(en) US, WSA, Ideas & Actions - Why solidarity is necessary - but it's not just about class By Geoff

"An injury to one is an injury to all". This IWW slogan characterizes the solidarity 
necessitated by class struggle. It characterizes the idea that it's necessary for the 
working class to cooperate and work together towards their individual interests, as these 
are also class interests. The interests of gaining control over economic, social and work 
decisions which affect the working class directly is made necessary due to the odious 
nature of our current global economic conditions. ---- But this slogan really goes further 
than just class. It is also an embodiment of the solidarity necessitated by intersecting 
forms of oppression which divide the working class and hinder their ability to fight back 
in the global class war. Intersectional, meaning, issues concerned with intersections 
between forms or systems of oppression, domination or discrimination. These issues also 
create various social hierarchies which marginalize and disempower people. Examples of 
these issues include, but are not limited to, racism, sexism, queerphobia and gender 
essentialism. For instance, sexual harassment in the workplace, workplace discrimination 
on bounds of race or gender, and gender essentialism when it comes to the dignity of 
transgender folks who often experience terrible cruelty from others when they need to use 
public restrooms.

To quote Bakunin, "I am truly free only when all human beings...are equally free...". This 
means that a worker in the USA who gains freedom and control over their own work isn't 
truly free while other workers in, say, China and Africa continue to be brutally repressed 
and exploited. But it also means that, so long as social hierarchies characterized by 
intersectional issues are not addressed and dissolved, that the working class as a whole 
cannot be free. In other words, there cannot be real liberty, equality and solidarity 
where some workers are discriminated against or otherwise disempowered by social hierarchies.

So, for instance, there is no real solidarity expressed by people who are only interested 
in their particular craft's labor fights (because it has no real class 
characteristic)...for instance, IBEW workers crossing USW's picket line during the recent 
refinery strike. But additionally, there is also no real solidarity expressed by people 
who are only concerned with freedom, for instance, for white, male, heterosexual, 
cisgender workers, as these are folks who are not subject to marginalization like other 
workers are, including people of color, women, queer and transgender folks. Because 
different workers are subject to various social hierarchies (like patriarchy, racism and 
queerphobia) and they experience a lack of freedom differently than others of the working 
class.

As a result, it is critical for those of us who believe fighting for another world 
characterized by human dignity, liberty and equality, to understand that such a thing is 
necessitated by solidarity. But also that this solidarity must be characterized by both 
class struggle as well as the recognition of the need to combat and resolve intersectional 
issues and dissolve all their associated social hierarchies. Because these issues 
ultimately disempower and marginalize people, prevent the liberation of the working class 
and throw a wrench in the spokes of libertarian solidarity.

http://ideasandaction.info/2015/04/solidarity-its-class/