Iowa Marxists back Democrat Tom Fiegen for US Senate

Iowa’s Marxists hope to elect one of their own to the US Senate this year.

Tom Fiegen is one of four Iowa Democrats hoping to win the June 7 primary to become the Democrat nominee contesting this year’s Iowa Senate race against Republican incumbent Chuck Grassley.

Fiegen is the only contender to have endorsed Senator Bernie Sanders‘ Presidential campaign, which has further endeared him to Sanders’ long-time backers Democratic Socialists of America.

Despite their comparatively “moderate” name, Democratic Socialists of America, like Sanders himself, draw inspiration from the “socialism through stealth” tactics of Italian Communist Party theoretician Antonio Gramsci.

Long time Iowa City academic, DSA comrade, and leading Sanders supporter Jeff Cox endorsed Tom Fiegen in a May 20 letter to the  Iowa City Press-Citizen:

Johnson County Democrats have an opportunity to revitalize a moribund Democratic Party by voting in the June primary for three county supervisor candidates who endorsed Bernie Sanders: Rod Sullivan, Kurt Friese and Jason T. Lewis. They represent the future of the Democratic Party, a party that says ‘yes we can’ rather than ‘no we can’t.’

We can also vote in the primary for the only Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate who endorsed Sanders, former state Sen. Tom Fiegen of Cedar County. He has a distinguished record of campaigning against factory farming and corporate agriculture. Unlike his opponents in the Democratic primary, he does not take campaign contributions from corporations, corporate political action committees or other campaign committees that accept corporate funding. Like Sanders, Tom Fiegen is not for sale.

Jeff Cox is a longtime Democratic activist, and the point man for a Johnson County steering committee which helped draft Sanders for the 2016 presidential contest.

At the University of Iowa – Ames, the local Young Democratic Socialists branch has endorsed Tom Fiegen and are actively training members and supporters to join his campaign.

Hey everyone, a quick reminder that there will be a surrogate training for Tom Fiegen this Saturday. We strongly endorse Tom, and would love to spread the word about his plans for senate on campus. This training will be the best way to get started!!

This is not the first time Iowan Marxists have supported Tom Fiegen.

In 2004 Democratic Socialists of America targeted local races where control of state houses were up for grabs and where statewide electoral-vote outcomes hinged on successful local district turnouts.

In Iowa, Tom Fiegen—who says his politics are in the tradition of the radical lay Catholic Worker Movement,—is attempting a return to the Iowa state Senate (District 40)..”

In Democratic Socialists of America’s Democratic Left Winter 2004/2005, Theresa Alt wrote;

We reported on the candidates that DSAers were supporting in the last issue of Democratic Left. How did they do?Longshot progressive insurgents Al Weed in Virginia, Lin Whitworth in Idaho, Dave Franker and Tom Fiegen all lost.

Let’s hope this attempt is as unsuccessful as the last. Iowa just got rid of long serving socialist Senator Tom Harkin in 2014.

Does the Hawkeye State really want to send another Marxist to Washington?

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Trevor Loudon is a New Zealand writer and speaker, currently living in Iowa. Loudon is working on the soon-to-be-released, Iowa-produced documentary The Enemies Within (see trailer here) and is the author of the 2013 book The Enemies Within:communists, socialists, and progressives in the US Congress.

Contact Trevor at [email protected].

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