Date: Mon, 18 Nov 1996 09:18:53 +0100 (MET) From: malecki-AT-algonet.se (Robert Malecki) Subject: M-G: Canadian "Socialist Action" Leader Caught Scabbing > The following article is from the 8 November 1996 issue of >"Workers Vanguard", the Marxist working-class biweekly of the >Spartacist League. A one year subscription to "Workers Vanguard" >is $10.00 (includes English-language "Spartacist", "Women and >Revolution", and "Black History and the Class Struggle"). Make >checks payable/mail to: Spartacist Publishing Co., Box 1377 GPO, >New York, NY 10116. >Canadian "Socialist Action" Leader Caught Scabbing > >TORONTO--Jack London once wrote that a scab was the lowest form >of life, but there's one even lower: the scab who calls himself a >"socialist." Such is Barry Weisleder, an Executive Board member >of the Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU). He is also >leader of the Canadian Socialist Action group, which is allied >with the U.S. organization of the same name and the United >Secretariat of the late Ernest Mandel. As Walk/Talk (6 >September), the strike bulletin of the Ontario Public Service >Staff Union (OPSSU), reported in an article titled, "He Talks >Like a Socialist, But He Walks Kinda Funny": "Region 5 EBM Barry >Weisleder showed up at the Ministry of Labour office at 400 >University Avenue in Toronto for a day of scabbing." > Weisleder tried unsuccessfully to force his way through 20 >strike pickets, members of the OPSSU, which represents 239 >clerks, secretaries, negotiators and other workers for OPSEU. >Weisleder later denounced these striking unionists for trying to >"paralyze the normal work" of their employer, namely himself! The >OPSSU members walked out after the "socialist" Weisleder and his >fellow union bureaucrats tried to shove a clawback contract down >their throats. The proposed contract would have laid off over 20 >percent of the staff and called for millions in givebacks! > While trying to muscle through the picket line at the >Ministry of Labour, Weisleder launched into a filthy anti-union >tirade. Walk/Talk reported that Weisleder screamed that "he >didn't make $50,000 a year and didn't see why anybody else >should"! Weisleder raved on in this "fiscally responsible" vein >for 45 minutes. All the while, "the circle of pickets slowly >moved Barry from the doorway down to the pavement, while he >continued to try to get in to do his scabbing." > Strikebreakers cross picket lines, militant unionists--not >to speak of socialists--defend them. Period. Speaking out of the >other side of his mouth, Weisleder authored a piece in the U.S. >Socialist Action (September 1996) calling to "Shut Down Toronto" >during last month's "Day of Action." And during last winter's >pivotal five-week OPSEU strike against the job-slashing Ontario >Conservative government, Weisleder waxed on in the Canadian >Socialist Action (Spring-Summer 1996) about how "Tens of >thousands of women and men, most first-time picketers, held the >line through the bitterest winter weather in years." But when it >comes to pickets by his "own" workers, this "socialist" >bureaucrat sings a different tune, arrogantly defending his >scabbing. Thumping the Steward's Handbook, he declared that the >OPSSU picket line wasn't a picket line at all, just a "political >demonstration" (Union Report, September 1996). Clearly worried >that "his" members would honor the lines, this unprincipled >wretch sobbed, "Thank goodness [the pickets] didn't precipitate >premature or unnecessary strikes at the work places concerned"! > Weisleder and his social-democratic friends at Socialist >Action have always had a tough time telling who's on what side of >the class line. For example, Weisleder supports the presence in >OPSEU of prison guards, a key component of the armed fist of the >capitalist state. Last spring, following the defeat of the OPSEU >strike, Weisleder even claimed the racist, scabherding Toronto >cops as union allies who were "friendly to OPSEU" and "in many >instances acted as benign [!] mediators" (Socialist Action, >Spring-Summer 1996). The capitalist state is the enemy of workers >and the oppressed. We say: Cops and jail guards out of the >unions! > Weisleder's gross anti-union acts were also noticed by his >pale-pink cousins in the International Socialists (co-thinkers of >the American International Socialist Organization). Their >Socialist Worker (21 September) chided Weisleder for opposing the >OPSSU strike. What they don't criticize him for is trying to >cross a picket line, because they do it all the time. And >Socialist Worker was even more profuse than Weisleder in praise >of "militant" prison guards during the OPSEU strike. > The kind of class-struggle leadership needed by workers and >the oppressed facing all-sided capitalist attacks won't come from >scab "socialists" who chatter about "solidarity" and then act >like the Junior Chamber of Commerce. We need a revolutionary >workers party forged on the basis of an anti-capitalist program >and genuine working-class principles--not least, the >understanding that picket lines mean don't cross! --- from list marxism-general-AT-lists.village.virginia.edu ---
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