Vol.64/No.14 April 10, 2000
Example set by union fighters
{editorial}
Reports from various fronts in labor battles point to the many ways unionists are finding to show their strength. From conferences of labor women to picket lines such as those at US Airways, to mass rallies by Steelworkers and others, many workers are charting a path of solidarity and organizing their numbers in fights against the bosses. They are setting an example of how to do so without prematurely taking the union officialdom head on, but making the most of the space they have to stand up to the company.
The turnout of 4,000 for the 620 locked-out workers at AK Steel did not come out of the blue. Workers and leaders of the struggle built the rally by joining with other workers and farmers who are also engaged in struggle. They backed other Steelworkers involved in defending their unions. By getting out the news of their fight, and why they are standing up to company take-back demands, they have won official union support and backing from thousands of working people who are face a similar onslaught.
The possibilities to reinforce each others' struggles, and to bring the lessons of one fight to the next, is something that all vanguard militants can become involved in. More plans are under way for rallies and actions like the very successful one in Mansfield.
Farmers will continue their struggle; truckers and others are by necessity in the streets demanding government relief from profiteering by oil monopolies; working people are standing up to police brutality; and youth are taking a stand in defense of democratic rights.
Within this exchange of experiences and mutual reinforcement in common struggles, there are many who will want and need a socialist newsweekly and books published and distributed by Pathfinder.
Reading, studying, and distributing books described in the pages of the Militant, and getting involved in the effort to widen the readership of the socialist press, is part and parcel of this spirit of collaboration among fighters. It is an essential contribution to building a consistent, uncompromising, and fighting vanguard of our class.
The great strength our class has to draw on—in addition to the possibilities to organize union and political instruments through which workers can be effective together and realize the fighting capacities of each—is the legacy and experiences of the struggles of the exploited and oppressed for more than 150 years, lessons that are more and more welcome and readily absorbed as thousands and tens of thousands carry out activity to advance working-class struggles.
Front page (for this issue) |
Home |
Text-version home