Like any Midwestern town with both an industrial base and institutions of higher education, South Bend, Indiana, has long had an active socialist presence. And Mayor Pete seemed to go out of his way to find them.
Many of the South Bend socialists gathered in the local branch of Jobs with Justice (JwJ), a radical “community organizing” group closely affiliated with the labor movement.
Sanctuary City
JwJ promotes the labor and social policies of the U.S. socialist movement—illegal immigration amnesty, the end of “right to work,” $15 per hour minimum wage, etc. JwJ is what used to be called a “communist front.”Buttigieg began working with the local JwJ at least as early as October 2014. In April 2015, Mayor Pete served on a panel at St. Joseph County Public Library entitled “Five Myths about immigration and why we need deferred action for the parents of Americans.”
Other panelists included, Sam Centellas (of JwJ and director of La Casa de Amistad), Tony Flora (of JwJ and vice president of Indiana AFL-CIO), and Fred Everett (of the Diocese of Fort Wayne/South Bend). Joseph Carbone of the St. Joseph Valley Project JwJ moderated the Q&A portion.
Wherever it can, the left works to introduce ID cards for illegal aliens so that they can access government services, obtain driver’s licenses, and, most importantly, vote for Democrats.
“We are working with South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg, South Bend Common Council, and local businesses as partners in providing support to vulnerable populations that have difficulty obtaining photo identification. We are still looking for local businesses who will accept the SB ID as photo identification.
“In the fall of 2014 the Social Justice committee from the St. Adalbert’s parish started working on ideas to address concerns from parishioners who had difficulty obtaining identification. In the early 2015 the committee approached community leaders, Mayor Pete Buttigieg and common council members about the idea of a city ID program.
“I regard us as a welcoming city. Some conservative talk show host may say that makes us a sanctuary city. I don’t know,” he said at the meeting.
Honeywell Strike
Mayor Buttigieg also worked closely with his friend from JwJ and the local AFL-CIO, Tony Flora.In February 2017, on the back of the Bernie Sanders movement, many of South Bend’s leftist activists coalesced into a new DSA branch—in which Flora played a leading role.
From May 2016 until February 2017, more than 300 workers at the Honeywell International Aerospace plant in South Bend were “locked out” after rejecting the company’s proposed contract.
Labor activists and socialists from all over the Midwest came to South Bend to support the locked-out workers—including Chicago-based Communist Party labor commission leader Scott Marshall.
JwJ played a role in strike support by providing some relief for the financially struggling workers. Flora was also heavily involved in the campaign, both in his capacity as the local AFL-CIO boss and presumably as a DSA comrade.
As the lockout dragged on for months, Mayor Buttigieg sided with the strikers—even sending representatives from his office to man the picket lines. When Joe Carbone of JwJ organized a picnic with area union representatives as a way to support Honeywell workers who weren’t taking home paychecks, Mayor Buttigieg turned up to fraternize with the workers.
In July 2018, even though the lock-out was long over (the workers caved), Mayor Pete turned up to a rally outside the Honeywell offices with Carbone and Flora to attack the company.
“I stand ... in support of Honeywell workers stripped of the health benefits they earned. If there’s enough cash for stock buybacks, then there is more than enough to keep this company’s promises to its retirees.”
Palestine and Israel
In April 2019, Buttigieg formally announced his run for the presidency in front of 4,000 people gathered in a re-purposed South Bend Studebaker plant. Outside the rally, Paul Mishler from JwJ and Northern Indiana DSA and a handful of others stood on a corner with a sign that read “Open your hearts to Palestine and Golan.”“He’s a kind person and has been a good mayor,” Mishler said. “I don’t agree with him on everything, but we’re out here because we want to kind of push him on foreign policy.”
Mishler was no doubt gratified when in October 2019 presidential candidate Buttigieg addressed the J Street convention in Washington, D.C. At the conference, Buttigieg openly supported J Street’s main goal, the partition of Israel to create an independent Palestinian state—the so-called “two state solution.”
Bus Drivers’ Strike
While Buttigieg has worked closely with the DSA and the South Bend left, neither party has been keen to publicly embrace the other on the presidential campaign trail.Buttigieg is running for president as a moderate progressive. He’s all on board with leftist talking points on social issues, but he’s trying to appear more moderate on fiscal issues. For instance, he has yet to embrace either the Green New Deal or Medicare for All, though both are DSA creations.
Every now and then, though, he has to touch base with his far-left roots.
Buttigieg made a campaign stop on Cape Cod on July 6, 2019, to meet with striking bus drivers before a fundraising event at the Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School.
“On Saturday, Mr. Buttigieg framed his understanding of the drivers’ strike within the American narrative of using organized labor to combat wage stagnation.
“‘I’m going to be keeping in touch, and I’m going to be looking for good news from Martha’s Vineyard and please let us know how I can be supportive,’ he said. ‘But also know that I’ll be letting others know about your story, because I think it can inspire a lot of other people in other places ... hang in there’”The eventually successful strike against the Vineyard Transit Authority was fully supported by the DSA.
“When bus drivers on Martha’s Vineyard struck at the height of the tourist season, solidarity from longtime residents, including some DSA activists, helped them win. ...
Liberal Democrat?
Is Buttigieg really just a well-meaning Liberal Democrat who just wants the best for America? Or is he his father’s son? Is he actually a “stealth socialist” who has honed the art of appearing to be whatever he needs to be to further his cause in any given situation?Buttigieg is running to secure Joe Biden’s support base not Bernie Sanders’. Buttigieg knows that if he can win over the moderate Democrats the hard left will have little choice but to fall in line. No sense, therefore, in scaring the moderate voters by telling them what you actually believe.
