Vol. 75/No. 11      March 21, 2011

Union members and supporters are mobilizing in cities and states across the country against attacks on the working class and our organizations. Another action, including a tractorcade of family farmers, will descend on the Wisconsin State House in Madison March 12. The Militant urges working people to join the Wisconsin protest and other rallies to defend public workers.

More actions will be taking place in Wisconsin, Indiana, Ohio, Florida, Tennessee, and other states. Talk to coworkers about what’s at stake in these fights. Make up your own signs. Travel together to one of the protests—near or far.

Workers are resisting measures by the bosses and capitalist government to place the burden of their economic crisis onto our backs. The mobilizations in Wisconsin are making a statement that working people can act to defend our interests. “We will not go quietly” is how one young worker’s sign outside the Ohio State House put it.

Democrats and Republicans alike demand that working people “share the sacrifice,” as deteriorating economic conditions exact a rising toll—long-term joblessness, speed-up and job injuries, and cuts in social services we depend on. And these same politicians are out to strangle the only organizations workers now have to defend ourselves—our unions.

Working people need to reject arguments by the bosses’ government and political parties, too often echoed by the labor officialdom, that workers in “these tough times” must give up hard-fought gains in wages, health and pension benefits, and protection against arbitrary layoffs and firings. Bowing to false appeals for “equality of sacrifice” only strengthens the hand of the wealthy ruling families against all working people—workers for public and private bosses; union and currently nonunion; employed and unemployed. As a farmer building the March 12 tractorcade heading to Madison said, “busting unions will only make all of us more desperate.”

The ongoing mobilizations are having an impact on politics in the United States and beyond. Working people are gaining confidence. Union members and the unorganized alike are getting to know who our fellow fighters are. Making these connections, and finding ways to deepen them in action, is how a new and combative leadership of the labor movement will develop.

The Militant is an invaluable tool for working-class fighters to help build solidarity and raise consciousness about our class interests. Take a bundle with you to sell to other workers and youth at these protests. Introduce them to Malcolm X, Black Liberation, and the Road to Workers Power by Jack Barnes, as well as other books and pamphlets by revolutionary leaders of the working-class movement in this country and around the world.

Gov. Scott Walker in Wisconsin, and his counterparts in Ohio, Indiana, Tennessee, California, New York, and elsewhere—and the powerful capitalist interests they represent—aren’t about to give up. Working people can’t either. The Militant urges our readers, including the many just now signing up as subscribers, to actively join this fight.
 
 
Related articles:
Union actions spread, labor solidarity grows
Wisconsin workers, farmers lead way
The ‘Militant’—A voice for workers to defend our unions
Rallies across the U.S. defend rights of unions
Trade unions: their past, present, and future
3,000 protest antiunion legislation in Ohio
On the Picket Line
UK action protests government austerity  
 
 
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