U.S. Labor and the Struggle for Democracy
NLF Highlights for March
It‘s almost a cliché to ask if U.S. democracy is in peril, yet New Labor Forum is obliged to address this question at every opportunity. In the current issue of the journal, labor historian Joseph McCartin suggests that the fate of American democracy has always been tied closely to the strength and posture of the U.S. labor movement. The early exclusion from unions of women as well as Black, Asian and other people of color led to a willingness on labor’s part to also accept their exclusion from the political process. Much later, McCartin notes, the emergence of a diverse workforce in the public sector led to a mutually reinforcing relationship between the civil rights movement and public sector unions, enabling both to play key roles in the expansion of democracy. This, McCartin suggests, might serve as a model for the way forward. If labor does not work assertively as a democratizing force, he argues, it will face not just its own downfall but that of democracy as well.
The role of labor in shoring up our fragile democracy is the theme of Civic Engagement and Leadership Development seminars offered by the School of Urban and Labor Studies in 2023. These Saturday seminars, starting on March 11th, are free and open to the public. Seminar topics will include the 2022 midterms, which were a surprise to pollsters and others who predicted a rout for the Democratic Party. Many experts attributed the positive outcome for Democrats, in part, to grassroots organizing by social justice organizations and labor, which made a priority of registering voters and getting out the vote, focusing their efforts on communities of color, women, youth, and union members. The seminar series will closely examine electoral organizing in three states: New York, Georgia, and Michigan. Invited speakers from labor and social justice organizations will look at what kind of organizing did and did not take place; what lessons can be learned; and what ongoing challenges and opportunities exist for progressives organizing today.
Table of Contents
- U.S. Labor and the Struggle for Democracy – Joseph McCartin, New Labor Forum
- Reinventing Solidarity Episode 40 – “The South: Jim Crow and its Afterlives” a book interview with Adolph Reed Jr.
- The Battle for Voting Rights, Labor, and Electoral Power ” – Three virtual Saturday sessions: Saturday, March 11; Saturday, March 18 ; Saturday, March 25 at 10:00 AM – 12:00 PM
U.S. Labor and the Struggle for Democracy
By Joseph McCartin, New Labor Forum
From its inception, the U.S. labor movement’s fate has been intimately bound up with the fate of political democracy. That historic connection seems more true than ever at this time. From Starbucks to Amazon, from legislative victories by fast food workers in California to the AFLCIO’s creation of the new Center for Transformational Organizing, many signs indicate a labor movement stirring to life after years of false starts, retrenchment, and retreat. Yet this hopeful energy is coalescing just as political democracy in this country—as across much of the globe—faces a deepening crisis. Whether labor can rebuild its diminished strength will depend on whether or not political democracy survives its present crisis. And whether democracy survives will in turn depend heavily on whether labor steps forward to lead not only an effort to organize workers but a fight to defend and extend democracy.
Read the full article here