UAW !

To: Working_Class_Study_and_Action@yahoogroups.com,

working_class_news@yahoogroups.com

this article illustrates the status of the worker under the so-called "market democracy". under capitalism s/he is not a productive subject, but only a commodified object.

the article concludes with a call, for auto workers (a strategic subset of the industrial workforce), to organise around the socialist movement. indeed; the strenght of an economic and social pro-democracy movement will be directly related to the measure that the independent class struggle of the rank and file of the trade unions is led by estrategic industrial workers armed with a political program of INDUSTRIAL DEMOCRACY. the SEP concept of Revolutionary Democracy is congruent with Rosa Luxembourgs understanding that the capitalist workplace exists to administer the collective exploitation of the workers and that the intensity of workers resistance defines the possibility of victory for the class struggle per se.

"The aim of socialist policy is not to replace capitalist financiers with unaccountable bureaucrats. Industrial democracy means real control by working people over their working lives. What is democratic about a system in which the place where most people spend the bulk of their time—the work place—is run as a dictatorship? Decisions affecting conditions of work, safety, salaries, hiring and hours must be subject to the democratic voice of the workforce. This presupposes the opening of the books of all corporations for inspection by the workers and the broader public, and the ratification of corporate leadership by a democratic vote of all employees." - SEP Program 2010

around a militant core of wild-cat strikers from the estrategic industrial workers can then associate other progressive social forces (such as the anti-war movement) to conform a PLURAL FRONT. diversification and amplitude of the social struggle for economic and social solutions and affirmative political demands, centered on the class fight of the industrial workers, is what the political class and the financial oligarchy behind them fear the most. it is the only way to fight BOTH the capitalist effort to destroy the social wage, labour rights and jobs AND the revival of police repression at the service of private capital preservation (the ongoing effort by the FBI and Homeland Security Gesatapo to ciminalise anti-war dissent). this is why Rosa Luxembourg emphasised in "The Mass Strike", that capitalism is not only about exploitation of man by man but about systematic police repression at the service of private capital preservation. however, in order to confront both successfully the class struggle of the strategic industrial workers must take the leading role.

it is by centering the social struggle on the class fight of the industrial workers that the possibility for the establishment of the "Democratic Dictatorship of the Industrial Proletariat" opens:

"New popular organizations of the working class must be built in opposition to the existing trade unions. The AFL-CIO and the Change to Win Coalition are not working class organizations, but auxiliary arms of corporate management. They work actively to increase the exploitation of the working class and to isolate and demoralize any opposition from among the workers themselves. They encourage nationalist sentiments, dividing different sections of the working class against each other. Politically, the unions work to channel the working class behind the Democratic Party and thereby subordinate it to the politics of the capitalist class." - SEP Program 2010

the UAW rank and file have the opportunity now to lead the social struggle. to become the Daniel Shay's of the 21st Century and liberate north america from the oppressive yoke of the financial oligarchy, the parasyte political class at its service and the repressive apparatus that has become the Federal Government of the United States.

I restate what I wrote back in 2008 after Obama was selected:

obama is a liberal imperialist politician beholden a priori to the financial interests that funded his campaign. he is not going to contradict the mandates from his bosses at goldman sachs in order to fulfill any sort of "reform agenda". he cannot do so and hope to remain in power. obama is there to administer a CAPITALIST EMPIRE. at best he will deliver cosmetic and pointilistic pseudo-reforms but nothing more. any one of these pseudo-reforms will be conditioned upon contingency as a means to the end of satisfying, in a symbolic manner, the popular desire for substantial change (which he has already begun to betray). this popular desire for change will not be fulfilled - because it would undermine the capital preservation imperative that is the true fundamental "law of the land" in the united states. the real "progressive" movement in the post-bush/obama period is the active grassroots conglomerate of those organising efforts that aim to bring about a post-capitalist transformation in north america. If you are a member of the working class or the socially oppressed and you are living behind the patriot curtain in the belly of the imperialist beast; you must know that you owe absolutely NO LOYALTY to the united states political-economic system because it does not exist for your benefit. if obama and the united states financial oligarchy he works for, want loyalty for THEIR system; then make them PAY FOR IT. in the form of living wages indexed to inflation with automatic cost of living escalators and COLAS, FREE HEALTH CARE, a moratorium of foreclosures, a moratorium on layoffs, and an 80% TAX CUT on all incomes under the median range. LET THE RICH PAY FOR THE PENTAGON AND THE BAIL OUTS ! /n2

refs.

UAW expands drive to cut auto workers' pay:

“…United Auto Workers officials walked into a local union meeting Sunday afternoon in Lake Orion, Michigan and announced that they had agreed to a 50 percent wage cut for workers with less than 11 years seniority at GM's assembly plant in the Detroit suburb. UAW Local 5960 officials told the shocked workers that they would not be permitted to vote on the wage cut because "general language" in the 2009 labor agreement allowed GM and the UAW to implement "innovative labor agreement provisions" at factories producing small cars. Any workers who refused to take the wage cut, they said, would be without a job and would have to add their name to the list of thousands of laid-off workers seeking a transfer to another GM plant. According to union officials, at least 500 workers¯around 40 percent of the factory's 1,300 workers¯will be paid $14 an hour. Up to now, the UAW and GM have imposed the lower wage only on new-hires, and this has been limited to 20 percent of the national workforce. Media commentators and industry analysts hailed the deal as a "landmark" agreement that paved the way for cut-rate wages not only in the small car sector, but throughout the industry. UAW Local 5960 Shop Chairman Mike Dunn enthusiastically praised the agreement, saying, "It worked out¯we're keeping jobs in America." For the UAW, "keeping jobs in America" means keeping the dues money flowing into its coffers, even if the workers are reduced to poverty and end up losing their homes, their savings and the ability to send their children to college. The take for the UAW from the Lake Orion plant will be upwards of three-quarters of a million dollars annually…”

[http://www.wsws.org/articles/2010/oct2010/pers-o07.shtml]

The Breakdown of Capitalism and the Fight for Socialism in the United States

Program of the Socialist Equality Party in 2010:

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2010/sep2010/prog-s06.shtml

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[Update: November 15th, 2010]


To: Working_Class_Study_and_Action@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Fri, November 12, 2010 7:32:51 PM
Subject:  Re: WSWS replies to allegation that "Rank-and-File Committee is a fraud"

what do the rank and file workers who are members of UAW want ? do they want to democratise the UAW or do they want a new organisation ? has there ever been a consultation about this ? i ask because i read consultation processes where an issue when the ''change to win'' coalition split from the AFL-CIO system.

i agree 100% with: ''What is really lacking in the UAW (as in every other industry) is all the left groups putting their leaflets, newsletters and newspapers, pamplets, books and magazines into the hands of workers in the plants and workplaces where workers can read all these things and then arrive at some common understanding of what needs to be done after discussing all thee different ideas.''

before consensus can be arrived at, people need to be exposed to plurality.

i read the WSWS (and generally trust it), but WSWS is not the only left/socialist/alternative media i consult. i find that plurality of imputs is very important in order to remain non-sectarian.  /Miguel.

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On 12 November 2010 16:11, Alan L. Maki  wrote:

This is very typical of the WSWS. One reason why I don't trust their information.

I think we need to know if all the organizations mentioned are pushing for AN ALTERNATIVE UNION OR ORGANIZATION to the UAW.

It is quite one thing to take issue with and attack certain positions of the UAW and/or its ptesent rotten leadership; it is quite another thing to be advocating the destruction of the UAW.

Any organization or union that would replace the UAW would have the same problems--- unless of course membership was going to be limited to only those who support and adhere to the very narrow political ideology of the WSWS--- an ideology that isn't any better than the UAW's present leadership in that it misleads workers.

The WSWS makes a point of using some truths and half-truths and then drawing wrong conclusions. One can take just about any article in their on-line newspaper and see this; and, they always make their wrong positions sound the most militant.

I think what we really need to know at this point is if Soldiers of Solidarity and Labor Notes is supporting this very stupid and self-defeating policy advanced by the WSWS that the UAW as a union needs to be destroyed and replaced with something else--- and, if so; with what? Actually, it would be nice to have the WSWS people kind of lay out with some specificity just what kind of union/organization they want autoworkers to abandon the UAW for. Wouldn't anyone else like to have Jerry White explain this?

Anyone can easily see that the UAW is under very poor and bad leadership at just about every level... from most locals to regional and national and theit international affiliates. But, I question just what kind of "leadership" the WSWS is providing--- as far as that goes the Soldiers of Solidarity is a mixed bag of confusion,too as is Labor Notes; but, at least they are having to deal with the reality of the problems.

I just returned from Michigan a few days before the election and the UAW couldn't even pull out the vote for Virg Bernero, one of their own, for Governor... nor did they make much real effort. Of course, WSWS probably was opposed to Bernero just like they are opposed to the UAW as a union.

I met with a small group of UAW activists and retirees in Lansing, Michigan and they are really frustrated, as they say most of the rank-and-file is with the leadership and with all the left sects trying to take advantage (as they see it) of their problems and at their expense.

It is a mess to say the least with all of this confusion but this is the price to be paid when the left has not been fully engaged at a rank-and-file level for so many years... workers have not had a chance to mull all of this over (including the ideas advocated by the WSWS).

What is really lacking in the UAW (as in every other industry) is all the left groups putting their leaflets, newsletters and newspapers, pamplets, books and magazines into the hands of workers in the plants and workplaces where workers can read all these things and then arrive at some common understanding of what needs to be done after discussing all thee different ideas.

When we started distributing leaflets at the St. Paul Ford Twin Cities Assembly Plant about its closing and suggestions of public ownership to keep it open; workers were really surprised--- they said it was the first time in over twenty years ANY group had ever leafleted the plant!

Consider me, a former member as a "pseudo-left apologist for the UAW;" for the UAW as a union that needs to become strong again through an educated, involved and active rank-and-file.

Lets have the names of the "red-baiters."

Has this activity associated with the WSWS "inspired workers all over the world" to reject their unions and resulted in a all to replace these unions with some other for of union/organization? If so, where?

And, yes; the dismal condition the Communist Party USA is in at the moment is very tragic.

Alan L. Maki

Quoting Miguel Angel :

[the following reply comes from the World Socialist Website in reference to allegations that the Indianapolis GM Rank-and-File Workers Committe is a political fraud.../n2]

Dear Miguel,

Thanks for the note. Perhaps you could direct me to the news forum where this was posted.

It is not surprising that so-called "UAW activists" would consider the rank and file committee a "political fraud." The rank and file committee was formed in the face of the hostile opposition of local and international union officials and various supporters of the UAW, including those associated with the Soldiers of Solidarity and Labor Notes. In their effort to stop auto workers from forming an organization independently of and in opposition to the UAW company agents, these "activists"--some of whom call themselves socialists--joined local union officials in a red-baiting campaign against workers holding discussions with the SEP. Their effort failed, however, and a group of workers took a courageous stand in forming and supporting the committee. As the dozens of letters of solidarity indicated, their initiative inspired workers all over the world.

The SEP will continue to encourage the independent organization of auto workers against the UAW, which is nothing more than a tool of corporate management and the government. At the same time we will continue to fight to raise the political understanding of auto workers because the defense of their jobs and living standards is possible only through the development of a political struggle by the working class against the profit system and the political parties that defend capitalism.

The more the UAW is discredited and workers strive to build new organizations of struggle, the more the pseudo-left apologists of the UAW insist auto workers remain in this rotten organization and, through it, to the Democratic Party. The complicity of such people as Wendy Thompson in the defeat of workers during the American Axle strike--and their promotion of illusions in Obama during the forced restructuring of GM and Chrysler--demonstrates the reactionary character of their politics.

Regards,

Jerry White

...@wsws.org

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