Re: [Marxism] Fresh Direct

[Greg McDonald <sabocat59@xxxxxxx>]

Greg says: "If the Teamster-sponsored union drive is nothing more than a
judas goat operation, then why is the National Immigrant Solidarity  
Network
supporting the union drive?"

Joaquin: "I don't receive mailings from that group, not regularly.  
And I don't know
anything about this particular Teamster organizing campaign.

But any of the typical organizing campaigns normally carried out by  
unions,
if carried out today among mostly Latino immigrant workers is likely  
to be
met with an ICE roundup. That is the reality. To start an organizing
campaign today among such workers, unless the union officialdom  
involved is
willing to go to the mattresses to fight la migra, which means, taking
arrests, taking indictments, taking convictions, taking jail time and  
maybe
even taking a bullet if things get out of hand, is irresponsible. It is
irresponsible because the tactics of the labor officialdom are  
designed for
conditions of bourgeois-democratic legality. The Latino community no  
longer
has conditions of bourgeois-democratic legality. I leave aside that the
tactics are ineffective even under conditions of bourgeois democratic
legality.

And if Greg doesn't think the United States is a white European
colonial-settler state, perhaps he wants to explain why he feels that  
way
about his country."

Oh please, Joaquin. I never said I did not think the U.S. of  
Amerikkka was built on anything but the racist and genocidal impulses  
of white european settlers, impulses which are an ever-present  
reality for the latino communities living in its borders. But there's  
a big difference between US unions and the US state, and to conflate  
the two is equally irresponsible. If you know anything about the  
Teamsters, especially the anti-corruption, pro-internal democracy  
wing represented in the Fresh Direct campaign, then you know they can  
be pretty militant and direct-action oriented. It should be pointed  
out that some dual-carders have and still do militate among their  
ranks, and one in particular is a member of my branch of the IWW,  
albeit a retired member.  So if I were you I would be a bit more  
circumspect in criticizing a union organizing campaign which you  
admittedly know nothing about.

Greg

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