[lbo-talk] Class Action: The Million Worker March, October 17

[Yoshie Furuhashi]

Michael Dawson MDawson at pdx.edu, Tue Oct 19 08:53:14 PDT 2004:
>>"Suppose that ILWU Local 10 waited until a million workers got 
>>fired up to mobilize for the program of the Million Worker March. 
>>By then, the current stage of hotel workers' strikes, lockouts, and 
>>contract negotiations -- the topic that John mentioned -- would be 
>>over."
>
>You miss the point (of course).  The point is how much easier would 
>it be to organize hotel workers if there were a rumbling of a 
>political labor movement?  If you could put one million workers in 
>the streets demanding something other than the powers that be, 
>wouldn't that give lots of people genuine hope that change is 
>possible and struggle might pay off?

Sure, it would be nice to have a demonstration of one million workers 
advancing a pro-working-class agenda as workers (as opposed to as 
single-issue activists), but the question is whether the Million 
Worker March organizers could have, or the AFL-CIO or any other 
organization would have, done so in time to make a difference for 
hotel workers in HERE UNITE Local 2, Local 25, and other locals that 
John Lacny mentioned or any time soon for that matter.  If you think 
that you can do better than the Million Worker March organizers, try 
it and demonstrate that you actually can.

The last biggest AFL-CIO mobilization of workers was "an August 1991 
'Solidarity Day' rally," which attracted 250,000 according to Manny 
Fernandez and David Nakamura (at 
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A40594-2004Oct17.html>). 
Since then, organized labor in general has declined in membership. It 
won't be easy to reverse it, not to mention moving forward.  That 
being the case, we have to do what we can and build on it, whether 
it's the Million Worker March or solidarity with hotel workers on 
strike or under lockout or whatever.


>Come to Washington and "network" with all the people you already 
>agree with and email with 10 times a week!
<snip>
>Stand up and make your statement that you stand squarely with your 
>10,000 comrades, in a working class of 200 million people!

If you could find 10,000 individuals you agree with and communicate 
with them every week without blowing your top, you would be getting 
somewhere politically.  Judging by your postings, though, it doesn't 
look like you have anyone you agree with and communicate with 
regularly, let alone in the context of political organizing.
-- 
Yoshie

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