George Clarke Archive | Trotskyist Writers Index | ETOL Main Page
From The Militant, Vol. 12 No. 40, 4 October 1948, pp. 1 & 2.
Transcribed & marked up by Einde O’ Callaghan for the Encyclopaedia of Trotskyism On-Line (ETOL).
Grace Carlson got the kind of welcome-home reception when she arrived in Minneapolis on Sept. 21 that was proper and deserving for the only woman candidate for Vice-President and the first Trotskyist to run for that office.
It’s a story that warms the. cockles of your heart. Our campaigners wanted the town to know that Grace was arriving on the Hiawatha at 6:35 p.m. at the Milwaukee Road RR depot. Twenty minutes before the train arrived they appeared at the station distributing the campaign platform to “everyone in sight – railroad workers, porters, redcaps, baggage men, cab drivers and everyone else in the station” informing all and sundry that the workers’ candidate for vice-president was coming in.
Two comrades boarded the train in St. Paul and distributed about 300 copies of the campaign platform to everyone on the coach. “When we met Grace,” one of them writes, “everyone in the coach craned their necks to look at the celebrity who had been traveling in their midst.”
At the Minneapolis station Grace was met by a large group of comrades and by Vincent R. Dunne, SWP candidate for U.S. Senator, who presented her with a huge bouquet of red and white gladioli. Then followed a long interview with a reporter and photographer from the Minneapolis Tribune.
The reception over, a whirlwind tour of Minnesota got under way with a press conference on Thursday, Sept. 21; a radio broadcast over WMIN on Friday; a Twin City campaign workers meeting on Saturday; a trip to Duluth on Sept. 27 and 28; the filing of petitions in the State Capitol in St. Paul on Sept. 30 and a public meeting in Willmar the same night; all climaxed with a Twin Cities public rally in St. Paul on Friday, Oct. 1. Whew! How does she do it?
On Oct. 2, comrade Carlson flies to Seattle for a two day visit, returns to Milwaukee on Oct. 7 and then heads for the east.
Second big doing comes off on Sunday, Oct. 3 in Hartford, Connecticut. Farrell Dobbs will make the keynote speech at our state convention there. His talk will be carried over a seven station Connecticut hookup: Hartford – WTHT; New Haven – WNHC; Bridgeport – WNAB; Torrington – WTOR; Waterbury – WATR; Stamford – WSTC. Hartford, New Haven, Bridge-, port and Torrington will rebroadcast from 5–5:30 p.m. the same afternoon, Waterbury and Stamford from 10–10:30 that night. It is also expected that WTIC (NBC) and WONS (Mutual) and WCCC (independent), all Hartford stations will carry the keynote address. WBIB, New Haven will re-broadcast on Wed., Oct. 6 from 6:30 to 7 p.m.
The convention will hear addresses by Gubernatorial candidate, Morris Chertov and State Campaign Manager, Alvin Berman.
After his speech at the Hartford Convention, comrade Dobbs Will return to New York for a few days and then catch a plane for California. He will speak in San Francisco at a noon-day waterfront meeting on Oct. 7, possibly at a university meeting that night, at a public rally on Oct. 8 and then proceed to Los Angeles where he will fill speaking engagements on Oct. 9 and 10.
Myra Tanner Weiss began her campaign in the 19th Congressional District in Los Angeles by challenging all her opponents to public debate. We wonder how Jack Berman, the Wallaceite candidate reacted to the challenge, knowing that he may one day be retired in favor of the Democrat Chet Hollifield?
By the time we go to press Minnesota will have filed nearly 5,000 signatures or more than twice the number needed. We hear that the two stars were Paul and Winnie who got 505 of St. Paul’s 1420 signatures in the first five days. Its good to have the stars but we’re nob ignoring all the others in Minneapolis, St. Paul, Willmar, Duluth and the Iron Range whose collective work put the petition campaign over the top.
The New York Local is shooting for the sale of 1,000 tickets for their Rally for a Socialist America on Oct. 27 at the Hotel Diplomat, a double-header featuring Dobbs and Carlson.
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Last updated: 26 March 2023