Issues
Workers and the labor movement
It’s crucial to defend besieged union rights, Steve believes, but working people also need a political voice through establishing an independent labor party — one that would fight for both organized and unorganized workers.
Further reading:
Campaign statement calls for workers to “come out swinging” after Janus ruling
The Freedom Foundation: every worker’s enemy
House of Labor divided over Trump
Affirmative action = class solidarity
Social justice and democratic rights
Steve upholds women’s rights, including safe, legal abortion, and LGBTQ rights. He believes that no human is illegal and calls for dismantling ICE. He challenges systemic racism as a union shop steward and supports ending mass incarceration, creating elected civilian review boards over the cops, and respecting Native treaties.
Further reading:
A plan to address the housing crisis
Video: Open the borders
Video: Stop breaking up families
Radical Women’s open letter endorsing Steve Hoffman
Reproductive rights for immigrant youth!
War and militarism
Bring the troops home! That’s what Navy veteran Steve stands for. He calls for closing U.S. military bases around the world, retraining soldiers for peacetime production, and developing a foreign policy based on solidarity among workers of all countries.
Further reading:
Congress abandons veterans just before Memorial Day
Speaking out against the bombing of Syria
Trump’s Trigger-Happy War Cabinet Versus Socialist Internationalism
Soldiers are Uncle Sam’s most disposable workers
Economy and environment
Steve supports expansion of public employment to create jobs, provide the public services people need, and protect the environment. He promotes public ownership of banks and nationalizing the energy industry under workers’ control to transition away from fossil fuels. Corporations should pay for socially necessary programs like free childcare and college, a nationalized healthcare system, and aid to poor families.
Further reading:
Video: Liquified Natural Gas Plant in Tacoma Must Go!
Steve Hoffman calls for halting construction of LNG facility in Tacoma
Video: Urging Seattle City Council to grow a backbone
The right wing
Steve has decades of experience organizing against the right wing and the far right in all its guises, whether in Klan robes or business suits. He believes that a democratic united front made up of the targets of the modern-day fascists is what’s needed to stop them in their tracks.
Further reading:
Hoffman stands up to Patriot Prayer
Capitalism and Socialism
On his vision for the future, Steve says: “We need a socialist system where enterprises are owned by people collectively, run democratically, and the workers call the shots about what’s produced. We provide everyone with healthcare and a clean environment instead of building B-1 bombers. Everything is based to meet people’s needs and not to generate profits for a few to become fabulously rich. This is what socialism looks like.”
Further reading and listening:
Discussing the “flavors” of socialism on Spokane public radio
Amid recession, reaction and rebellion: A world to win, a planet to save