ALTERNATIVE ISSUE #98 l NOVEMBER 2023
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SOCIALIST
WHAT WE STAND FOR
No To War And Imperialism
which should have the power to review corporate finances, especially when money is squandered on CEO pay and stock buybacks.
• We need an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, the end of all US military aid to Israel, and the building of an international movement to end the occupation. A New Political Party For • Build a massive anti-war and anti-imperialist movement linking up workers and youth Working People across borders! Only socialist international- • Republicans are resorting to divide-and-rule ism can end war and destruction and win scapegoating because the GOP has no real lasting peace and stability for the working answers to the questions facing working masses around the world. people, but the corporate Democratic Party • Socialist Alternative completely opposes offers no solution to right-wing attacks Russian imperialism’s brutal invasion of against workers and marginalized people Ukraine. Ordinary Ukrainians who already and has repeatedly failed to use its majorisuffer exploitation, oppression, corruption, ties to protect our rights. and growing poverty conditions now face • Fight for the highest possible vote for the horror of war and bloodshed. Cornel West for president, an independent • We oppose the aggressive imperialist socialist with roots in the movement as a agenda of NATO and the US for whom step towards building a new, working-class, Ukrainians are a pawn in the wider Cold multi-racial party that organizes and fights War conflict with Chinese imperialism. for workers’ interests. • De-escalating the rapidly deteriorating situation in Ukraine requires the return of RusMobilize Against Gender sian troops to the barracks in Russia and the withdrawal of all NATO troops from Oppression & Attacks On Bodily Eastern Europe. Autonomy
Fight Inflation & Rebuild A Fighting Labor Movement • Inflation, unaffordable healthcare, rising prices, and sky-high rents, plus a lack of basic respect on the job are pushing hundreds of thousands of workers to go on strike. We need effective strikes that hit the bosses where it hurts most – their pocketbooks – to win lasting victories. • Union leaders across all unions should accept the average wage of a worker in their industry and should be accountable to their membership and the broader working class. • An injury to one is an injury to all! Unions need to fight all manifestations of racism, sexism, queerphobia, and all forms of oppression as part of the struggle to rebuild a fighting labor movement. • Unions should stop spending hundreds of millions of dollars on electing Democratic Party politicians, and spend it instead on efforts to organize the unorganized. • Unions should form consumer protection committees to monitor price increases,
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• The overturn of Roe v. Wade opened the door for vicious attacks on bodily autonomy across the country. We need a mass movement against the reactionary right on the scale of the 60s and 70s when Roe was first won. • Free, safe, legal abortion. All contraception should be provided at no cost as part of a broad program for reproductive health! • Fight back against brutal anti-trans legislation and all right-wing attacks on LGBTQ people. Noncompliance with these bigoted laws should be organized by the labor movement among workers tasked with enforcing them. • Full legal rights and equality for trans and queer people, including the right to self-identification! • Fighting gender oppression means fighting for our rights to bodily autonomy, reproductive justice including universal childcare, and Medicare for All including free reproductive and gender-affirming care.
Invest In Our Basic Needs • Pass strong rent control. End economic evictions. Tax the rich and big business to fund permanently affordable, high-quality social housing. • No pay cuts! We need a significant raise in the minimum wage and to tie raises to inflation. • An immediate transition to Medicare for All. Take for-profit hospital chains into public ownership and retool them to provide free, state-of-the-art healthcare to all. • Capitalism failed to stop COVID-19, with the “post-pandemic” new normal consisting of total indifference to public health. We urgently need permanently free and
WHY I JOINED SOCIALIST ALTERNATIVE ROCKY SCHAEFER, CHICAGO I, like a lot of people on the left, became deeply radicalized and politicized during the Bernie Sanders Campaign, the MeToo movement, and the George Floyd Protests. Although I participated in these struggles (going to protests, calling my senators, and following radical figures on social media), I came away from them disheartened by the lack of substantial political gains. I had all this political energy and radical motivation, but no where to channel it. The Bernie Sanders campaign fizzled out, without laying the groundwork for a continued independent movement. Additionally, the Black Lives Matter protests weren’t able to win any significant legislation or resource reallocation. The Democratic Party showed time and time again that they didn’t care about their constituents, and actively impeded real progressive gains. Finally, after attempts at joining other leftist groups, one of my long time friends recommended I look into Socialist Alternative. SA brought a bold political perspective that I hadn’t seen articulated in other organizations. In particular, I was attracted to SA’s confidence in developing a working class party, outside the corporate duopoly. A new working class party wasn’t something that I would have thought possible in our current
accessible testing, paid sick leave, and to take Big Pharma into public ownership – vaccines should be for public health, not profit! • Bring back the COVID-era child tax credit and make it permanent. Fully fund highquality, universal childcare. No cuts to food stamps! • Fully fund public education! End school privatization. Give educators an immediate 25% raise and increase staffing. Cancel all student debt and make public college tuition-free.
A Socialist Program For Environmental Disaster • We need fully-funded emergency systems to protect and evacuate people from everincreasing storms, floods, and fires, and we need to tax the rich to reimburse working people for their destroyed homes and livelihoods. • In the wake of ecological disasters like chemical spills, corporations should immediately be responsible for relocation costs, health costs, and home remediation. • We need a union jobs program to rapidly expand green infrastructure including a massive expansion of free, high quality, fast public transit. • Fossil fuels can’t coexist with a sustainable future – ban new oil and gas drilling and take the top 100 polluting companies into democratic public ownership, while implementing a democratically planned, just transition to 100% green energy!
political system. However, SA gave voice to the potential of an independent party that fought for working people around the world. Also, I loved that SA recognizes the importance of struggle outside the electoral system. I was inspired by their courageous commitment, and begun to realize that universal healthcare, affordable housing, worker’s rights, racial justice, radical infrastructure development will never see any significant support under the two parties we have now. Socialist Alternative gave me to opportunity to fight for an alternative amongst like-minded socialists who weren’t afraid to challenge Republicans and Democrats alike. J
End Racist Policing And Criminal (in)Justice • There is still a massive fight to be waged against police violence. We need a new movement in the streets and mass organizations of struggle to fight for Black liberation! • Arrest and convict killer cops! Purge police forces of anyone with known ties to white supremacist groups or any cop who has committed violent or racist attacks. • End the militarization of police: ban the use of “crowd control” weapons and disarm police on patrol. • Put policing under the control of democratically-elected civilian boards with power over hiring and firing, reviewing budget priorities, and the power to subpoena. • Beyond fighting to end racist policing, we need a struggle against all forms of racism in our society, including segregationist housing and education policies.
The Whole System Is Guilty • Capitalism produces pandemics, poverty, racism, transphobia, environmental destruction, and war. We need an international struggle against this failed system. • Bring the top 500 companies and banks into democratic public ownership. • We need a socialist world! This means a democratic socialist plan for the economy based on the interests of the overwhelming majority of people and the planet.
EDITORIAL
S ’ P M TRU M O O R T R U O C A M A R D GEORGE BROWN, MADISON Going into the 2024 presidential election, Donald Trump is facing a growing list of legal woes. In less than a year, he’s faced four criminal indictments over issues ranging from sex scandals to voter suppression. Trump’s PAC, Save America, has spent over $20 million on legal fees in 2023, more than the RNC and DNC spent during that period combined. Trump’s legal drama took a turn for the more dramatic at the end of October when three of his lawyers, Sidney Powell, Kenneth Chesebro, and Jenna Ellis pled guilty in the Georgia case on election interference and are now serving as witnesses for the prosecution. For working people horrified by the experience of Trump, these cases instill a sense of schadenfreude. However, while the court process has kept Trump off the campaign trail, it hasn’t stopped him from being the undisputed frontrunner of the Republican primary. While Trump deserves to be tried for his crimes, we can’t rely on the courts to save us.
“ The Story So Far
The first criminal indictment came on March 30 from a Manhattan grand jury. This was in conjunction with Trump’s alleged payment of hush money to suppress sex scandals during the 2016 presidential election. It’s the case that initiated the tradition of Trump’s own lawyers pleading guilty and acting as witnesses for the prosecution. Of the four active criminal cases, it’s the flimsiest, falling under the routine corruption we’ve come to expect in crooked politicians. On June 8, a second indictment came from the federal district court in Miami, in conjunction with Trump keeping classified white house documents in his Mar-a-Lago home. From the point of view of the ruling class, this is the most serious indictment, and is the best chance at sending Trump to prison. However, it’s also the case that least concerns ordinary working people, whose anger at Trump wasn’t motivated by any love for US intelligence services.
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NOVEMBER 2023
The third indictment, on August 1 from the federal district court in Washington, DC, was another matter. This one directly concerned Trump’s role in the January 6 insurrection and his wider attempts to overturn the 2020 election. While Trump’s inflammatory speeches at the time would be constitutionally-protected free speech in isolation, the case links those speeches to more direct criminal activity including sending fake slates of electors to keep himself in power. The conspiracy angle makes the case more sound than previous attempts to implicate Trump on his speeches alone.
“There’s a hope that, even if Trump doesn’t go to jail, the moral taint of his criminal activity will render him unelectable. Unfortunately, this ignores the real reasons why Trump was able to gain support in the first place.”
A fourth indictment came on August 14 from the Fulton County Superior Court in Georgia. The Georgia case covers similar ground to the DC case but through a different legal approach. Coming from a state court, it’s better protected from Trump interfering if he gets re-elected in 2024. Moreover, while Trump’s connection to January 6 is indirect enough to raise free speech concerns, his attempts at voter suppression in Georgia are far more brazen and direct, most notably his attempt to get secretary of state Brad Raffensperger to “find 11,780 votes.” In addition to the four criminal cases, Trump faces a civil lawsuit in New York over fraudulent business practices, which threatens to gut Trump’s business empire. Trump was already found liable in another civil lawsuit from writer E. Jean Carroll over sexual assault and defamation, and a trial will be held in
2024 to determine damages. There are also cases in other states against the fake electors, even if they aren’t targeting Trump personally. And there are statewide efforts to take Trump off the ballot because of his role in January 6. It’s unlikely any of the cases will send Trump to jail before the election. However, the sheer quantity of cases playing out will certainly bog down Trump logistically during the election.
The Courts Won’t Save Us For Democrats and that small sliver of antiTrump Republicans, the hope is that the various court cases against Trump will re-affirm the lofty ideals of America’s institutions and prove that “nobody is above the law.” For the ruling class, Trump is extremely dangerous because, although he has greatly benefited from the existing system, he has nevertheless shown a willingness to destabilize it in the service of his own narrow political ambitions. Their goal is to send a message to Trump, and to anyone else, on the left or right, who would threaten to destabilize the system themselves. On the other hand, many working people honestly want to see Trumpism over and done with. Moreover, as recent social movements like the George Floyd rebellion failed to achieve meaningful gains, there is growing demoralization about the prospect of positive change. Under these circumstances, the idea that the courts could accomplish what protest couldn’t feels like a quick fix. However, the courts won’t save us from Trumpism. Even if Trump does go to prison, they won’t be able to do away with the movement that brought Trump to power. Other Trumps will just fill the void. Meanwhile, at least some of the legal challenges set dangerous precedents that can be used against the left. This is especially the case with the attempts to take Trump off the ballot. Unlike the DC and Georgia cases, these challenges rely on a loose interpretation of the post-Civil War 14th amendment, which bars people from holding office if they engage in “insurrection or rebellion.” In 2021, Seattle Democrats blocked with the right wing in an attempted recall of Councilmember Kshama Sawant. That recall campaign
w a s spurred by Sawant’s involvement in the George Floyd protests, which recall supporters tried to identify with January 6. With a loose interpretation of “insurrection or rebellion,” such an appeal to the 14th amendment could be easily used against politicians who support confrontational labor, environmental, and anti-racist struggles. Fortunately, of all the cases against Trump, these are the least likely to succeed. For both the ruling class and demoralized working people, there’s a hope that, even if Trump doesn’t go to jail, the moral taint of his criminal activity will render him unelectable. Unfortunately, this ignores the real reasons why Trump was able to gain support in the first place. Within the Republican Party, the court cases have done nothing to stem the tide of Trump’s support. It has even given him a boost, reinforcing his image as an anti-establishment candidate. Trump still has a favorability rating of over 80% among Republicans. After Trump’s mugshot was released in the Georgia case in August, Trump used the publicity to rapidly raise $7.1 million for his presidential campaign. Outside of the Republican Party, Trump is more hated, and there is a possibility that the court cases could weaken him in the general election. According to a poll by Bloomberg News and Morning Consult, concerns about Trump’s criminal activity are one of the main concerns driving opposition to Trump. However, concerns about the economy gave Trump a boost, due to memories of the 2020 stimulus checks. To indicate which issues matter more, the poll reveals that Trump currently leads Biden 47% to 43% among voters in the key “swing states” of Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin. The Democratic Party and the courts are ultimately unable to provide a viable challenge to Trump because they only offer a different version of the same billionairedominated politics. To defeat Trumpism, we need a new party that – unlike the Democratic and Republican parties – is internally democratic, is funded by membership dues instead of corporate donations, and can serve as a launching point for mass working-class action against billionaires of all stripes. J
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REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS A woman waits for her appointment at a Planned Parenthood in West Palm Beach, Florida
THE STATE OF ABORTION RIGHTS
HOW THE WORST CASE SCENARIO BECAME THE NEW NORMAL
The New Normal Post-Dobbs
ANDI CUNY, BOSTON The overturning of Roe v. Wade in June of 2022 was an unprecedented step back for women’s rights and reproductive rights. In a move completely counter to mainstream beliefs about abortion access, the Supreme Court overturned decades of precedent and turned back the clock on a fundamental human right. A year and a half later, the state of abortion access in many parts of the country is truly bleak. There are now 21 states that have enacted abortion bans or restrictions on the procedure of some kind since last summer. Many of these have total bans or six-week bans that are tantamount to total bans. Four more states have six-week or total bans currently pending in the courts. Nine of these states with highly restrictive abortion laws have no exceptions for rape or incest.
The Preexisting Crisis For many, the overturning of Roe felt like a profound before and after moment for reproductive rights. But in another way, this especially bold attack on our rights was just a break in a dam of continuously hemorrhaging access to reproductive care. Even before Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, abortion was far from accessible. In 2019, six states where abortion was legal still had only one abortion clinic. Both before and after Dobbs, there have been many people in “safe” states where abortion is legal who have struggled to access to abortion care. Even blue states like Massachusetts have “abortion deserts” where the procedure is still highly inaccessible, with the nearest provider several hours away in areas with little or no public transportation. Access to transportation, childcare, and time off work are prohibitive factors for people in need of abortion care all over the country.
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Before Dobbs, the average person in the US was 25 miles from an abortion provider, according to one researcher. Less than 1% of the country’s population was 200 miles from a provider. As of April 2023, 14% of the US population is now more than 200 miles from the nearest abortion facility. The average American is 86 miles from a provider. What many categorized as a problem mostly for those living in rural areas is now also a major issue in cities across the South and elsewhere. And the conservative attacks on our rights are not over. In Texas, for example, six counties so far have passed “travel bans,” laws prohibiting abortion-related travel to other states. This is on top of the state’s already draconian abortion law, which allows private citizens to sue anyone who provides or “aids or abets” an abortion after six weeks of pregnancy. Medication abortion, a regimen of two pills referred to as “the abortion pill,” has been a lifeline for people living in states with existing bans, or even states where abortion is legal but there are too few providers. While medication abortions still remain a reliable alternative for those who chose it, a recent decision by the 5th US Circuit Court of Appeals has paved the way for the highly reactionary US Supreme Court to take a decision dramatically limiting access in 2024. Crisis pregnancy centers may be stereotyped as a Bible Belt mainstay. But in reality, these scourges exist in all 50 states: fake medical clinics where Christian extremists endeavor to dissuade vulnerable pregnant people from having an abortion until it’s too late. These attacks on reproductive freedom coincide with – and are helping to drive – gaps in the maternal care system that are making it more dangerous to carry a pregnancy to term. One researcher said this summer that 36% of counties in the US are currently maternity care deserts, areas without any obstetric care facilities or providers. People of color, those who are low income, and those in rural areas are most likely to not have access to maternal care. In Alabama alone – a state which already has one of the highest maternal mortality rates in the US – three hospitals have stopped delivering babies in the span of the past two months. This has left two counties, both with predominantly Black populations, without any birthing hospitals. OB-GYNs and maternal-fetal medicine practitioners are leaving states with abortion bans, prompted by fears of criminal charges, steep fines, or the loss of medical licenses if they misinterpret murky legal
guidelines. Fewer medical students are selecting OB-GYN residency programs in those states. This affects an array of nonpregnancy-related healthcare ranging from cervical cancer screening to treating urinary or menstrual issues. Pharmacies’ pre-emptive removal of mifepristone off the shelves in anticipation of a legal ban not only impacted patients seeking medication abortion but who take the drug for uterine tumors and Cushing’s syndrome. Reproductive rights are inextricable from healthcare as a whole, and the crackdowns aimed at abortion rights have resulted in a much broader deterioration of women’s healthcare across the board that constitutes a growing emergency.
How To Fight Back The movement for abortion access has seen successes where abortion has been on the ballot, with voters in some states either thwarting attempts to codify abortion bans in state constitutions or voting to enshrine the right to abortion in them. It’s clear that if it were up to ordinary people in the US, abortion would be accessible to those who need it. Still, the self-appointed leaders of the abortion rights movement have wholly shirked their responsibilities to working women and failed again and again to truly fight for what’s needed. In the immediate wake of the Dobbs decision leaking last spring, Democrats and traditional women’s organizations like Planned Parenthood and NARAL completely failed to mount any sort of significant fightback. While political leaders could have pushed for mass protests and coordinated major workplace action – the only thing that chould have reversed the Supreme Court’s decision – Democrats instead cynically used this historic attack on bodily autonomy as a fundraising tool, gleefully informing Republicans that the right had just cost themselves the midterms. The National Organization for Women, or NOW, has already endorsed Joe Biden for president in 2024, citing the “threat to abortion rights.” It’s a dark twist that the president who saw Roe overturned during his term and made only token efforts to prevent it is now the chosen candidate of the mainstream pro-choice movement. While the right is on the offensive against abortion access, the traditional women’s movement is nowhere to be found. To the ruling elite, the question of whether abortion is legal or not is a tiny puzzle piece in their cold political calculation. For members of the working class, it is often a question of life or death. The Democrats have proven they’ll do little more but stand aside
and watch while Republicans continue to strip abortion rights away. Only a mass movement that’s based in and led by the working class can adequately fight for change. To build the sort of movement that’s needed, we need a full break from the Democratic Party. Unions, progressive groups, and workers and students of all backgrounds should come together to form the basis for a new, independent political party that would be willing to stand up against the right and fight for the change we need. We don’t have time to wait around for the traditional women’s organizations to point toward a fight. These organizations and their predecessors, in the earlier days of a radical women’s movement that won abortion rights, were once built from the ground up by ordinary women – students, mothers, and working-class activists. We will need to replicate this, armed with lessons from the past 50-plus years of struggle as well as fights internationally, in an all-out, unapologetic fight for free, safe, and legal abortion. The state of abortion rights in the US today is unacceptable, and no one in the political establishment is coming to save us. J
Before Dobbs, the average person in the US was 25 miles from an abortion provider.
As of April 2023, the average distance is 86 miles.
S O C I A L I S TA LT E R N AT I V E . O R G
ECONOMY
WORKING MORE, MAKING LESS LIFE UNDER “BIDENOMICS” STEPHEN THOMPSON, CHICAGO Joe Biden’s supporters in the political establishment seem increasingly perplexed. Although they insist that the administration’s economic policies – marketed as “Bidenomics” by the DNC – have been a huge success, the public isn’t buying it. In one recent poll, only 28% of Americans said they were satisfied with the economy. Political commentators aligned with the Democratic Party are expressing growing frustration about this “disconnect.” Some have offered convoluted non-economic rationalizations for why the public is unhappy with the economy, while others have given up on rational explanation entirely – instead blaming “bad economic vibes.” One exasperated pundit, Matthew Yglesias, simply dismissed voters’ perceptions of the economy as “crazy.” What’s going on here?
the number of people struggling with hunger jumped to 44 million, an increase of 10 million from the year before.
Where Did The Money Go?
How is the typical family becoming poorer if the economy is growing and a rising percentage of people are working? Economists at the University of California, Berkeley have created an online database which makes it possible to answer this question. Their data show that since January 2021 (when Biden took office), the US economy has generated about $840 billion in new inflation-adjusted after-tax income, but the vast majority of this went to the richest 1% of adults, while the combined real income for the bottom 50% of adults actually fell. Biden has presided over a massive redistribution of income from working people to the ultra-rich. Two things particularly contributed to this. First, over the past few years, businesses The Truth About Bidenomics have increased prices at the fastest rate in First, let’s back up: what is “Bidenomics” four decades, reducing what workers can anyway? Biden’s economic policies, exempli- afford to buy with the wages they receive. fied by legislation such as the CHIPs Act and Second, Biden chose to end the COVID-era social safety net the Inflation Reduction expansion that was Act, aim to increase Since Biden took office, the initiated before he manufacturing investbecame president. ment in the US. The US economy has generated The combined Biden administration about $840 billion in new result is that workargues that, by “bringinflation-adjusted after-tax ing people are now ing manufacturing living with less than back to America,” it income, but the vast majority they did a few years is creating high-paying of this went to the richest 1% ago, while the rich jobs, while simultaneof adults, while the combined have gotten sigously “addressing the nificantly richer. climate crisis” through real income for the bottom Maybe that’s why, investments in green 50% of adults actually fell. according to camenergy. paign finance data, Biden and his supwealthy Americans porters are correct to Biden has presided over seem to be the only point out that millions a massive redistribution ones excited about of people have gotten Biden’s campaign new jobs. But despite of income from working for re-election. the big increase in the people to the ultra-rich. percentage of people who are working, the A “Pro-Labor” typical family is actuPresident? ally getting paid less in real terms, taking inflation into account: according to data from Workers have not passively accepted the the Federal Reserve, real median household decline in their living standards. There have income has been falling during the entire been a series of organizing drives, and strike time Biden has been president. activity for this year is at the highest level Families at the low end of the income dis- in over two decades. But Biden – notwithtribution have been hit especially hard. Last standing his tedious speeches about being year the poverty rate more than doubled, and “pro-labor” – has actually worked behind the NOVEMBER 2023
scenes to push union leaders to negotiate settlements acceptable to CEOs. And when railroad workers repeatedly voted down the deals negotiated by union leadership anyway, Biden responded by making it illegal for them to strike. The bottom line is that whether Biden is successful in bringing new manufacturing jobs to the US or not, workers cannot count on him to improve their living standards. Although there was a period in the past when industrial workers were paid relatively well, this was because they built strong unions and were willing to physically fight against strike-breaking by corporations and the federal government – including when supposed “progressives” like Franklin D. Roosevelt were in power. These sorts of militant tactics were necessary, not just for winning pay increases, but for forcing employers to negotiate with the unions in the first place. Today, as corporations like Starbucks and Amazon refuse to bargain with their newly organized employees, and Biden’s NLRB fails to do anything meaningful to address the situation, the fighting tactics used by workers in the past will be as relevant as ever.
Bidenomics And The Climate Biden has also promoted his economic policies as a way to address climate change, and the legislation he has promoted has included some new funding for clean energy. These policies fall far short of what is needed, however. To stop climate catastrophe, the US needs to rapidly decrease its carbon emissions, but emissions in 2022 actually increased. The worst effects of global warming will not, of course, be possible to measure in dollar terms. Still, Biden’s failure to take meaningful action on this issue will have profound economic consequences that cannot be ignored. Emissions in the US grew to 5.9 billion metric tons in 2022, and scientists estimate that each new ton of carbon will ultimately cause about $185 worth of future economic damage. This means that the future economic losses caused by 2022’s carbon emissions will be around a trillion dollars – enough to cancel out the entirety of measured real income growth for the year.
The Real Goals Of Biden’s Economic Policies Despite what his cheery press releases would have us believe, Biden’s economic policies have not addressed climate change or runaway income inequality. In fact things have only gotten worse. So then what was the point of “Bidenomics”? It is important to understand Biden’s policies in the larger context of Washington’s New Cold War with Beijing. For both sides of the conflict, the geographic location of production, and especially the production of advanced semiconductor technology, is a key strategic concern. This – and not some abstract desire to “invest in Americans” – is why Democrats and Republicans now increasingly seek to bring investment back to the US. But for the capitalist politicians who make up both parties, the only way to “reshore” production is to convince corporations that it is profitable to do so. That means making sure workers are paid as little as possible, and absolutely avoiding anything like taxing corporations to fund a Green New Deal. Although Biden will pay lip service to progressive ideas, his real position is revealed in the fact that, instead of using the country’s enormous wealth to improve people’s lives, he is asking Congress for a hundred billion dollars in new military spending to prolong the war in Ukraine and support the Israeli regime’s criminal assault on Gaza.
No, You Aren’t Crazy Even if establishment commentators like Matthew Yglesias call us “crazy,” the truth is that we have every reason to be dissatisfied with the state of the US economy. The past three years have been a disaster for working people. Of course, that does not mean things would have been better with Trump in office. Capitalism is a system in decline, and any politician committed to maintaining that system will end up protecting the profits that keep it going, while forcing the rest of us to pay the costs. A better world is possible, but not as long as mega-corporations and the politicians who serve them are running society. J
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INDEPENDENT POLITICS
CORNEL WEST’S CAMPAIGN NEEDS TO URGENTLY OVERCOME CHALLENGES by ERIN BRIGHTWELL, OAKLAND
The longtime civil rights leader and left-wing intellectual Cornel West has been a welcome entrant into what is otherwise shaping up to be a dismal 2024 presidential race, with the Biden-Trump rematch that millions didn’t want appearing to be the most likely scenario. With support for a third US political party up to 63% in recent polls, the space is wideopen for a serious left candidate. West is running on a left-wing, pro-worker program, and in his various media interviews, he hasn’t been afraid to come out swinging against lesser evilism. He’s staunchly opposed the policies of US imperialism in Ukraine and now Gaza. He supports Medicare for All, a cancellation of student debt, and a massive shift away from endless military spending toward spending on necessary social programs. Trump and his core base have moved even further to the right, while the failures of what West calls Biden’s “milquetoast liberalism” to improve any aspect of life for working people, is actually contributing to people looking to Trump and the right as they search for an alternative to Biden. In order for West’s campaign to realize its potential to mobilize left and progressive voters, it needs to break out of its mostly online existence. Right now, Cornel West simply isn’t on the radar of millions of particularly young voters who are likely to be enthusiastic about a left-wing activist standing up to the two parties of big business. Building large dynamic rallies and events that attract the attention of broader sections of working people and youth should be the overriding focus of the campaign.
Campaign At A Crossroads However, Cornel West’s recent announcement that he is
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withdrawing from the Green Party nomination represents a It would undoubtedly be challenging for West and for the very serious mistake by the West campaign. Whatever their Greens to reverse course at this stage. However, it is far too weaknesses, the Greens crucially already have ballot access important for the development of a left alternative to the in 17 states plus the District of Columbia. In 2020 the Green Democrats for West not to work with the Greens and utilize Party managed to get their candidate’s name printed on the both the jump start they have on ballot access, and their ballot in 28 states, and in 2016 they achieved ballot access experience in winning access in more states. in 44 states. By leaving the Greens, the West campaign is faced with the herculean task of starting the expensive and Desperate Need For A Left Alternative laborious process of fulfilling the requirements to gain ballot If the Cornel West campaign does not rapidly transform access, which are different in each state, from scratch. Withitself into an exciting and dynamic force that is rapidly gainout his name on the ballot in most states, West will be seen as a much less serious candidate and won’t be effective in ing strength and set to have widespread ballot access, it’s in danger of sliding into irrelevance. But nature abhors a marshaling the largest possible leftwing independent vote. The strength of US capitalism means that the two-party vacuum, and vaccine skeptic Robert F Kennedy Jr. is stepsystem in the United States has been until recently the most ping into space that should be filled by a left-wing candidate. stable political establishment in the world. Making it difficult RFK, who opposes Medicare for All, and is increasingly finding common cause with right popufor third parties to gain ballot access lism on some issues, is much better is one of the tactics the establishA vibrant and exciting Cornel known as an independent presidenment uses to minimize the threat of tial candidate than Cornel West is. political forces outside of the two West campaign that popularizes a There’s a real risk that voters who party system, and perpetuate the concrete program of left demands lean left on many issues and who are idea that the Democrats and Republicans are the only viable political would have the potential to advance disgusted with the Democrats and Republicans look to RFK because parties. In order to have Cornel the idea that what’s needed is he’s the best known independent in West’s name appear on the ballot the race, despite his rightward train as many states as possible, and a new party that is completely jectory. RFK amassed $11 million truly represent a credible alternative independent of big business and in donations in the immediate afterto the two parties of big business, fights for working people. math of announcing his candidacy West’s campaign will need to rapidly was leaving the Democratic Party ramp up to build a mighty volunteer primary. Getting onto the ballot in all 50 states is a comapparatus to gather signatures for ballot access. A transformative approach to fundraising will also need to be put in plicated operation for any campaign, but undoubtedly, the place to pay for ballot access fees, plus staff and all the costs millions of dollars that RFK’s campaign has on hand, some associated with fighting for ballot access plus running a seri- of it raised at billionaire-hosted fundraisers, make the task much easier. ous on-the-ground campaign. With Bernie Sanders, AOC and the rest of the Squad fully It seems evident that the West campaign recognizes the fundraising crisis they are facing, as West recently defended capitulating to Biden and the Democratic establishment, left his campaign’s decision to accept the maximum donation and progressive voters who are sick and tired of the Demofrom right wing billionaire real-estate developer Harlan Crow. crats’ false promises and litany of defeats-without-a-fight are This decision has already undermined West’s credibility and stuck between a rock and a hard place. A vibrant and exciting will be extremely difficult to walk back from. An obvious first Cornel West campaign that popularizes a concrete program step West should take is to immediately return the money of left demands would have the potential to advance the idea and pledge not to accept a dime from enemies of the working that what’s needed is a new party that is completely independent of big business and fights for working people. The 2024 class like Crow. In fact, the challenges facing the West campaign are so election race will likely feature one of the most hated figures significant, that West should set aside whatever differences in American politics in Donald Trump and among the weakest he has with the Green Party and immediately begin discus- incumbent presidents in history. It’s up to the left wing and sions with them to return to the Greens’ nomination process. independent Cornel West campaign to step into the void. J
S O C I A L I S TA LT E R N AT I V E . O R G
BIDEN FILLS THE
I M M I G R AT I O N
GIN ATRUMP’S PS
BORDER WALL
SAMMEE JOHNSON, HOUSTON The brutality experienced by asylumseekers at the border did not end with the expiration of Trump’s Title 42. Three years into Biden’s presidency, record numbers of migrants have died attempting to cross the border, and the circumstances they face when seeking asylum are getting increasingly dangerous. Texas governor Greg Abbott’s $4.5 billion border initiative – “Operation Lone Star” – has been rightfully demonized for its cruel and inhumane attempts to deter migrants. These include the recent unveiling of a “floating wall” of giant buoys along the Rio Grande containing razor-wire boobytraps, and an uptick in the years-long mistreatment of migrants by law enforcement. The Rio Grande is already considered one of the most dangerous routes for migrants, and these extreme measures have drawn criticism even from some of the Border Patrol agents and troopers deployed to the area, citing their concerns for the difficulty of rescue caused by the infrastructure. So far, Abbott has bussed tens of thousands of migrants to northern Democrat-controlled cities like Chicago, New York City, Philadelphia, as well as California. But when these migrants arrive in allegedly progressive cities with Democratic Party mayors, they face the same message as Republicans. NYC Mayor Eric Adams echoed Vice President Kamala Harris by flat-out telling migrants, “don’t come here.”
Biden’s Betrayals In the 2020 presidential debate, Biden rebuked Trump’s Zero Tolerance policy and cruel statements regarding the countless number of families being separated at the border and later vowed to “not build another foot of Trump’s wall.” Border wall construction hasn’t slowed down at all since the earliest days of Biden’s term – in fact, he’s waived more than a dozen laws and regulations in order to expedite the building of the wall, including slipping antiimmigrant loopholes into the Safe Drinking Water Act, Clean Air Act, and Endangered Species Act. Last year, US Customs and
NOVEMBER 2023
Border Protection (CBP) revealed their plans to construct 86 miles of barrier in the Rio Grande Valley – more than four times longer than the 21 miles built along the Texas-Mexico border by the Trump administration. Biden’s immigration plan equates to an asylum ban, requiring migrants to first apply for asylum in another country on their way to the US. In the same 2020 debate mentioned above, Biden condemned Trump for doing exactly this. For most migrants, this legislation means applying in a neighboring country that is likely faced with the very same horrific conditions from which they’re seeking safety. The number of undocumented migrants in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention centers has more than doubled since Biden took office. As of July, 90% of people detained in ICE custody are held in facilities owned and/or operated by private prison corporations. Despite outrage at inhumane treatment, Congress appropriated nearly $3 billion to hold 34,000 people in ICE detention each day for the fiscal year 2023.
Dangers Of The GOP From day one, Trump relied heavily on bigoted rhetoric to push for more stringent immigration policy, famously stating that Mexico was going to pay for his wall and that “some” of the Mexicans immigrating to the US were “good people,” but many were “gang members, rapists, drug dealers, and other criminals.” In the second Republican presidential debate, the candidates’ proposed immigration policies were almost entirely indistinguishable from one another’s; nearly every Republican running for president favors the wall. This shared sentiment among Republican politicians has reinforced the far-right’s confidence in their own bigotry. The pandemic, with Trump’s corresponding anti-Asian comments, saw an uptick in hate crimes against Asian-Americans and Pacific Islanders. In the months following Trump’s warnings of an “immigrant invasion” at the southern border, a man drove from Dallas to the border city
of El Paso and murdered 23 people inside a Walmart. This rise in racially-motivated crimes is the most extreme example of the deepening effects of right populism on a certain layer of the working class looking for answers to their problems in all the wrong places. The Democrats have failed to offer any viable alternative to right-wing sentiments and have instead provided only a more subtle antiimmigrant message.
GOP Bigotry Rests On The Policy Designed By Dems The Democratic Party has demonstrated time and time again that any pro-immigrant statements they make are worth nothing. Between 2008-2010, even though Democrats controlled both houses of Congress, they failed to pass the DREAM Act, which would’ve granted a path to full citizenship for undocumented workers. DACA was eventually enacted by executive order to protect eligible young adults who were brought to the US as children from deportation and provide them with work authorization for temporary, renewable periods. While this was a sizable relief for the 800,000 DACA recipients, the Obama administration continued on to deport and detain more migrants than any previous administration. Democrats have long advocated for the free trade agreements responsible for the devastation and destabilization of Central American countries and Mexico. The countless obstacles migrants are met with on the years-long path to citizenship continue to leave the millions who’ve fled that devastation in an endless limbo.
Lessons From The 2006 Strike
immigrant workers held demonstrations all across the country to protest the Bush administration’s H.R. 4437 – a reactionary bill calling for the criminalization of all undocumented immigrants. These protests, mass boycotts, walk-outs, and strikes attested to immigrant workers’ essential place in the US working class and pointed out the hypocrisy of criminalizing immigrants whose systematic super-exploitation provides the backbone of the profits of the US capitalist class. H.R. 4437 did fail to pass, but the overall momentum of the movement was ultimately stamped out due to both its isolation to the immigrant community and the union leadership’s failure to mobilize US-born workers in support. Leaders in the most prominent immigrants’ rights NGOs, Latino business organizations, and unions disgracefully refused to endorse the walk-outs and strikes, exposing their fear of emboldening migrant workers to fight for radical demands that would jeopardize the profits of Latino business owners. Today, migrants remain in a second-class status that benefits only the corporations that pay migrants poverty wages and exploit them as a tactic to bust unions, consequently driving down all workers’ wages and working conditions.
Rebuild Mass Struggle The entire working class is faced with increasingly worse conditions under Biden. The rotten capitalist system that drives migrants from their home countries in search of work is the same system that uses their second-class status in the US to further divide the entire working class. In addition to broad demands for affordable housing, Medicare for All, and fully-funded public education, native-born workers must link their struggles with those of the most marginalized and oppressed workers, demanding an end to detentions and deportations, the abolition of ICE, and immediate full citizenship for all migrant workers in the US in order to build the multinational mass movement needed to end capitalism’s exploitation, crisis, and oppression. J
In the spring of 2006, millions of
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P
STOP THE WAR IN GAZA!
eople across the world are watching with horror at the extreme escalation in the Middle East. Mass protests have erupted globally in solidarity with the Palestinian masses as they face heavy bombardment and a ground invasion by the Israeli regime, raising new levels of destruction not seen in decades. While portrayed as a war on terrorism, it is in reality collective punishment against the Palestinian people on a vast scale. As of now, over 9,000 Palestinians, including 4,000 children, have been killed in the Israeli attack. Over a million Palestinians were forced to evacuate their homes in Northern Gaza with no place to go as the Rafah gate on the Egyptian border is closed. Israel’s “full siege” has caused a dire shortage of water, food, fuel, and medicine. Lack of electricity and temporary cut-off of communication have made things worse, putting emergency vehicles and hospitals out of commission. The justification presented for these war crimes is the indiscriminate massacre by Hamas on October 7, which left more than 1,400 Israelis dead, the highest number of casualties in Israel’s history. At the time of writing, over 200 Israeli hostages are still held in Gaza by Hamas. While far-right forces within the Israeli government would like to see a far-reaching occupation of Gaza and the expulsion of all Palestinians from the Strip, the longer-term strategists of Israeli capitalism are not interested in going down that path. This is not due to any sympathy with the Palestinian masses, but rather out of fear of paying a heavy price, both in terms of high number of casualties among hostages and soldiers on the ground (which will ultimately cause mass anger in Israeli society) and in terms of mass popular response around the world and the impact it can have on the regime’s ability to do business with other capitalist regimes in the region and internationally. At this stage there is no military endgame for the crisis. Hamas is still able to draw significant popular support based on their perception as the key force fighting the occupation and also Fatah’s collaborationist relations with Israel. Therefore the Israeli regime is limited in how far it can go, despite the shocking scale of the destruction that it is inflicting on the Palestinian population. The war has spread to the border between Israel and Lebanon with daily skirmishes between the Israeli military and the Iranianlinked Hezbollah militia. The ground invasion into Gaza can easily trigger full intervention by Hezbollah, one of the most powerful military entities in the region, who can’t afford politically to stand aside. This can expand into a wider conflict drawing in regional powers such as Iran, followed by direct US intervention. Already, missiles and drones fired from Yemen by Iranian-backed Houthi militants towards Israel were shot down by US warships.
The Broader Context Of The New Cold War The war in Gaza is the latest link in the
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FOR MASS ACTION TO END THE OCCUPATION, BLOCKADE, AND ONGOING OPPRESSION!
BY LEON PINSKY, NYC global capitalist crisis and is fueled by Cold War dynamics. Biden’s recent visit to Israel aimed at advancing US interests in the region. This was shown by US imperialism moving two aircraft carrier strike groups into the Eastern Mediterranean and the Persian Gulf, as well as preparing thousands of Marines to deploy, alongside unprecedented levels of military aid to the Israeli regime. This certainly helped fuel the Israeli regime’s aggression. At the same time, the visit anticipated the potential damage and undermining of the US position in the region that can result from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s actions. For that reason, the US aims to restrain the more militaristic elements in the Israeli regime. This resulted in the deal to allow a limited entry of some necessary goods such as food and medicine into Gaza under Israeli supervision. Increasingly the public message from the US administration is hand-wringing about the Israeli Defense Forces needing to “follow the rules of war” to limit civilian casualties, something the US has never done in its military interventions. Chinese and Russian imperialisms have been cynically portraying themselves as neutral regional peace-makers while they pose as the main counterweight to the US. Xi Jinping hopes that this can create a crisis for US imperialism and further Chinese interests in the Middle-East, as well as distract from Russia’s war in Ukraine. But this is unlikely to take place in the immediate term because of the danger this war has on the balance of forces
which China is trying to maintain, including the talks between Iran and Saudi Arabia. Furthermore, aside from being a major debt-holder in the region, the Chinese regime holds important ties with the Israeli regime. This, however, can turn more complicated if Iran and other regional imperialist forces intervene more directly in the war. Several governments, such as Russia and Brazil have also proposed a ceasefire at the UN While some were outright rejected, the one that passed remains symbolic. Saudi Arabia has said it is freezing “normalization” talks with Israel, and Turkey’s Erdogan, who has worked to mend his relation with Netanyahu, is again posing as a defender of Palestinian rights. The role of the Egyptian regime is also exposed in enforcing the blockade on Gaza, as they control the other main access point. At the most important demonstration in Cairo since Abdel el-Sisi came to power a decade ago, demonstrators shouted, “Where are the Arab armies?” and, “There are the Zionists!” as the police attacked them with tear gas. Protests in the West Bank were repressed by the Palestinian Authority, which has played the role of a police force collaborating with Israeli interests in undermining opposition to its occupation. Protestors, angry with the role of the dominant Fatah group, chanted “the people want the fall of the president,” referring to Mahmoud Abbas who has lost a large base of support over the years. The same slogan was echoed in protests in Amman. Boiling anger
from below is again a major concern for the survival of oppressive regimes in the region. The reemergence of popular struggle on the streets in the West Bank and across the region is an important positive development which points to how the masses can rid themselves of the rule of corrupt dictatorships.
International Solidarity And Government Crackdown Morocco and Tunisia saw the largest protests since the former’s “normalization” deal with Israel and the latter’s president staged a power grab over two years ago. In Yemen, Iraq, and Lebanon, among other countries, huge protests have made their solidarity with the Palestinian masses clear. Governments in France, Germany, England, and other Western capitalist countries have taken measures to either suppress or ban large protests altogether. This has included threats of deportations against migrants in Germany who join protests. In several countries police have cracked down violently. In the US, the political establishment (including so-called progressives) and media outlets rushed to attack protests. Students have faced repressive measures, including physical violence, on campuses in several countries. International Socialist Alternative has taken part in protests around the globe and have organized to take action against the suppression of democratic rights. S O C I A L I S TA LT E R N AT I V E . O R G
We are also witnessing the dangerous rise in nationalist, Islamophobic, and antisemitic actions. In the US, a 6-year-old Palestinian boy was stabbed multiple times by his family’s landlord and in Egypt two Israelis were shot to death. These are only two examples of the many incidents taking place.
Why Socialists Oppose Indiscriminate Terrorism Revolutionary socialists have a responsibility to clarify disagreements with those sections of the movement who are taking an uncritical position towards the massacre that Hamas carried out. Socialists fight side by side with working people against the capitalist system of oppression and war. Taking a genuine internationalist position means that we oppose attacks on workers and oppressed people wherever they live. October 7 was a horrific assault against Jewish, Palestinian, and migrant workers, including infants and the elderly. Many of those out on the streets are asking how can the Palestinian masses win real liberation? The actions of indiscriminate terrorist organizations acting in the name of the oppressed blocks the masses from playing a collective role in the struggle and is therefore a reactionary tactic. Instead, small militias assert for themselves the role of a “liberator.” No accountability, democratic decision-making, or input is made by the struggling masses. Some on the left have even suggested that the tactics employed by Hamas are an unavoidable step in the road towards decolonization and that it shouldn’t be criticized. In reality, however, indiscriminate terror, as we witnessed on October 7, has given the Israeli regime the excuse to make the lives of the Palestinian masses a living hell and throw the struggle for liberation backwards. Indiscriminate terrorism is diametrically opposed to international workers’ solidarity and is alien to the class struggle. The reality is that the reactionary acts of Hamas and the reactionary actions of the Israeli regime, which operate on a far greater scale, fuel one another into what seems to be an endless conflict. This symbiotic relationship goes back decades. The Israeli regime itself helped Hamas reach its current position by funneling funds into its early projects as a religious welfare organization. Similarly to how the US funded and trained Mujahideen militants against the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan, helping to spawn both Al-Qaeda and the Taliban, the Israeli government has used Hamas as a force to defeat the secular nationalist Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) in the revolutionary Palestinian uprising (Intifada) of 1987. It is the combination of Israeli oppression, Hamas’ opposition to the PLO, and the latter’s disastrous sell-out policies during the Oslo Accords which positioned Hamas to weaken and supplant the more historically leftwing elements of Palestinian resistance. Marxists assert the right of the oppressed masses to struggle, including armed struggle, in defense against endless brutality and military occupation, backed by elected committees of struggle in the Palestinian communities. This was exemplified by the tactics of the mass Palestinian uprising of 1987 and the “Dignity Strike” of 2021. The call for a mass struggle in the region is not utopian. Jews and Arabs have lived in relative peace in the region for centuries before the rise of nationalist flare ups that were primarily the result of the intervention of Western NOVEMBER 2023
CEASEFIRE NOW! END US AID TO ISRAEL! BUILD AN INTERNATIONAL MOVEMENT TO END THE OCCUPATION!
imperialism. During major nationalist divisions, mass workers’ organizations in the Middle East were the only places where Jewish and Arab workers could fight side by side against corrupt monarchist regimes and their Imperialist backers. The Iraqi Communist Party, for example, was a pole of attraction for many Jews, partly because of its consistent stance against fascism and Nazism specifically, which had a strong support in Iraq in the 1930’s. Jews also played key roles in establishing communist parties in Egypt, Lebanon, Syria, and Palestine. While the workers movement faced real obstacles of nationalist tensions, for many years Jews, Muslims, and Christians fought side-by-side against imperialist occupations and capitalism. Still, today, despite their many weaknesses, the Israeli Communist Party and the trade unions are among the only places where Jews and ArabPalestinians organize together to fight injustice within Israel itself. Our position also opposes the nationalist idea that the masses and “their” leaders are one and the same. The Israeli population is not a unified reactionary mass. This idea rejects the basic class division between workers and bosses in a capitalist society. It is also used by some on both the right and the left to blur the lines between Israeli workers and the ruling capitalist elite. The country’s history is filled with polarization around the political left and right, antiracist struggles within the Jewish population – exemplified by the Israeli Black Panthers Party, divisions between Jewish immigrants and locals, religious and secular, etc. These divisions are outgrowths of class struggle, which has existed within the Jewish community in Palestine even as far back as the 19th century, and before. Hamas is a product of the collapse and rightward shift of workers’ organizations and decline of consciousness around mass struggle globally after the fall of the Soviet Union. It is a right-wing pro-capitalist force which has functioned as the ruling party in Gaza over the past 17 years. It plays the role of police in suppressing workers’ strikes and women and LGBTQ rights. We should not confuse Hamas for the Palestinian masses. It is inherently an anti-worker organization. At the same time, the role it plays won’t meet its end at the hands of the Israeli military, but can only be brought down by the Palestinian masses as part of their struggle for genuine liberation.
The Mood Within Israeli Society The surprise attack of October 7 has caused mass shock and revulsion within Israeli society. It undermined the Zionist idea of providing security for the Jewish population in Israel, as well as exposing the failure of the right-wing strategy of oppression against Palestinians over decades which was said to be needed to defend Jewish lives. The right-wing government has moved to attack Palestinians within Israel and others who have stood up against the war. In a disgusting fashion, far-right jingoists have even attacked vigils and family members of hostages, calling them “left-wing traitors.” Socialist Struggle Movement (ISA in
Israel-Palestine) is organizing against attacks on students blacklisted by the farright for being insufficiently supportive of the war on Gaza and stands for the democratic right to oppose the actions of the government. Netanyahu’s far-right government was already extremely unpopular before the Hamas attack, as seen in the polarization and historic mass protests against it since January of this year. Now, Israeli rightwing ministers are being driven away one after another as they attempt to visit communities who survived the Hamas massacre. The mood against the government is also directly antagonistic to the far-right. Aside from small actions, a broader antiwar movement is not likely at the moment, but can develop alongside growing anger and other developments. The mood to reject political “extremes” in Israel and a movement to the “center” does not represent trust in political institutions. In this political landscape there is no room for a political center. This shift can therefore be expressed in left-wing developments. The war is the latest dramatic event that reflects a new period of global capitalist crisis. This is a significant link in Mass protests have broken out all over the world against the war on Gaza and supporting a ceasefire. Reportedly, at least 7,000 protesters occupied the Brooklyn Bridge the chain of wars and conin NYC (top), 150,000 took to the streets in London in one of the biggest demonstraflicts internationally. From tions in British history (middle), and over 20,000 demonstrated in Paris (bottom). Ukraine, to the Sahel and Nagorno-Karabakh, capitalism exposes itself as a system of ongoing misery, poverty, and war. Global powers respond by attempting to save their own interests in the region. This highlights, again, the role of the working class as the only social force which can offer an alternative on a global scale. We stand in solidarity with all victims of war and terror, and join those who are standing up and fighting back. J
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S T C A R T N O C S N I W W UA T S N I A G A IN STRIKE HREE THE BIG T L ABOR
The following article is an adapted version of the On Strike episode on the United Auto Workers’ new tentative agreement from the Big Three automakers which aired on November 2. Watch the episode by following the QR code below. The massive gap between corporate profits and the cost-of-living crisis facing working people has helped lead to a resurgence of labor struggles, as we’ve covered here in the On Strike broadcast. In these strikes, cost of living adjustments, or COLA, have been a running theme in the workers’ demands. As UAW reform leader Shawn Fain has been saying, “record profits mean record contracts.” If billionaires can make a killing off the auto industry, then the workers actually making the company run ought not to be getting killed by inflation in the meantime – and the fact is that right now, working people also have more leverage to fight back. In the context of the high employment and high demand for labor, the bosses can’t afford to risk losing workers, whereas workers can be more confident of finding a new job. So workers going on strike have more ability to force concessions – if and when we use it to the fullest. How much workers are able to force concessions, however, is heavily based on the threat of a strike, and in the case of an actual strike taking place, how strong that strike is and how much it cuts into the bosses’ profits. On this broadcast, we’ve talked about how we’d like to see Shawn Fain escalate the strikes at the Big Three automakers toward shutting down production entirely – because we wanted to see UAW workers win as much as possible by making the auto bosses hurt as much as possible. We’ll come back to that in a little bit. But first, congratulations are in order, to the thousands of UAW workers and to Shawn Fain. The workers still need to vote on whether to approve these tentative agreements, but it appears that very important gains have been made. All three of the US-label automakers have now agreed to 25% wage increases over the period of the four and a half year contract. This is a major victory. The wage gains in these contracts are four times bigger than gains in the 2019 deal. And there are other gains as well. Most importantly, the union prioritized raising the pay of the lowest-paid, which is a huge step towards erasing the viciously divisive system of tiers, which cause different workers to be paid dramatically different amounts for doing exactly the same work, side by side on the production line or in other parts of the same
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industry. For example, UAW’s website shows how Ford workers who are currently making only pennies over $18/hour will see immediate pay increases to $24.91/hour, and will be on the same wage scales as legacy workers three years from now, more than doubling their existing pay. This is in comparison to the old contracts, where that would have taken eight years or not happened at all. Workers Strike Back activists have interviewed workers on Stellantis picket lines who were classified as “temporaries” for more than twenty years. According to news reports, these workers will see raises of as much as 165% under this contract. All of this shows that when workers fight, they can win – that we don’t have to accept the crumbs on offer, we can turn over the bosses’ table instead. This is a breakthrough victory – and we think it should be taken as a sign by workers in the US and globally that they can do this, too. Just as the writers’ union showed a few weeks ago with their historic victory, which we covered in a previous On Strike episode. The message is clear. The UAW strike grew to include more than 45,000 workers from GM, Ford and Stellantis at eight assembly plants. What was won was won because the strike cost the Big 3 automakers billions of dollars. Ford publicly reported that UAW’s 41-day strike cost them alone an estimated 1.3 billion dollars. This is the central reason why the Big Three auto companies conceded to 25% increases. Of course, the role of On Strike is to provide a serious analysis for working-class people about how to beat the bosses. In order to make a serious assessment of a given strike, to learn lessons for future struggles, we also have to ask not just what was won, but what it was possible to win, and not just what was done, but what could have been done. In the run-up to the strike, the UAW leadership promised to reverse the losses of past concessionary contracts, originally demanding 46% pay increases. But as many workers are pointing out in unofficial social media groups, at the end of this contract the top rate of pay will still be less in terms of purchasing power than it was in 2006. In those same 41 days of the strike, UAW could have cost Ford much more than 1.3 billion dollars if all plants had been shut down, thus putting much more pressure to win something closer to UAW’s demands – which just in terms of wages, was 46%, not 25%. That limitation also shows in some of the other details of the contract. The proposed contract doesn’t include a return to all workers getting pension and retiree healthcare.
Needless to say, it also does not include victories on the most far-reaching demands put forward by UAW, like a 32-hour work week. The six-week strike ultimately cost the companies less than the 40-day walkout of GM during contract negotiations in 2019. The pro-business outlet Automotive News reported, “Fain’s selective strike – which in the end closed nine assembly plants and 38 parts distribution facilities – still allowed roughly two-thirds of the automakers’ plants to continue to churn out cars.” It also says something that Ford managed to still post a third-quarter net profit, and that its third-quarter adjusted earnings still rose 22% despite the strike. Given their record profits, Ford could certainly have afforded to give up far more. Of course, none of that changes the fact that this is a historic victory by the American working class, brought to you by UAW auto workers. And we are all in debt to them for their courageous strike. These major concessions show what can be won if workers exercise their power. At the same time, the strike also hints at how much more can be won if their power is fully leveraged and mobilized – with the strongest possible strikes. Crucially, this has the potential to open the floodgates for further strikes and class struggle. At the Big 3, the next major
fight needs to be over electric vehicle production, because the transition to EVs is being used by the auto bosses to attempt to break the union by moving it to non-union plants. While there are many victories in the proposed contracts, this issue remains as an ominous threat to UAW and the whole labor movement. This victory needs to also be the beginning of a real drive to organize all the non-union auto production in the US, including especially the non-union EV automakers like Tesla. Workers in these companies can now see that there’s a real advantage to a union contract as their wages are so far behind those of UAW workers. There are over a million workers in the manufacturing side of the auto industry – only 146,000 of them are in UAW, so there’s plenty of room to grow. The union needs to strike while the iron is hot, and show the way to rebuilding a real fighting labor movement that the working class of this country needs! J
New episodes air every Thursday at 6pm EST!
On Strike is the video broadcast of Workers Strike Back, hosted by socialist City Councilmember Kshama Sawant and Bia Lacombe. We’ve seen more protests and strikes than any time in a generation, but rarely do we hear about them from the perspective of working people and our movements. On Strike provides an independent socialist analysis and strategy to rebuild a fighting labor movement and campaign for a new mass party for workers and young people. S O C I A L I S TA LT E R N AT I V E . O R G
WORKERS STRIKE BACK
“My Rent Went Up $100 – My Pay Hasn’t Gone Up At All”
Seattle Grocery Workers Fight For Living Wages
ADAM ZIEMKOWSKI, SEATTLE For several decades, being a grocery worker in America was a pretty solid middle-class job. If you put in some time, the wages were decent, the benefits good, and you had a pension you could retire on. But decades of attacks by grocery corporations have left most grocery workers struggling to get by on barely more than minimum wage. Even workers with years of experience oftentime don’t make enough to pay the
bills . That’s the situation facing 1,450 grocery workers, members of UFCW 3000, at PCC Community Markets, a Seattle-region chain of co-op grocery stores. In an interview for On Strike, deli clerk Anita Rady commented, “I work at the West Seattle PCC and have been there for four years. And I make $20.25.” Seattle’s minimum wage is currently $18.69 and in January will rise to $19.97. Rady added, “My rent went up a hundred dollars in the last year. My car insurance just went up $35. My pay has not gone up at all.” But in the last year, a group of
help organizing their coworkers around these demands. They were unfortunately met with resistance. “The union leadership told us it was too soon to talk to workers about the contract and that our demands were unrealistic. We continued to organize and ask for help, but it felt like they were undermining us at every turn.” said Maddy Olson, a grocery clerk, PCCWU activist, and bargaining team member. PCCWU did receive support from Workers Strike Back (WSB) and socialist City Councilmember Kshama Sawant. They held a joint press conference in March to kick off their contract fight, and WSB and Sawant’s office has helped PCCWU organize their rallies and pickets, and get 1,500 workers and community members to sign a petition with their demands. As a result, UFCW 3000 leadership was forced to take on board PCCWU’s key demands, including $25/hour starting pay. In September, PCC proposed a contract that would Wisconsin. The primary objective of give raises of less than a dollar the labor movement here should be to most workers and more the overturning of Act 10. For the past than double healthcare costs. twelve years, this should have been PCCWU responded swiftly, putthe main discussion at every union ting together a packet detailconvention, and the leadership of ing PCC’s “insulting” proposal each major union in Wisconsin should and going to stores with a new have been coordinating to mobilize worker-only petition rejecting their membership to strike in defithe bosses offer and reiteratance of the law. After all, their ability ing their demands. In a little to collectively bargain was at stake – over a month, they got 630 cois there anything more worth striking workers, nearly a majority, to over? Instead, our union leadership sign on. caved. The response by the UFCW Organized labor in Wisconsin is 3000 leadership stands in the only possible vehicle to overturn stark contrast and is a clear Act 10. Back in 2011, nearly half a example of a “business unionmillion people poured into the streets ist” approach. Their first wage to protest the bill, and thousands proposal, given to the bosses occupied the capital for weeks to try over the objection of PCCWU, to stop it from passing. There were was $23/hour and they soon calls for a general strike! Act 10 is dropped down to $17-19/hour, hated in Wisconsin just as much today as it was back then. After all, workers have borne the brunt of it for twelve years. Now more than ever, we need to truly reckon with our potential power – the power of an organized, united working class. We need to redefine what we think is actually possible, and what we know is absolutely necessary. For the Wisconsin working class, the overturning of Act 10 is both. It’s time to finish the fight! J
workers organized into a rank-and-file caucus called PCC Workers United (PCCWU), having been waging a serious fightback. PCC workers’ contract expires at the end of 2023. Since March, PCCWU has held tables and rallies at PCC stores, building support for their main demands: $25/ hour starting pay, $35/hour after three years with guaranteed cost of living increases, no cuts to healthcare benefits, one wage scale across all stores, and full staffing. These demands have massive support. A poll of 109 workers conducted by PCCWU in May found 91% supported the $25/hour base pay demand. A majority said they were willing to strike to win them. PCCWU members approached their union, the UFCW 3000, for
Graduate Student Workers Are Organizing Against One Of The Most Notorious Anti-Union Laws In The US STEPH NUÑEZ & AUGUST EASTONCALABRIA, MADISON Graduate workers at University of Wisconsin-Madison are getting organized in defiance of one of the most repressive and anti-union laws in the country. Because of across-the-board inflation, rapid increases in rent nationwide, and an emerging tech field in Madison, our already-low stipends are quickly becoming unlivable. The university has even had the audacity to send us emails advertising the local food bank as a way to make ends meet. Back in March, graduate workers began organizing with Workers Strike Back to start a campaign to revitalize our graduate student union, the Teaching Assistants’ Association (TAA), in order to fight for and win a better contract with a decent standard of living. We have since formed a caucus within the union to organize around specific demands that we want to convince our fellow union members to fight for. We’re demanding a substantial pay increase for graduate workers across all departments: $50,000 stipends with 12-month contracts. This number is based on the median income necessary to rent a one-bedroom apartment in Madison without being rent-burdened, and reflects that rent has increased around 30% since 2020 in Madison. We’re also fighting to end back-door tuition costs, like international fees and segregated NOVEMBER 2023
fees that the university forces grads to pay for, costing each of us well over a thousand dollars a year. None of these things are possible for each of us to win on our own, or even organize around in our respective departments. Our campaign quickly came to the conclusion that in order to actually mobilize our co-workers, we needed to try to win big. And in order to win big, we need to build as strong a movement as possible – one that convinces a majority of graduate workers on campus to re-certify the TAA and get strike-ready, and one that even reaches other public-sector unions, like the teachers and UW nurse unions in Madison. Such a united movement is necessary because bargaining for anything other than wages up to inflation is illegal for public-sector unions under Act 10. In other words, bargaining for any kind of inflation-adjusted raise whatsoever violates state law, which our demand for $50,000 stipends clearly does. But that is precisely the point. Act 10 was passed in 2011, in spite of massive protests against it, just three years after the devastating global financial crash. It was a bill designed to foist the crisis created by the corporate elite onto us, the workers. But that was twelve long years ago, and the labor movement in the United States is beginning to awaken again. Across the country, newly-organizing workers are still in the process of shaking off the bad ideas of business unionism and the cowardice of its old-guard leadership, and there is no clearer example of that than in
far less than the $25/hour wage included in their own Declaration of Demands. They also made big concessions on wages for long-term employees and abandoned the one wage scale demand. UFCW 3000 leaders echoed arguments made by the bosses to justify their demands and attacked PCCWU. “Instead of helping us win our demands, the union leadership told us they were unrealistic, that PCC couldn’t afford them. But $25/hour is the bare minimum to afford housing around Seattle.” Olson, who is also a Workers Strike Back activist and Socialist Alternative member said, added, “The CEO makes $500,000 before bonuses and they’ve opened seven new stores since 2015. PCC can afford to pay us, but they won’t unless we fight.” On October 18, PCCWU and WSB held a rally and picket culminating in the delivery of the 630 petition signatures to management. This organizing has clearly had a big impact. In response to PCC’s latest offer, UFCW 3000 leadership decided to bring it to the membership with a NO vote recommendation, which means it will almost certainly be rejected. But it’s still an uphill battle to win the workers’ demands. PCC has stepped up their attacks on PCCWU. The union leadership has also increased their efforts to stifle PCCWU’s rank-and-file organizing, including telling workers they may not be able to defend workers organizing with PCCWU against attacks from the boss. UFCW 3000 hopes that by weakening PCCWU they can push through an “industry standard” contract, like the one they negotiated for the 25,000 grocery workers at Kroger, Albertsons, and Safeway last year. It established important wage gains for some of the lowest paid workers, but is still well below $25/hour and nowhere near what’s needed to afford Seattle area rents. PCCWU has built real power in the workplace. They will need to build on that and organize committees of workers in each store to prepare them for a fight and eventual strike to win their demands. The rank-and-file workers in PCCWU, as well as Workers Strike Back, are trying to buck a decades-long trend to win back living wages in the grocery industry. In spite of the challenges, the potential for an historic victory at PCC is real. J
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WORLD EVENTS
SOLIDARITY DEMONSTRATIONS
ROCK THE MIDDLE EAST AND NORTH AFRICA by JESADA JITPRAPHAKHAN
Since the outbreak of war in Gaza, hundreds of thousands around the world have rallied to call for an end to Israeli aggression against Palestinians. London’s “National March for Palestine” will go down as one of the largest demonstrations in British history. Hundreds of protesters organized by Jewish Voice for Peace and IfNotNow staged sit-ins on Capitol Hill and in Grand Central Terminal, calling for a ceasefire. In France and Germany, many protests have been banned, and those that do take place have been met with teargas and water cannons. Support for the national and human rights of Palestinians is near universal among the masses of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). Popular unrest across the region has been so deep that authoritarian regimes with near-zero tolerance for protest have largely been forced to allow demonstrations out of fear that restricting them could create an even more profound level of unrest. But they are not without restriction: first, the ruling regimes do not want these demonstrations to evolve into expressions of mass discontent with their own governments. Second, countries like Morocco, Egypt, and Jordan have normalized relations with Israel and must balance between popular outrage and diplomatic relations with Israel and the West. In Egypt, where unauthorized protests are banned, the Sisi administration has organized staged pro-Palestinian protests, featuring portraits of the president and chants with his name. Many recognize these rallies as clear attempts to capitalize politically on the public mood ahead of the December elections. Unsanctioned demonstrations, on the other hand, have faced mass arrests. In Cairo’s Tahrir Square, the symbolic epicenter of mass protest in 2011, protestors were beaten by police and chased out of the square. “Here they are, the Zionists!” the crowd chanted at the police, exposed for holding back the movement. Thousands have taken the streets in Morocco calling for an end to the nation’s normalization with Israel, which established diplomatic and economic relations, but won key geopolitical benefits as well. Israel and the US now both recognize Morocco’s claim to the disputed Western Sahara, and the three are in a common bloc against Iran, who Morocco accused of funding the Western
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Protesters shout slogans during a rally in solidarity with the people of Gaza in Cairo, Egypt,on Oct. 20.
Saharan separatist movement. Consequently, Morocco’s official statement on the war was considered soft, and made no mention of Israel’s occupation as a catalyst. As protests broke out, Morocco adjusted its position, blaming Israel for the hospital blast. More recently, police shut down a demonstration at the French embassy, protesting Macron’s support for the war, and drove protesters into an alley. Rallies in Jordan have demanded cancellation of its peace treaty with Israel and closure of the Israeli embassy in Amman. Jordan is home to the largest Palestinian diaspora population. King Abdullah has spoken out against Israel’s assault on Gaza and canceled his summit in Amman with Biden amid the explosion of mass protests across the region. The latest development was the recall of Jordan’s ambassador to Israel. But taking much more drastic action will jeopardize Jordan’s relationship with the US, which provides the kingdom with critical economic aid. The state maintains final say over what kind of protest is allowed. Protesters storming the Israeli embassy were doused with tear gas. Marchers headed towards the West Bank border received the same treatment. Crucially, protests have broken out in the West Bank itself. Containing these can pose a serious challenge for the Israeli regime.
Potential For Regional Escalation Jordan and Egypt want deescalation of the war and a return to stability because they both have red lines which, if crossed by Israel, could compel them to enter a wider regional conflict. Regarding the threat of forced Palestinian displacement from Gaza, Egypt’s parliament granted Sisi a mandate to take “necessary measures” to ensure national security, including war. Should the governments of Egypt or Jordan facilitate this process with Israel, their populations would erupt in protest against their respective regimes. Further, Egypt is concerned that Hamas and smaller armed groups could enter, destabilize Sinai, launch attacks on Israel from Egyptian territory, and grow and recruit within the country. The potential Gaza exodus is a proposal actually outlined in a “concept paper” by an Israeli ministry. Netanyahu insists the paper is hypothetical.
Build The Movement Across The Region It is true that some layers of these protests have illusions in Hamas and take up anti-Israel chants. But overwhelmingly, the
motivation for protesting has been concern for the national and human rights of Palestinian people. The vast majority in MENA countries oppose diplomatic recognition of Israel, but the most common reason for this is the occupation. Hamas has support only because it is seen as the main leadership of resistance to occupation, and because of the total absence of an alternative. Among the population with the closest direct experience with Hamas – Gazans – recent polling found 67% to have little trust in Hamas. The international depth of this movement and the consistency of solidarity across the MENA countries means the ruling regimes must be very careful to stay on the right side of public opinion. Regardless of their rhetoric, if governments are seen as wavering in their support for Palestinians, the movement can turn against them, and rebellion can spill over into countries across the region. International demonstrations against the massacre in Gaza are critical, and workers must struggle everywhere against attacks on democratic rights. Trade unions should take a leading role in protests, as they are in Tunisia, and integrate working class economic demands on the ruling regimes into the movement. Massive strikes could spread throughout the region and inspire the kinds of actions desperately needed in Israel-Palestine. J
S O C I A L I S TA LT E R N AT I V E . O R G
YOUTH & STUDENTS
UNBEARABLE The Teen Suicide Crisis Is A System-Wide Failure
Young people and their families don’t need statistics to tell them that they’re in the grips of a profound mental health crisis. For the rest of us, the numbers are staggering. A CDC survey released last spring found that in 2021, 44.2% of teenagers had experienced persistent feelings of sadness or hopelessness, and almost 20% – 1 in 5 American teenagers – considered suicide. According to their numbers, in any given high school classroom, 2-3 students will have attempted suicide and several more will have considered it. While some amount of tumult and personal struggle is to be expected as any young person grows up, this is not normal. It’s the consequence of a truly horrifying amount of global instability and crisis bearing down upon teens, and the systematic undermining of resources that could be used to help. Teens Face Increasingly Unsafe World The COVID-19 pandemic and the effects of quarantine was a distressing and even traumatic experience for many young people. Being stuck at home indefinitely, often in high-stress situations for families whose livelihoods were jeopardized, meant more kids and teens faced emotional and physical abuse. They saw their parents in distress, and being out of school meant less connection to other adults or classmates. These experiences have had lasting impacts on youth mental health, long after lockdowns have ended. When your education, your upbringing, and all the significant activity of your life is put on pause, then ordered to restart – where do you find the motivation and meaning to be able to jump back into the way things were? Add to this the terrifying reality of climate change, war, and persistent unjustifiable inequality which have profoundly affected young people’s ability to really imagine a NOVEMBER 2023
As a result, more and more children and teens are ending up in the emergency room with mental health emergencies. In fact, this problem has reached such extreme proportions that the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American College of Emergency Physicians, and the Emergency Nurses Association just released a joint statement urgently appealing for a surge of resources to relieve the crisis of ERs overwhelmed with youth mental health patients.
What To Do?
We don’t need to wait for more research to come up with clever new solutions – we need money for a healthcare system that would actually serve working and young people now. Money for more child psychologists and therapists, for treatment facilities, for counselors and comprehensive social-emotional curriculum in public schools, for community centers with a full range of social services and recreational programs for teens, includby KAILYN NICHOLSON, SEATTLE ing programs for LGBTQ teens, teenage girls, and young people of color who have experienced violence or discrimination or struggle with self-esteem related to identity. All of these things could easily be funded tomorrow with an emergency national teen suicide prevention bill. Medicare for All, which has mass public support across the political future. A recent survey of 16-25 year olds Declining Support spectrum, could immediately eliminate cost found that nearly 60% reported feeling as an obstacle for accessing care. It’s also The compounding impact of these stress“extremely or very” worried about climate entirely possible to begin to seriously address change, to say nothing of the direct effects ors mean many young people experience longer-term factors like climate change and of experiencing a natural disaster firsthand. levels of emotional distress they don’t know gun violence by funding green energy and Outrage at the ongoing atrocity in Palestine how to cope with. This can lead to desperjobs programs and restricting access to semihas led to walkouts at high schools and col- ate attempts for relief in the form of addicautomatic weapons – a majority of people in leges across the country, citing their devas- tive and self-harming behaviors, which can the US already want the government to do tation at seeing kids their age having their be anything from drug and alcohol use to more on these issues. disordered eating to excessive social media homes and schools bombed in Gaza. So why haven’t these things happened? Similarly, the divide between the haves use. These behaviors are both symptoms and Because working class families currently have and the have-nots has never been more open causes of depression and anxiety, a vicious no political representation. Big corporations and evident. While rich influencers flaunt cycle that can be impossible to escape from raked in histheir countless luxuries, most toric profits and teenagers today can look the richest 1% forward to a soul-crushing IN AN AVERAGE increased their 9-to-5 that will still leave HIGH SCHOOL wealth by bilthem struggling to afford rent CLASSROOM OF lions during the and healthcare, likely with a 20 STUDENTS pandemic at the mountain of student debt to expense of the go along with it. health of work2 WILL HAVE Add to all this the backing class and ATTEMPTED SUICIDE drop of school shootings, and young people. it’s not hard to see why teens The amount of AND 2 MORE are in crisis. In 2018, a survey money needed to WILL HAVE found over half of teens were fully fund public CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL worried that a shooting could CONSIDERED IT. AND PREVENTION - YOUTH RISK education, MediBEHAVIORS SURVEY happen at their school. This care for All, and year there have already been a broad range of over 230 mass shootings in social programs the US, creating a social backdrop of violence without support. for working families is not actually that much It’s horrible that young people feel as if that negatively impacts not just children’s in comparison to the vast reserves of wealth immediate feelings of safety but their overall nobody is there for them – even worse is that, the ultra-rich are hoarding or that is being generally speaking, nobody is. In 2022, 42 emotional development. spent on war. Certain groups with additional risk fac- states reported severe shortages of child and Unfortunately, neither major party has tors experience even higher rates of severe adolescent psychiatrists. Thanks to funding any interest in taxing the rich. That’s why we depression and suicidality, including girls, cuts, the number of residential treatment urgently need a new party for working class LBGTQ, and Black and indigenous teens. facilities for children fell 30% nationwide and young people, based on the strength of Members of these groups are more likely to from 2012 to 2020. In 2021, less than mass movements and organizations of workexperience violence or discrimination based half of adolescents who needed treatment ers, students, retirees – the vast majority of on their identity, and LGBTQ, Black, and for major depressive disorder got it. Mental us who urgently need and want something we indigenous teens are more likely to witness health care is prohibitively expensive, and can genuinely be hopeful for. J violence in their communities or carry guns Black and brown families, who are less likely for personal safety, all risk factors associated to have insurance, are the least likely to have access to mental healthcare. with higher rates of suicide.
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HISTORY Left: Allende supporters march in Santiago on Sept. 5, 1964. Center: Salvador Allende, president of Chile 1970-1973, photo undated. Right: The body of President Salvador Allende is carried out of the presidential palace in Santiago, Chile, after the Sept. 11, 1973, coup led by Augusto Pinochet.
HISTORY IS OURS SAWYER SMITH, NEW YORK CITY In November of 1970, following a long and uncertain campaign, the Chilean working class elected a self-described Marxist, Salvador Allende, to the Presidency. With the Socialist Party at the helm, the Allende government instituted reforms that radically improved life for working-class Chileans. Three years later, Allende’s government was violently overturned in a savage USbacked coup that killed thousands of activists, labor leaders, and average workers over the course of only a few weeks, with countless others added to that total in the sixteen years of dictatorship that followed. Today, 50 years after the fact, many of those disappeared by the Pinochet regime remain unaccounted for, buried under the classified documents and bureaucratic obfuscation which defined his extreme, reactionary administration. Neoliberal capitalist restoration, a project pioneered by American think tank imperialists, resulted in the return of widespread poverty and abject suffering which had been ameliorated, however briefly, by the Popular Unity government with Salvador Allende at its helm. For the crime of envisioning a better world governed by and for all people – and for the mistake of standing against workingclass attempts to organize against the coup – Allende and his comrades were murdered, tortured, erased from history, or more often than not, all of the above. The blood of the Chilean workers stains not just the hands of Augusto Pinochet or his military Junta, but those of the foreign and domestic capitalists who supported his rise to power. After the brutal military takeover, Chile became the testing ground for a group of economists nicknamed the “Chicago boys,” whose neoliberal policies like deregulation, austerity, and privatization destroyed the improvements that Chilean workers had been able to win, and which were soon exported all over the world. We must never forget the events that unfolded in September of 1973, and we must closely study the lessons of this brutally suppressed movement to build a socialist society.
Great Yearnings For Justice Under the leadership of the Allende administration, what he termed the “Chilean Path to Socialism” initially saw great success in
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nationalizing the extraction of resources like copper, providing citizens with free healthcare and education, introducing a livable minimum wage, and expanding public works projects which led to a significant increase in employment. One particularly well-known initiative was the Free Milk Program, which provided sustenance and consistent nutrition to the children of struggling families. A mere two years into his reconstruction of the Chilean economy, 40% of it had successfully been brought under public ownership. Despite remaining quite high, the Popular Unity government achieved a massive reduction in inflation, and expanded social services across the board. The socialist vision which drove the implementation of these policies was immensely popular with the working class, and why shouldn’t it have been? This government, which toppled the string of staunch conservative administrations that had preceded it since the establishment of liberal democracy in the country, had brought with it hope for a brighter future and a tangible increase in the standard of living. This had been achieved in spite of the inclusion of small capitalist parties in the “Popular Front” government and, indeed, members of those parties in Allende’s cabinet. With these positions he sought to assuage them – but this only provided capitalist reaction a foothold in the government, which would before long become full-fledged counter-revolution. The capitalist class, of course, could not stand for the massive reform effort. It goes without saying that this bold new society being built right under their noses, all while adhering to the nation’s pre existing constitution, was a direct threat to their hegemony. They could not take this affront to their rule sitting down, and accordingly, they did not. In 1972 there was a massive wave of reaction in the form of a “bosses’ strike,” wherein capitalists pulled out their financial backing and strategically deprived the people of necessary resources. Stores which had been stocked just days before saw their commodities rapidly sell out and vanish. By withdrawing the capital that was still under their control, the capitalist class had succeeded in stripping the people of their access to the food and water they needed to live, wreaking havoc on the changing economy and undoing the gains of the young project. The growth of working-class consciousness in Latin
SALVADOR ALLENDE & CHILE’S THWARTED REVOLUTION
America which bucked the influence of US imperialism was seen as an aggravated challenge to their international dominance, and was treated as such.
The Power To Continue Defending Their Profits And Privileges
Respect The Constitution And The Law
Under Pinochet, Chile became a testing ground for neoliberal capitalism, unprecedented austerity, and widespread deregulation which would lay the groundwork for the policies of Reagan and Thatcher. This political project was overseen by a sadistic military dictatorship, and was enforced by the barrel of a gun and the whistle of falling bombs. Chilean citizens lived under constant fear of arrest, which almost invariably meant unthinkably cruel forms of torture for the victims and a permanent lack of closure for their families and communities. The Pinochet regime, under the tutelage of CIA specialists in foreign intervention, left no stone unturned when suppressing trade unionists and left-wing activists through horrific acts of violence. In the sixteen years that Pinochet ruled Chile with an iron fist, and for decades afterwards until the day he died at the age of 91, he never faced justice for the torture and internment of thousands. His crimes, it seems, did not warrant any actionable scrutiny from the ruling class – because it was all done in the service of protecting their system.
In an effort to ward off American intervention in the country, Allende adopted a conciliatory approach to reaction. He frequently spoke of defending the constitutionality of his administration and of the armed forces, leading to the appointment of the reactionary generals to his Cabinet that would soon overthrow him. Despite multiple failed attempts at a more discreet form of military coup, he admonished workers for brandishing arms and fighting to defend the new government, having a small squadron of sailors arrested in Valisparo for dereliction of military duty. In reality, what the Valisparo sailors had done was loudly proclaim what they had seen with their own eyes: a plot to violently overthrow the government, within Chile’s military. In the days leading up to the ultimate victory of Pinochet’s military upheaval, nearly one million protesters organized a demonstration in front of the Presidential Palace, demanding that Allende shutter the bourgeois parliament and arm the workers. The Popular Unity government’s refusal, despite saying it would do so, ultimately led to its undoing. Days later, the palace in front of which they had called for revolution was reduced to rubble, with President Salvador Allende inside. He was a fierce advocate for the people, but ultimately he wrongly believed that socialism was within the government’s power to institute, and not in the purview of the working class itself. Throughout his Presidency, Allende did not mobilize workers and farmers to take power themselves. He did not support or facilitate workers organizing themselves into formations like Soviets to democratically run society and defend it from capitalist reaction. From the very outset it was foreseeable that the capitalist class would refuse to simply cede their power in Chile – and that they would do so violently. By refusing to empower the working class to fight for itself, Allende ensured his own story – and the story of tens of thousands of working-class Chileans – ended in tragedy.
The Great Avenues Will Open Again In spite of all of this cruelty, the working class movement which had, for a brief but shining moment, seized power in 1970, was not intimidated into complete dormancy. The throughline of working class resistance has remained unbroken through to today, which we saw in the outburst of a protest movement in 2019 that was millions strong, and which played a role in finally overturning the Pinochet-established constitution. It was the working class that brought leaders like Allende into power, because it is the working class that will always be the agent of change in society. We cannot reform our way into a socialist future; the capitalists are far too stubborn and violent to allow anything of the sort. Only through revolutionary working class movements can we finally clean our hands of the brutality of capitalism and imperialism once and for all. J
S O C I A L I S TA LT E R N AT I V E . O R G
S O C I A L I S T A LT E R N AT I V E I N A C T I O N
SOCIALIST ALTERNATIVE NATIONAL CONVENTION
Are A DeadBuilding Revolutionary Socialism Democrats End In The Era Of Disorder SADIE WITT, MADISON The weekend of October 14-17, over 150 leading members of Socialist Alternative gathered in Chicago for the National Convention – the highest convening body of leadership from the US section of the International Socialist Alternative. The weekend consisted of tens of hours of political discussion and debate, with the aim of solidifying our political program given the current national and global conditions. The convention – typically held every two years – had not been held in person since 2018 due to the pandemic. As Marxists, we cannot overstate the importance of getting organized on a national level and building nationwide alongside our comrades throughout the United States.
War And Inter-Imperialist Rivalry We are living in an age of growing capitalist disorder. This is made more and more clear with each week of interimperialist wars, growing global tension, and environmental disaster that passes. Amidst increased imperialist conflict, we recognize the New Cold War between the US and China as one of the most important and influential aspects of world relations, with clear consequences for the global working class. The war in Ukraine has yielded disastrous consequences for both sides, with over 100,000 people losing their lives to the war and millions of Ukrainians displaced. The war in Ukraine is one bloody chapter in the New Cold War, with Western imperialism seizing upon the invasion to increase its already strong influence on the capitalist Ukrainian state, and in doing so, strike against Russian and Chinese imperialism. The ISA stands in vehement opposition to the war, as we recognize bloody imperialist invasion to be irreconcilable with the aims of international working-class
struggle. In that vein, a large portion of our discussion and debate surrounding international affairs focused on the recent invasion of Gaza, what this will mean for navigating issues of the right of nations to self-determination, and how we orient to the working classes on both sides of the fence. We affirm the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination and for an end to the unconscionable violence leveled against the people in Gaza. A strong Marxist perspective on this war, and international conflict as a whole, calls for a ceasefire, an end to US aid to the reactionary Israeli state, and for ongoing international demonstrations of solidarity.
Workers Fight Back In the US we have seen a clear uptick in labor struggles, like those at UPS, UAW, Starbucks, and Amazon. The main challenge facing these workers looking to get organized in their workplace is brutal corporate union-busting, but workers are also finding themselves up against a union leadership that in many cases acts as a brake on rankand-file militancy. This has provoked the election of several reform leaderships in various unions, some of which are being tested in battle right now. Labor leaders’ unwillingness to organize the unorganized has paved the way for the formation of new, independent unions, such as SBWU, ALU, and Trader Joe’s unions. These independent labor formations show workers want to fight, but are also relatively inexperienced, especially when faced with brutal corporate retaliation. We are seeing a possibility for a breakthrough, with the current union drive at KCVG, Amazon’s biggest air hub. A victory at Amazon KCVG, especially with bold demands like a $30/hr starting wage, would inspire unorganized workers to stand up to their own bosses.
It has been made abundantly clear that in order to combat attacks on the working class, we cannot rely on either of the two corporate capitalist parties. With the Republican Party skewing farther to the right and the Democratic Party proving to be utterly stagnant and continuing their tradition of turning their backs on workers and young people, it is becoming more and more apparent to millions of people that neither party possesses a genuine program in the interest of working people. The Democrats have become especially unpopular in light of Biden’s many betrayals, including failing to pass the PRO Act, failing to cancel student debt, and backing the Israeli state’s war in Gaza. Given the increasing frequency of these betrayals and their severity, it is more crucial now more than ever that we put forward and build an independent left alternative outside the Democrats, which will be key to rebuilding the struggle.
Join Socialist Alternative In this age of disorder, it has never been more urgent for workers to get organized on the local, national, and international levels. By organizing in a democratic and principled way around a clear Marxist program, the working class can play a decisive role in forging a path to a socialist future. Our National Convention was an excellent opportunity to discuss and debate the means of achieving and developing this organization – showing in real time how democratic decision-making bodies are essential for any organization to reach political clarity. If you are looking for a principled, democratic, and militant Marxist organization that has already been an agent of substantive change, there is no better time than now to join Socialist Alternative! J
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Socialist Alternative is an active organization with members across the country. Joining means basic agreement with our ideas and a commitment to putting them into action. Apply to join and a member in your area will reach out to you shortly! If you don’t see an area near you listed below, contact our national office. (646) 371-9016 info@SocialistAlternative.org facebook.com/SocialistAlternativeUSA Instagram: @Socialist_Alternative Twitter: @SocialistAlt Tik Tok: @socialistus Socialist Alternative is part of International Socialist Alternative (ISA), (ISA) which has sections in over 30 countries. Learn more about the ISA at internationalsocialist.net.
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HOUSTON, TX............houstonsa@socialistalternative.org SOCIALIST ALTERNATIVE ISSN 2638-3349
Editor: Keely Mullen Editorial Board: George Brown, Tom Crean, Grace Fors, Chris Gray, Josh Koritz, Calvin Priest, Greyson Van Arsdale, Tony Wilsdon Editors@SocialistAlternative.org
15
SOCIALIST
ALTERNATIVE ISSUE #98 l NOVEMBER 2023
Europe since World War II. China has become more bellicose toward Taiwan. India has embraced a virulent nationalism. Israel has formed the most extreme government in its history. All these developments are signs that the world may have fallen into a new period of disarray. That much has been clear for some time. But the Times goes on to mourn “the long era of American power” and scolds those who ever criticized it. “Congratulations, now we have that [multipolar] world. See if you like it better.” While millions of ordinary people watch in horror and rage at the assault on the people of Gaza, which the US government must continue to bankroll to maintain its alliance with Israel, its key historical ally in the region, this is an incredibly callous statement to make. This isn’t something ordinary people asked for or consented to. We just want people to stop being killed.
War And Imperialism
The Bloody Trail Of US Imperialism KEELY MULLEN AND GRACE FORS
The brutality of the Israeli regime’s attack on Gaza has shocked and devastated millions of working people worldwide. Social media feeds have been flooded with images of bombed out hospitals and piles of rubble where there used to be homes, shops, and families. Hundreds of thousands of people have taken the streets around the world to declare their profound solidarity with the people of Palestine who are fighting against unimaginable horrors. With the war in Ukraine rounding the corner to its two-year anniversary, and the outbreak of the bloody war in Gaza which
threatens to spill into an all-out regional conflict, millions are asking themselves when and how the world got this violent.
“New World Order” On October 9, two days after the catastrophic attack by Hamas in Israel, and as the Israeli state was beginning its rampage of collective punishment on the people of Gaza, the New York Times’ Monday newsletter opened with a warning of “a new world order.” Russia has started the largest war in
While the conflict in Israel and Palestine goes back decades, it cannot now be separated from the global struggle of the two imperialist blocs led by the US and China. The basis for our analysis of this New Cold War is an understanding of imperialism. Lenin, a central leader in the Russian Revolution, described how “an essential feature of imperialism is the rivalry between several great powers in the striving for hegemony.” All imperialist powers, global or regional, seek to dominate markets and to maintain control of their “sphere.” Imperialism also means the subjugation of the vast majority of the world’s population to the dictates of finance capital. While portraying itself as more or less “enlightened” it means massive oppression. The interests of oppressed peoples are a total afterthought. They are pawns in a much bigger game. The brutality unfolding in Gaza has to be seen in this light. The US has for decades relied on the Israeli state to serve as an outpost for its interests in the Middle East. It has pumped tens of billions of dollars into the Israeli state. Joe Biden himself explained the relationship succinctly in 2013 when he said: “It’s not only a long-standing moral commitment; it’s a strategic commitment.” The interests of US imperialism can be measured by its death toll. US wars launched in the Middle East and Central Asia since 9/11 have killed 4.5 million people and created 50 million refugees. Another measurement can be made in dollars. US military spending in 2022 accounted for 40% of all military spending worldwide. Put another way, the US spends more on defense than China, Russia, India, Saudi Arabia, the UK, Germany, France, South Korea, Japan, and Ukraine combined. And for what? Today it’s to out-compete the Chinese led imperialist bloc for dominance.
In the war on Gaza, a key concern of US imperialism is pushing back against China’s increasing efforts to grow its influence in the Middle East. The value of human life is calculated only in proportion to imperialism’s drive for power.
The Main Enemy Is At Home In a Halloween scare for the ages, Hillary Clinton emerged from obscurity on October 29 to attend a billionaire think tank’s anniversary panel alongside her fellow former Secretary of State the undead Henry Kissinger. “People who are calling for a ceasefire do not understand Hamas,” she said. She went on to provide an interesting insight into the cold and calculated mindset of a true imperialist, delivering her assessment of why Israel must push forward with its assault, as if discussing a game of Risk. Her attitude could not be further from the hundreds of thousands of protesters all over the world taking to the streets against the massacre of civilians. All those in the US who are horrified by the events unfolding in Gaza have an obligation to aim our fire squarely at our own ruling elite whose decades-long game of chess in the Middle East has led us to the doorstep of the humanitarian disaster unfolding today. We have to unambiguously oppose all US military aid to Israel and stand firmly with the Palestinian masses fighting for their freedom from oppression.
“Workers and Oppressed of the World Unite” While steadfastly standing for the right of the Palestinian masses to form their own state, free from the specter of occupation, we also must be clear that the true allies of Palestinian working class will not be found in Hamas, or any other reactionary force. As Lenin wrote in 1913, “The proletariat cannot pursue its struggle for socialism and defend its everyday economic interests without the closest and fullest alliance of the workers of all nations in all working-class organizations without exception.” As socialists, we refuse to blur the distinction between a country’s generals and its ordinary teachers, construction workers, students, bus drivers, and nurses. Ordinary working people have far more in common with one another, despite all our national distinctions, than any of us do with our own ruling class at home. The recent wave of protests throughout the globe show the potential for much needed mass struggle in the region and internationally to end the siege, occupation, and poverty; to put an end to the ongoing cycles of conflict; and to guarantee equal rights to existence, self-determination, dignity, and wellbeing. This is a socialist struggle to abolish capitalism and imperialism. J