A socialist win in Seattle demonstrates that ordinary people are receptive to unapologetic left politics. Can Seattle socialists expand their base and advance progressive reforms like rent control and a tax on the richest residents? And what can left activists elsewhere take from Seattle to launch their own progressive candidacies?
The Seattle City Council voted 8-0 Monday afternoon to enact an ordinance giving taxi, for-hire and Uber drivers the ability to unionize. The backdrop for the council’s vote is a nationwide conversation about what role governments should play in the country’s growing app-powered gig economy.
This major city is on the cusp of historic vote to create nation’s first publicly-funded elections.
The resolution, which passed unanimously, endorses the goal of having no kids in detention in Seattle. It’s a move that chips away at the school-to-prison pipeline.
From McCleary to charters to a new contract, it’s all looking up for organized teachers.
When, in 1976, New Jersey was in a similar situation [to Washington], the Supreme Court shut down the schools for eight days. The fruits of that conflict remain with New Jerseyites to this day, for the need to fund schools more fairly is what led New Jersey in 1976 to adopt a state income tax for the first time.
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Kshama Sawant, the socialist on the City Council, is up for re-election this year. The corporate powers, from Seattle’s mayor to the Chamber of Commerce and the area’s Democratic Party, are determined she be defeated, and these local corporate elites have the national elites behind them. This will be one of the most important elections in the country this year.
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