Over one million signatures to recall Wisconsin's Walker

by Sean
750,000 signatures were needed to start the recall of Wisconsin governor Walker and over 1.3 million have been collected. This is a staggering figure in a couple of months. Not only that. But this has been done by tens of thousands of workers on the ground, rank and file union workers in the main. Chicago television just now showed the most active workers carrying box after box of recall forms into the collecting area and being cheered on and greeted by thousands of workers. The people carrying the boxes were overwhelmingly in their 30's 40's and 50's. And they were just beaming with pleasure and excitement and the feeling of having fought well and won. It was such a pleasure to see these workers proud and triumphant. We (the left) have to draw conclusions from this. Not to say negative things about the recall, not to make all our focus on the Democrats are no good, not to say this is all right but what we need is a general strike. We on the left need to be totally supportive of this movement to recall Walker.

What do we say to this, to get an ear of this movement, to intervene in this movement? I believe that we have to unconditionally support and involve ourselves in the recall movement. Not just pay lip service to the recall effort. But unconditionally stand and verbally stand and work for Walker's recall. It will be a victory against the extreme right if he is recalled. It will be a defeat for the left and workers movement if he defeats the recall.
Having made clear our total support for the recall movement then we will get an echo for question of what should take his place. The Democrats are lining up just automatically presuming that it is one of them. We have to strongly stand against this. This is where we can get the ear of just about everybody involved but in particular the most advanced and thinking workers. This is where we raise the need to have no illusions in the Democrats but the need to build our own party a workers party. I feel that being too dismissive of the recall movement, of putting the main emphasis on the Democrats are just as bad, or putting our main emphasis on a general strike will not get the ear of either the most advanced and thinking workers or the mass of the workers. i am inclined to think that either of these approaches by the left would be ultra left and would make it very difficult for us to connect with and influence the mass movement. It is extremely positive that tens of thousands of Wisconsin workers, (the Wall Street Journal estimates that 30,000, were involved actively in collecting these signatures. This along with the 100,000 who marched against Walker last year is a huge movement. This movement has collected 1.3 million signatures to recall Walker who is the puppet of the Koch brothers and extreme right wing corporations. We have to make sure we are heard to to say that is is a very positive development.