The Militant(logo) 
    Vol.62/No.19           May 18, 1998 
 
 
Workers' Resistance Accelerates: From Iowa to Australia, more workers say `No' to the bosses  
Labor resistance and other political struggles in the working class are palpably accelerating. This resistance to the employer and government attacks on working people is not an isolated development - it is occurring throughout the United States, and parallels the labor struggles that are breaking out in other industrialized countries today, from Canada to Australia to Denmark.

The latest series of union fights and skirmishes is further confirmation that the years-long retreat of the working class has ended. In 1989-91 the Machinists at Eastern Airlines, joined by the United Mine Workers at Pittston Coal, waged sustained strikes that defeated union- busting assaults by these two employers - the first successful battles of this kind since the blows suffered by the union movement in the previous decade. Participation in these fights prepared communist workers to face the pressures of Washington's war against Iraq in 1990-91. But over the following years the working-class movement continued to retreat for several years in face of the bosses' offensive, which has been driven by falling profit rates and the resulting rise in worldwide competition between capitalists.

By the middle of last year, a number of working-class struggles indicated this retreat had ended or at least bottomed out - above all, the victorious nationwide strike against United Parcel Service by 185,000 Teamsters, who set an example for the whole labor movement. The shift was also registered internationally in the electoral defeats of the ruling Tories in the United Kingdom and the Gaullists in France, who were replaced by social democratic-led governments.

In the past couple months, the resistance has widened and picked up:

After a nearly seven-year battle to defend their union, the United Auto Workers (UAW) at Caterpillar emerged stronger and more seasoned, forcing the corporate giant to rehire 160 "illegally terminated" unionists. Elsewhere in the Midwest, UAW members at Case Corp. and Steelworkers at Titan Tire are engaged in militant fights for a contract. Resistance has spread among airline workers around the country, with job actions by Machinists at Northwest, TWA, and United Airlines.

The recent successful five-day strike by workers at a McDonald's restaurant in Macedonia, Ohio, gave a foretaste of the combativity and boldness that millions of young workers will bring to coming labor battles. The mostly teenage workers demonstrated more class consciousness and tactical savvy than bosses and union officials had imagined was possible.

Teamsters at Anheuser-Busch's 12 breweries, who already took a strike authorization vote, have rejected the company's so-called final offer. Labor skirmishes have been breaking in local areas everywhere, from a strike by anthracite coal miners in Hazleton, Pennsylvania, to the union-organizing drive by farm workers in central California, to an "illegal" teachers' strike in Paterson, New Jersey.

There are more instances of workers turning to their unions - like the dozens of Mexican meatpacking workers at a Thorn Apple Valley plant in Detroit who recently protested an unjust firing and company abuse.

These stirrings of resistance are welcomed by broader layers of workers, who are increasingly receptive to examples of leadership in action.

The new awakening in the working class is evidenced in broader struggles, such as the increased political activity among Puerto Rican youth and workers, numerous protests against police brutality, and actions in support of the advancing struggle for a united Ireland.

This sea change in working-class politics creates new responsibilities and opportunities for socialist workers and other vanguard fighters to turn to this resistance. This means responding fast - especially since strikes today are often short - by joining with workers in struggle, getting the Militant into their hands, and introducing them to other fighters.

It includes turning more systematically to political work in Black communities, given the vanguard role of workers who are Black. It means going to industrial areas that socialist workers have not been to in a while, such as the docks, where in several cities there has been a good response to the Militant by longshore and maritime workers.

The heightened resistance underscores the political leverage of the revolutionary literature produced by Pathfinder Press - such as The Eastern Airlines Strike and The Changing Face of U.S. Politics: Working-Class Politics and the Trade Unions. It gives greater importance to socialist election campaigns and Militant Labor Forums as ways to reach fellow working-class fighters. Above all, this is how some of the best fighters will be introduced to the communist movement and will decide to join it.  
 
 
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