Jerry White (socialist)

Jerome "Jerry" White (born 1959) is an American politician and journalist, and is the Labor Editor reporting for the World Socialist Web Site. He is a member of the Socialist Equality Party of the United States, and was a member of its predecessor the Workers League, joining the movement in 1979.[1] White was the SEP's nominee for the United States presidential elections four times, running in 1996, 2008, 2012 and 2016.[2][3]

Jerry White
Jerry White—dressed in gray suit and tie and wearing eye glasses—addressing a meeting in 2008.
Pictured in 2008.
Born
Jerome White

1959 (age 6364)
OccupationJournalist
Known forSocialist politics

Early life

Jerome White was raised in a working-class family in Queens, New York. In 1979, while working at United Parcel Service and attending the City University of New York, he joined the Workers League, the predecessor of the Socialist Equality Party.[4]

Career

As a reporter for the World Socialist Web Site, White has written extensively on the US auto industry,[5][6] and has interviewed autoworkers in Michigan, Indiana, Ohio, and Illinois.[7][8][9][10] White authored a book, published in 1990, entitled Death on the Picket Line: The Story of John McCoy. The book, an investigative report, treats the killing of a militant coal miner, McCoy, as well as the history of the United Mine Workers (UMW) in West Virginia.[11]

White has been active in Detroit's Committee Against Utility Shutoffs (CAUS) and organized hearings on fires in low income neighborhoods.[12] He has criticized the Obama Administration for what he has described as its policies favoring Wall Street at the expense of workers.

White is the Editor of the World Socialist Web Site Autoworkers Newsletter.[13] White announced the creation of the WSWS Autoworker Newsletter in July 2015,[14] as a means to oppose to "UAW Nationalism", pension cuts, poverty wages, and unemployment, and to call for the abolishment of the two-tier wage system, and develop an international unity among autoworkers.[14] The Autoworkers Newsletter played a substantial role in the "No vote" carried out by Fiat Chrysler workers and Nexteer workers in 2015 against the proposed contract.[15]

Election campaigns

In 1996, White ran as the first presidential candidate for the newly-formed Socialist Equality Party (SEP) with vice-presidential candidate Fred Mazelis.[16][17]

In 2006, White ran for Michigan's 112th Congressional district seat as an SEP candidate.[18][19]

In 2008, White ran as the SEP presidential candidate with vice-presidential candidate Bill Van Auken.[20][21][22] The write-in campaign was accompanied by a redesign of the Socialist Equality Party's website, which would rehost articles written by both candidates for the World Socialist Web Site.[23][24]

In 2012, White ran as the SEP presidential candidate with vice-presidential candidate Phyllis Scherrer. The campaign was announced from the Cooper Tire factories in Findley, Ohio, where workers were locked out for contesting contract negotiations.[25] The White-Scherrer ticket was on the ballot in Wisconsin, Louisiana, and had write-in status for Michigan. White visited Canada, Germany, England and Sri Lanka to campaign for socialism and an international working-class movement.[26]

White's 2012 presidential campaign kept five core components: social equality, international unity in the working class, rejection of austerity, opposition to imperialist militarism and the assault on democratic rights, and opposition to the political subordination of the working class to the Democrats and Republicans.[27] White's campaign indicted the crisis that arose from the 2008 global financial crash as evidence of the failure of capitalism to organize society in a productive manner, and called for the building of an independent socialist movement and called for social rights to housing, retirement, food, and education.

In 2016, White ran as the SEP presidential candidate with vice-presidential candidate Niles Niemuth.[2]

References

  1. "Complete List of 2012 Presidential Candidates". White Out Press. 28 September 2022.
  2. Winger, Richard (2016-04-22). "Socialist Equality Party Announces National Ticket". Ballot Access News. Retrieved 2016-04-24.
  3. Socialist Equality Party announces US election campaign, World Socialist Web Site, 13 February 2012.
  4. "Jerry White for President | Socialist Equality Party". Archived from the original on 2012-02-18. Retrieved 2012-02-13.
  5. Contract workers denounce low wages in US auto industry, World Socialist Web Site, 14 December 2011.
  6. UAW expands drive to cut auto workers’ pay, World Socialist Web Site, 7 October 2010.
  7. "In the mid-1980s my parents said the UAW was not for us:" Interview with Ohio auto parts worker, World Socialist Web Site, 7 December 2010.
  8. Indianapolis GM workers defy UAW, vote down wage cut, World Socialist Web Site, 24 September 2010.
  9. Retired GM worker speaks on freezing death of 93-year-old Michigan man: "They want profits or you die", World Socialist Web Site, 5 February 2009.
  10. Strong opposition at final Chrysler plant voting on UAW contract, World Socialist Web Site, 27 October 2007.
  11. White, Jerry, Death on the Picket Line: The Story of John McCoy, Labor Publications, Detroit: 1990.
  12. Committee Against Utility Shutoffs Archived 2011-11-21 at the Wayback Machine CAUS, 23 March 2010.
  13. The way forward for autoworkers: An online interview with Jerry White
  14. Socialist Equality Party launches digital WSWS Autoworker Newsletter
  15. Member Rejection of FCA Collective Bargaining Agreement is UAW Democracy in Action, UAWGMTalks, 5 October 2015
  16. U.S. Presidential Elections: Leftist Votes, Marxists.org.
  17. Socialist Equality candidates fight police, school board over free speech, Michigan Daily, 6 September 1996.
  18. Library of Congress Archives
  19. Socialist Equality Party to contest state elections in Illinois, Maine, Oregon and WA, Portland Independent Media Center, 14 May 2006.
  20. Jerry White Speaks at University of Illinois-Chicago, World Socialist Web Site, 3 November 2008.
  21. McKinney and White on the Economic Crisis Archived 2013-11-09 at the Wayback Machine, Tribe, 19 September 2008.
  22. Socialist Equality Party Takes Steps to Receive Votes for President, Ballot Access News, 29 October 2008.
  23. Socialist Equality Party revamps website, Independent Political Report, 18 September 2008.
  24. Socialist presidential candidate visits campus, Michigan Daily, 24 September 2008.
  25. Brewer, James (16 February 2012). "SEP presidential candidate gives press conference, speaks to workers in Findlay, Ohio". World Socialist Web Site.
  26. "Jerry White, US Presidential Candidate, Speaks at The Humboldt University in Berlin". CNN.
  27. Cellania, Miss (4 September 2012). "15 Third-Party Presidential Candidates". Mental Floss.
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