New York Mayoral Candidate Attacks Nixon as Oppressor of Working Class

Anton Chaitkin, a New York mayoral candidate, described President Nixon's welfare program as "a club against the working man" before a group of about 50 last night at Phillips Brooks House.

Chaitkin, the candidate of the National Caucus of Labor Committees, said that the Nixon welfare program forces people to work at "scab wages."

He said that the latest Nixon budget cuts "were substantial cuts in the working class income."

"Throughout the U.S. people are in a reflective mood. They're looking for alternatives," he said.

Chaitkin, who is leading a drive to restructure the National Welfare Rights Organization, said: "These organizations [welfare groups], together with other organizations of the unemployed as allies, will constitute a group that relates to other sections of the working class in order to create a 'working class political power.'"

Chaitkin said that Nixon's Phase III programs have led to a "paralysis of labor organizations" which has caused "chaos and insecurity" among the working class.

Speaking about his New York mayoral bid, he said that it is "the only pro-working class campaign in the U.S."

He also blasted New York's school decentralization as "letting small groups control their own poverty."

Roberta Grant, state chairwoman of the Massachusetts Welfare Organization, preceded Chaitkin's address with a description of the present welfare struggle.

"It's very obvious that one class is being oppressed more than others," Grant said. "They make the issue appear racial, when it's really an issue of poverty."

The speakers were part of a forum series sponsored by the National Caucus of Labor Committees.