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From The Militant, Vol. 12 No. 40, 4 October 1948, p. 4.
Transcribed & marked up by Einde O’ Callaghan for the Encyclopaedia of Trotskyism On-Line (ETOL).
DULUTH, Sept. 29 – At the head of the Great Lakes, Duluth is popularly known as “The Gateway to the Arrowhead Country.” And, as the travel folders tell us,
“The Arrowhead Country is that fabulous portion of northeast Minnesota, containing the Mesabi, Vermilion and Cuyuna Ranges, which produce 60 per cent of U.S. iron ore – the Superior and Chippewa National Forests, with more than 4,000,000 acres of semi-alpine lakes, purling streams, virgin pine and towering spruce – and 7,000 of Minnesota’s famed 10,000 sky-blue lakes.”
Impressed with this kind of publicity and with the real scenic beauty of the region, thousands of vacationers flock to the Arrowhead Country each year. Rut there are more important people in the Arrowhead than tourists – thousands of revolutionary-minded miners, wood-workers, steelworkers, seamen. In 1946, the Socialist Workers Party candidates, running under the ballot designation Revolutionary Workers Party, polled over 2000 votes in the Arrowhead region.
This year, we expect to reach many more Iron Range workers with the revolutionary socialist program. Vincent Dunne, our Senatorial candidate, Henry Schultz and I spent some fruitful days here – conferring with our campaign workers, holding press interviews, making radio speeches, visiting with friends in the unions and the NAACP.
Our visit to Superior, Wisconsin coincided with that of Claude Watson, presidential candidate of the Prohibition Party. A front-page story in the Superior Evening Telegram of Sept. 28 reported the arrival of both national candidates and pointed out (correctly) that the SWP is conducting a much more dynamic campaign:
“While Dr. Carlson and her aides found time to hand out some of their campaign material at the Head of the Lakes, Prohibitionist Watson was singularly silent during his short visit. An active and earnest candidate, Dr. Carlson plans several appearances in scattered sections of Minnesota the rest of the week and then will fly to Seattle for appearances on the West Coast over the weekend.”
The Superior paper also devoted several paragraphs to the Marxist character of our election platform. There are still many workers in the Duluth-Superior region whose memories go back to the days of the militant IWW. Their eyes will shine when they read:
“Dr. Carlson’s party banner proudly exhibits the names of such revolutionary characters as Marx and Engels, Lenin and Trotsky, Debs and Haywood.”
I think that many Head of the Lakes workers will be proud to cast their ballots for the candidates of the Socialist Workers Party.
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Last updated: 25 March 2023