On the 1st of May 1886, hundreds of thousands of workers across the United States
initiated a general strike to demand the working day be limited to 8 hours.During a mass meeting in Chicago's Haymarket Square, a bomb was thrown. After theresultant chaos, 8 anarchist labor leaders were jailed on flimsy evidencesupposedly implicating them as conspirators. A year later, 4 were hanged to deathby the state. ---- To this day, May 1 is used as a marker to celebrate the winsof the dominated classes, to remember our martyrs, and to recommit ourselves tothe ongoing struggle for self emancipation. May Day is our day, let's use it totake stock of where we stand so that we can more effectively navigate toward thehorizon of social revolution.Where We StandIn the last years we've seen small, but significant, steps toward a rejuvenationof the US labor movement. In 2022, major strikes increased by a factor of nearly50% when compared to 2021, recovering a multi-year upward trend for labor actionthat had been dampened by the onset of the pandemic. Of these strikes, workers inthe social reproductive sectors of the economy healthcare and education made upthe lion's share of those who walked off the job. We've also seen exciting neworganizing campaigns launched or continued at places like Trader Joe's, Amazon,and Starbucks; not to mention similar campaigns and victories at numerous smallershops across the country.Intermediate level organizations like Labor Notes have also seen an explosion inparticipation from workers not only looking to get organized for the first time,but those aiming to make their existing unions more democratic, participatory,and militant. Labor Notes' bi-annual conference in 2022 smashed previousattendance records, as have their localized weekend Troublemaker Schools in morerecent weeks. Regional gatherings like the Southern Workers Assembly have seenrapid growth as well.It's against this backdrop that leadership shake ups in legacy unions likeTeamsters and the United Auto Workers have taken place. Both unions will see theexpiration later this year of contracts covering hundreds of thousands of workersat major firms like UPS and the 'Big 3' auto manufacturers. Drawn from internalreform caucuses, new leaders in both unions have declared a commitment toreversing the decades of cozy, concessionary bargaining with bosses and have evensuggested that strikes are back on the agenda. While this is a welcome change inrhetoric from labor brass, it will be meaningless without a rank-and-file basethat is activated, organized, and made militant from the bottom up.Challenges AheadBut we also need to grapple with the real challenges faced by workers in the US.Caught between extreme inflation in the main a result of capitalist price gougingand the state's attempt to discipline the labor market by inducing a recession,workers are being battered. Though desperation brought on by strained resourcescan indeed catalyze radical action in some circumstances, it is also just aslikely to have the inverse effect wherein workers are less likely to take risksin confronting their bosses, lest they lose their livelihoods altogether.Despite recent increases in union election filings, the total number of organizedworkers in the country continues to inch downwards. The same can be said of thetotal number of strike actions undertaken by US workers if we zoom out to includedata from the 1970's onward.These trends can indeed be reversed, but doing so will require a ratcheting up ofefforts by labor militants to intervene and organize themselves from the bottomup, building rank-and-file capacity to outmaneuver both the capitalist andcollaborationist union bosses, put the strike weapon back into regular use, andurging their unions to become politically independent from the Democratic Partyand electioneering generally. Newly organized workers should seek to buildindependent unions outside of the AFL-CIO apparatus wherever possible.Announcing Our ProgramThis year, we mark the occasion of May Day by announcing the publication of thefirst edition of our organization's political program: Turning the Tide: anAnarchist Program for Popular Power. This document is the product of nearly twoyears of collective research, discussion, and debate within our organization.Just as the members of the International Working People's Association two of whomwould go on to be martyred for their alleged involvement in the Haymarket affairlaid out their analysis, objectives, and strategy in a collective documentfitting their moment, we have aimed to do the same for the contemporary period.We built this program with the intent of giving our organization a clear pictureof the world we inhabit, the social structures that dominate us, and to unify usaround a strategy for accomplishing our short and medium term objectives, towardthe end of achieving our ultimate objectives of social revolution and libertariansocialism. Our program is a living document, not meant to stand above reproach,but to be updated and revised in accordance with the real and changing conditionsof the world around us.We are making available a public version of Turning the Tide, which excludessensitive information. In the near future it will also be released in a print forfurther distribution.Click here to access a downloadable PDF of Turning the Tide in English.https://blackrosefed.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/brrn-program-2023.pdfWe invite those from the US and beyond to read the document and to provide yourthoughts, reactions, and constructive criticisms. If you find yourself inagreement with our program's contents, we invite you to reach out to us directlyvia our website.For popular power!For a world free of domination!For libertarian socialism!Black Rose Anarchist Federation / Federación Anarquista Rosa NegraMay 1, 2023https://blackrosefed.org/program-may-day-2023/_________________________________________A - I N F O S N E W S S E R V I C EBy, For, and About AnarchistsSend news reports to A-infos-en mailing listA-infos-en@ainfos.ca
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