> On May 4, 2026, at 11:21, hari kumar via groups.io > <[email protected]> wrote: > > I also may be "sounding cynical and sectarian” - how do we break that > leadership “replay"?
I found no interest in a coalition independent of the Democratic Party and the labor bureaucracy among my limited number of labor and academic contacts. As a strategy, however, there are demands that the Democratic Party has historically not supported such as "Abolish ICE." They could have done this in 2009-2010 bud didn't. In the age of Trump, we can see the risks of this federal police force for everyone and not just foreign-born persons and non-white citizens. Eliminating the ICE threat is a "non-reformist reform" or a "transitional demand" - a reform that takes power away from the capitalist government and gives it to the people. Another demand that the Democrats have historically dodged is "Repeal Taft-Hartley." The Taft-Hartley act authorizes the US government to decertify unions, fine them, or prosecute their leaders for violations such as secondary boycotts. Among other things, repealing Taft-Hartley would rescind a prohibition against having a general strike, which people are fond of calling for these days. Political strikes and general ones have been illegal since Republicans and Democrats passed Taft-Hartley in 1947. The repeal of Taft Hartley would be a revolutionary reform that removes one way the government stops US workers from using tactics that were so effective in the 1930s and 40s. Tactics that leverage our power as a class. The "general strike" slogans are hollow today because too few union leaders will risk it. That's not to say that a general strike in a city or nationally could not happen, with or without Taft Hartley, it's not something you can schedule. I think it's likely that a majority of people in the US would support the repeal of Taft Hartley. And there are unions in my city and undoubtedly many other places in the US that would support abolishing ICE. If coalitions were formed around each of these two issues that would likely put us out of the Democratic Party ecosystem. Mark -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Groups.io Links: You receive all messages sent to this group. View/Reply Online (#41653): https://groups.io/g/marxmail/message/41653 Mute This Topic: https://groups.io/mt/119101600/21656 -=-=- POSTING RULES & NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly & permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. #4 Do not exceed five posts a day. -=-=- Group Owner: [email protected] Unsubscribe: https://groups.io/g/marxmail/leave/13617172/21656/1316126222/xyzzy [[email protected]] -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
