March 4th 2010, Students and Workers Fight Back

Richard Mellor

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A few comments about the student and workers' protests and strikes in 2010 against the increasing costs or fees at public universities and for workers, attacks on wages, benefits and working conditions. I discuss here an issue that arose when two small business owners, food and drink vendors who had concessions at UC Berkeley called a strike in opposition to the University contracting out a much larger chain.

Students rightly sided with the small business owners against the contracting out of work to a chain but completely ignored the workers in these small businesses. The strike was called by the bosses, not the workers. This lack of class consciousness, was so obvious. I raise it not to condemn young workers, particularly those at university, for this weakness; I understand it to a degree. But it reflects the petit-bourgeois culture of much of the self styled socialist groups along with overconfidence, and at times, arrogance of those students that were from middle or upper middle class backgrounds.

After all, they went to the best schools, they lived in successful communities and they have been told from day one how bright they are and how they are born to lead. Working class youth in the workplace or union hall are very different.