I know this isn't really a hot take, though. But I don't see a scenario in which we can make real changes that help people, save the planet, and destroy US imperialism without an organized working class - and that requires mass unionization. And right now the deck is stacked so much against unionization, from a legal / policy / regulation standpoint. But also, I do see a whole lot more positive energy regarding unionization among the working class in the US. People really are seeing through the anti-unionization lies spread by neoliberalism over the last few decades. Really, the one big objection from workers is they don't want to get fired, which is totally reasonable. That's why we need to make radical changes to the unionization rules and really beef up enforcement.
And this is has the benefit of being ostensibly in line with the goals of the Democratic party. Now of course, the party is beholden to capital and capital will fight this tooth and nail. But I think there will still be plenty of D politicians who see mass unionization as increasing their base of power, right or wrong.
So I think this should be our electoral focus, even if that means to the exclusion of other policies (because not like we're gonna get shit done in those areas as things stand now, anyway.
My grandfather was a hardcore union man, and was incredibly reactionary and racist. I'm a big Settlers fan myself, so I agree with you on this 100%. But in 2021, I think mass unionization would be much more racially and ethnically diverse, which I think would tamp down much of the reactionary potential.
I mean, ideally unions would be led by a communist party, but in the US there's so few of us I'm not sure that's gonna be realistic. But yeah, I would hope there would be a good number of this future union leadership that was radical and at least understood the contradictions in capitalism and took an aggressive position against capital, even if they weren't explicitly commies.