In the spirit of Eugene Debs
Labor organizes against the war
By Milt Neidenberg
Retired Teamster
A few weeks after the World Trade Center tragedy, a small
group of anti-war labor activists stated, "We believe that
George Bush's war is not the answer to the tragic events of
Sept. 11."
Their remarks were part of a comprehensive statement issued
on Sept. 27, 2001, that marked the formation of New York City
Labor Against the War.
Led by President Brenda Stokely of District Council 1707,
American Fed e ra tion of State, County & Municipal Em
ployees, and Michael Letwin of United Automobile Workers Local
2325, NYC LAW was born out of difficult circum stances.
Since then, labor committees like NYCLAW have been formed in
more than 10 cities.
As the Bush administration prepares to invade Iraq, the
anti-war labor movement has shown impressive growth. As of Dec
ember 2002, eight statewide labor federations had passed
anti-war resolutions, among them Service Employees Inter
national Union-Wisconsin, the Wash ington State Labor
Federation, and the California State Labor Federation,
representing 2 million workers. Eleven citywide central labor
councils from San Francisco to Seattle, Duluth to Phila delphia
and cities in the mid-Hudson area of New York State have joined
the movement.
They represent the sentiments of many unionized workers
throughout the country. And the movement continues to grow.
Most significant has been the response of more than 50 local
unions, including Local 705 in Chicago--the second-largest
Teamster union and the largest truck driver and warehouse local
in the country. The statement, which began, "Whereas we value
the lives of our brothers and sisters more than Bush's control
of Middle East oil profits," was approved 399 to one.
Secretary-Treasurer Gerard Zero des cribed the union's rank
and file: "The mem bers of Local 705 are the bedrock of the
Teamsters. They are truck drivers in the freight, cartage and
package delivery industry, heavy equipment operators in rail
yards and municipal governments, and loaders and unloaders.
They are blue-collar, working-class Americans. Politic ians
should pay very close attention to this vote."
The no-war vote came from "members whose fathers served in
the Vietnam conflict and Teamsters who are Marine and Army
veterans." Representing United Par cel Service workers, Local
705 has many people of color and many women.
This powerful union was host of a national meeting in
Chicago on Jan. 11 of unionists, local union presidents and
staff members concerned about Bush's military plans to invade
Iraq.
What is feeding this groundswell of anti-war protest within
the trade union movement, which was so absent during the
Vietnam conflict? The organized labor movement in general
supported the Vietnam War and strongly opposed the anti-war
protesters.
Is labor's current opposition to the war primarily a mood
that can be manipulated and defused into a harmless momentary
opposition?
Not easily.
Rank & file begin to fight back
Today the anti-war sentiment springing up within the AFL-CIO
is rooted in a deepening capitalist crisis. Exacerbated by a
jobless recession, it is leaving millions of workers
permanently unemployed.
In the states, urban centers and the federal government,
huge budget deficits and cuts are forcing millions of poor and
low-paid workers, their children and loved ones onto food
lines--often homeless, without health care and other essential
services.
Corporations are reneging on their pension obligations.
Workers are fearful of losing security for their senior years.
General Motors has a $19.3-billion pension fund deficit. In the
takeover of National Steel by U.S. Steel, the bosses have
refused to protect the pensions of 10,000 National Steel
retirees in Michigan.
The open ties the Bush administration has with Wall Street
bankers and bosses are infuriating the labor movement. The
AFL-CIO is under attack on every front and the rank and file is
beginning to fight back.
The Bush administration, with congressional support from
both major parties, will have 150,000 troops ready by
mid-February to launch a preemptive strike against Iraq. This,
too, is fueling the anti-war development. Each day they send
more troops, aircraft carriers, tanks and guns to the Middle
East. Each day they order more National Guard and Reserve units
to active duty. And each day more workers and communities from
diverse backgrounds are increasingly opposing the war.
Class warfare is on the rise and resistance is growing to
U.S. imperialist aims, becoming a worldwide movement.
All this ferment has finally reached the top layers of the
labor bureaucracy. On Oct. 7, AFL-CIO President John J. Sweeney
broke his silence on the war. He wrote a letter to both houses
of Congress dur ing a debate on a resolution giving Bush broad
powers to unilaterally go to war. He opposed a preemptive
strike. "We must assure war is the last option, not the first
used to resolve the conflict before we ask ... the sons and
daughters of America's working families ... to carry out the
mission."
However, Sweeney demonized Saddam Hussein, and called upon
Bush to "assemble a broad international coalition ... through
the United Nations for an aggressive and effective policy of
disarmament in Iraq." Reports from the UN inspection team have
revealed that there is nothing there to disarm.
He defended the "war on terrorism" but blasted Bush for
timing the debate just before the election as a political
maneuver.
Congress ignored AFL-CIO appeals and voted 296-133 in the
House and 77-23 in a Democratic-run Senate for Bush's
aggressive war plans. Since that defeat, Sweeney's letter has
brought about much discussion within the labor movement. The
more progressive sector is dissatisfied with it.
There is also evidence of fallout from the right within the
AFL-CIO hierarchy. Teamster President James P. Hoffa has joined
a small group of war hawks with close ties to Secretary of
Defense Donald Rumsfeld and Vice President Dick Cheney. Hoffa
is a founding member of a group calling itself the "Committee
for the Liberation of Iraq." (New York Times, Nov. 18.)
Hoffa is collaborating with the most hostile enemies of the
labor movement: executives from Lockheed Martin, Wall Street's
Lehman Brothers, Charles Schwab and Co. and Bechtel, a giant
worldwide construction company. These are imperialist enemies
and exploiters of the world's workers and oppressed.
Hoffa will ultimately be disgraced by his own rank and file,
like those in Local 705, and by the anti-war movement.
Debs would be proud
A progressive current is on the move among the 13-million
member AFL-CIO, one that has been absent far too long. It will
be a major influence within the labor movement in the days
ahead.
Recently, two Scottish railroad engineers refused to move a
freight train carrying munitions believed destined for British
forces in the Gulf. This act of international solidarity needs
the support of all anti-war and progressive forces.
Eugene Debs would have been proud of this courageous
act.
In April 1919, right after World War I, Debs went to jail
for having spoken out against that war. Debs was a union
organizer and socialist who spent a lifetime organizing
railroad workers.
On Labor Day of 1916, Debs had issued the following
proclamation: "The class war this year is raging with unusual
intensity in the United States. ... The awakened and awakening
workers ... have no use for any war save the class war. They
have no call to fight for the country owned by their masters.
They are internationalists, not nationalists, and they scorn
the patriotism that incites the slaves to slaughter one another
for the profits and glory of their masters."
At the 1920 Socialist Party convention in Atlanta, Debs,
prisoner #9653, was nominated to run for U.S. president. While
still in jail, he received almost 1 million votes from the
workers, who appreciated his leadership, his sacrifices and his
principles.
Resistance has begun. In the spirit of Eugene V. Debs, the
class struggle will emerge in many forms.
Reprinted from the Jan. 23, 2003, issue of
Workers World newspaper
This article is copyrighted
under a Creative
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