File spoon-archives/marxism-general.archive/marxism-general_1997/marxism-general.9707, message 33


Date: Sun, 6 Jul 1997 01:45:03 -0400
From: malecki-AT-algonet.se (Robert Malecki)
Subject: M-G: COCKROACH! Summer Extra! (Detroit!) 


COCKROACH! Summer Extra! (Detroit!)

A EZINE FOR POOR AND WORKING CLASS PEOPLE.

WE HAVE NOTHING TO LOSE BUT OUR CHAINS.

It is time that the poor and working class people
have a voice on the Internet.

Contributions can be sent to <malecki-AT-algonet.se>
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http://www.kmf.org/malecki/

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1. The Strike Is Over, But The Fight Goes On!

2. Dear Red Pearl!
--------------------------------------------------------

The Strike Is Over, But The Fight Goes On!

We=92re all in Detroit today to honor the strikers and help them win back their
jobs and a contract. The strikers could have won, but the bitter fact is that
the local and International union leaders turned victory into defeat: they
opposed  the strikers=92 calls to shut down production, organize a general
strike, and a national march in Detroit. Instead they pushed the losing
boycott and delayed this March until long after they had ordered the strikers
back. Now, we=92re all faced with the job of helping them under very tough
circumstances.

This loss in Detroit, our unions=92 stronghold, will hurt us all as employers
everywhere watch and learn. We, as workers, must look and learn too. Only
then can we go forward. We are a group of working people, activists who
mainly came together around the Staley fight. This flier is to help figure
out how to beat corporate greed.

The Strike Could Have Won
After thousands of strikers and other workers shut down the only production
plant around Labor Day 1995, Gannett and Knight-Ridder ran to their judges
and got an injunction. The Metro Newspaper Council union presi- dents, backed
up by the internationals, refused to keep production shut down. Instead, they
promoted boycotts and sticking it out =93one day longer=94. Up against
mega-corporations with deep pockets, with owners who=92d planned this
union-busting for years, that boycott strategy was DOA, even though it did
cost the paper owners maybe $250 million in losses. For the owners, this was
an investment in future profits. For our side, it was a loser. Boycotts and
customer campaigns were no substitute for what the strikers demanded: Shut It
Down!

Within a month of the injunction and the union leaders=92 backing down, both
strike activist groups (the AFL-sponsored Labor/Community/Religious Coalition
and the strikers=92 Unity-Victory Caucus) called for:
1. =93mass picketing to win the strike=94
2. =93A general strike in Detroit=94.
3. =93A National Labor Solidarity March=94
A mass meeting of strikers from all unions, called by the Council, voted for
mass picketing and defying the judge.

How did the union presidents respond? They rejected the Coalitions
=93recommendation=94, baited the Unity-Victory Caucus as a =93splinter group=94, and
said that the strikers=92 meeting, which they=92d called, had no authority over
them as local union presidents. Either the strikers  would take and expand
the fight or the =93Lords of Labor=94 would choke the fight to death.

Our greatest weakness? No leaders came forward to implement the strikers=92
vote. This would have meant:
1. Organize workers to demand action from the local presidents and
International unions. To expose and replace those who wouldn=92t do what needed
to be done..
2. A strike leadership elected to run the strike on their strategy, not
giving up the fight to shut production down.
3. Build strong ties with the mainly Black Detroit working class community.
The mainly white workforce reflected  the papers=92 racist hiring practices.
The companies hired mainly Black scabs to promote division. To overcome this
division and create the massive, militant solidarity needed to shut down
production, the strikers had to stand shoulder to shoulder with Black Detroit
against corporate and police racism: To fight for hiring more Black workers
at the papers. To publicly denounce and march against the police killers of
Malice Green.
4. Win workers and local unions to shut off all services to the papers=92
production and offices. Phone, electric, mail.
Tough? Very tough, but we need new politics to win!

>From that time forward, the strikers=92 courageous stand weakened, day after
day. Despite strikers=92 bold actions and great persistence, the union leaders-
=93progressives=94 like Carey and Sweeney and Old Guard like Hoffa and Bahr- all
choked off the fight. For example:

* Sweeney/Trumpka/Chavez refused the strikers=92 call for a Solidarity March on
Labor Day =9196. Instead, they got arrested in a token sit-in. Why? They didn=92t
want to put candidate Clinton on the spot. They, like most of our union
leaders, refuse to organize a separate party for the working class. Instead,
they sacrificed the strikers for their deals at the top.

* The striking Teamsters were 1,400 of the 2,000 strikers. Their local IBT
presidents are part of the Hoffa forces; they strongly opposed mass
picketing.

* Strong pressure generated by the strikers for a National AFL-CIO Solidarity
March forced the  union leaders=92 hands. The New Faces joined the Old Guard
and ordered the return to work. Then, and only then, did they join hands to
call this March. Even so,

This March Shows What Could Have Been Done to Win

This shows that thousands of workers will come out in solidarity. Many people
here today will go home and help the locked out brothers and sisters. But, if
we=92re to help,

We need a fighting workers=92 movement.
When we take actions against these companies at home, let=92s expose the real
role of the union leaders to our fellow activists. Sweeney brags that
ordering the strikers back is a =93bold, new strategy=94. ?!? New? Bold? Duh.

=93The 10J Injunction will win the day.=94
Our union leaders hope that the NLRB will avert a total defeat by winning a
=9310J=94 injunction to return the strikers to the jobs remaining. What is the
truth? Even if the NLRB decides to pursue the 10J, it has to go to Federal
Court, which it hasn=92t done as of today (6/19/97). And even if the judge
issues it, the companies can appeal that decision. This could take 5 years.
And even if the NLRB does get the injunction, it still leaves out at least
1/3 of the workers, including the 181 fired for picket line duty and the 600
already outsourced.

They turn victory into defeat. Why?
Was this a fluke? Or is this behavior typical of our union leadership? And,
if it is, what accounts for it? And what can we do to turn this around?

Well, take a look at PATCO, P-9 Hormel, the rail workers, Staley, Caterpillar
and Bridgestone-Firestone. Did our Internationals mobilize our power and
fight? Even with good local leadership in some cases, the internationals
caved in or sabotaged these fights. But why would they? Don=92t they at least
want our dues?

Ever since the start of the Cold War against communism, militant fighters and
radicals were hounded out or isolated in our unions. The conservative leaders
got a corporate lifestyle and social acceptance by the =91top dogs=92 in return
for keeping us, the working class, in the deal.

That meant getting better pay and benefits for most workers in exchange for
giving the companies control over production. When workers=92 fought the
companies over production issues, the union leaders acted smother that fight.
Look at auto. That was the tradeoff behind the =93American Dream=94. Union
leaders functioned as brokers,  making deals and controlling us. Not as
leaders.

That deal =93worked=94 up to the =9170s when the post-WW2 deal broke down. Profit
rates were down. Workers=92 militancy was up. U.S. corporations now had
competition. The corporate answer? Smash the new militancy. Close plants.
Break strikes with scabs. Step up competitive =93whipsawing=94 between workers
here and overseas. Speed up production. Introduce union-management =93teams=94 to
use our brains against us.

Ever since then, the conservatives running our unions haven=92t delivered
better pay and benefits with their deals. Instead, they used the carrot and
the whip to get  workers to accept speed-up, longer hours, worse conditions,
downsizing, outsourcing, etc. The union leaders became mainly the enforcers-
cops for the bosses.

What=92s in it for them? They make good money, get acceptance by the big shots,
live and think like corporate =91shirts=92, not workers facing one-sided class
war.

Corporate Profits or Workers Needs?
Most union leaders and many workers accept the idea that corporations=92 profit
needs must come first. They don=92t see any alternative to helping the company
make profits. They can=92t imagine us, the working class, winning the power and
running society for our benefit, so they make their peace with the dictators
of corporate greed and their politicians.

They try to make the loses not so bad, the cuts not so painful. But they end
up trying to strangle our fights, like Detroit. They know that working class
struggle like Detroit will force them to confront injunctions and jail.. They
don=92t want to risk the union treasuries, their salaries, their freedom. But
isn=92t that exactly what=92s needed- to mobilize our power, as a class? Isn=92t
that exactly what it cost even to build our unions?

Workers who want to fight and win must face these issues. The working class
needs such workers, activists and groups. We need people who=92ve seen and cut
those mental chains. Until we reject them, we=92re trapped. Until we put
working class needs, power, and the fight for justice first, we can=92t see and
organize the working class strength that=92s out there. Like it was in Detroit.

Unless and until we get that straight, we=92ll keep depending on the same set
(or =93New Faces but the same old AFL=94) to come and bail us out. Did they win
Detroit?

Most workers have a hard time believing that the union leaders would rather
let us get beat and lose our dues than lead a fight. But isn=92t that exactly
what the last 25 years shows? The =93let=92s make a deal=94 days are gone. Let=92s
bury them with a new, fighting workers=92 movement.


Working People=92s Action and Education Network, Box 578427, 60657,
773-935-5255. red1pearl-AT-aol.com
-------------------------------------------------------
Dear Red Pearl...

Red Pearl wrote;
>
>All the above makes sense, except: 1. " .. a shrinking world market..." Is
>this more than an impression? do you have any facts about world trade that
>support this? I know that world trade and production actually declined in the
>mid-'70s, but I thought that both were and are actually expanding. This
>doesn't mean that inter-capitalist rivalry isn't growing, but just because
>that competition grows doesn't mean that it's over a shrinking pie of
>production, either.

I don't have any "facts" other then. We have mass unemployment here in
Europe on the levels of the depression. And of course the ability for the
various imperialist powers to expand their markets. Economic growth these
days is not based on expansion but downsizing and dismantling the welfare
states etc. However one could say that there is a capitalist/imperialist
wild west boom in expansion to the east. But this is being down at the price
of mass unemployment in the west and downsizing.. So rather then looking at
the number of tubes of toothpaste sold I suggest looking atr the situation
in regards to the above..

>
>2. Isn't it true that the social democrats (in Sweden) offered tax cuts that
>lowered taxes for the better-paid industrial, export workers while they cut
>social services for the poorer? This was maybe 5-7 years ago, as I recall. If
>you've run across any articles on this that'll straighten me out, please feel
>free.

No the big tax reform a few years back had more to do with a taxcut for the
middle class rather then the industrial proletariat and public sector
workers. The real gains came for people with above average incomes and those
who owned their own homes. However historically the Social democrats have
broken with there so called solidarity pay package and the last few years
contracts for the leading private industrial workers has gone up much faster
then in the public sector. However the gap is even larger if one were to
look at the mass lay offs and down sizing of the public sector in the last
four to five years. Over 500,000 to 750.000 jobs have disappeared.
And I think in regards to the private secto vs the public sector it is
around three to one in favor of the private industrial sector.

>Are there any organized left forces building on the split you describe in the
>SPD?

Well yes and no. What we have here is quite a lot of anger and bitterness
connected to quite a lot of illusions in getting back to the good old times.
Organisationally it is at present being expressed both in a general hate for
politics and politicians wehile at the same time quite a lot of grass roots
activity both in the unions and nearly million people on the dole around all
the cutbacks, attacks on welfare reforms and unemployment in general.
Unemployment groups are poping up all over the place in the last year.
Naturally the left is involved in this stuff but as of yet no real political
and organisational split can be seen. With the elections only a little over
a year away it will be quite interesting to see what happens. At present the
unions appear to have the line of some sort of cultural revolution by
fighting to get as many trade unionists opn the Social democratic ballots as
possible. But there is a tendency in the north around the miners union which
on the local level has slit with the social Democracy to the left. However
it is only at present on the local level. Hopefully some sort of national
iniative could take place connecting up both the unions and the unemployed
committees on a fairly militant program to the next election. The Euro
Communist appear to want to run their own race as the rest of the left want
to tail the traditional back to the good old times Social democracy.. More
Later when things develop here..

Warm regards
Bob Malecki
---------------------------------------------------------
Check Out My HomePage where you can,

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Back issues of Cockroach and my book at
http://www.kmf.org/malecki/

--------------------------------------------------------



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