Introduction: Oaklandsocialist analyzes the candidacies of the two main “independent” lefts, Jill Stein and Cornel West. Here, in part one, we discuss Jill Stein’s campaign. In Part 2 we will discuss the campaign of Cornel West and then in Part 3 we will discuss the role of the left, socialist and otherwise, in relating to these two campaigns.

Let’s be clear:

1. The most important task in this election is to keep Trump/Vance out of the White House and prevent their fascist-connected cult from gaining a majority in either the Senate or the House.
2. The election campaigns of Jill Stein and Cornel West are systematically and knowingly undermining this task as well as undermining a defense against the MAGA cult. They are also sowing disinformation on the actual dangers of MAGA cult. Nor have they hesitated from associating with some of the most reactionary forces in US and world politics today.
3. The majority of the “socialist” left is playing a sectarian role and is assisting Stein and West.

Part I
Jill Stein and the Green Party
Let’s start with Jill Stein and the Green Party.

Jill Stein, happily breaking bread with Michael Flynn, Vladimir Putin and other war criminals.

NBC news documented how Putin supported Stein’s 2016 campaign. They wrote: “An NBC News analysis found that Russians working under the direction of the Internet Research Agency, the St. Petersburg-based firm run by a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, tweeted the phrase ‘Jill Stein’ over 1,000 times around the time of the election.

Stein posted this, saying she had a “good conversation” with Russian foreign minister and war criminal Sergei Lavrov.

“The posts were often accompanied by variations of the same hashtag, ‘Grow a spine and vote Jill Stein.’”

One might say that Stein is not responsible for what Putin & Co. do, but in that case she should disavow their support. However, NBC reports that neither the Green Party nor the Stein campaign responded to multiple requests for comment. In other words, they welcomed that support, and as we see, they responded by boosting both Putin and his U.S. ally, Donald Trump.

She did so in 2016 by selecting the Putin and Assad supporter Ajamu Baraka as her running mate. (The other running mate reportedly under consideration was the former correspondent of the Moscow controlled RT, Chris Hedges, who is also a “left” Putin and Assad apologist.)

Favoring Trump over Democrats
Stein has a history of favoring Trump over the Democrats. In 2016, USA Today reported, “Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein says Clinton is more dangerous than Trump: ‘Under Hillary Clinton, we could slide into nuclear war very quickly following her declared policy in Syria.”’ The video upon which this report is based has been taken down as apparently has an interview in which she called Trump a “peace candidate”.

This came after her infamous visit to and dinner in Moscow at which she was seated at the head table with Putin and US fascist Michael Flynn. She subsequently recorded a video message in Moscow in which she said not a word of criticism for the fascist connected Putin.

Jill Stein speaking at Rage Against the War Machine rally with Russian flag in background. In the background is a Putin supporter waving a Russian flag. Stein collaborated with fascists at that rally.

“Rage Against the War Machine”
In 2023, she gave a speech at the infamous “Rage Against the War Machine” rally in Washington DC. That rally was a collaboration between the “left” and outright fascists. Stein channeled that collaboration. She repeated the position of Russian fascist Aleksandr Dugin that it’s not a matter of “the right or the left”. She gave the same classless position about the “few elites at the top vs. all the rest of us.” There is a history of this sort of vague, populist anti “elite” demagoguery vs. clearly referring to the working class vs. the capitalist class. This demagoguery has led to “left” sounding fascism in the US (and elsewhere). 

Thirdway.org has documented Stein’s support for both Putin and Trump. They explained: “Stein touted [Putin’s] propaganda in return: In 2015, Stein recorded a video from Moscow’s famous Red Square, in which she talked about ‘the need to rein in American exceptionalism’ and replace ‘a U.S. policy based on domination’—words that sounded like they were ripped from Putin’s talking points. On Abortion: Stein has never criticized Trump or his Supreme Court picks for overturning Roe, but she attacks Joe Biden for it: Stein says Biden is ‘holding our bodies hostage for political posturing…’”  Stein also repeated the Trump complaint that the Harris candidacy was not voted on in Democratic primaries.

Jill Stein posted this graphic which claims that the revolution in Syria is just a “proxy war” over oil pipelines. A people’s revolution against the fascistic Assad has nothing to do with it, according to Stein.

Like almost all Putin apologists, Stein is also an apologist for the fascistic Assad. For example, she claims that the counter revolution waged by Assad and Putin is really just a proxy war between the US and Russia over who will control the oil flow from that region. She also spouts the Putin line that opposition to the fascistic Assad rule is simply a bunch of Islamic fanatical terrorists and that what is happening in Syria is simply a matter of a US attempt at “regime change”. She reportedly said the US should be working with Syria, Russia, and Iran to restore all of Syria to control by the government. (She scrubbed the link to that last statements, but it can be found in the archives.) And she has repeatedly in effect called for Russia’s victory in its invasion of Ukraine by her call to stop sending arms to Ukraine. Along with that, she has repeated the lie that Russia invaded because of NATO, rather than because of Putin’s imperialist aims.

Democratic National Convention
During the Democratic National Convention, Stein spoke at an event hosted by “Workers Strike Back”, which is a spinoff of the U.S. based Socialist Alternative (more on them later). There, Stein attacked the Democrats but said not a word about the threat of the fascist-connected Republicans. Elsewhere,  she has equated the Democrats and Republicans, as if there is no difference between capitalist democracy and a one-person, far right, fascist-connected dictatorship. In fact, in another speech, Stein blamed the Democrats, not the Republicans, for being “the cause of fascism”. Her campaign does nothing to warn against the dangers of the fascist-connected, white and male supremacist Trump cult and distracts away from the importance of building a working class-based defense against them.

In short, Stein has accepted the help of Trump ally, Vladimir Putin, and has repeated the propaganda of Putin, Trump and Assad and in effect boosted the ethno nationalist, male and white supremacist and fascist-connected Republican Party over the Democrats.

As for the Green Party itself, unlike the Greens in Europe, the U.S. Green Party is structured like the Democratic Party, with no formal membership and no regular local chapter meetings. The Green Party’s formlessness makes it impossible for any rank and file to really control it. More important, as with the Democrats, the Green Party does not have any roots in a working class movement, nor is it involved in building a movement in the streets and work places. It is purely an electoral party. As working class people move into action, they do not turn to the Green Party. The only way that the Green Party will start to develop any real influence is if a layer of workers start to build a working class party. In that case, some “left” capitalists could throw money at the Greens to create a diversion away from a working class party. 

Update, Sept. 18, 2024: We just recently discovered this statement from Jill Stein’s 2016 campaign for president. The statement says in part: “Stein said the US should be working with Syria, Russia, and Iran to restore all of Syria to control by the government rather than Jihadi rebels.” Posted in November of 2015, it was removed in October of the following year after a Washington Post reporter asked about the position, but it is still available on the archives. The Post reported: Stein spokeswoman Meleiza Figueroa says the statement, which appeared on Stein’s website for 11 months, was posted in error and doesn’t reflect her views. “Dr. Stein has never taken that position and had not seen or approved that statement, which was mistakenly posted on the website in November 2015.”

Stein’s support for dictators is not limited to Assad. More recently she was interviewed by Mehdi Hasan. Hasan pointed out that Stein had hardly said a word about Russia’s bombings of civilian populations in Ukraine. He then asked her about not calling Putin a “war criminal”. Stein danced around the question like a pro but she never did answer it. 

Update from the Oct. 15 Seattle Times: “In Nevada, Stein’s campaign was represented by Jay Sekulow, a conservative lawyer who represented Trump in his first impeachment trial. In Wisconsin, Stein’s campaign was represented by Michael Dean, a conservative lawyer who regularly works with Republicans. Her campaign has also hired Accelevate, a political consulting group that’s previously worked with Republicans.” 

Oct. 18 update: Today, Stein says that Israel’s genocidal war against the Palestinians should be resolved through “diplomacy”. That can only mean that the different repressive regimes in the region – Khameini of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Assad, the Qatari and Saudi regimes – negotiate with Israel and the United States. Those regimes have no interest in what benefits the Palestinian people. Their sole concern is how they can leverage this disaster for their own benefit. Stein’s call for “diplomacy” is yet another example of the fact that she and the Green Party are disconnected with any idea of a movement from below, that we working class people are the actors on the stage of history. Stein and her party are just a “kinder and gentler” pro-capitalist party.

Also see this article which covers a rally in which her supporter, Kshama Sawant, openly called for a Trump victory. Stein raised no objection to that.

Coming next: An analysis of the Cornel West candidacy.