Million Worker March set for October
Special to Workers World
San Francisco
Can labor organize an independent mass mobilization to address the broad range of problems facing the multinational working class here? Though many hurdles need to be overcome, the answer being given is a resounding "Yes!"
On Feb. 26, Local 10 of the Inter na tional Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) in San Francisco proposed a bold initiative: a Million Worker March on Washington. This plucky union is well-known nationally for its leading role in class warfare and in struggles against U.S. imperialist wars. The leaders have educated, organized and defended their rank and file in a period of unprecedented hostility from Washington and Wall Street.
The local union passed a resolution that the call be forwarded to "unions, labor councils and labor organizations, as well as other organizations to which workers belong whether organized or not, so they can take similar action to organize this march as soon as possible." At a kickoff rally here on May 22, they set the date for the march: Oct. 16.
The May 22 rally sent a strong message that it was time to take the road of independent class struggle and break labor's traditional ties to the Democratic Party. Clarence Thomas, an executive board mem ber of ILWU Local 10 and a nationally known African-American trade union leader, issued an appeal to support the Million Worker March: "This is a Call to working people to unite and mobilize around our own agenda. For the past decade we have been subject to an unrestrained corporate assault. This is the moment, this is the time for us to advance our own demands, our own needs and to proclaim a political agenda in our own vital interests." He and Trent Willis, another member of Local 10 ILWU, chaired the rally.
Thomas recently returned from a fact-finding contact with Iraqi workers and unions who are besieged under the brutal U.S. military occupation. He attacked the occupation and appealed to the U.S. labor movement to support these sisters and brothers.
The rally of around 250 participants represented a diverse group, primarily trade union leaders from many parts of the country. From New York, Brenda Stokely--a leader in AFSCME District 1707, a nationally known African-American woman and a strong opponent of the Iraq war--gave a passionate and uplifting talk.
Chris Silvera, secretary treasurer of Teamsters Local 808 in Long Island City, N.Y., and chairperson of the Teamsters' National Black Caucus, reflected the sentiment of the rally. "Now you can sit around and wait for Kerry to do something. But we are going to Washington to shake the house. We need to take back our country, take back our rights and rip up the Patriot Act."
Among the many speakers was Walter Johnson, secretary treasurer of the San Francisco Central Labor Council. The base of support for the project so far is the West Coast labor movement, including undocumented representatives such as the San Francisco Day Laborer Program, community organizations and anti-war representatives.
Individual endorsers included long-time fighters for civil rights and in the anti-war struggle like Dick Gregory, Danny Glover and Casey Kasem. Orga nizers from Baltimore, St. Louis, Los Angeles, New York, Charleston, S.C., Cleve land and seven other cities agreed to set up centers to build the march.
The labor councils of Charleston, S.C., and five other cities around the country endorsed the proposal.
A call to the rank and file
This call comes at a most opportune time. It is an appeal to the rank and file, to the disfranchised, the oppressed who labor in the fields, the factories, the mines and the offices. It is a reminder that they have a collective power, a power in numbers that can resist the relentless assault on their living conditions.
It is a call to action against the banks and bosses, led by President George W. Bush, who has written off the workers, organized and unorganized.
The Wall Street Journal had gloated on Jan. 23 that "Membership has been in decline since the Reagan years, but the latest report shows a more dramatic fall than usual ... Unions don't seem to have the allure that they once did, especially for younger workers ... All of which must depress John Sweeney who took over the AFL-CIO some years ago promising organizing ... [The] shrinking labor movement has lost clout in the real economy."
The gloating is generated by the overall growth of profits resulting from layoffs, downsizing of wages and benefits, privatizing and outsourcing, which continue unabated without significant resistance. For 1,488 companies tracked by Dow Jones & Co., net income in the first quarter was $159.2 billion, up 23 percent from the first quarter of 2003. (Wall Street Journal, May 28)
These corporate profits are achieved on the backs of the workers, especially through increased productivity, two-tier concessionary contracts and reduced wages and benefits. In the race to the bottom that generates these huge profits, the top leaders of the official labor movement have so far shown neither an independent policy nor a strategy of action to rescue the besieged sisters and brothers.
Workers restless over reliance on Democrats
The failure of AFL-CIO President John Sweeney and his executive board to mobilize the rank and file to fight for a substantial piece of the exorbitant profits has set a bad example for both the organized and unorganized, who are searching for a way out of the many horrors deluging them.
The Sweeney leadership is tied to the program of the Democratic Party and Sen. John Kerry. However, there is growing concern among the rank and file--who are still supporting the AFL-CIO's "anybody but Bush" pro-Kerry campaign--that it ignores their issues and concerns. Swee ney has shown no inclination to criticize Kerry or demand that he represent labor's needs.
Recently, Kerry failed to show up for a critical Senate vote on the extension of unemployment benefits, a life-and-death issue for the millions who have exhausted them. It needed 60 votes to pass. The amend ment failed by one vote. Kerry knew it would be close but decided it was more important to continue on the campaign trail, posturing as the champion of the people and lauding the virtues of his differences with Bush.
The Democratic Party is nothing more than a "loyal opposition" to the self-serving, openly pro-big-business Republican Party. The election campaigns of the two capitalist parties show an interest only in getting votes, spending hundreds of millions of dollars to outdo each other and bedazzle the people with ads, television commercials and monopolized media expo sure. Neither candidate can solve the crisis of imperialist wars for markets and profits or the relentless drive to exploit the workers and oppressed here.
Once again, the workers and the oppres sed face the choice of a lesser of two evils.
In the United States today over 13 million workers, coming from many different nationalities, are organized into 66 affiliated unions. They are primarily low-paid and service-oriented. Many are women. There are differences among the AFL-CIO officials on a number of issues. Can this immense rank and file pressure the more progressive wing of the leadership to support the Million Worker March on Washington?
The May 22 kickoff rally here ended with a Mission Statement: "Why will we be marching on Washington? Only our own independent mobilization of working people across America can open the way to addressing our needs and our agenda."
History has confirmed over and over again that all profound social, economic and political change starts from below. The Million Worker March on Washing ton is a beginning--a significant step in building a movement of multinational workers and oppressed nationalities in a classwide, independent struggle that can generate a genuine, anti-capitalist fightback.
