As we’ve explained in the lead article in this edition of RTW, we can pressure the leaders of the union at every level into organizing the actions it will take to win the Private Lines strike. But a union leadership which only mobilizes under continual rank-and-file pressure is like a car which only goes forward when you push it. And like pushing a broken-down car up a hill, you may get it over one hump but you can’t keep doing that. You’ve got to get to the bottom of the problem and fix it. And if the engine’s beyond repair, you’ve got to get ready to replace it.
RTW supporters are ready to work with any Local member to push for every action needed to defend our interests, no matter what political views those workers have. But in the course of our united struggle we want to convince our fellow workers of our view of what sort of leadership and political program the Local and the whole working class needs.
We believe the union bureaucrats compromise our struggle because they support the capitalist system and enjoy their own privileged position in it. Instead of being uncompromising representatives of the working class, the bureaucrats see themselves as brokers between the workers and the bosses. To the extent that their positions rely on the workers’ unions they defend them against the capitalists’ attacks, but they always look for a solution that doesn’t threaten the bosses’ system.
That’s why they look to lobbying the bosses’ Republican and Democratic Party politicians rather than mobilizing workers’ real power to shut the economy down. After all, they’re scared that with a sense of their huge power, workers will demand things the system can’t afford. And they’re scared that the experience of mass struggle will embolden the most politically far-seeing workers to challenge their leadership. That’s why in today’s struggle Toussaint is avoiding mobilizing the whole Local in the struggle and is instead relying on passive lobbying of hack politicians.
But the capitalists and their politicians concede something to the workers only when they’re threatened with losing everything. Under these conditions, the only leadership that can be relied on to lead an effective mass struggle for the workers’ interests is one that isn’t afraid to challenge the capitalist system because it is dedicated to overthrowing it: a revolutionary socialist leadership. That’s why the revolutionary socialist supporters of RTW have been alone in campaigning for something even so simple as a mass demonstration of the Local to back the Private Lines strike.
Revolutionaries believe that the capitalist profit-system offers humanity only worse poverty, exploitation and oppression. But if the productive power of the world economy is unleashed from the limitations of private profit-making and directed to meeting the needs of everyone, all poverty and exploitation could be ended. And the dog-eat dog competition that capitalism encourages among workers, including the racism it uses against Blacks, Latinos and immigrants, could also be dealt a might blow. We believe that the working class must overthrow the capitalists and build a new classless society of freedom and plenty – socialism.
For this, the working class needs a revolutionary party to lead the struggle. That revolutionary leadership must be built by the most politically conscious and militant workers, and will rise out of workers’ ongoing struggles against the capitalists’ attacks. We are working to build such a new leadership among transit workers and throughout the working class.
If you’re interested in learning more about our views, get in touch with us.