[OccupyCU] A socialist has been elected to the Seattle City Council

[David Johnson]

NOVEMBER 22, 2013Marxist elected in USA 
Thursday, 21 November 2013 16:49by John Reimann |  |  |  
A recent poll showed that while 49% of adults 18-29 view socialism favorably, only 46% view capitalism favorably. Amongst black people, those figures are 55% for socialism; 41% for capitalism

A socialist has been elected to the Seattle City Council. No, this is not a "socialist" like Obama has been called (by the Tea Party, who also call him a fascist!) Nor is this a closet socialist, who whispers that she's socialist in the dead of night with nobody around or pretends that capitalism can be made more kind with a few "socialist" policies. Nor is this somebody who pretends she can resolve workers' problems for them.

Kshama Sawant, born in Mumbai, India, where she spent her early childhood, has stunned the political establishment by handily winning her race against long time liberal Democrat incumbent Richard Conlin in the Seattle City Council. A member of a socialist group - "Socialist Alternative" - Sawant campaigned around some very practical demands including for a $15 per hour minimum wage in Seattle, for rent control, and other issues. But she has also not hidden her support for socialism. Society can't be "more socialist", she says. "It can either be capitalism or socialism." "We have to find an alternative to capitalism itself. democratic socialism."

Elected on a program that included fighting for a $15 per hour minimum wage, Sawant has made things clear: "We're not going to get $15 an hour unless we have a mass mobilization of workers to demand it."

She has also made clear her opposition to the Democratic Party. In the same interview (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6EjJllOMftM) in which she's quoted above, she warns of the plans of the big business Democrats to wine and dine her, say they "admire her passion" and tell her that she has to go a little slower; and she makes clear that what stands between that strategy and her is her commitment to socialism. "When we accept that capitalism is the only option, then we accept the logic of big business," she says. She warns that she is not willing to settle for a $15 per hour minimum wage at some point in the indefinite future.

To her credit, Sawant also takes every opportunity she finds to raise the greatest long-range threat that capitalism poses -- global warming.

Is this really the United States in the 21st century? Is this a fantasy? What is happening here?

    Capitalist Crisis


What is happening is that the crisis of capitalism has hit US workers and middle class people very hard. In fact, a recent survey (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/07/28/poverty-unemployment-rates_n_3666594.html) found that 80% of people in the US are in or near poverty for at least part of their lives. And it's not just the poverty; it's the tremendous insecurity. How, then, explain the rise of the reactionary Tea Party? The weakening of the old traditions of the 1930s, the criminal role of the union leadership, and the role of the liberal Democrats -- these have all give space for the right wing populism of the Tea Party, which is financed and controlled by the most reactionary wing of the US capitalist class, led by the Koch brothers.

    Shift in Consciousness


But underneath this, a deep shift in consciousness has taken place -- a shift to the left. In part, this is due to the collapse of Stalinism. Now, an entire generation has grown up without that particular boogie man being held over their heads. That has combined with the economic crisis, the fact that young people face almost the same future here as they do in Egypt: Go to college, pile up a huge debt, and then find a job working at a coffee shop and have to live with your parents. The result is that a recent poll (http://www.people-press.org/2011/12/28/little-change-in-publics-response-to-capitalism-socialism/?src=prc-number) showed that while 49% of adults 18-29 view socialism favorably, only 46% view capitalism favorably. (Amongst black people, those figures are 55% for socialism; 41% for capitalism.)

Seattle is no exception to these trends; in fact it exemplifies them. The home of Microsoft and other high tech companies, tremendous wealth lives side-by-side with that same massive poverty and near-poverty. Meanwhile, because of this wealth, housing costs in Seattle have skyrocketed, putting an even greater squeeze on most young people there.

Why has this discontent not been expressed before?

We have certainly seen a sharp decline in the number of strikes in the US. In part that is due to the more aggressive strike breaking of the employers and the refusal of the union leadership to meet this aggression with the militant tactics of the 1930s (sit-down strikes, mass pickets, etc.) However, even here, Sawant's election could help bring about a change. She spoke recently at a union rally of workers at the giant Boeing aircraft, near Seattle. Boeing is threatening to move production away from Seattle if it doesn't receive even greater concessions than it has already received. "The workers should take over the factories, and shut down Boeing's profit-making machine," Sawant said. "The only response (to Boeing's economic terrorism) we can have if Boeing executives do not agree to keep the plant here is for the machinists to say the machines are here, the workers are here, we will do the job, we don't need the executives. The executives don't do the work, the machinists do."

    From "Occupy" Movement to Political Action
In fact, it has, most clearly in the "Occupy" movement of 2011. In a way, the Occupy movement was the first primal scream of anger and frustration, refusing to adopt any clear program and shunning political involvement like the plague. The election of Sawant may be opening up a new stage, a healthy corrective. Sawant's group, Socialist Alternative, is reportedly now calling for 200 "independent left" candidates to run in next year's mid-term elections. That is a lofty goal, but not impossible if the socialist left really comes together, works jointly, and really reaches out to and involves working class people and youth, as was evidently done in Seattle. It should it combine an electoral campaign with one in the streets and work places. This would inevitably run into conflict with the union hierarchy, which is linked at the hip to the employers on the job and the employers' party - the Democrats - in the political arena. Therefore, such a campaign would also have to involve the struggle to transform the unions in the United States also.

If that were to happen, it would shake up US and, therefore, world politics.

     John Reimann is a retired carpenter and an expelled member of the Carpenters' Union in the United States. (He was expelled for leading rank and file struggles against the union bureaucracy.) He is a long-time socialist, who organized for a number of years in Mexico. He is presently a member of the Industrial Workers of the World.
     
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.chambana.net/pipermail/occupycu/attachments/20131121/1289806c/attachment.html>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: pdf_button.png
Type: image/png
Size: 535 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://lists.chambana.net/pipermail/occupycu/attachments/20131121/1289806c/attachment.png>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: printButton.png
Type: image/png
Size: 245 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://lists.chambana.net/pipermail/occupycu/attachments/20131121/1289806c/attachment-0001.png>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: emailButton.png
Type: image/png
Size: 401 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://lists.chambana.net/pipermail/occupycu/attachments/20131121/1289806c/attachment-0002.png>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: picketinside.png
Type: image/png
Size: 133367 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://lists.chambana.net/pipermail/occupycu/attachments/20131121/1289806c/attachment-0003.png>