Seattle Socialist Party Has Big Expansion Plans

The Seattle Times reports:

The Socialist Alternative party, fresh off a surprise win in November, is setting up an office in Seattle and hopes to triple its membership by early next year.

Kshama Sawant’s defeat of incumbent Seattle City Councilmember Richard Conlin “was a watershed moment for the socialist movement across the country,” said Philip Locker, a national organizer for the Socialist Alternative party and the Sawant campaign’s political director.

While Sawant hires staff for her City Hall office, Locker is dreaming big about his organization. A recent recruiting event drew 35 people, and hundreds of people have expressed interest, he said. The party has about 80 active members in Seattle.

Locker’s goals reach beyond membership. He would like to see Seattle’s major labor groups leave behind their longtime allies in the Democratic Party to support Socialist Alternative candidates instead.

He wants to elect a slate of Socialist Alternative candidates, taking on housing, wages and health-care issues.

At a recent Sawant news conference, representatives from the faith community, the NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People) and SEIU (Service Employees International Union) Local 775NW stood alongside Socialist Alternative activists.

“We think there’s a real opening and a real opportunity to build the socialist movement here in Seattle,” Locker said.