30 March 2016
By Morgan Buckley
USA Today College
"The tattooed, T-shirt-wearing former national co-chair of the
Socialist Party USA once called Bernie Sanders’ record “imperialist.”
“Bernie Sanders seems to advocate more of a social democracy,”
Soltysik says. “It’s an expanded social safety net based upon the
welfare state, maybe more like what we see in Scandinavia, whereas
socialism starts with worker control over the means of production,
community control and full democratic participation. They are very
different things.”
Soltysik says capitalist societies simply can not foster true equality. And now, more than ever, he thinks change is imperative.
“With the science of climate change, we really don’t have time to
spend on reforming capitalism or greening capitalism” Soltysik
says. “The planet is literally telling us it cannot hold a capitalist
society or economic system. Change has to happen now.”"
Read More
Wednesday, March 30, 2016
Sunday, March 27, 2016
Q & A with Angela Walker, Socialist Party USA candidate for Vice-President
27 March 2016
By Jim Brash
The North Star
TNS: First question, why were you chosen to be Mimi Soltysik’s running mate?
Mimi reached out to me about the campaign following my run for County Sheriff in Milwaukee. He said that he’d followed my campaign and really liked the fact that we took a very grassroots, people-centered approach. He felt that I would make a good running mate based on work I was involved in in Milwaukee, and the fact that I ran for sheriff unapologetically as a socialist.
TNS: Which public offices have you previously run for?
I ran for Milwaukee County Sheriff in 2014.
TNS: What did you accomplish by running?
I like to think that we reopened the discussion in Milwaukee about socialism, and how placing the needs of people at the center of the issues needed to be done, and could be done. We can demand, in very clear terms, the changes we want and agitate for those changes. People just need to be reminded of their power.
TNS: What would you like to accomplish with this current campaign?
I think we’d like to accomplish something similar with the presidential campaign. We want to remind people that they have power, and that worker ownership of their workplaces and communities makes as much sense now as it ever has. At a time when so many people have been victimized by deindustrialization, gentrification and institutional racism, we want people to be reminded that there really is another way to live. It’s not supposed to be this way, and people need to know that.
Read More
By Jim Brash
The North Star
TNS: First question, why were you chosen to be Mimi Soltysik’s running mate?
Mimi reached out to me about the campaign following my run for County Sheriff in Milwaukee. He said that he’d followed my campaign and really liked the fact that we took a very grassroots, people-centered approach. He felt that I would make a good running mate based on work I was involved in in Milwaukee, and the fact that I ran for sheriff unapologetically as a socialist.
TNS: Which public offices have you previously run for?
I ran for Milwaukee County Sheriff in 2014.
TNS: What did you accomplish by running?
I like to think that we reopened the discussion in Milwaukee about socialism, and how placing the needs of people at the center of the issues needed to be done, and could be done. We can demand, in very clear terms, the changes we want and agitate for those changes. People just need to be reminded of their power.
TNS: What would you like to accomplish with this current campaign?
I think we’d like to accomplish something similar with the presidential campaign. We want to remind people that they have power, and that worker ownership of their workplaces and communities makes as much sense now as it ever has. At a time when so many people have been victimized by deindustrialization, gentrification and institutional racism, we want people to be reminded that there really is another way to live. It’s not supposed to be this way, and people need to know that.
Read More
Friday, March 25, 2016
What, Exactly, Is A Modern Socialist?
25 March 2016
By Wayne Schutsky
Modern Times Magazine
With the presidential primary season in full swing, voters must decide which candidate they would like to support for president. And for Democrats that means choosing between former First Lady, Senator and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders. Yep, despite a big loss in Arizona, Sanders campaign is still chugging along.
While Clinton has been a household name in American politics for decades, Sanders was relatively anonymous on the national stage until he parlayed what seemed like a gimmick run for President at first into a serious push for the Democratic nomination.
While many were initially put off by the self-described democratic socialist, Sanders’ leftist policies have gained traction with many (predominantly young and white) voters, and his upsets in states like Michigan have proven that some Americans are ready to embrace socialist-type policies like a single-payer healthcare system.
Sanders run raises many questions in an American political system that hasn’t seen a serious candidate skew this far to the left in some time. Is America ready for a socialist presidential candidate? And is Bernie Sanders a socialist at all?
To answer these questions, I spoke with socialist presidential candidate Emidio “Mimi” Soltysik. Soltysik, along with his running mate Angela Walker, represent Socialist Party USA....
Read More
By Wayne Schutsky
Modern Times Magazine
With the presidential primary season in full swing, voters must decide which candidate they would like to support for president. And for Democrats that means choosing between former First Lady, Senator and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders. Yep, despite a big loss in Arizona, Sanders campaign is still chugging along.
While Clinton has been a household name in American politics for decades, Sanders was relatively anonymous on the national stage until he parlayed what seemed like a gimmick run for President at first into a serious push for the Democratic nomination.
While many were initially put off by the self-described democratic socialist, Sanders’ leftist policies have gained traction with many (predominantly young and white) voters, and his upsets in states like Michigan have proven that some Americans are ready to embrace socialist-type policies like a single-payer healthcare system.
Sanders run raises many questions in an American political system that hasn’t seen a serious candidate skew this far to the left in some time. Is America ready for a socialist presidential candidate? And is Bernie Sanders a socialist at all?
To answer these questions, I spoke with socialist presidential candidate Emidio “Mimi” Soltysik. Soltysik, along with his running mate Angela Walker, represent Socialist Party USA....
Read More
Friday, March 18, 2016
Meet the Socialist Running for President in the Shadow of Bernie Sanders
18 March 2016
By Mike Pearl
Vice
No matter who he's talking to, anytime there's air in the conversation, Emidio "Mimi" Soltysik (pronounced "saul-TISS-ick") tends to ask the other people what kind of music they're into, or what they listened to when they were younger.
When he first met his vice presidential candidate, Angela Walker, he picked her brain about music too, but his reasons were political. "What's one of the songs that shaped you politically? What were you listening to that pushed you to be who you are?" Walker recalls Soltysik asking. Music was important to Walker as well—her identity, she says, was shaped by "being a black metalhead." Her reply to Soltysik included Rage Against the Machine and Public Enemy....
Read More
By Mike Pearl
Vice
"You gotta see this real quick. You're gonna shit," Mimi
Soltysik tells me. It's an afternoon in late February, and Soltysik, the
presidential nominee for the Socialist Party USA, is leaning over his
laptop in the living room of his cramped, cat-dominated Los Angeles
apartment, showing me a YouTube video of a legendarily awkward performance by a seemingly deranged Chicago pop singer named Bobby Conn.
"It almost makes you uncomfortable, which is great," he says.No matter who he's talking to, anytime there's air in the conversation, Emidio "Mimi" Soltysik (pronounced "saul-TISS-ick") tends to ask the other people what kind of music they're into, or what they listened to when they were younger.
When he first met his vice presidential candidate, Angela Walker, he picked her brain about music too, but his reasons were political. "What's one of the songs that shaped you politically? What were you listening to that pushed you to be who you are?" Walker recalls Soltysik asking. Music was important to Walker as well—her identity, she says, was shaped by "being a black metalhead." Her reply to Soltysik included Rage Against the Machine and Public Enemy....
Read More
Wednesday, March 16, 2016
Loud & Clear Radio Interview with Past SP Presidential Candidate Stewart Alexander
16 March 2016
Loud & Clear Radio Show
"On today's special episode of Loud & Clear, host Brian Becker is joined by Stewart Alexander, 2012 Presidential candidate of the Socialist Party USA and Gloria La Riva, the 2016 Presidential candidate of the Party for Socialism and Liberation."
Click Here to Listen to the Podcast
Loud & Clear Radio Show
"On today's special episode of Loud & Clear, host Brian Becker is joined by Stewart Alexander, 2012 Presidential candidate of the Socialist Party USA and Gloria La Riva, the 2016 Presidential candidate of the Party for Socialism and Liberation."
Click Here to Listen to the Podcast
Thursday, March 10, 2016
Third Party Builders: Interview with Jen McClellan
10 March 2016
By Jacob Bloom
Green Ops
"Socialist Party USA doesn’t have immediate plans for [California] ballot access does it? What are its goals?
Jen: So as far as electoral work, we actually have it in our platform and principles to be involved electorally. So we have presidential candidates (facebook.com/Rev2016/) but their campaign is actually anti-electoral which means we’re using the unique media opportunities of election year to get people thinking about how to participate in political work in their communities rather than thinking they can just vote once every four years and shit will magically get better.
The platform’s an ongoing extensive piece of work but the simplest way I can explain it is that we’re for workers controlling the means of production, we’re anti sectarian, multi tendency and we don’t dig oppression of any kind. We’re really open to a variety of political ideologies and strategies because capitalism is a huge evil beast and we can’t afford to do any more infighting.
So when I’m working, I’m making sure I’m listening to what people are saying and trying to help them find solutions by discovering their strengths and skills and by connecting them to other people who I know who’s goals and skills complement theirs. That sounds like corporate work but you know, we’re not trying to profit of the exploitation of our fellow human beings..."
Read More
By Jacob Bloom
Green Ops
"Socialist Party USA doesn’t have immediate plans for [California] ballot access does it? What are its goals?
Jen: So as far as electoral work, we actually have it in our platform and principles to be involved electorally. So we have presidential candidates (facebook.com/Rev2016/) but their campaign is actually anti-electoral which means we’re using the unique media opportunities of election year to get people thinking about how to participate in political work in their communities rather than thinking they can just vote once every four years and shit will magically get better.
The platform’s an ongoing extensive piece of work but the simplest way I can explain it is that we’re for workers controlling the means of production, we’re anti sectarian, multi tendency and we don’t dig oppression of any kind. We’re really open to a variety of political ideologies and strategies because capitalism is a huge evil beast and we can’t afford to do any more infighting.
So when I’m working, I’m making sure I’m listening to what people are saying and trying to help them find solutions by discovering their strengths and skills and by connecting them to other people who I know who’s goals and skills complement theirs. That sounds like corporate work but you know, we’re not trying to profit of the exploitation of our fellow human beings..."
Read More
Monday, March 7, 2016
The Overlooked Candidates - An Interview With Activist: Mimi Soltysik
7 March 2016
By Kevin McGhee
The Vindicator
By Kevin McGhee
The Vindicator
Emidio
“Mimi” Soltysik is a political activist and ranking member of the
Social Party USA, a third party within the United States. He has been
nominated to be the party’s candidate along with running mate Angela
Walker for President of the United States in the 2016 presidential
elections. This is part one of a three part series of interviews with
third party candidates. The next two will be available on our website.
1. What is your campaign's central message or goal?
Mimi: I think this is all about doing whatever we can to make a contribution to the
revolutionary movement in the U.S. The Socialist Party USA is a radical organization, and as such, mainstream media isn't burning up our phone lines. That is, unless it's the general election. And in this particular general election, for obvious reasons, there is a heightened interest in all things socialism. So, we thought we'd use that exposure to put forth a revolutionary message, and as folks respond, we do what we can to help connect them to movement work wherever they might be in the country. We've also been using the Campaign as a forum for organizers to share their stories and their feelings. Ideally, this helps to humanize this work, perhaps putting folks who otherwise might be somewhat fearful of engaging in radical projects at ease....
Friday, March 4, 2016
The Other Socialist Candidate: An Interview with Mimi Soltysik
4 March 2016
By Garrett Griffin
Weekend Collective
In October, delegates of the Socialist Party USA gathered in Milwaukee and selected fellow political activist Emidio “Mimi” Soltysik of California as their candidate for president of the United States, with Angela Walker as their vice presidential candidate. Weekend Collective interviewed Mimi Soltysik to hear his thoughts on current American attitudes toward socialism, surprising ideas in the Socialist Party Platform, another democratic socialist named Bernie Sanders, and more.
WC: Many American voters may be unaware of the Socialist Party’s existence, much less its platform. What is the Socialist Party and what does it aim to do?
Mimi: The Socialist
Party USA is a multi-tendency revolutionary socialist organization that
emerged from the 1972 split of the Socialist Party of America (the party
of Eugene V. Debs). At the time, one group decided it made strategic
sense to work within the Democratic Party. The other group, called the
“Debs Caucus,” wished to operate independent of the capitalist parties,
and was also staunchly opposed to the Vietnam War. That second group is
the Socialist Party USA. As far as what the Socialist Party USA aims to
do, it makes sense to quote our Statement of Principles, which state
that “the Socialist Party strives to establish a radical democracy that
places people’s lives under their own control — a non-racist, classless,
feminist, socialist society in which people cooperate at work, at home,
and in the community.” Oh yeah....
Read More
By Garrett Griffin
Weekend Collective
In October, delegates of the Socialist Party USA gathered in Milwaukee and selected fellow political activist Emidio “Mimi” Soltysik of California as their candidate for president of the United States, with Angela Walker as their vice presidential candidate. Weekend Collective interviewed Mimi Soltysik to hear his thoughts on current American attitudes toward socialism, surprising ideas in the Socialist Party Platform, another democratic socialist named Bernie Sanders, and more.
WC: Many American voters may be unaware of the Socialist Party’s existence, much less its platform. What is the Socialist Party and what does it aim to do?
Read More
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