Comments on: Heat and Light over the Wisconsin Uprising: Cooptation?

By: Jeffrey Goldfarb

Jeffrey Goldfarb — Sat, 16 Jun 2012 21:23:00 +0000

I am still uncertain how you imagine this would be understood by the broad public, and what you think is gained by drawing strong distinctions between the hard and soft left. Certainly you maintain your purity, but you also cut yourself off and strengthen the right. You mention Martin Luther King Jr as a radical. I agree, and in this way I and Vince Carducci consider ourselves radicals. He wasn’t nearly as reluctant as you are to reach out to others with whom he had common cause even without complete agreement.

By: Jeffrey Goldfarb

Jeffrey Goldfarb — Sat, 16 Jun 2012 21:16:00 +0000

Yes, we agree. Thus sometimes I want to describe myself as a radical centrist.

By: Terri

Terri — Sat, 16 Jun 2012 19:17:00 +0000

And so while some were calling for a GS, the Union Bosses were saying things like this [excerpt from article, above]: Ted Lewis, a union representative for Rock Valley Education Professionals, led protesters in a cheer referring to the effort to recall the governor, in office for just two tumultuous months.

“Scott, you don’t remember me,” Lewis chanted, “but I can recall you.”
Well, as it turns out Ted Lewis (and many others) could *not* recall Walker.
The General Strike energy and momentum was tamped down by the Dems and the Union Bosses that are attached to them. Again, from March of 2011: Weighing General Strike Optionhttp://www.inthesetimes.com/working/entry/7054/still_weighing_general_strike_option_wisconsin_unions_map_fights_on_ma/

By: Terri

Terri — Sat, 16 Jun 2012 19:16:00 +0000

…(con’t) questions such as: “Why is it that in the 1930’s employers were afraid of strike action — and today it’s workers who are afraid?” and, he said a friend living abroad asked him, “Why are Americans so afraid to confront capital?” There is a lot of fear. I understand that. I feel it too. But, despite the fear we must ban together, forge ahead and play the strongest card in the deck.
‎”Never be deceived that the rich will allow you to vote away [or recall!] their wealth [mechanisms].” – Lucy Parsons
There was about a three week period around Feb-March of 2011 when WI workers were calling for a General Strike. I remember it clearly. A smaller number of WI workers were calling for this and it did not gain traction and I’m disappointed about that. Here’s one:
‘General Strike!’ Thousands Storm, Reoccupy Wisconsin Capitol in Response to Legislative Votes

“We’re not leaving. Not this time.” http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2011/03/10-1

By: Terri

Terri — Sat, 16 Jun 2012 19:14:00 +0000

 The danger is in not drawing the line. I draw the line. In the cover of ‘diversity’ you conflate the ‘Establishment Left’ (Liberal) and the hard, radical left line. I don’t. That’s the danger.
Here’s how I separate them: The Establishment Left, Faux Left, Professional Left, (Liberals) will bend their views, values, desires, expectations to accommodate to a particular party or a particular candidate or event — the will make adjustments to ‘rationalize’ what has occurred and soften it up. To me, the genuine more radical left factions don’t do this: no matter who is in office, no matter the candidate, no matter which party holds office we stand true to our desires, wishes, goals, expectations and hold true to them. This is where we part ways.
Or to borrow from Doug’s title Liberals ‘sugar coat’ (cover, soften, explain away, rationalize, bend) and we don’t.
Here’s an example from the first article: “…”but it’s an insult to the tens of thousands of volunteers who made a million phone calls and knocked on two million doors in the largest GOTV effort in Wisconsin’s history”. This silly statement is suggesting that simply because the volunteers worked hard and put in (the wrong type of) effort, they are untouchable to criticism. If an employee labors excessively on the wrong task, but puts in hours of hard work — can they not be criticized? Yeah, they labored — but it was the wrong task. Same here in WI. The focus was wrong. They put a lot of effort and energy in the wrong approach. They should have redirected those efforts elsewhere — organizing rank-and-file workers into a much stronger General Strike to directly confront capital leaving Walker and the union bosses in the dust. This effort would have been much wiser and would have likely wielded different results. Instead, they labored tirelessly with the wrong strategy. I criticize that.
By the way, take note, Dr. King was an uncompromising militant.
The idea of strike action was widely discussed within the movement. A one-day public sector general strike, combined with a solid occupation of the Capitol, mass demonstrations, direct action and student walkouts could have been an inspiring launch pad for a serious strategy to defeat Walker.

However, even when faced with the dismantling of public sector unions in Wisconsin, the state-level union leadership continually shied away from strike action, diverting the movement into the ‘safe’ channel of the recall.

http://www.socialistparty.org.uk/issue/722/14678/13-06-2012/wisconsin-recall-democrats-paved-the-way-for-walkers-victory

Socialist Party :: Wisconsin Recall: Democrats paved the way for Walker’s victory
http://www.socialistparty.org.uk
_________
Kim Scipes, too: “Last year, after having 5-6 weeks of massive mobilization–when over 100,000 people were in the streets at least twice in a city of approximately 220,000–and when labor leaders decided not to launch a general strike or do anything other than try to recall a bunch of politicians (ultimately, including Gov. Scott Walker), I concluded that the Wisconsin Upsurge showed unequivocally that the predominant form of US unionism–business unionism–was dead. If Labor had this level of popular support–and it did–and it’s leaders couldn’t pull the plug through nonviolent direct action OUTSIDE of established political institutions, then by turning their forces back into the established political apparatus, they had lost and provided no future for the labor movement or progressive forces.” http://www.zcommunications.org/the-failure-of-business-unionism-by-kim-scipes
Bottom line: WI should have taken much stronger direct action with labor as the center-piece, not the ballot box. That would have been a much stronger move. Instead, they folded into the system of electoral oppression where the cards are always stacked in favor of the house.
We don’t know how things would have went down in WI had the workers organized a General Strike, because they didn’t do that — but we can surmise. When workers rise up, halt, production, and shut down the economy and mechanisms of profit-making — the ruling elite capitalists get nervous. This is the strongest card to play and many are afraid to play it. Joe Burns, author of ‘Reviving the Strike’ asks a few interesting

By: vince carducci

vince carducci — Sat, 16 Jun 2012 18:12:00 +0000

Jeff, my use of the term “radical” in describing Doug Henwood is in line with the second American Heritage definition: Departing markedly from the usual or customary; extreme. But also the third definition as a fundamental change in politics as conventionally practiced. I have sympathy with the latter and am wary of the former. This is not unlike your call for more light and less heat, I think.