Chicago: Ilona Gersh Runs For Mayor

 

Ilona Gersh, right, Socialist Workers Party candidate for mayor of Chicago, discusses fight of rail workers and the need for solidarity with co-workers at Alpha Baking Company Dec. 18.
(Picture & Caption Source: MILITANT/LISA ROTTACH)

I knew Ilona Gersh very well. She was the organizer of the Chicago Branch when I first moved there back in 1972. For at least a few months I shared an apartment with her and her roommate, Pearl Chertov. It was among the happy times of my life: I had a mission, I had friends, and we had fun.

I recall Ms. Gersh as a very serious but kind hearted person. She rarely smiled. I regarded her as my boss in those days, and I very much respected and admired her. She was totally business-like and competent. I'm not surprised she's still in the Movement.

If good character is required of a Chicago mayor, then Ms. Gersh is more than qualified.

I confess I wouldn't have recognized her from the picture. The sunglasses certainly don't help, and neither does the winter coat. It reminds me of our January days selling Militants at 63rd & Halsted. Then again, she's a lot older than she was back in 1972 and it's been a very long time. She is at least a couple years older than me, which puts her about age 73 or 74. I think she's probably in better physical shape than I am--which means she probably wouldn't recognize me, either.

The sad thing is that she is still working! The article announcing her candidacy (by Naomi Craine) has this lede:

The Socialist Workers Party announced Nov. 29 that it is running Ilona Gersh, a lifelong fighter for the interests of the working class, for mayor of Chicago. Gersh is a bakery worker and member of Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers union Local 1.

So I suppose bakery work involves some strenuous physical activity. I doubt I would be capable of doing it today. And surely most bakery workers at her age have retired. At very least she should be living off social security by now, and union bakers must have some kind of pension plan. I think it's very sad that she still has to work to support herself.

Perhaps she is working just so she can participate in the union movement? That would be consistent with her character. In that case it's voluntary and I admire her for still having the stamina to do it.

Or perhaps she's working because she has contributed all her savings over the years to the Party? This looks to be foolish. It's one thing to contribute to the Party if that is such an important part of your life, but to forfeit your retirement savings is taking it too far. She should have put some money aside.

Related to the above, perhaps she doesn't get a pension at all? Pensions are awarded to long-time employees--those who put 20 or 30 years into the job. The Party has a habit of moving comrades about fairly regularly, which means they can't keep a job for any length of time. It may be that Ms. Gersh has only had her current job for only a few years, in which case no pension will be forthcoming.

I suspect she is still working in part because she has no choice. As I say, I think this is very sad.

Ms. Gersh's campaign program can be summed up in a short paragraph (from Ms. Craine's article).

“Working people need to break with the Democrats, Republicans, and all other capitalist parties,” Gersh told the Militant. “We need to build our own party, a labor party, based on our unions, that can organize to fight for our own class interests in face of the economic, social and moral crises of the capitalist system. ..."

That's pretty much it. If you vote for Ilona Gersh you'll get a promise to build an as yet non-existent labor party built on a union movement that represents about 10% of the workforce (most of whom are public employees).

There is nothing about crime, homelessness, the terrible schools, the city and state's crushing debt, or any other issue that confront Chicago voters. What they really need, claims our candidate, is a party that doesn't even exist.

This alleged party does have some programmatic planks, to wit:

“Employment is a central question facing working people in Chicago and beyond,” Gersh said. “We need a union-led fight for jobs, with wages, hours and schedules that mean workers can be with their families and be politically active, rather than be torn apart by the bosses’ drive for profits.

That's weird. The BLS (pdf) reports that the unemployment rate as of October, 2022, in Chicagoland metro was 4.3%. In Cook County it was 4.9%. In the city it is about 5.3%. The national average (Oct., 2022) was 3.4%.

So Chicago is above the national average, but that's because of very high taxes and corrupt government. Still, unemployment is historically low, and wages for low-skilled workers are rising faster than average. Poor employment prospects does not seem like a major campaign issue right now.

“The labor movement needs to fight for a nationwide government-funded public works program, to create jobs and build and produce things that working people need,” the SWP candidate said.

Just what we need--more public employees! Unlike Ms. Gersh (who actually bakes something that people want to buy), most public employees contribute little to our total welfare. The teachers' union, for example, has reduced the public schools to a glorified babysitting service--when they're not pretending to teach over Zoom calls. We have more than enough public employees already, yet Ms. Gersh is calling for more of them.

Finally,

Gersh and her campaign supporters will join in fights in the interests of working people worldwide, including against Moscow’s assault on the independence of the courageous Ukrainian people and the protests by workers and youth in Iran today.

Ms. Gersh is entitled to her opinions on foreign affairs, but this has nothing to do with the City of Chicago, and she has no right to hijack its citizens into supporting her disparate causes, no matter how worthy.

I'll vouch for Ms. Gersh's character, but there is no other reason to vote for her for Mayor in 2023. 

Further Reading:

• Teachers Can't Teach
• Taxi Troubles
• Does 2013 Rhyme With 1934?