception projects targeting low income women and women in prison.  End the criminalization of pregnant women.
    Free Purvi Patel.
    Ban workplace and housing discrimination and adoption restrictions based on sexual orientation or gender identity
    Outlaw discrimination by businesses or employees based on sexual preference or gender identity
    Repeal all local, state and federal discriminatory laws against LGBTQI people.
    Quality safe housing for youth and workers facing discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.

8) Defend civil liberties! Abolish the “national security” state!

    End all government surveillance. Abolish the National Security Administration and all other secret and repressive government spy agencies.
    Repeal the Patriot Act and all other anti-democratic legislation.
    End all restrictions on the right to organize, assemble, and protest.
    Stop the persecution of all whistle blowers like Chelsea Manning and Edward Snowden!

9) For a democratically-planned socialist economy where the banks, basic industries and all natural resources are the collective property of working people – the 99 percent – and democratically operated for human betterment not the individual profits of the one percent

    Tax the rich and their corporations, not working people! End corporate bailouts! [Note:$32 trillion in corporate bailouts was granted to corporate America in the years immediately following the 2008 economic crash. See Project Censored Report. For every dollar paid in taxes by U.S. corporations $27 is granted back in government subsidies. See: 2016 Oxfam Report.]
    Close all tax loopholes for the rich. Nationalize all illegally “offshored” corporate profits.
    For a steeply-graduated progressive income tax!
    100% tax on all incomes over $300,000. Zero percent tax on all incomes under $50,000.
    Low interest, long-term government loans to protect small farmers gouged by banks and food trusts.
    End all military and military-related spending: Use the money saved towards a massive public works program and to fulfill the demands above.

10)  For working class political action independent of and against the twin parties of capitalism

    For a united, democratic and fighting labor movement that champions the economic, social and political interests of all working people.
    For a Labor Party based on a revitalized, democratic, and expanded labor movement allied with the oppressed and exploited.
    Organize the unorganized 90 percent! Repeal Taft Hartley and all other anti-union legislation.
    Open the corporate books for union inspection!

Vote Socialist Action! For a workers government and a fully democratic society of, by and for working people and the oppressed! Abolish capitalism! For socialism!

SA did not place a high priority on the nuts and bolts of traditional campaigning, such as making an effort to attain ballot status or even become a registered write-in. They appeared to be more involved with feet on the ground demonstrations, gathering petitions, panel discussions, and other more grassroots methods of political warfare. Hence, no votes for Mackler/Schraufnagel were officially reported.

Mackler, who also ran in 2020, was cautiously endorsed in both elections by the Freedom Socialist Party. Their Oct. 17, 2016 essay supporting the SA ticket does help the uninitiated identify and differentiate the nuances of progressive parties in that year--

This Year of the Detestable Election, exercise your democratic rights with a protest vote!

October 17, 2016

Once again, the U.S. two-party system has left us with two horrible choices.

Playing on people’s fear and resentment over acute social and economic problems, bombastic bigot Donald Trump has positioned himself as an anti-establishment populist. But he is an enemy, not a friend of the people – a braggart about his sexual assaults and an inciter of violence against Muslims, journalists, and whatever group is the current target of his poisonous diatribes. He has made himself the focal point for a dangerous right-wing movement that could end up laying the ground for fascism.

Thus, the pressure to vote for Hillary Clinton as the “anybody but Trump” candidate is tremendous. And Clinton’s bid for the presidency is a historic one, which she promotes largely with claims to be an advocate for women and children. However, her record and her party’s record show that these claims are false, as are her other promises to workers and oppressed people.

While her husband was in office, Clinton supported the destruction of welfare, the anti-gay Defense of Marriage Act, and racist crime bills that led to the largest increase in incarceration under any president in history. During the years she served as the only woman on Walmart’s Board of Directors, she did nothing while the company waged war on attempts to unionize its employees, many of them on food stamps. As Secretary of State, she was responsible for much of the suffering internationally caused by U.S. wars, occupations, and trade policies. And these examples barely scratch the surface of her pro-corporate credentials.

As a feminist organization, the Freedom Socialist Party (FSP) abhors the sexism against Clinton, including Trump’s misogynist bullying. But there’s no way we could support her for president. The truth is that the “lesser evil” is a myth and a scam, one that keeps the country’s people trapped in a downward spiral as the Democrats and Republicans both keep moving rightward. The most effective vote in November is a protest vote — and, fortunately, there are socialist candidates running who are well worth supporting.

Cast Your Ballot for Working-Class Champions Who Stand for Real Change

FSP is offering critical support to Socialist Action (SA) write-in candidates Jeff Mackler for president and Karen Schraufnagel for vice president. Their far-reaching platform includes abolishing the U.S. war machine; getting rid of racist, sexist and homophobic laws and practices; providing amnesty and equal rights for all immigrants; and defending labor. However, FSP is critical of such things as SA’s opportunism in the anti-war movement, where it has opposed taking an anti-capitalist stand, and its position on Syria, which underestimates the role of genuine popular revolt there.

SA’s Syria position comes close to that of two groups whose candidates FSP is not recommending, Workers World Party and Party for Socialism and Liberation, which go farther than SA by supporting dictator Assad on the false grounds that he is “anti-imperialist.”

The Socialist Party (SP) and Socialist Workers Party are also fielding candidates, but their programs suffer in comparison to Socialist Action’s — and, in SP’s case, their electoral representatives don’t seem bound to a party platform in any case.

The Bernie Sanders campaign raised important reforms and the earnest hopes of many supporters. At bottom, however, it was never more than a vehicle for the Democratic Party to hold on to progressive voters. Now some Sanders enthusiasts are turning to Jill Stein of the Green Party. But Stein’s solutions — like making “Wall Street, big corporations, and the rich pay their fair share of taxes” — are a pallid answer to a fundamental crisis of the profit system.

The Libertarian Party of Gary Johnson, meanwhile, attracts interest because it purports to stand for individual freedoms, but its basic support is for the capitalist freedom to exploit without fetters of any kind.

It’s Time for an Independent Labor Party

Whoever wins the election, everyday people are in for a continued rough ride, with fights looming against everything from union-busting to environmental despoliation and killings by police.

Our fights should include ending the two-party lockdown of U.S. elections. We need reforms that would give minor parties a chance — changes like eliminating the myriad of restrictive ballot access laws (see Seven steps for ballot access reform) and instituting instant-runoff voting and proportional representation.

These reforms would help to make possible what we need more than ever — the development of a mass anti-capitalist party that truly represents the working class, especially its lowest-paid and most-abused members. An independent labor party based in the unions, but representing both organized and unorganized workers, could fight in the here and now for things like full employment and universal, not-for-profit healthcare. It could also be a huge step toward upending the whole exploitative system that depends on this two-party scam for its survival.

Enough of the trap of “lesser-evil” voting!

Election history: none

Other occupations: founder of Minnesotans Against Islamophobia

Notes:
Schraufnagel gave this blog a nice plug when I interviewed SA 2020 VP Heather Bradford in 2019.

Dennis James Banks

 

Dennis James Banks, April 12, 1937 (Leech Lake Indian Reservation. Minn.) – October 29, 2017 (Rochester, Minn.)

VP candidate for Party for Socialism and Liberation (aka Peace and Freedom Party) (2016)

Running mate with nominee: Gloria Estela La Riva (b. 1954)
Popular vote: 68,139 (0.05%)
Electoral vote: 0/538

The campaign:

The Gloria La Riva/Eugene Puryear ticket for the Party for Socialism and Liberation was nominated again for the 2016 election, and 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.

La Riva's capture of the Presidential nomination of the Peace and Freedom Party in California was a major victory. American Indian Movement co-founder Dennis Banks was a longtime household name for activists of all stripes and by selecting him as the PFP running-mate the VP actually had more name recognition than the standard bearer.

Banks campaigned in California with a focus on the oil pipeline protest taking place at Standing Rock Sioux Reservation in North Dakota. Describing the 2016 choice as "the worst presidential election in U.S. history," Banks elaborated, "We're a sick county, and we're voting in 34 days from now for somebody that is hated ... So if you elect Hillary Clinton, it's because you hated Trump, and if you elect Trump, it's because you hated Hillary. That's not a very good platform to win: 'I won because I was the least hated.' What do you say to your children and grandchildren? ... Of course, I'm not running to accept the vice presidential office. I'm running because there's a forum that has to be made in this country, an ongoing forum and I've decided to use this to get on that forum."

The La Riva/Banks campaign issued a platform-in-brief--

OUR 10 POINT PROGRAM
1.    For the earth to live, capitalism must end
2.    Make a job, free health care, free education & affordable housing Constitutional rights
3.    Shut down all U.S. military bases around the world-bring all the troops, planes and ships home
4.    Stop racist police brutality and mass incarceration
5.    Defend our unions
6.    Equality for women and free, safe, legal abortion on demand
7.    Full rights for all immigrants
8.    Full federal equality for LGBTQ people
9.    Honor Native Treaties-Free Leonard Peltier
10.   Seize the banks–Jail Wall Street criminals
 
Of the impressive 74,405 popular votes (0.05%) gained nationally by La Riva in 2016, the ticket with Banks accounted for 68,139 of them, mostly from California. The La Riva/Banks results: California 0.47%, New Mexico 0.15%, Colorado and Iowa 0.02% each. If elected, Banks would have died in office less than 10 months into his term, aged 80.

Election history: none

Other occupations: US Air Force, co-founder of American Indian Movement, teacher, drug and alcohol counselor, member of the Board of Trustees for Leech Lake Tribal College, actor, composer, musician, author

Buried: Battle Point Cemetery (Federal Dam, Minn.)

Notes:
Banks endorsed Jesse Jackson in the 1988 Presidential primaries and Dennis Kucinich in the 2004 cycle.

Sarah E. Sloan

 

Sarah E. Sloan, ca1980 -

VP candidate for Party for Socialism and Liberation (2016)

Running mate with nominee: Gloria Estela La Riva (b. 1954)
Popular vote: 48 (0.00%)
Electoral vote: 0/538

The campaign:

The Gloria La Riva/Eugene Puryear ticket for the Party for Socialism and Liberation was nominated again for the 2016 election, and 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.

Sloan had been a co-author, along with La Riva, Puryear, and Brian Becker of the book China: Revolution and Counterrevolution (2013). Like La Riva, Sloan had been an activist with the Workers World Party but joined the split and helped form the PSL in 2004.

During a PSL meeting in 2014, Sloan presented her view of life in the USSR during Stalin's regime--

    "Socialist revolutions have not happened in rich societies but in the poorest parts of the world. At the time of the Russian Revolution in 1917, the Russian economy was one-twelfth the size of the U.S. economy. By eliminating the profits for a tiny handful of capitalists, even a poor country like the Soviet Union, managed by the 1930s, to provide every worker with the right to a job and the right to free health care. By 1960, the Soviet Union had emerged as the second-biggest economy in the world. There was no unemployment and there was a right to housing — to pay no more than 6 percent of your income for rent. Evictions were illegal because there were no landlords. It was your housing.

    Women had a right to free childcare and one year’s paid maternity leave, and they had the right to put their child in child care facilities at no cost. Women in the Soviet Union had the right to retire at 55 years of age at half pay. And remember, they had free health care, so retirement didn’t mean being plunged into poverty. They had a month’s paid vacation.

    It doesn’t mean that there were no problems in the Soviet Union, or that we agree with all the policies of different leaderships. But the Soviet Union proved, just as Cuba proves today, that when you take the wealth out of the hands of the capitalists, it can be used to meet people’s needs."

During the 2016 campaign, the Washington, DC-based Sloan took part in demonstration protesting the opening of a hotel by Trump on Pennsylvania Ave. "The people of D.C. and the people of the country say no to Trump's rhetoric and policies of racism, of fear mongering and scapegoating against immigrants, the Muslim community, refugees," Sloan told the press.

Of the impressive 74,405 popular votes (0.05%) gained nationally by La Riva in 2016, the ticket with Sloan accounted for 48 of them. Sloan's public presence began to evaporate starting in 2019 for reasons that are not clear.

Election history: none

Other occupations: author, National Staff Coordinator of the ANSWER Coalition (Act Now to Stop War and Racism)

Notes:
Apparently came to DC from New York.

Stefanie Beacham

 

Stefanie Beacham

VP candidate for Party for Socialism and Liberation (2012)

Running mate with nominee: Gloria Estela La Riva (b. 1954)
Popular vote: 372 (0.00%)
Electoral vote: 0/538

The campaign:

In their second national election, the Party for Socialism and Liberation was already developing a tradition of nominating tickets that could never attain office due to Constitutional rules. It was a form of protest.

The 2012 team was a double-whammy in terms of being eligible for the White House. Presidential nominee Peta Lindsay turned 28 in the election year. VP Yari Osorio, who was a year younger than the standard bearer, was born in Colombia, arriving in the US at the age of 3 as an undocumented immigrant, later becoming a US citizen. Lindsay was a Masters student in Los Angeles aiming to be a teacher, Osorio worked as an EMT in New York.

To appease those states who would not grant ballot access to this ticket, 2008 PSL Presidential nominee Gloria La Riva was substituted. In Colorado, Utah and Wisconsin her running-mate was Filberto Ramirez Jr. and in Iowa the VP was Stefanie Beacham.

One of the Party brochures spelled out their platform--

SEIZE THE BANKS! Jobs, Healthcare & Housing for All!

PSL Lindsay/Osorio Campaign
10-Point Program

1 Make a job a Constitutional right Tens of millions are jobless and under-employed because the capitalists control employment. A decent-paying job must be a legal, guaranteed right. The minimum wage should be raised to $20 per hour and a living income must be guaranteed for those who cannot work.

2 Make free health care, free education & affordable housing Constitutional rights These are essentials of life and should not be run for- profit. Create a completely free and public health-care system. Make education free—cancel all student debt. Stop all foreclosures and evictions—end all mortgage interest payments to the banks.

3 Shut down all U.S. military bases around the world—bring all the troops, planes & ships home U.S. foreign policy uses the pretext of national security to enforce the imperialist interests of the biggest banks and corporations. That's what is behind the endless wars and occupations. Use the $1 trillion military budget instead to provide for people's needs here and around the world. Stop U.S. aid to Israel. End the blockade of Cuba.

4 Stop racist police brutality and mass incarceration More than 3 million people are behind bars in the largest prison complex in the world. Mass incarceration of our youth is the real crime. End the mass incarceration of oppressed communities. Fully prosecute all acts of police brutality and violence.

5 Defend our unions Support the right of all workers to have a union. Fight back against the attacks on collective bargaining. Pass the Employee Free Choice Act and repeal the Taft-Hartley Act. In the spirit of Wisconsin, rebuild a fighting-and striking-labor movement.

6 Equality for women and free, safe, legal abortion on demand Stop the attack on women's reproductive rights and defend Roe v. Wade. Women must have the fundamental right to choose & to control their own bodies. Women still earn 22 percent less than men, and the gap is even more severe for Black and Latina women. Close the wage gap and end the gender division of labor.

7 Full rights for all immigrants Abolish all anti-immigrant laws. Stop the raids and deportations. The government's war on immigrants must end. The border wall must be dismantled.

8 Full equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people Make same-sex marriage a federal right—keep the movement in the streets. Fight anti-LGBT discrimination and violence.

9 Save the planet—End capitalism We need a central economic plan to significantly cut greenhouse gases, clean up the environment and build a massive renewable energy network. The for-profit economic system creates incentives to pollute. No fracking, no Keystone pipeline!

10 Seize the banks—Jail Wall Street criminals The banks' vast wealth came from the people's labor and tax-dollar bailout. Capitalist baninking [sic] is a form of organized crime, rewarding greed and fraud with obscene bonuses. These billionaires looted and destroyed the economy. It is time to seize their assets and use those resources in the interests of the vast majority. Power must be taken out of the hands of the super-rich, and the Wall Street criminals must be held accountable.

The combined vote total of all the PSL candidates was 9,405 (0.01%), 11th place. The La Riva/Beacham portion amounted to 372 votes, 0.02% of the Iowa total.

Election history: none

Other occupations: health worker

Notes:
[Washington State Trivia Alert!!!] Appears to be a recent transplant from the Chicago area to Kirkland, Wash.

Filberto Ramirez Jr.

 

Filberto Ramirez Jr.

VP candidate for Party for Socialism and Liberation (aka Unaffiliated) (2012)

Running mate with nominee: Gloria Estela La Riva (b. 1954)
Popular vote: 1,236 (0.00%)
Electoral vote: 0/538

The campaign:

In their second national election, the Party for Socialism and Liberation was already developing a tradition of nominating tickets that could never attain office due to Constitutional rules. It was a form of protest.

The 2012 team was a double-whammy in terms of being eligible for the White House. Presidential nominee Peta Lindsay turned 28 in the election year. VP Yari Osorio, who was a year younger than the standard bearer, was born in Colombia, arriving in the US at the age of 3 as an undocumented immigrant, later becoming a US citizen. Lindsay was a Masters student in Los Angeles aiming to be a teacher, Osorio worked as an EMT in New York.

To appease those states who would not grant ballot access to this ticket, 2008 PSL Presidential nominee Gloria La Riva was substituted. In Colorado, Utah and Wisconsin her running-mate was Filberto Ramirez Jr. of Matteson, Ill. and in Iowa the VP was Stefanie Beacham.

One of the Party brochures spelled out their platform--

SEIZE THE BANKS! Jobs, Healthcare & Housing for All!

PSL Lindsay/Osorio Campaign
10-Point Program

1 Make a job a Constitutional right Tens of millions are jobless and under-employed because the capitalists control employment. A decent-paying job must be a legal, guaranteed right. The minimum wage should be raised to $20 per hour and a living income must be guaranteed for those who cannot work.

2 Make free health care, free education & affordable housing Constitutional rights These are essentials of life and should not be run for- profit. Create a completely free and public health-care system. Make education free—cancel all student debt. Stop all foreclosures and evictions—end all mortgage interest payments to the banks.

3 Shut down all U.S. military bases around the world—bring all the troops, planes & ships home U.S. foreign policy uses the pretext of national security to enforce the imperialist interests of the biggest banks and corporations. That's what is behind the endless wars and occupations. Use the $1 trillion military budget instead to provide for people's needs here and around the world. Stop U.S. aid to Israel. End the blockade of Cuba.

4 Stop racist police brutality and mass incarceration More than 3 million people are behind bars in the largest prison complex in the world. Mass incarceration of our youth is the real crime. End the mass incarceration of oppressed communities. Fully prosecute all acts of police brutality and violence.

5 Defend our unions Support the right of all workers to have a union. Fight back against the attacks on collective bargaining. Pass the Employee Free Choice Act and repeal the Taft-Hartley Act. In the spirit of Wisconsin, rebuild a fighting-and striking-labor movement.

6 Equality for women and free, safe, legal abortion on demand Stop the attack on women's reproductive rights and defend Roe v. Wade. Women must have the fundamental right to choose & to control their own bodies. Women still earn 22 percent less than men, and the gap is even more severe for Black and Latina women. Close the wage gap and end the gender division of labor.

7 Full rights for all immigrants Abolish all anti-immigrant laws. Stop the raids and deportations. The government's war on immigrants must end. The border wall must be dismantled.

8 Full equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people Make same-sex marriage a federal right—keep the movement in the streets. Fight anti-LGBT discrimination and violence.

9 Save the planet—End capitalism We need a central economic plan to significantly cut greenhouse gases, clean up the environment and build a massive renewable energy network. The for-profit economic system creates incentives to pollute. No fracking, no Keystone pipeline!

10 Seize the banks—Jail Wall Street criminals The banks' vast wealth came from the people's labor and tax-dollar bailout. Capitalist baninking [sic] is a form of organized crime, rewarding greed and fraud with obscene bonuses. These billionaires looted and destroyed the economy. It is time to seize their assets and use those resources in the interests of the vast majority. Power must be taken out of the hands of the super-rich, and the Wall Street criminals must be held accountable.

The combined vote total of all the PSL candidates was 9,405 (0.01%), 11th place. The La Riva/Ramirez portion amounted to 1,236 votes, Utah 0.04%, Wisconsin 0.02%, Colorado 0.01%.

Election history: none

Other occupations: ?

Notes:
Another mystery VP

Yari Osorio

 

Yari Osorio, ca1985 (Cali, Colombia) -

VP candidate for Party for Socialism and Liberation (2012)

Running mate with nominee: Peta Millner Lindsay (b. 1984)
Popular vote: 7,797 (0.01%)
Electoral vote: 0/538

The campaign:

In their second national election, the Party for Socialism and Liberation was already developing a tradition of nominating tickets that could never attain office due to Constitutional rules. It was a form of protest.

The 2012 team was a double-whammy in terms of being eligible for the White House. Presidential nominee Peta Lindsay turned 28 in the election year. VP Yari Osorio, who was a year younger than the standard bearer, was born in Colombia, arriving in the US at the age of 3 as an undocumented immigrant, later becoming a US citizen. Lindsay was a Masters student in Los Angeles aiming to be a teacher, Osorio worked as an EMT in New York.

To appease those states who would not grant ballot access to this ticket, 2008 PSL Presidential nominee Gloria La Riva was substituted. In Colorado, Utah and Wisconsin her running-mate was Filberto Ramirez Jr. and in Iowa the VP was Stefanie Beacham.

One of the Party brochures spelled out their platform--

SEIZE THE BANKS! Jobs, Healthcare & Housing for All!

PSL Lindsay/Osorio Campaign
10-Point Program

1 Make a job a Constitutional right Tens of millions are jobless and under-employed because the capitalists control employment. A decent-paying job must be a legal, guaranteed right. The minimum wage should be raised to $20 per hour and a living income must be guaranteed for those who cannot work.

2 Make free health care, free education & affordable housing Constitutional rights These are essentials of life and should not be run for- profit. Create a completely free and public health-care system. Make education free—cancel all student debt. Stop all foreclosures and evictions—end all mortgage interest payments to the banks.

3 Shut down all U.S. military bases around the world—bring all the troops, planes & ships home U.S. foreign policy uses the pretext of national security to enforce the imperialist interests of the biggest banks and corporations. That's what is behind the endless wars and occupations. Use the $1 trillion military budget instead to provide for people's needs here and around the world. Stop U.S. aid to Israel. End the blockade of Cuba.

4 Stop racist police brutality and mass incarceration More than 3 million people are behind bars in the largest prison complex in the world. Mass incarceration of our youth is the real crime. End the mass incarceration of oppressed communities. Fully prosecute all acts of police brutality and violence.

5 Defend our unions Support the right of all workers to have a union. Fight back against the attacks on collective bargaining. Pass the Employee Free Choice Act and repeal the Taft-Hartley Act. In the spirit of Wisconsin, rebuild a fighting-and striking-labor movement.

6 Equality for women and free, safe, legal abortion on demand Stop the attack on women's reproductive rights and defend Roe v. Wade. Women must have the fundamental right to choose & to control their own bodies. Women still earn 22 percent less than men, and the gap is even more severe for Black and Latina women. Close the wage gap and end the gender division of labor.

7 Full rights for all immigrants Abolish all anti-immigrant laws. Stop the raids and deportations. The government's war on immigrants must end. The border wall must be dismantled.

8 Full equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people Make same-sex marriage a federal right—keep the movement in the streets. Fight anti-LGBT discrimination and violence.

9 Save the planet—End capitalism We need a central economic plan to significantly cut greenhouse gases, clean up the environment and build a massive renewable energy network. The for-profit economic system creates incentives to pollute. No fracking, no Keystone pipeline!

10 Seize the banks—Jail Wall Street criminals The banks' vast wealth came from the people's labor and tax-dollar bailout. Capitalist baninking [sic] is a form of organized crime, rewarding greed and fraud with obscene bonuses. These billionaires looted and destroyed the economy. It is time to seize their assets and use those resources in the interests of the vast majority. Power must be taken out of the hands of the super-rich, and the Wall Street criminals must be held accountable.

The combined vote total of all the PSL candidates was 9,405 (0.01%), 11th place. The Lindsay/Osorio portion amounted to 7,797 votes. Lindsay/Osorio could be found on the ballot in 9 states, with their strongest results in Vermont (0.23%), Arkansas (0.16%), and Washington (0.04%).

Election history: none

Other occupations: emergency medical technician, fire department paramedic, writer

Notes:
Osorio's PSL activity vanishes from my radar after 2016.

Eugene Puryear

 

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.

Robert Andrew Moses

 Robert Andrew Moses, May 18, 1951 (Pittsylvania County, Va.) -

VP candidate for Party for Socialism and Liberation (aka Independent aka Unaffiliated) (2008)

Running mate with nominee: Gloria Estela La Riva (b. 1954)
Popular vote: 5,921 (0.00%)
Electoral vote: 0/538

The campaign:

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!

In submitting their paperwork for the Utah ballot, Moses indicated he had been living in Upper Marlboro, Md. for three years and was employed as an office worker.

The La Riva/Moses ticket made the ballot in Colorado and Iowa (0.01% each), apparently in Rhode Island and definitely in Utah (0.03% each), and Wisconsin (0.02%). Out of La Riva's 6,821 votes, 900 of them were with Moses.

Election history: none

Other occupations: office worker

Notes:
The Workers World Party endorsed Green Party nominee Cynthia McKinney in 2008, and did not run Presidential tickets in 2012 or 2020.
Interesting coincidences with Stewart Alexander the 2008 VP for the Socialist Party. Both Alexander and Moses have surnames that could be first  names, both are African American, both were born in Virginia in 1951.

Teresa Gutiérrez

Teresa Gutiérrez, January 6, 1951 (Bexar County, Tex.) -

VP candidate for Workers World Party (aka Liberty Union Party) (2004)

Running mate with nominee: John Thompson Parker
Popular vote: 1,648 (0.00%)
Electoral vote: 0/538

The campaign:

In late May, 2008 the Workers World Party nominated John Parker of Los Angeles for President and Teresa Gutiérrez of New York as his running-mate. Their party newspaper had a lengthy nomination announcement which included the following biographical information about the ticket--

Parker went to Sudan and visited that country's main pharmaceutical plant after it was demolished in 1998 by a U.S. missile strike. He has been to Iraq and seen the terrible effects of sanctions on the people there, especially children. He also did solidarity work in Cuba in 1997 with the Venceremos Brigade.

Gutierrez has met with progressive forces in Colombia, Venezuela, Puerto Rico and Mexico. She recently was part of a delegation to the Dominican Republic investigating the use of that country as a training ground for the paramilitaries who attacked Haiti and helped the U.S. depose its elected president, Jean-Bertrand Aristide.

She has visited Cuba many times in solidarity with that besieged but politically strong socialist country, and was a major organizer of the powerful 1992 "Peace for Cuba" rally held at New York's Javits Convention Center that demonstrated the widespread support Cuba enjoyed in that difficult period after the collapse of the USSR.

John Parker was only 18 when he organized his first union election--at a small steel plant in New Jersey. An African American, he has worked at a variety of other jobs, including teaching at a public school in Newark. After moving to Los Angeles with his family several years ago, he became a leader in the anti-war movement there and helped organize and chair several large rallies against the U.S. war in Iraq, sponsored by the ANSWER Coalition. He then worked hard to mobilize anti-war forces to support the 80,000 grocery workers on a strike/lockout against three giant southern California food chains.

Teresa Gutierrez first became politically active in the Chican@ movement in Texas. She eventually moved to New York to be part of a multinational party that puts the struggle against racism and national oppression at the top of its agenda, as an indispensable part of uniting the working class as a whole in the struggle to end capitalism and build a socialist society. A proud lesbian, she brings consciousness on the need to combat sexist oppression to all her work.

These two working-class candidates will be running against the pro-war, pro-intervention, pro-big business politics of George W. Bush and John Kerry. They will use the election to bring another vision of the world to a public that is saturated day in and day out with the cynical view that the political arena belongs only to those who can play the millionaires' game and make the deals that buy elections.

Their webpage included a summary of the platform:

Abolish the Pentagon Money for housing human needs, not occupations in Iraq, Haiti, Palestine & Afghanistan

U.S. hands off Cuba, Venezuela, Africa, Colombia, Korea & the Philippines Globalize solidarity, not imperialist plunder. Independence for Puerto Rico

Union jobs or guaranteed income. Raise the minimum wage to $15. Jobs not jails for youth

Free, universal health care for all. Fund a worldwide campaign to conquer AIDS

End racism, police brutality & the death penalty Reparations & social justice for people of color & colonized nations.

Same-sex marriage rights now. End all discrimination against lesbians, gays, bi & trans people

Defend women's rights Equal pay for comparable work Full reproductive rights. Free childcare

Full rights for immigrants. Repeal the Patriot Act. Free victims of anti-Arab, anti-Muslim repression

Education is a right. Restore affirmative action. Lower the voting age to 16

Free Mumia Abu-Jamal, Leonard Peltier, the Cuban 5 and all political prisoners

Tax the rich End corporate welfare. Make corporate polluters pay to clean up our environment

Besides the World Workers Party, the Parker/Gutiérrez ticket was also endorsed by the Liberty Union Party of Vermont who had previously backed the Socialists in the previous two elections. This was the only time the LUP ever backed the WWP in a Presidential race. Although I have never seen this spelled out, I suspect the LUP was more taken aback by the anti-abortion stance of the Socialist nominee Walt Brown than they were attracted to the WWP.  Just a guess.

In the middle of campaign 2004, the San Francisco branch of the WWP 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.

Parker/Gutierrez were certified write-ins in California and Ohio, and on the ballot in three states-- Washington 0.04%, Rhode Island 0.06%, and Vermont 0.08%.

Election history: none

Other occupations: co-coordinator of the International Action Center, deputy secretary general of the International Migrant Alliance, author

Notes:
One source claims Gutierrez was born in Mexico.