NJ Socialist Party Joins September 9th. Incarcerated and Enslaved Solidarity Coalition

The Socialist Party of New Jersey officially endorses the sympathy day of action undertaken by Decarcerate the Garden State. We are a revolutionary Democratic Socialist Organization dedicated to bringing about a radical democracy, a feminist society, and an economic system where the workers and consumer own and control the means of production rather than a few individuals or the state. Among our chief concerns is ending the exploitation of workers and oppression of all oppressed people.

Few workers are as exploited as incarcerated workers. The 13^th amendment specifically exempts incarcerated people from the ban on slavery. Prisons are thus able to force their inmates to work in terrible conditions often for a pittance of wage if any at all. That combined with the fact that the US and engages in mass incarceration, specifically targeting black and latinx people creating a massive force of slave labor. This is simply unacceptable.

September 9^th is the anniversary of the Attica riot. This is celebrating the time when prisoners took control of Attica prison in Attica New York over how poor conditions were. Governor Nelson Rockefeller sent in the National Guard to crush the riot leaving 33 prisoners dead. The government abused them, and when they rose up over that abuse they crushed them. As socialists we must always stand against oppression and exploitation. The Socialist Party platform says on legal justice. “The Socialist Party recognizes the right of all people to equal treatment under the law, and to a humane criminal sanction system based on prevention, mediation, restitution, and rehabilitation rather than on vengeance, forced labor, and profits for the prison-industrial complex.”

So on this 45^th anniversary of the attica riots, we call on the citizens of the US to rise up, engage in disruption and protest over mass incarceration and slavery of incarcerated people. We must liberate our enslaved and imprisoned comrades!

Presidential / VP Candidates Mimi Soltysik / Angela Nicole Walker (Socialist Party USA) Statement Supporting Sept 9 Prison Strike and Decarcerate the Garden State Efforts