by S. Callaghan

The original title of this essay was “Toward a Leftist Program by the Working Class, for the Working Class”, an neat, academic-sounding title reflecting an admirable goal: how can we, whatever our class background or position on the left, understand the needs and goals of working people and help to catalyze the development of a political program that reflects those needs and goals, one led by the working class itself?

Looking at the critical ingredients of such a program, the lack of one especially stands out: the paralyzing absence of any significant consciousness among American workers of themselves as a class apart, one locked in a harrowing and historic struggle with the ruling class for the control of their lives and futures. My purpose, then, is to consider this problem in programmatic terms using the thoughts proffered below as a point of departure.

Before going further, I hasten to note that I am not an academic or theorist, just a working class guy and ecumenical socialist. I want to understand how my own class, so numerous and possessing a proud history of action and achievement, can embrace its enormous power. With that in mind, what can the left can do to catalyze revolutionary working class consciousness?

First, some definitions. By “working class”, I mean agricultural workers and people working for wages in industrial, manual, and service occupations. By “left”, I mean the anti-capitalist left, including democratic socialists, anarchists, orthodox socialists, libertarian socialists, and communists. “Revolutionary” means tending to the significant disruption and subversion of capitalism and its structures with the aim of its replacement by a leftist order. Finally, I am proceeding on the assumption that working people’s collective self perception as an oppressed, but potentially powerful class is an indispensable component of the machinery of radical change.

To be effective, it’s important to be realistic about the scale of the change we’re working for and the speed at which we can accomplish it.  If our goal is to nurture working class power to the point of profound social change, we must understand that we are not starting a project, but continuing one. We represent the current generation of a struggle that has been going on at least since the beginning of Industrialization. Thus, our task is to gather the threads of the struggle so far and pull them forward. But while we’re taking care to be realistic about the time line of our struggle, it’s also important to understand that we have advantages, too.

As labor history shows us, we don’t need to win over the entire working class, or even a majority, to further working class power. Periods of revolutionary change are often sparked by an activist minority surrounded by a discouraged or indolent majority. Victories by key worker organizations in key industries drove the Gilded Age into the Progressive Era and then, after WWI and the Depression, into a period of worker militancy critical to the New Deal. To use this advantage, what we might call activist leverage, we must identify where worker consciousness is at its greatest today and encourage it, while identifying where it is weak and strengthening it.

Here we come to a profound divide, but also to another advantage. My statement above about the paralyzing lack of class consciousness is really only true of the white majority. Among people of color, an ever increasing proportion of the population, there is both current militancy and a proud history of militancy. Latinos and African Americans lead the most visible and successful elements of working class opposition to capital and its systems of oppression, from Moral Mondays to Black Lives Matter to the Fight for 15. In terms of boots on the ground, these movements are overwhelmingly Latino and African American and are significantly so in their leadership.

The Working Class of Color is building on a preexisting, ethnicity-based consciousness of itself to achieve economic and political goals. This demographic is growing unstoppably as the white population ages and dwindles. It is significant for the stability and strength of these movements that both African Americans and Latinos already understand, given their histories, that radical change is not achieved without overcoming state repression, including state violence. One of the great disappointments of Occupy was how little resistance from the state was needed to force it into dormancy. Black and Latino Americans, on the other hand, long ago understood the nature of their adversary, and have been able despite state violence to claim the victories of the Civil Rights and Farm Workers’ Rights movements.

What does the left do here? Where there are active worker-oriented movements, get in behind the workers of color leading the charge and beside the rank and file in the street. Speak, write, and donate, of course, but get out into the street and make it clear we offer not just our voices and our checkbooks, but our dedicated physical presence. Embrace a leftist perspective dedicated to listening and learning from working people of color and pursuing their goals with the secondary purpose of modestly offering a systematic leftist perspective when appropriate and possible.

And what of the white working class? Particularly since the neo-liberal backlash, this decreasingly organized bloc has functioned as a self-policing organ of capital rather than a class with its own critical interests, something the ruling class has exploited to the hilt. Still, the recent economic crisis has modestly increased white consciousness of class inequality, even if it hasn’t sparked a movement. Nevertheless, I believe white workers are more open to our message now than they have been in decades, both for direct economic reasons but also because younger working class whites are more accustomed to diversity and less indoctrinated to form an identity based on being “white”,i.e. a certified part of the ruling class.

Here, the task of promoting class consciousness is harder because we must penetrate the ideology that positions the left as alien, or at best irrelevant. As with workers of color, the core principles take precedence: listening, learning, and working beside in order to promote working class accomplishment and to build trust and understanding.

We must also reconnect the present working class to the achievements of past workers who can serve as models for activism in the present day. Of course the history I speak of is ethnically diverse, but workers of color already have recent and compelling examples of how people like themselves changed history. We need to reconnect the white working class to its history, to the radical miners of Appalachia and the West, and to the militant steel and auto workers of the once vigorous Rustbelt, people whose sacrifice and bravery changed America radically.

This is not to say we should–or need—to shy away from theory, but that to be effective among working people in general, especially among those so strongly indoctrinated against us, we must break the persistent perception of the left as cold, distant, impractical, and exclusive. We must connect the left and its ideas to issues of direct, here-and-now economic importance to working people and make certain they know we are there for them, not that they are here for us as a theoretical subjects or political tools. We cannot influence people who do not see us and trust us.

Making sure we are seen and trusted, understanding how best to model the consciousness we seek to inspire, will take a deep examination of our own leftist consciousness. We postpone this task at the peril of our mission.

by A. Barnes

The current economic crisis, touched off by the shutdown to slow the COVID-19 pandemic, has resulted in over 23 million unemployed in the United States (an approximate 14-15% unemployment rate) [1]. Many of these jobs may be lost permanently, since the companies suffering from a lack of market activity cannot sustain their capital for more than a few months (bankruptcy), a situation that is particularly true for small businesses.

In addition, corporations that are still active will soon start layoffs. One particularly grievous example from Latin America took place in May when LATAM Airlines Group decided to lay off 1400 workers across four countries, due to decreased volume in flights [2]. Doubtlessly, more layoffs by many corporations will follow.

The 2008 and 1982 recessions (10% and 10.8% unemployment respectively, at their peak) [1] resulted in lasting economic downturns, which took many years for working people to crawl out of. We have good reason to expect this recession to be just as bad, if not worse. Unemployment, and a shortage of quality jobs, may be a problem for many years. Major media outlets across the political spectrum will sympathize with the plight of these workers, shedding a tear about the woes of unemployment. Yet the plight of these unemployed is not a temporary failing of the market but results from the chronic condition of their separation from the means of production, which is never mentioned.

The working class is not defined primarily by employment. We are defined by our separation from any means to sustain our own lives other than selling our labor power (measured in time) to a capitalist employer. Thus, the working class is not just the currently employed, but includes all who experience this separation. It includes the currently and chronically unemployed, the children of the employed and unemployed, the retired, the immigrant, and students.

Understanding this, the struggle of our class to liberate ourselves from overwork, pauperism, racial and gendered discrimination, and the predatory imperialist wars of our nations’ respective capitalists (of particular importance for U.S. and Chinese workers as their “leaders” clash) cannot be conducted merely within the confines of the workplace but must address the challenges that affect the entire working class in all aspects of their lives.

What can be done?

What should the workers do to address the problem of unemployment? It is undeniable that work must still be done to keep society running and have people’s basic needs met, especially in food production, housing, electricity, internet, etc. But work cannot be allowed to continue under dangerous conditions; over 100,000 U.S. workers have died from the virus and the shameful lack of preparations by the U.S. government. This includes the failure to command industry to produce enough personal protective equipment (PPE) for all persons.

In the short term, workers who are unemployed must form necessarily ad-hoc organizations and movements to demand comprehensive PPE and social distancing measures at their workplaces. This includes an expansion of comprehensive PPE for currently employed workers who do not have it. A safe return to work cannot happen until the government (and large corporations) concede this demand. More comprehensive protections for basic needs, such as food and medical care, must be rapidly expanded so working people survive in the short term. This includes, if necessary, free home food delivery [3].

A minority of workers and small business owners want to return to work immediately with no changes in workplace protections. This minority has been fooled by decades of capitalist propaganda asserting that the right of capital to accumulate profits is the same as “American freedom.” The “re-open the economy” protests are proposing an untenable demand that will only result in our blood continuing to lubricate the gears of capitalism.

Providing support for currently striking workers, like the New Orleans sanitation workers [4] is important. But instead of giving the sanitation workers what they needed, the city fired them and replaced them with prison labor (paid only $1.33 an hour—less than a fifth of the minimum wage!). This is pure exploitation, and points to the attitude that New Orleans city officials have towards workers—as merely human cattle. A victory for the safety of the currently employed will hasten the availability of comprehensive PPE for ALL, and thus a SAFE return to employment for all. We cannot allow ourselves to be turned into scabs or we will enhance the power of the state to oppress us all.

The unions can play a valuable role in helping with this organizational effort. Recently, many Minneapolis unions showed great acts of solidarity with workers protesting the murder of George Floyd by the police [5]. Unions are generally the major organizations of the working class in the U.S. and around the globe, and are indispensable to workers’ struggle for a better life. Unions have the resources and organization to mobilize tens of thousands around particular issues; they can, and must, organize the unemployed.

For those currently employed, it may be easy to fall into a mistaken attitude of thankfulness for a job, and leave it at that. “The unemployed are none of my concern, I’ll stay in my lane.” This is a mistake because of the dynamics of the labor market under capitalism.

A large mass of unemployed persons has the effect of suppressing the value of labor. There is a greater supply on the market and less demand. As a result, bargaining for higher wages (including benefits) becomes much more difficult, since the capitalist employer (whom we have already seen thinks of us like cattle [4]) can easily just hire a more desperate person who is willing to work for less (the same dynamic occurs with exploitation of the immigrant). Solidarity and organization with the unemployed around issues relevant to the class is the first bulwark against the unemployed being used as scabs. We cannot let the capitalists turn us into our own worst enemies!

As already seen in the sanitation workers’ struggle, the desperation of an extra-exploited layer of the working class (in this case prisoners) can be used by the capitalist to their advantage. As the struggles around the COVID-19 crisis and its aftermath progress, it will be necessary for our own good to organize solidarity strikes. Imagine: had millions of U.S. workers gone on strike in solidarity with the sanitation workers of New Orleans, the pressure to give in to justice would have been undeniable for the city, and the safety of all U.S. workers would have been improved (better PPE as a guarantee).

Another solution to the current unemployment crisis is state-organized public works projects, directed towards current national and international needs. Such projects would offer unemployed workers the dignity of work, a wage to afford necessities, and a chance to mobilize tens of thousands of workers towards projects for public benefit. Projects would include restoring strategic parts of the ecology, working in factories to create PPE, food delivery to homes, infrastructure work, aid after natural disasters, etc.

But this approach also requires our class to have commitment to our own dignity. Any state-organized mass public works must have comprehensive PPE, union pay, and the right to organize. This also assumes a significant level of political organization on the part of our class to carry this demand forward. The unions can also play a vital role.

Can work be better? Yes!

But we wouldn’t be doing ourselves justice if we returned to work on capitalist terms. Remember these are the people who are okay in letting us die for their profits.

Given that many jobs lost to COVID-19 may not return, and given that much of capitalist production is not only environmentally wasteful (military production, fossil-fuels) but also perpetuates poverty and inequality, the COVID-19 pandemic might be a blessing in disguise, a means by which the working class can re-shape economic life to improve our quality of life wholesale. Neither bourgeois politicians nor billionaire “saviors” can do it. Our class must take political power in the nation and the world.

Why work five days a week when we can work four—without reduction in pay? Fulfilling this demand would spread the work around to those who are currently unemployed. And there are other benefits: one day less spent commuting could drastically reduce carbon emissions from traffic alone. A demand for shorter workweeks, even 20 hours a week, is not a fantastic demand. Society produces far more than what is immediately necessary for life, and there are many useless products being produced. The workers should have a say in what products are produced, not the manipulative marketers and their privacy-breaching data collection.

Shorter working weeks would also seriously curtail the spread of the virus, for example; half the workers at a plant work a portion of the week and the other half work another portion. The extra free time would give us the freedom to pursue a range of life interests, including helping our communities. Providing immediate employment to the currently unemployed can be accomplished in this fashion without adding to the danger of the virus.

State-organized public works, if controlled with extreme democracy by the working class and unions, could lead to the nationalization of many industries, including, importantly, the energy sector. With this political scaffolding, the millions employed in the private sector could join these public works. The absolute necessity of cutting carbon emissions in industry is only possible with strict, centralized planning, and that planning is only permissible if it is done by working people, for working people.

Military spending could be reduced to zero and the funding re-diverted to the medical field, engineering, education. Many officers and soldiers in the military already receive such training as a part of their enrollment, so their expertise is readily available and can still be employed in the public works. An immediate halt to bomb, drone, and ammunition production would only hurt the tiny layer of capitalists in the blood and oil-soaked munitions industry. Halting this production would drastically cut emissions while freeing thousands of workers to pursue other life goals. Obviously, these workers must be justly compensated and re-trained.

Our international allies in the working class would benefit greatly from an end to U.S.-led terrorism (imperialism), and be able to lead their own revolutions against their own parasitic capitalists. Their alliance will be absolutely necessary if we are to stop the fleeing rich who would take their stolen wealth away from the US to protect it from us (who made that wealth for them).

These are simply a few of the many possibilities that a revolutionary workers’ government could bring about. We cannot be confined to a narrow mindset that those who own companies are allowed to hoard the means of production while workers remain without the bare necessities during a crisis. It is our work, it should be our say!

This is all predicated on the essential fact that the working class fights for its demands in an organized and political manner. In other words, the struggles against unemployment (for prosperity), against racism (for human dignity), and against exploitation (for unions, democracy), must coalesce into a mass workers’ party that fights for socialism—for the working class against the exploiter class.

NOTES:

[1] https://www.thebalance.com/current-u-s-unemployment-rate-statistics-and-news-3305733 Data derived from “The Balance” blog, in its discussion of this recession related to past recessions.

[2] https://airlinegeeks.com/2020/05/17/latam-to-lay-off-1-400-workers-first-major-latin-american-airline-to-confirm-such-measures/ LATAM lays off 1400 total workers in Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru. Note the international reach of LATAM as capital. Workers must act internationally too.

[3] https://socialistresurgence.org/2020/05/21/millions-of-u-s-working-class-families-experience-hunger/ Our commentary on the hunger challenge and a socialist solution.

[4]  SR reporthttps://socialistresurgence.org/2020/05/30/new-orleans-sanitation-workers-strike-for-safe-work-conditions-and-hazard-pay/s on the New Orleans sanitation workers strike.

[5] https://socialistresurgence.org/2020/05/29/minneapolis-labor-unions-call-for-justice-for-george-floyd/ SR’s rundown of union solidarity with the struggle of Black people against the system of murderous oppression in the United States.