This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2016, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Alyson Kennedy, the presidential hopeful for the Social Workers Party, is on the ballot in Utah and six other states — but come Nov. 9 she will keep on campaigning.
The political race is just a vehicle to promote her message. What the 65-year-old former Utah coal miner is seeking is a workers revolution, similar to what happened in Cuba.
"We want a revolutionary struggle where workers and farmers take power," she said Wednesday in an interview.
The capitalist system in the United States has failed everyday employees, she said. The two major parties offer nothing more than a promise to make the capitalistic system better. That's a farce, she said, and anathema to human rights.
She noted that such things as Social Security, Medicare and unemployment insurance weren't gained without a battle. Workers should unionize and fight for their rights, Kennedy said.
The major party presidential candidates, Democrat Hillary Clinton and Republican Donald Trump, are unpopular, Kennedy said. After the election, the voters they alienated are not going away.
"In the eight years since the near meltdown of the U.S. banking system and there is no recovery for working people," she said. "A slow-burning depression is just beginning."
When workers take power in this country, Kennedy believes they will use corporate profits to pay for public works projects, health care and education.
She cited Cuba as an example of a socialist revolution that provides citizens with free health care and lifelong education. She argued the island state is not under totalitarian rule, as it is sometimes characterized in this country.
Unlike high-tech campaigns, such as that of President Barack Obama, Sen. Bernie Sanders and Trump, Kennedy says her movement is built on face-to-face meetings going door to door, as well as labor rallies.
"The best way to get our message out is to talk to people of all ages," she said. "We're never going to build a workers network through the internet."