[PEN-L:4678] Re: Labor Party

[Laurie Dougherty <g3357mdoug@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Re: the labor party convention, I think it is also disheartening that
the delegate body could not bring itself to call for a reduction in the
military budget.  The attachment of many working people to flag waving
patriotism is a real drag on the possibility of a progressive working
class movement.  It comes from the fact that so many jobs are dependent
on the defense contracts. There's also a cultural holdover from the days
of the Vietnam War when many working class people viewed student protesters
with disdain.  Many working class people fought in Vietnam and had to vindicate
what they went through in some way.  And there is a "We're Number 1" mentality
that pits the U.S. against all comers in the minds of many people.

During the Gulf War, GE and the IUE Local I was in in Louisville jointly
made up and sold to employees at cost yellow "Support our Troops" T-shirts
which almost everybody in the place bought. There was a little shrine in our
building to the employees who were called up in the reserves or who had kids
or grandkids "over there". The union held a "Support our Troops" march.  When I
made a few remarks in opposition to the war at a union meeting, I was denounced
by two chief stewards and the one from my building said he was ashamed to be my
chief steward.  (William Bywater, the IUE International President had written
something in the union newspaper in opposition to the U.S. getting involved. I
called the International office to find out if he still felt that way once the
war actually began.  I expected to just get an official statement from the
person who answered the phone, but Bywater came on himself and told me that
once the war had begun, he felt he had to support the troops. Like bringing
them out of there isn't a form of support.)


I know it's a hard sell, but the refusal of the convention to support reduction
in the defense budget marks a real missed opportunity to envision a future that
incorporates conversion to a peacetime economy.  This isn't entirely a case of
the union leadership being too fat and lazy.  The leadership of UE & OCAW are
probably more progressive than many, if not most, of their members and they
have been building up to this convention for years - I know I have been seeing
people from Labor Party Advocates at meetings around Boston ever since I moved
back here in 1991.  These two unions are in the trenches of the industries
where military contracting is a real live issue, but rather than tackling the
hard questions with the honesty and creativity and real leadership they demand,
this is pandering to the fears and most selfish motives of the membership. I
found the description of the rest of the platform to be more like a wish list
than a strategy for a progressive working class movement.  I would be
interested to know if the statements about ending bigotry and protecting the
environment went into any depth in confronting the hard economic questions
involved in achieving either of those goals.

				--------Laurie