[Marxism] Arrest of Illinois guv: Were real targets Obama and UAW?

[J Rothermel <jayroth6@xxxxxxx>]

http://www.workers.org/2008/us/illinois_guv_1225/index.html


  Arrest of Illinois guv: Were real targets Obama and UAW?

By Fred Goldstein
Published Dec 17, 2008 3:54 PM

/From remarks made during the Dec. 9 membership meeting of the New York 
branch of Workers World Party./

I would like to comment on the arrest of Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich 
this week.

It is certainly true that his arrest, coming in the midst of the UE 
workers’ sit-in at Republic Windows and Doors, was aimed at the UE 
workers, particularly since it came a day after Blagojevich was shown 
all over television standing outside the plant with the workers.


It is also true that the arrest was timed to prevent Blagojevich from 
carrying out his threat to suspend all transactions of the state with 
Bank of America, which he had announced the day before.

But I want to call attention to another important aspect of the arrest. 
It was directed against Barack Obama.

There has been much talk about whether or not Obama is going to initiate 
a “New Deal.” We don’t know what he is going to do. Regardless of his 
politics, regardless of his appointments—and we do not take 
responsibility for anything he may do—two days before the arrest, Obama 
did what no president has done since the Roosevelt administration. He 
came out unequivocally in favor of the UE workers and publicly stated 
that their demands should be met.

It is generally agreed that from a legal point of view U.S. Attorney 
Patrick Fitzgerald acted prematurely. He publicized a mere complaint. 
There have been no grand jury proceedings, no indictment, only a 
complaint filled with hearsay. The extraordinary thoroughness that 
Fitzgerald applied in the case of G. Gordon Liddy was thrown out the 
window. This time Fitzgerald sacrificed preparation for political timing.

The investigation into Blagojevich has been underway for six years. Why 
suddenly make it center stage on that day of all days? When UE workers 
in Chicago are engaged in a plant occupation, are supported by Obama and 
the governor and, what is most important, when the bosses are in the 
midst of a campaign to break the United Auto Workers union.

The action may have been directed to help Bank of America, but what do 
Bank of America and all the bosses know about sit-ins and plant 
occupations? They are more keenly aware of their role in the history of 
the U.S. class struggle than the workers.

They know that the greatest plant occupation in the history of this 
country was carried out by the UAW in 1936 and 1937. They know that this 
sit-in brought General Motors to its knees. They know that this 
occupation changed the face of the labor movement and won the right to 
industrial organization—and that it took place in Flint, Mich.

The bosses know that workers all around the region can quickly be 
reminded of this—especially as they see the attacks coming at them from 
all sides.

Obama’s statement of support was made in the midst of a struggle in 
which workers were claiming the right to seize private property, the 
property of Republic Windows and Doors, the property of the bosses, and 
hold it as part of protecting their own assets in the fight for their 
jobs. What could be more anathema to the bourgeoisie as they carry out 
round after round of layoffs?

While Obama carefully restricted his support to the workers’ right to 
their severance pay under federal law, nevertheless, it was a great 
morale builder for the workers.

This raid, dragging the governor to jail at six in the morning, was 
calculated to warn Obama not to do anything like this ever again. The 
fact that the future president of the United States utters a word in 
support of struggling workers during an oncoming depression is 
inflammatory in the extreme, as far as the bosses are concerned. It 
gives ammunition and encouragement to the rank and file and any militant 
leaders in every union to open up a struggle to save their jobs and to 
block concessions.

But more importantly, this plant occupation, this heroic sit-in, even 
though it involved only 250 to 300 workers, was taking place in the 
midst of a major campaign, by virtually all factions of the ruling 
class, to break the United Auto Workers union and force intolerable 
concessions down their throats.

Obama made his remarks not only in the midst of the UE plant occupation 
but at the height of the campaign to use the crisis of General Motors 
and Chrysler as a battering ram against the auto workers. Different 
factions of the ruling class have different approaches. But the fact is 
that the UAW is the big issue of concern, the overriding issue of the 
class struggle right now.

Negotiations for the auto bailout broke down when Senate Republicans 
demanded that the UAW bring wages and benefit levels down to those at 
Toyota, Honda and Nissan—all nonunion plants, mostly in the South. When 
UAW President Ron Gettelfinger could not agree to such onerous terms, 
negotiations over the bailout collapsed. But the right-wing senators 
were speaking the mind of most of the ruling class, which has been 
beating the drums for the UAW to make concessions since the question of 
the auto bailout first came up.

What has this to do with arresting Blagojevich and making the indictment 
against him public? It was calculated to put an end to any support by 
Obama for workers and to the plant occupation itself.

What did the Bank of America and JPMorganChase, Republic’s other 
creditor, want? They wanted this occupation off the front pages. They 
wanted the workers out of the plant. They did not want anything to 
prolong it, especially encouragement from Obama.

The minute they had the opportunity, they surrendered to the demands of 
the workers for severance pay and benefits owed in order to put an end 
to the occupation. They wanted to stem the virus of working-class 
resistance and plant occupation before it could spread—especially to the 
rest of the Midwest.

Of course, the workers had every right to take the settlement. This 
alone was a major victory. The Bank of America never gives anything to 
anybody. Without the struggle, they would never have given a nickel to 
anyone. Bank of America is throwing people out of their homes, denying 
credit, and laying off 30,000 to 35,000 of its own workers.

So let’s not forget what this attack on Blagojevich was about. It was an 
attempt to defuse the struggle of the workers and take it out of the 
limelight. And it was a warning to Obama to stay out of it.

Workers, no matter whether class-conscious or not, were in support of 
the UE workers. The occupation was universally supported among the 
workers and much of the middle class. It became a popular cause. 
Politicians and others jumped on the bandwagon.

Furthermore, it cannot be regarded as a mere coincidence that at this 
same moment the Smithfield workers in the right-to-work, anti-union 
state of North Carolina voted, after 15 years and numerous unsuccessful 
attempts, to have the United Food and Commercial Workers represent them.

This could be attributed to “the Obama effect” because of the hope and 
optimism his victory has stimulated among sections of the working class, 
especially the most downtrodden. Forget about what he may or may not do 
in the future.

During the great upsurge of the 1930s, organizers seized on the 
conciliatory attitude of the Roosevelt administration towards labor, 
telling workers, “President Roosevelt wants you to join the union.” Of 
course this was an exaggeration, but a believable one. The capitalists 
are supremely conscious of this potential.

This arrest and attack on Blagojevich cannot be seen in any other 
context than as an attack on Obama, on the autoworkers and on the 
working class as a whole. Right now, Fitzgerald has said that Obama is 
in the clear and has nothing to do with the scandal. But at the same 
time, the investigation is ongoing. The threat is always there to 
escalate the struggle further in the direction of the Obama 
administration—not only out of bourgeois political factionalism but also 
to push him back from any ideas about further supporting workers in 
struggle.

This is what class-conscious workers must keep in mind as they view this 
whole public relations extravaganza.

A final thought. The heroic struggle of the UE workers may not be over. 
They are still in it in the sense that they have not given up the idea 
of saving their jobs. Doing this with a down payment from the Bank of 
America and raising the rest of it from workers’ funds may have a 
difficult future in a capitalist environment. But it leaves open the 
possibility to renew demands that the Bank of America, the banks in 
general and the capitalist government use bailout money to keep the 
plant open.

The workers are still in it and we should keep our powder dry and be 
ready to do everything to support them if another chapter unfolds in 
this important struggle.

/Goldstein is author of the newly released book “Low-Wage 
Capitalism—Colossus with Feet of Clay.”/

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