By A. Shaw
In Chicago, we have Jesus Garcia, a liberal county commissioner, trying to unseat Rahm Emmanuel, a reactionary mayor seeking reelection.
Both Garcia and Emmanuel are DPs, members of one of the big bourgeois parties.
Garcia is Mexican-American and Emanuel is Jewish-American.
Obama endorses and campaigns for reactionary Emanuel, but the mass of the African-Americans, in Chicago, supports Garcia. The schism between the African Americans and Obama chiefly grows out of Emanuel’s decision to close 50 public schools that were predominantly black and transfer most of the money from the closed schools to private schools that are predominatly white. The closing of public schools and the re-segregation of all education are important planks in the Koch brothers platform.
Garcia is member of the middle class. Emanuel, a multi-millionaire, belongs to the bourgeoisie, like Obama who has a net worth of five million.
Garcia runs on a base composed chiefly of Mexican-Americans, African-Americans, Puerto Ricans, white liberals and other Latin American citizens.
Emanuel runs on a base of reationary Jewish-Americans, reactionary Polish-Americans, the billionaire Koch brothers and their front organizations, and crack-pot Cuban-Americans .
What role, if any, does the hard Left play in this race?
DSA and related news outlet “In These Times” have done good, solid work on the organizational, individual, and propaganda level for Garcia.
The CPUSA and its related outlet  “People’s World” (PW) seem to be following a more or less minimalist policy toward any participation on either side of the race.  Two days after the Feb. 24 election in which the mayor failed to win a majority, PW published an article that mildly favored Garcia. Members of the CPUSA seem to be working in both the Garcia and Emanuel campaigns in their individual capacities. The run-off election is on April  7.
In line with its bizarre ideology, the SWP appears to be completely out of it, except for a few Latino SWP members working for Garcia in their individual capacities.
About a half dozen anarchist groups agitate in Chicago for abstention by African American and Latin American voters, using the old argument “There isn’t a dime worth of difference between Garcia and Emanuel. So, why vote for either them?”
There are maybe 50 leftist spin-offs in Chicago that do nothing but engage in “discussion” about political matters. From all reports, the “discussions” so far have been intense.
Most of the Left in Chicago consists of about 100,000 individuals who don’t belong to any group. Some of these individuals so far have provided important support for Garcia in voter contact, fundraising, and volunteers.
Can liberal Garcia win over more if these “unorganized” leftist individuals?
Most recent polling:
Poll source Date(s)
administered		 Sample
size		 Margin of
error		 Rahm
Emanuel		 Jesús
García		 Undecided
Ogden & Fry February 28, 2015 1058 ± 3.07% 42.7% 38.7%
18.6%