https://themilitant.com/2019/10/19/unity-and-solidarity-is-crucial-to-working-class-struggles/
Unity and solidarity are crucial to working-class struggles
Vol. 83/No. 39
October 28, 2019
Copper workers picket outside Asarco Ray mine in Kearny, Arizona, Oct. 14.
Arizona Silver Belt
Copper workers picket outside Asarco Ray mine in Kearny, Arizona, Oct. 14.
Labor struggles are picking up as workers grow more confident they can
organize to stand up to the bosses??? attacks. Some 3,600 workers at Mack
Truck went on strike this week, as well as 2,000 Asarco copper miners in
Arizona and Texas, reinforcing the fight of nearly 50,000 UAW members on
strike at GM, who got word of a tentative agreement Oct. 16.
These UAW members are fighting against the divisions GM bosses have
imposed to extract higher profits, with lower pay for newer workers, and
growing numbers of temps.
Chicago City Hall announced it will close schools Oct. 17 because the
teachers union says it has little choice but to go on strike like it did
in 2012. Drivers at e-hail companies have organized protests against
bosses??? pay cuts and schedule abuses. When the lights went out at a
Walmart store in California and the bosses demanded workers strap on
flashlights and keep working, a layer of workers walked out ??? and
weren???t victimized.
With unemployment at a low ebb, more workers see the chance to claw back
some of what the bosses have taken from us.
Despite today???s economic uptick, workers continue to face stagnant
wages, job insecurity, declining health care, growing indebtedness, more
difficulties in being able to afford to get married, get a home and
raise a family. And we bear the deadly toll of Washington???s wars around
the world.
In these conditions working people have watched protests in Sudan, Hong
Kong and elsewhere that have shaken hated rulers, showing our potential
power.
Two things are key to today???s working-class battles. First is the unity
of the workers ??? beating back efforts of the bosses to pit us against
each other. Employed and unemployed, full-time and temp, immigrant and
native-born, Black, Hispanic and Caucasian, men and women standing
together for each other in struggle.
Second is organizing solidarity with the fights that break out today ???
this is crucial for their success. The bosses do everything they can to
keep our battles out of the media, to prevent union fighters from
getting a hearing. They try to turn other workers against those who
stand up to attacks.
The employing class is aided by both the left and right of capitalist
politics who scornfully attack the rights of working people ??? whose
labor produces all wealth ??? as ???deplorables??? needing to be held in check.
The Militant urges readers to spread the word about these fights, win
support and bring others to meet fighting workers on the picket lines.
Seeing our common cause raises workers??? self-confidence and??
consciousness of ourselves as one powerful social class. It helps us
grapple with broader political questions in class terms.
The Militant tells workers??? side of the story and is a tool for building
solidarity. Alongside books by revolutionary working-class leaders
distributed by Socialist Workers Party members, the paper places today???s
labor battles in continuity with working-class struggles over decades.
It points the road forward ??? to building the kind of party needed to
lead millions in revolutionary struggle that can replace capitalist rule
with workers power.
Related Articles
Solidarity with strikers at GM, Mack Truck! Equal pay, permanent jobs is
fight for all workers
LOWER MACUNGIE TOWNSHIP, Penn. ??? More than 3,600 Mack Truck workers in
five cities went on strike Oct. 13. ???We had to show them we were serious
and united about turning down all their concession demands,??? Walt Smith,
president of???
Autoworkers at GM win support in working class
TOLEDO, Ohio ??? Morale is high on General Motors workers??? picket lines at
33 factories and 22 parts warehouses around the country, one month into
the strike by some 49,000 members of the United Auto Workers union. ???The
solidarity we???ve???
Copper miners reject Asarco???s ???insulting??? offer, shut down mines
???We don???t like going on strike, but when we get pushed against the wall,
we are going to take action and we did,??? United Steelworkers
spokesperson Manny Armenta told the press outside the Asarco mine in
Sahuarita, near Tucson, Oct.???
In This Issue
Front Page Articles ???Solidarity with strikers at GM, Mack Truck! Equal
pay, permanent jobs is fight for all workers
???Autoworkers at GM win support in working class
???Ankara hands off Kurds in Syria! US out of Mideast!
??????Militant??? and books drive builds support for labor battles
???Ft. Worth outcry leads to indictment of cop who killed Atatiana Jefferson
???Liberals??? hysteria for impeachment targets ???deplorable??? workers, our
rights
???Copper miners reject Asarco???s ???insulting??? offer, shut down mines
Feature Articles ???Lift US sanctions on NKorea! For a nuclear-free peninsula!
Also In This Issue ??????Standing up, fighting back helps unite working
people???
???Georgia cop faces prison in shooting of Anthony Hill
???PG&E cuts power to 700,000 homes in Northern California
???Workers, peasants in Ecuador push back gov???t attacks
???Socialist Workers Party-Building Fund Oct. 5 - Dec. 10
???Fall Campaign to sell Militant subscriptions and books Oct. 5 - Dec. 10
(Week 1)
Editorials ???Unity and solidarity are crucial to working-class struggles
Books of the Month ???Nicaraguan Revolution opened way for women???s
emancipation
25, 50 and 75 years ago
?? Copyright 2019 The Militant?? -?? 306 W. 37th Street, 13th floor -?? New
York, NY 10018?? -?? themilitant@xxxxxxx
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Albert Einstein
???Blind belief in authority is the greatest enemy of truth.???
??? Albert Einstein
