What's the ideology of the CTW leadership?

To be perfectly honest, I'd rather talk about organizing strategy than ideology. It's not that I don't think our vision for the future is important, it's just that, given the current state of affairs, the question that's really looming in my mind is "how on earth are we going to build a movement?" That's the type of vision that matters most to me right now.

But there are a lot of young radicals out there in the labor movement (myself included), and it's understandable if some of us stop in between housevisits to wonder, "what's next?" And I don't mean the next housevisit, I mean, after we organize the millions of workers that CTW is supposed to organize, what are we going to do with our power?

The syndicalist in me would say "just keep organizing." That is, if we reach 30% union density (a la the CIO in the 30s and 40s), let's go for 50%. If American workers are organized, let's do whatever we can to support labor movements in other countries. I think the capitalists will always have the edge on us as long as the majority of the world's workers are unorganized.

But let's just say that in our lifetimes we have the chance to replace capitalism with something else--can we trust the leaders of our unions to do the right thing? More to the point, if Stern et al have a choice, ten or twenty years from now, between keeping up the fight and adopting the "collaborationism" of the Cold War AFL-CIO, what will they do?

First of all, given the direction in which Stern has taken SEIU, and in which he has been rather forcefully pushing the entire labor movement lately, it's hard for me to imagine him becoming another George Meany. And his declaration that SEIU will never merge back into the AFL-CIO seem to indicate he doesn't want to repeat the mistake Walter Reuther made (and later regretted) when he merged the CIO with Meany's AFL.

But what does Stern believe in? Is he a comrade in the fight against capitalism? I'd like to suggest that we'll never really find the answer to these questions in his public statements. As the leader of a relatively large union in a pathetically small movement, he's not in the position to call the question, "capitalism or socialism." None of us are. The position he (and the rest of us) can and should be asking right now is, "are we gonna organize on a massive scale?" Stern and the rest of the CTW leadership have made that the question of the hour in the American labor movement. In any case, we should all be judged more on what we do than on what we say, and Stern's success in building a vibrant, growing union ought to speak for themselves. (No, SEIU's not perfect, but it's successes are pretty damn inspiring.)

But let's say we're still worried about the decisions he might make in the future. How can we get inside his head, besides being one of his close personal confidants? For what it's worth, the only time I saw Stern speak in person (at my old local union hall in Connecticut), he was fantasizing about calling a general strike for universal healthcare. But I suppose that doesn't prove he's not a "bourgeois reformist." So let's parse a few choice bits of his speech at the CTW founding convention, and see where they lead us:

1. "We pledge today that ALL of our Federation’s actions, ALL of our efforts, will be for ONE fundamental purpose: to ensure every that American, and every American's hard work, will be valued and rewarded – not just the shareholders and executives."

This is good old-fashioned class agitation, although not explicitly anti-capitalist.

2. "We pledge today that no one -- that no one who works full time -- will be poor anymore."

I hate to break it to ya, folks, but under socialism we're all gonna have to work full time.

3. "We pledge to create a new political movement. Not about Democrats and Republicans or left and right, but what’s right and wrong for American families."

Ok, I wish he would just go ahead and say the "new political movement" is a movement of the left, but let's face it, to most Americans "left and right" refer to the two sides of partisan politics in Washington, neither of which gives a damn about the average worker. This quote is really about declaring political independence, thereby reversing one of the mistakes of the Cold War AFL-CIO. And it should be noted that he's not talking just about endorsing vaguely "pro-labor" Republicans every once in a while. He's talking about "creating a new political movement." That suggests a long-term political strategy, the details of which, we must assume, have yet to be worked out.

4. "We pledge today to revolutionize our failing health care system that is sapping America’s competitiveness, and stealing worker’s pay raises with it. . . if not now -- at the dawn of a new century -- if not now after witnessing the shame of Katrina -- if not now at a time when America’s economic leadership is being tested, then when?"

Some people get uncomfortable when labor leaders use words like "competitiveness" and "America's economic leadership," and understandably so. But let's look at the context. Rhetoric about the healthcare system "sapping America's competitiveness" refers to the impending bankruptcy of GM and many other American firms that have high healthcare costs due to the goverment's failure to provide universal health insurance. It's part of an attempt to build a national consensus in favor of single-payer healthcare. Stern isn't explicit, but the logical conclusion of his comments is that capitalism isn't working. Which brings us to the last line of his speech, "if not now, at a time when America's economic leadership is being tested, then when." Maybe I'm being overly optimistic, but read this as an observation that conditions are ripe for organizing, because American capitalism is in crisis.

5. "We pledge to ensure that in this new global economy, 'workers of the world unite' is not a slogan, but the basis to build global unions."

Theory and praxis, people, theory and praxis.

In the end, it sounds to me like Stern is "tacking betwixt and between" the two dangers of reformism and sectarianism, just like Rosa Luxemburg recommended. And, most importantly, he's doing everything he can to advance the "day-to-day struggle." Let's learn from him, and follow his example.