The most important accomplishment off Bernie’s 2016 was to prove that it was possible to run a credible and competitive campaign for president without taking money from the corporate billionaires with their own agenda. And he’s doing it again in 2019, which is why we should support him, and not Elizabeth Warren.

While Warren has pledged not to take corporate money in the primary race, she has said she will take it in the general in order to compete with Trump. And the New York Times ran a front page article last week that revealed that even in the primary, she was using a ten million dollar surplus from her senate campaign, which came largely from the corporate and financial sectors.

At the same time I support the idea of developing a progressive coalition between Sanders and Warren as some of my leftist friends are proposing. While not as progressive as Bernie, Warren is qualitatively better than Biden to challenge Trump.

“Bernie or Bust” is a Trump strategy, wittingly or not. It’s hard for me to believe that so many right-thinking people would not recognize how dangerous Trump is, in particular, with his murderous support of the white supremacist movement. Let’s not be liberal here. It’s not about your conscience. It’s about developing a strategy for the working class to seize power one way or another from the current crop of corrupt plutocrats.

It would be powerful if Bernie were to win, but it’s nowhere near all we need to reverse the trend toward climate collapse, perpetual war, and a rapacious economy. For that we need to organize the working class. In unions, in schools, in communities, everywhere. Bernie will help this effort by removing the obstacles to such organizing, like open shops and voter suppression. Elizabeth will do this as well if we keep the pressure on her.

My part in this effort has been to put together a book, with my friend Ken Epstein, of stories about working-class organizing , titled Solidarity Forever. So far we have Walter Riley, a radical union organizer in auto and steel (dad of Boots). We have several pieces about teachers and parents, including a story from the West Virginia teachers strike. Hospital organizing. The Black Panther Party organizing efforts. We do have room for more stories if you would like to be included. You can contact me at henryhitz.com.