Minnesotan battles two-party system as Socialist Workers Party candidate for vice president

WASHINGTON — The Socialist Workers Party has had a presidential candidate on the ballot in Minnesota since 1956 and hopes to do so again this year. What’s different this year is that a Minnesotan named Dennis Richter will be on the ballot as the party’s vice presidential candidate.

Richter, 75, and the Socialist Workers Party candidate for president — Rachele Fruit — only plan to run in six states. And that’s not a given. The party has to collect enough signatures on petitions and meet other requirements to run in those states, which besides Minnesota include Louisiana, New Jersey, Washington, Vermont and Tennessee.

Richter, who has run unsuccessfully for governor of California and mayor of Los Angeles, said he’s unconcerned that he and Fruit will never reach the White House. To him, it’s all about mobilizing workers, small businessmen, independent truckers and farmers to reject the major parties and join one devoted to workers’ rights. “The goal is to put forward a working-class program,” he said.

The Socialist Workers Party, however, seems to have a limited following in Minnesota. In 2020, only 643 voters in the state cast a ballot for the party’s presidential and vice presidential candidates, down from the 1,672 who voted for the party’s candidates in 2016.

On the extreme left, the party traces its roots back to the Russian Revolution, the 1930s workers movement and followers of Leon Trotsky. It splits with more popular socialist movements over a number of issues —  including the party’s support for Israel’s war in Gaza.

Richter grew up in Glencoe and said his first job was as a farmhand in rural Minnesota. He has had a 50-year-career as a trade union activist, resigning his job as an airline food service worker in Fort Worth, Texas, to campaign. Since he’s not likely to be heading to Washington, D.C., Richter plans to go back to his old job and is confident he’ll be able to do so.

“They consider me to be a good worker,” he said.

MinnPost spoke to Richter about his experiences as a third-party candidate on the campaign trail and about the Socialist Workers Party platform. The following interview has been edited for brevity and clarity.  

MinnPost: When did you join the Socialist Workers Party and why?

Dennis Richter: In Minneapolis in 1972. I was in high school during the Civil Rights Movement in the South. Although there were no Black people in my hometown, this movement had a big impact on me and it caused me to form relationships with people in the inner city in St. Paul and become involved at the end of the Civil Rights Movement. From there, I spent some time in college and then became involved in the anti-Vietnam War movement. Then I began to understand the imperialism of foreign policy that U.S. leaders were carrying out in the world. I saw that there needed to be a bigger solution, so I learned of the Socialist Workers Rights Party and I joined.  

MP: It is different from other socialist parties.

DR:. Yes, absolutely. We’re different from any other group that calls itself socialist because we’re based in the working class.

MP: You don’t oppose abortion restrictions as a matter of policy.

DR:. (We support) the decriminalization of abortion. Absolutely. But we’re not for abortions. We think in this society, women who have to have an abortion should have the right to have one without any criminal penalty. But we’re fighting for a society where women will not have to make that great difficult choice. It’s part and parcel of how we see women who will only become equal as we fight for the entire working class in the United States to have an affordable family formation, to have the ability to have children when you want and not when you don’t. There are many ways to solve this, but until we do it’s necessary that women have the right to have an abortion.

MP: Unlike other socialist parties that are sympathetic to the Palestinian cause and oppose Israel’s War in Gaza, the Socialist Workers Party takes a decidedly different view, right?

DR:. We support Israel’s right to exist as a refuge for Jews. We fundamentally oppose what Hamas carried out on Oct. 7 and support the efforts of the IDF to destroy Hamas, including what they face in Rafah today. We’re opposed to any ceasefire until that’s accomplished. We oppose antisemitism wherever it comes up, and the unions should take this up. There’s only one way that the Palestinian people can get this oppressive, nationalistic government off their back and that is through the efforts of the Israeli military.

MP: The party also rejects wokeism and “cancel culture.”

DR: Civil discussion and civil discourse on all political and social questions should take place, regardless of what your views are. There should not be intimidation about one view over the other. All views should be accepted. That’s what we believe in.

MP: The Socialist Workers Party supports Ukraine in its fight against Russia, doesn’t it?

DR: It’s very important that working people support Ukraine in their fight to retain their nation, to have sovereignty, to have self-determination.

MP: Why is the party defending former President Trump when it comes to the charges that have been leveled against him?

DR: We believe what the Democratic Party left has done, in relation to trying to force former President Trump out of the elections, is really very, very dangerous. And we get wide agreement with working people over this, whether they like Trump or not. Of course, we’ve never had anything to do with Trump, except oppose his being charged numerous times in an  attempt to drive him out of the presidential election.

MP: You don’t believe that Trump has committed any crimes that he should be facing prosecution for?

DR: No, I don’t. It’s an attack on free speech and the right to a fair trial. That’s what we believe. And it’s dangerous to all people as a whole. Because if they can do that to each other, at the highest levels of this government, they will certainly do it to us.

MP: Labor unions are losing membership and clout, aren’t they?

DR: They’ve lost membership, particularly in the last 30 years or so. Unions have come under serious attacks because capitalism is not only in  competition around the world where the rate of profit has gone down. It has taken that same attitude towards its workforce, driving down the standard of living, wages and working conditions and breaking the unions in many cases. But that’s behind us now. I just came back from Chicago. American Airline flight attendants — they had been having rallies systematically for months now, five years without a contract. Fighting for a contract and reaching out to other unions. We’re beginning to rebuild the solidarity that’s necessary. I think the major defeats are behind us.