Martin Koppel

Martín Koppel is an American activist and journalist who served as a member of the National Committee of the Socialist [Workers Party |Socialist Workers Party] from 1994 to 2010. Knoppel also worked as an editor for Perspectiva Mundial and of the Militant, two left-wing magazines based in New York City.

Early life

Before joining the staff of the SWP's paper The Militant in 1991, he was a steelworker in Chicago and member of the United Steelworkers of America union.

Career

Koppel is a Communist political organizer, a native of Argentina who grew up in the United States. Koppel first became involved in political activism while an exchange student in Marseille, France. The next year, in 1977, he joined the Socialist Workers Party in Baltimore.
He has been active in defense of the Cuban Revolution, and was a longtime supporter of the Left-Wing Puerto Rican independence. Koppel has also traveled in Latin America and the Caribbean to take part in political conferences in defense of communism, such as the Movement of Rural Landless Workers in Brazil along with several protests in Argentina, Mexico, the Dominican Republic, Nicaragua, and Grenada.

Writings

Koppel is the author of "Peru's Shining Path: Evolution of a Stalinist Sect", published by Pathfinder Press in 1994. The book was critical of the Maoist Shining Path movement in Peru.

Political campaigns

2004 Senate election

In 2004, Koppel ran for the US Senate seat from New York against Chuck Schumer. He received 14,811 for 0.2 percent of the vote.

2005 Mayoral election

Knoppel was nominated as the Socialist Workers Party in the 2005 New York City mayoral election.

2006 Attorney General election

In 2006 Koppel ran for attorney general of New York. He received 10,197 votes, for 0.2 percent of the total vote.