[lbo-talk] Million Worker March?

Michael Dawson MDawson at pdx.edu
Fri Sep 17 10:06:00 PDT 2004


This one is a microcosm of the U.S. left. On one side, a rally without anything specific to rally for, other than rallying itself. On the other side, the putrid DP and its AFL-CIO "leadership" puppets, which spurn all true labor politics and organizing.

Personally, I'd attend the MWM if it were held at this year's AFL-CIO Convention and were targeted against further automatic collaboration with the DP and polite compliance with the current body of labor law, as well as paycheck, white-boy unionism. We need to seize our own house back before we go trying to rattle swords in D.C.

As it stands, this march will only embarrass the labor left. The press will sneer, and the turnout will fall way short of the "million." It will also associate the labor left with Farrakanism, due to the truly dumb and stale title. We need creativity and some small victories, not rote gestures that flush away energy into nowhere.

Ugh.

-----Original Message----- From: lbo-talk-bounces at lbo-talk.org [mailto:lbo-talk-bounces at lbo-talk.org] On Behalf Of Doug Henwood Sent: Friday, September 17, 2004 5:44 AM To: lbo-talk at lbo-talk.org Subject: Re: [lbo-talk] Million Worker March?

Yoshie Furuhashi wrote:


>Is it just Max, Mark Pavlick, and me from the list? The Million
>Worker March will not be as big as the August 29, 2004 "World Says
>No to the Bush Agenda" march organized by UfPJ, much less worldwide
>mobilization against the invasion of Iraq on February 15, 2003. The
>social composition of main organizers and likely participants of the
>Million Worker March -- both in terms of class and race -- is,
>however, far more critical to the future of independent political
>action on the electoral and movement fronts than the march on August
>29.

I don't agree with the "more important" part, but it is sad that the MWM isn't getting more attention and support than it is. The impact of having a large, multiracial, class-centered march in DC could be enormous. What's the problem? Too black? Too working class? Too diffuse a message? Bad timing?

Doug ___________________________________ http://mailman.lbo-talk.org/mailman/listinfo/lbo-talk



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