Drawing lessons from history does not mean we romanticize past struggles. For a new generation of labour activists, however, they demonstrate that this work has been done before, and that it requires an array of tactics to build worker power.
What’s needed beyond “talking socialism on the job” is a sensible labor policy, humility and respect for fellow workers, the commitment to learn from mistakes while taking the initiative to organize the working class majority for a just society.
Despite majority support for abortion rights, we failed to build a majority coalition to defend reproductive freedom. We should honestly assess our failures — and then build a movement that ties together labor, feminists, and health care organizing.
Left Labor Project, a New York City collective of labor activists , recently decided to dissolve after months of declining activity. We didn’t want to just disappear without sharing our experience and views with the broader community of organizers.
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My tendency as a labor historian has always been to look at life beyond the workplace. Life taught me that working people are multi-dimensional. They care about many things in addition to work and unions, they bring multiple concerns and aspirations.
"This movement is bigger than $15 and a union. This movement shows that no matter what’s going on in America, no matter what it is that we’re fighting for, if you want change for your city, for your community, for your country, we as a people can’t be silent anymore.
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