NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. -- Bernie Sanders likes to call his presidential campaign a "political revolution." A pair of Atlantans hawking socialist paraphernalia outside his rally here Saturday evening are looking for a total revolution.
Floyd Fowler and David Ferguson made the trip to represent the Atlanta branch of the Socialist Workers Party. And plenty of Sanders fans stopped by the table to browse literature or subscribe to The Militant newspaper for the low, low price of $5 for 12 weeks.
“We’re finding a greater reception for the books that we produce, really than ever before,” Fowler said, as he signed up a newspaper subscriber. He went on:
"There are more people who are out there looking and they're not sure what they're looking for. They know what they're not looking for. They're not looking for someone that's the same. They're looking at all kinds of discussions and if they find the working class movement, they find socialists, that's great. But they can also find other things that can be very dangerous, and that's the conflicts that are coming in the future."
Sanders has described himself as a socialist, but he doesn't qualify as a true member of the tribe, in this group's view.
“He’s tied hand and foot to the Democratic Party,” Ferguson said.
“Bourgeois socialist,” said Osborne Hart, who is running for Mayor of Philadelphia as a socialist. But Hart was in South Carolina because Sanders is a magnet for like-minded folk.
It's people who want to blow up the political system, not unlike supporters of billionaire Donald Trump, 20,000 of whom cheered him in a Mobile, Ala., football stadium Friday night.
"When Donald Trump says the government sucks, basically, well, it's true! It's true! How can you -- you can make the mistake of feeling like I have to rise in defense of -- well no, I'm not going to rise in defense of the government. They are corrupt. The whole thing is loaded against you. … Capitalism worked just fine for Donald Trump but that's not tree for everybody else – for 99 out of 100 people."
A coming rain forced the socialists to cover their books and later find refuge under an overhang, but they continued to conduct business as the crowd trickled out after Sanders' hour-long speech. They plan to be back in Charleston for a big civil rights rally and conference over Labor Day weekend, as the socialists say the causes of racial and economic justice are one in the same.
Said Fowler:
"The country is becoming more divided. There's going to be more conflict and out of them, more people will begin to see that the challenge is not just trying to patch over the conflict. The challenge is to see there's two classes. They're diametrically opposed. Which side am I on? The side to me is the side of the immense majority, working people."
You can read more in our premium edition about Sanders' South Carolina debut, and his efforts to court African-American voters.
About the Author
