Political parties, unions score in “cynical, reactionary
maneuver to demobilize working class, dissipate opposition to the attacks on
social programs and worker rights”
Editing by Carolyn Bennett
From today’s World Socialist Web Site article by Patrick
Martin, “The lessons of Wisconsin”
“The economic convulsions and social tensions that produced
the upheaval in Wisconsin have not been resolved,” Patrick Martin writes. “On
the contrary, they have intensified enormously.
“The working class in the United States and throughout the
world is being driven into struggle by the crisis of capitalism and by the
determination of the ruling class to defend its wealth through a ruthless
attack on jobs, wages, education, health care and basic democratic rights.”
Cause demands new
blood, new ideas, ceaseless struggle
“This struggle requires a new political perspective and new
organizations of struggle. No confidence can be placed in the trade unions,
which serve as the policemen for big business inside the working class.
The working class must build new organizations independent of the trade unions—rank and file committees to unite public sector and private sector workers as well as youth in the workplaces, schools and neighborhoods.
The working class must build new organizations independent of the trade unions—rank and file committees to unite public sector and private sector workers as well as youth in the workplaces, schools and neighborhoods.
The working class can take a step forward only when workers break with the Democratic Party and take up the fight to build an independent party based on a struggle for workers’ power and socialism.…
“The central lesson of Wisconsin is the need to build a new
leadership in the working class—the Socialist Equality Party—to arm the coming
social struggles with a revolutionary program and perspective.
Toward June 5
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| Capitol rotunda Madison |
Movement
The February-March 2011 response to newly elected Governor
Scott Walker’s surprise introduction of a measure to virtually eliminate bargaining
rights for public employees and slash billions from workers’ benefits and
social programs was tens of thousands of workers in demonstrations and occupation
of the Capitol rotunda in Madison, Wisconsin.
After the Republican-controlled state legislature ignored the
protests and passed the anti-worker legislation, movement grew for a general strike. The Socialist Equality Party and the World Socialist Web
Site took up an aggressive campaign for general strike action, issued
statements and distributed thousands of them at anti-Walker rallies.
Movement aborted becomes campaign to recall
Union obstruction
Union leaders shut down the anti-Walker movement and
diverted it into a series of recall campaigns aimed at replacing Republican
politicians with Democrats, beginning with the recall of state senators during
the summer and culminating in the petition drive that gathered nearly a million
signatures and forced the June 5 recall election.
Leaders of the major unions—the AFL-CIO, the state workers
union (AFSCME), and the teachers union (WEAC)—adamantly opposed any wider
struggle against the anti-worker law.
These union leaders offered to implement all the cuts
demanded by Walker, provided he maintained the automatic dues check-off, the
source of their own salaries, and preserved a role for them in negotiating the
reductions in the income and benefits of their members.
Democratic Party, pseudo-Left obstruction
Democrats stressed their support for Walker’s attacks on public
workers’ benefits and social services, opposing only the measures aimed at
undermining the position of the trade union bureaucracy, which remains a significant
part of the Democrats’ base of support.
Pseudo-left groups like the International Socialist
Organization (ISO) played a key role in torpedoing the struggle in Wisconsin,
building up the authority of the unions and advancing a perspective that mass
protest could force the Democratic Party to oppose the anti-worker policies of
the Republicans. They deliberately concealed the class identity of the
Democratic Party, which, no less than the Republicans, is a party of corporate
America.
Movement watered down becomes fiasco
The recall campaign was a cynical and reactionary maneuver
aimed at demobilizing the working class, dissipating the opposition to the
attacks on social programs and workers’ rights, and channeling the struggle
against Walker into support for the Democratic Party.
 |
| Derailed can be put back on track |
The June 5 debacle was thus “the predictable culmination of
the intervention by the unions and the Democratic Party,” Patrick Martin concludes, to suppress mass workers’
protests and strikes that erupted in Wisconsin last year against the anti-worker,
budget-cutting legislation pushed through by Walker.”
Sources and notes
“The lessons of Wisconsin” (Patrick Martin), June 7, 2012
World Socialist Web Site, wsws.org, published by the
International Committee of the Fourth International (ICFI), http://www.wsws.org/articles/2012/jun2012/pers-j07.shtml
The author also recommends:
“The Wisconsin protests and the re-emergence of the American working
class,” February 18, 2011
Images
Workers unite,
http://www.manifesthope.com/gal/1231472413-workers-
providencedailydose.com
Solidarity, Charity implies a power and privilege differential.
workingclassheroes.me
Migrant Worker Solidarity Caravan-First Stop: Niagara!
j4mw.tumblr.com
Madison, general strike now, May 2011
internationalist.org
Workers's rights are human rights, TWU Regional Summits in Houston and Columbus Fight Back Against ... workersrights.twu.org
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