This is big news because it signals a militant and social turn for the Teamsters. This is one of the biggest unions in the country, and it's moving left fast. Fuck democratic party entryism, this is where it's at
Makes me think the guest on the recent chapo was right. There’s a sudden social shift where everyone is complaining about their shitty job and pissed off. Possibility for a more militant left is rising and quick
If we want this we need to be on the move yesterday. I'm finding that out the hard way right now at my job. We have to be agitating and organizing because the actual building of power isn't going to happen organically absent socialist intervention. Americans are pissed enough to post memes but they're never actually going to do anything on their own unless we're leading them.
Not gonna pretend that developing socialism in the imperial core is anything other than a million-to-one shot right now, but if there was an avenue to make it happen, one potential one would be the fact that the overwhelming majority of workers fucking HATE their jobs. But since Americans have an easier time imaging the end of the world than they do the end of capitalism, instead of agitating for workers rights, we put that energy into dreams of running our own businesses one day. That's their ticket out of hellworld. If you ask workers if they like the idea of not having to worry about losing your job and then losing their home, or ask if they like the idea of workplace democracy, you'll get extreme majorities that agree. The hurdle is just getting over preconceived notions of socialism.
Odds don't matter as we don't have a choice. It is a fight for survival at this point.
IMO the main role and mindset socialists in the imperial core should have and strive towards is to just make life and the way of doing things here plain hell for the capitalists. We have to make things completely untenable and unreasonable the same way they have for us for the last 50+ years.
We have to be agitating and organizing
I did this and then everyone quit their job lol
100%. The soil is fertile for agitprop and organization, we just gotta sow
Anecdotally it feels like healthcare is one of the workforces on a precipice (unsurprisingly). :)
Eh, it'll turn out to be nothing in time. Best case scenario there's a couple measly concessions for some (enough to shut people up and diffuse things) and it's back to business as usual
Nothing ever changes, until it does. We're either building a socialist movement or headed for straight up fascism in the long run, the idea that we're going back to "business as usual" is undialectical
Doubt it. Feels like the machine can’t make concessions anymore. We’ve been in the same crisis of a declining rate of profit since the 70s. They’ve been carving out a pound of flesh to cover for it but that can only go so far
No, they haven't had to make any concessions since the New Deal. They've just been hollowing everything out since then.
The conditions are so much starker here than anywhere in the west. We have by far the most potential because the leftist e*ros have been resting on their laurels for the past 30 years and haven't accomplished shit. They're pudgy and complacent because of what their fathers accomplished, purely sucdems now.
Our movement is nascent, ripe for radicalization, we'll have more grit and grind to us as the years go by. The fash will probably win, of course, but we'll be fighting the good fight while the French dweebs eat shit.
:troll:
You're getting dunked on...but you're probably right.
Remember when the George Floyd uprisings were "totally gonna set off the revolution finally you guys!!!"?
Those things don't set off revolutions, but they're major events conciousness building wise. You are what you do, so getting thousands to rebel makes thousands of rebels.
At the time, I heard that it wasn't going to set off the revolution but that the assessment that the US had no revolutionary potential was either wrong or jumping the gun.
It set a bunch of people leftwards. Yeah there's the famous examples of the libs turncoating immediately, but there was a non-insignificant amount of class consciousness raised there, especially in minority groups
“We’re going to ask for as much member participation as possible,” O’Brien said. “You’re going to see a more active, more militant union.”
:awooga:
Watch Danny Devito's speech at the teamster convention for something fun and rad
https://youtu.be/C1C7q8bcnXA
i know danny was a bernie bro but i didn't know about this. what a great speech
He's one of those guys that the more you learn the more you like.
Yeah him and Wallace Shawn. Whats up with short comedy guys being based?
Wolff had the Vermont AFLCIO President or something on his show recently and it was pretty invigorating to hear about local and regional branches being successful in repoliticizing labor and become more radical and militant in spite of the tepid national leadership
This reminds me of something we don't think about enough in our world of interconnectedness. A Big Union of global transpo people, Amazon delivery service, UPS, Fedex etc. could win a lot of demands for a lot of people if they struck. They're the critical logistical support that make industrial exploitation in southeast Asia profitable. Interesting to see the Louisville Local 89 president on the progressive ballot; that's the local for the largest single UPS hub. I believe that's the local for covering the ground logistics and delivery drivers. Airplane mechanics have their own union. Could be interesting to see what that means in the future.
A Big Union of global transpo people
At first I misread that as "A Big Union of global trans people" :trans-specter:
Well fuck maybe I'll change my name to Joey Cheeseburger and become a UNION truck driver. Hey join the fuckin' UNION, forgettaboutit!
Sorry I don't speak fredo... sorry I mean WOP... sorry I mean guido... sorry I mean greasy pasta fucker... sorry I mean another derogatory name for It*lian "people".
you should really reflect on why you engage in this bit esp. to this degree. what pattern of thoughts of hate is this the outlet for?
I'm in a relationship with an Italian American woman. She's wonderful but I find her family insufferable. Me being horribly racist against Italians is kind of an inside joke between us, and is a means for me to cope with having to deal with her disgusting greasy ass family of dirty Fredos.
Her dad thinks it's hilarious.
My family are french canadian italians so I can say wop as much as I want
Was it Antifada or Chapo that had one of these left-wing Teamsters on once? can't remember
Chapo (specifically :amber: ) had a member from Local 251 (Rhode Island) on for a bonus episode about what the teamsters were facing during the COVID-19 crisis in April last year
:bloomer:
This is me thinking about a new labor movement in the US with a militant bent and nothing to lose BUT OUR CHAINS
At your local (mine does training courses for organizers and will assist with legal stuff if you're trying to organize your workplace)
Fuck democratic party entryism, this is where it’s at
It's both, not either/or. We should be gaining ground wherever we can -- every little bit helps.
I'm not sure I agree. I feel like the purpose of the democratic party at this point is, more or less exclusively, to absorb any organic backlash or organization against capitalism's alienation into a well controlled space. It may not actually be every little bit helps if one avenue you're trying to take is a deliberate dead end. What do you think?
I feel like taking over a local democratic office in a podunk area would be useful or some state level shit like Nevada is good, but the national is completely fucked. We cant repeat the mistake of the Bernie campaign and think that we can work with the Democratic Party brand.
It's MarxMadness, our resident lib who we still love because they don't get upset when we call out their lib takes lol (love you comrade)
