Thank You to All Our Supporters

The election is over, but the struggle continues.

The 4 November elections marked the conclusion of a long and successful campaign by the Socialist Party's 2008 presidential ticket of Brian Moore and Stewart Alexander. Not successful in the sense that we won the election -- we were only on the ballot in eight states, each one a struggle, and qualified to receive write-in votes in 22 others. (Even so, our vote totals are the second-largest since 1952, trailing only those received by our 2004 ticket of Walt Brown and Mal Herbert. Socialist candidates for local and state offices received up to 20% of the vote.)

Our success lay in our presentation of socialism to vast new audiences, through the Colbert Report, Al Jazeera English, innumerable print and radio outlets, and even Fox News, and direct campaigning at lectures, antiwar rallies, and elsewhere. In an election where the word "socialism" was tossed around to stand for tax cuts and corporate welfare, we helped clarify what Socialists actually believe and demand -- a radical democracy that places people's lives under their own control -- a non-racist, classless, feminist, socialist society.

And now, after the elections, the struggle to create such a society continues. The Socialist Party, though a political party with candidates for elected office, truly focuses its energy on a wide range of grassroots activism, which will be of critical importance in coming years. Working people cannot afford to embrace complacency or be fooled into thinking they now have an ally in the White House. The election of Barack Obama, beyond its symbolic importance in the sad saga of American racism, represents only a changing of the guard to usher in a new administrator for the capitalist ruling elite.

The challenges before us are immense -- wars, economic collapse, decay of physical infrastructure and communities themselves under capitalism. The Socialist Party is ready to fight for our futures, continuing our work to slash the military budget, create a socialized healthcare system and guarantee a just standard of living for all. We are committed to actively putting forward socialist ideas and helping to build movements for peace, social justice and economic democracy.

Now that the election is past, we need your support more than ever. Please join the Socialist Party today and help us continue the struggle.

Socialist Women Election Statement (10/9): html -- pdf

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