[Marxism] Prison guards (was: Police unions etc.)

[Debordagoria <phantasmagorias@xxxxxxxxx>]

I realize this thread was addressing the particular
policies of certain unions, but it reminded me of
something I had long wanted to bring up here:
It seems to me that Marxists demonizing low-wage
prison guards (as "agents of state oppression") is
basically the equivalent of animal rights activists
targeting abused and exploited slaughterhouse workers
(which they do, by the way).
Michael Davidson

--- Lou Paulsen <LouPaulsen@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

> 
> Sayan wrote:
> 
> > What about police unions...? They exist in a lot
> of
> > places. Should we support them? ...
> > What about prison guards' unions? Prison guards'
> unions frequently
> > lobby for stricter sentencing laws and building
> more prisons...
> > Also, if employees at private mercenary security
> corporations like
> > Blackwater or DynCorps were to unionize, should
> they be supported?
> >====================================
> 
> Marvin wrote: 
> I don't know of any contemporary labour federations
> which have rejected
> affiliation by such unions, ... notwithstanding the
> reactionary views
> they, like other unions, might hold on various
> social and political
> questions.
> 
> Nor do I know of any current campaigns within labour
> organizations calling
> for the dissolution of existing police and prison
> guards' unions, nor of any
> grassroots sentiment which would favour such
> campaigns. The absence of such
> opposition would indicate that this is currently not
> an issue for unionized
> workers, and that efforts to make it one would be
> seen as a diversion from
> present concerns.
> 
> - - -
> Me:
> 
> The fact that trade unions in the US generally see
> police and guard unions
> as unproblematic components of "the labor movement"
> is just another sign of
> the bad state of trade union consciousness in the US
> and their general
> insensitivity to national oppression.  
> 
> If you want to see "grassroots sentiment" which
> gives a proper evaluation of
> these organizations, go into the African-American
> community and ask people
> what they think of the police and guard unions. 
> They are just about
> invariably the most horrible racist gangs you will
> see not wearing sheets,
> which is not to say that they don't wear sheets on
> their own time.  Yes,
> it's true that there are a lot of Black police and
> prison guards these days,
> but that doesn't change the character of the
> political action of police and
> guard unions, which is just about always for the
> "right" to torture, kill,
> beat, assault, punish, and abuse people of the
> oppressed nations, poor, and
> working people, with complete impunity and without
> any recourse or
> oversight.  And this is not an accident.  This is a
> product of the material
> reality of the police and prison guards, whose whole
> function is to occupy
> communities and imprison and control and fight the
> poor and the oppressed,
> day in and day out.  It's in their material interest
> to be able to terrorize
> with complete autonomy and without fear of any
> consequences.
> 
> Here is the kind of thing police unions are about. 
> About ten years ago,
> there was a hotly contested election in the police
> union in Chicago.  One of
> the candidates put a float in the St. Patrick's Day
> parade with the idea of
> really winning votes from the cops who were going to
> be there.  This float
> depicted some vicious racist cops who were under
> investigation for serious
> crimes, and was called "Victims of Injustice".
> 
> The only police organizations which are worth
> talking with in Chicago and
> probably elsewhere are groups like the
> African-American Police League, which
> has historically been a persecuted oppositional
> group within the police
> force and which constantly stands up against police
> terror.  If you see a
> police or guards' organization which is not spending
> its time fighting
> racism and brutality, then it's almost certainly an
> enemy organization,
> despite the fact that it may be an AFSCME affiliate.
> 
> As for "contractors' unions", this would certainly
> depend on the details.
> Many of the private employees of these firms are
> doing food service work,
> maintenance, construction, and so on.  Not all are
> gun-carrying mercenary
> killers.  I hope that the reactionary nature of a
> "mercenary killers' union"
> would be reasonably obvious to people.  However,
> even the hypothetical
> "occupation army food service workers' union" would
> pose some problems.  The
> chief problem is that their work depends on there
> being a continued
> occupation.  Should their right to unionize be
> supported -against
> Blackwater-?  I would say so, speaking in general,
> but a lot might depend on
> the specific case.  
> 
> It's true that Marxists have always been in favor of
> organizing among
> rank-and-file troops, and that "soldiers' unions"
> have played an important
> subversive role.  I think one of the factors in
> making the distinction is
> that working-class youth mostly do not go into the
> armed forces expecting
> that they are making a lifetime career choice, in
> the US anyway.  Even when
> there is not actual conscription, there is economic
> conscription.  No, they
> don't lobby for wars.  They would prefer not to be
> used.  (They might lobby
> for better equipment, though, which would pose us
> more problems.) 
> 
> Lou Paulsen
> Member, WWP, Chicago  
> 
> 
> 
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