Richard Mellor
Afscme Local 444,
retired
GED/HEO
11-06-22
“Obviously everybody should be turning out for what is the most consequential midterm election in the modern history of this country,” Sanders said before his rally in Austin, Texas. “But in the real world, I worry very much that Democrats have not done a good enough job of reaching out to young people and working-class people and motivating them to come out and vote in this election.” Sanders on the Democratic Party Campaign Trail
I just wish Bernie Sanders would go away. Here he is again, the good Democrat that he is and one of his party’s leading recruiters, blaming the electorate, young people in particular, for not bothering to come out and vote his party in these midterms and at the same time covering his left flank by criticizing the party for not reaching out to these young people; not motivating them to get up and vote.
He’s
right about one thing, there are millions of workers, many of them young people no doubt, who
have opted out of the electoral process in the US. In the 2016 election, almost
100 million chose not to participate and historically, less
than half of the voting-age population casts ballots in midterms. The
most recent one, in 2018, was an exception when just over 50% turned out. This is worrying for the US
ruling class as participating in the (Bourgeois) democratic process is such an
important part in legitimizing the rule of capital but they can’t escape it.
The Democratic Party isn’t failing or not doing a “good job” getting working class people to the polls; it has
nothing to offer them.
Millions of US workers have opted out of the electoral process not because they don’t care about politics or what is happening in the world around them, which is what some liberals argue. But voting is not an exercise in civics, and workers have learned through decades of experience that on the important issues, food, shelter, jobs, health care and now climate catastrophe, we have lost ground on all these major issues under Democratic and Republican administrations alike. Sanders had an opportunity to change that, to lay the foundation for a left alternative to the Democrats and instead chose to be that party’s chief recruiter.
Both capitalist parties are in crisis as the era of their domination of US political life is coming to an end. More and more people are rejecting the argument that one must vote for the lesser of two evils. This is no real choice at all. The best people can be accused of is having given up, that they feel there is nothing they can do. Possible splits in both parties can’t be ruled out with the Republican Party undoubtedly moving further to the right, populated with fascist elements, Christian Zionists, white nationalists and other distasteful elements, and the Democrats perhaps a left split with some of the progressives and left wing of that party. The latter doesn’t offer much hope mind you as we saw the cowardly retreat within 24 hours, after a letter the progressive Democrats in the House sent to Biden urging, “vigorous diplomatic efforts” towards a “negotiated settlement and ceasefire” in Ukraine was withdrawn blaming the letter’s premature release on staff.
And once
again, the trade union leadership gets off scot free. The silence atop
organized labor obscures, when it comes to politics, the fact that these
leaders head an organization of 14 million and have the structure and
resources, particularly human capital, to offer the millions that are
despairing and not participating in the electoral process a real
alternative. It is inevitable though, that an independent working class alternative to the two parties of capital will arise at some point in the struggles ahead.
California, which is the 4th largest economy in the world, is one example where organized labor has tremendous potential power. There are over 2 million workers affiliated to the state AFL-CIO, the California Labor Federation and some 800,000 workers affiliated to the Los Angeles Labor Federation. At this writing, the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) that represents dockworkers on the U.S. West Coast has been in contract negotiations for some five months. Biden joined negotiations back in July and there were hints of possibly using Taft Hartley against the ILWU imposing a “cooling off” period, a weapon that the bosses use to undermine the union while at the same time getting some rank and file pressure off the leadership. It’s a pre-emptive shot across the bow.
The negotiations are pretty much done in secret as apparently the ILWU leadership, the port bosses and the Biden Administration are all agreed that there will be no strike and no disruption of the post Pandemic economy. This is the Team Concept at work and this long standing effort of the employers and the trade union bureaucracy to undermine union power and solidarity is being ramped up. Myself and others faced this obstacle in our negotiations and it has many different names, Interest Based Bargaining is one example.
Forbes recently reported on the ILWU discussions and the need for changing the “What’s in it for Me” mentality to negotiations and contract talks to a “….highly collaborative….What’s in it for We” approach. It is being packaged as a ”New Approach” but it is the same old Team Concept, the disastrous policy that bosses and workers have the same economic interests. It is at the root of the concessionary contracts and outright betrayals labor’s rank and file has to deal with. There does not appear to be any left or organized opposition within the ILWU rank and file as finding information about the talks through the media blackout is not easy. I checked out the Dispatcher, the ILWU’s official publication and couldn’t find much there. Maybe I missed it but it appears everyone’s pretty tight lipped about it.
The ILWU
and organized labor in California have the potential to shut down the economy
of the state. Such power could also be used to raise not just issues that
directly affect union members but society as a whole. Homelessness is at crisis
levels in California as are house and rent prices. The mentally ill wander the
streets aimlessly, education is being priced out of reach for working class
people and public transportation is a disgrace.
Health care, dental care in particular is in need of change and of
course, the $15 an hour minimum wage is starvation wages in California.
I raise this as an example of what could be. Of real power that slumbers in the
lap of organized labor to use a famous phrase. I realize that given the
deafening silence of the labor hierarchy on matters of national and
international importance, so many people never consider organized labor as
having any real power at all, particularly union members who pay dues as wages
and benefits decline and concessionary contracts are forced down their throats.
But we should not kid ourselves, this potential being squelched by the ILWUs leadership in the interests of labor peace and teamwork, could if handled right, change the balance of class forces in this country and give people a sense that we could make some headway. Appeals could be made to the rest of organized and unorganized labor. It would ripple throughout US society and inspire millions of workers, including the unorganized and low waged who are clearly on the move at this time. The right wing bureaucracy atop organized labor knows this and it is why they do all they can to avoid it.
We cannot wish mass movements in to existence but there is no avoiding the battles ahead as the offensive of U.S. capitalism continues apace. The delay and the absence of any significant organized opposition in the streets and workplaces will ensure that it will not be business as usual; U.S. history proves that.
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