Socialists Prepare Campaign

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Fifth Estate # 38, September 15-30, 1967

NEW YORK—The national Committee of the Socialist Workers party has announced here that it has nominated Fred Halstead and Paul Boutelle as the party’s candidates for President and Vice-President of the United States in the 1968 elections.

Halstead, a 40 year old cloth cutter from New York, said that the war in Vietnam would be a central issue of the campaign. His running mate, Boutelle, a 35 year old cab driver, said that black power would be a twin issue.

The Socialist Workers party was formed in 1928 by dissident Communist Party members who supported Leon Trotsky in the Russian power struggle. The party has been running presidential candidates since 1948. Its 1964 candidate was Clifton DeBerry who received 32,720 votes.

Jack Barnes, National Campaign Manager, told the press that 20,000 signatures have already been filed to put the SWP on the ballot in Michigan and that the party hopes to have ballot status in more states than in any previous election campaign.

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