Building a Mass Strike on March 4 to Defend Public Education

The independent struggle of students, workers, and faculty in defense of public education in California is the first mass fight-back in the United States against the attacks imposed by the most recent crisis of the decomposing capitalist system. The fight in defense of public education has inspired and given hope to many sectors of the working class and the oppressed. A victory in this struggle would have powerful reverberations, capable of opening a period of widespread working-class resistance.

It is necessary to assess the recent developments that have taken place in the movement at UC Berkeley. After a semester of struggle, various approaches and tactics have come to the fore. It is important to analyze them critically given the recent violent repression by the UCB administration. In order to succeed we must learn from our past actions. Of course, the conditions and experiences in struggle have varied on different campuses, but we believe many of the lessons learned at UC Berkeley are relevant to other sectors and schools.

The UC Administration’s Violent Escalation

November 20th revealed the true nature of the UC Berkeley administration. As the brains behind the implementation of the privatization scheme pushed by Reagan, these so-called “advocates for students” unleashed their full force against those that they were supposed to be representing. While forty students occupied Wheeler Hall, one of the oldest and most central buildings on the Berkeley campus, to protest the 32% fee increases and the arbitrary firing of AFSCME union workers, the UC administrators unleashed an aggressive police force upon the 2,000 students and workers protesting outside. Riot and SWAT police were called into action and batons were swung without mercy. But given the mass mobilization outside the building, the administrators and police were forced to retreat, resulting in the release of the occupiers with minor trespassing charges. Though no demands were won, the administrators and politicians were put on the defensive and the movement against the cuts gained tremendous momentum and positive publicity. Perhaps most significantly, new layers of students entered into the struggle.

However, during the days of “Live Week” (December 7-11)-- a week-long event consisting of discussion groups, studying, movie showings, and other similar activities in Wheeler Hall -- the administration demonstrated that it had learned its lessons from November 20th. The administration led the students to believe that they would not be reprimanded for participating in the “Live Week” activities. The nightly dispersal orders that were given to students were followed by no action on the part of UCPD to remove those who remained in the building.

This is where the main organizers of Live Week erred: based on communication with police officials and trusting the administration, those participating were reassured that they were not risking arrest. To avoid the possibility of a fightback similar to that on Nov. 20th, the Chancellor and Dean of Students called UC Police at 5 A.M. on December 11th , sending in enough cops to handcuff the doors closed and arrest 66 students. No dispersal order was given and negotiations were treated by the police as a joke. About all the individuals arrested were either sleeping or studying for finals. They were all sent to Santa Rita County Jail, with complete disregard for student safety. Students were treated like criminals by the police who used intimidation tactics and confiscated the student's books and laptops with the effect of jeopardizing the students’ academic futures, seeing as this was the weekend before final exams.

The same night of the arrests, Chancellor Birgeneau’s house was vandalized. Although we do not condone individual acts of vandalism such as this, we must analyze the circumstances in which such actions took place. The administration went from saying it "was a reliable partner for students" to violently repressing them—leading some students to react with pointless acts of vandalism.

The administration has failed to provide a safe space for students, workers, and activists to peacefully voice their rage against the fee hikes, cuts, and layoffs. Instead it has sought to silence them. The actions of the UC administration are shameful and must be openly denounced. Now that the UC Administration has unmasked its coercive power in front of everyone, we must be highly disciplined because such repression puts the academic future and safety of many students and workers at stake.

The violence used by the U.C. administration has generated a great sense of anger and frustration amongst students. This well-founded anger has led some individuals to adventuristic actions which have had negative consequences for our movement. Instead, this anger and frustration must be seized upon and channeled towards building an organized mass movement that is capable of defending and transforming public education. Unless this anger is channeled through organization and a mass democratic movement, it will simply vaporize into thin air, leaving our movement depleted and demoralized.

Liberalism and Ultra-leftism Are Dead Ends

The reason the UC administration and the State of California have been able to dismantle public education over the years is not due to so-called “student and worker apathy." Rather it’s the unfortunate fact that every time students and workers march towards open struggle they are co-opted and derailed into the Democratic Party. Years of supporting "progressive Democrats" in elections, lobbying, and letter writing has led to the devastating budget cuts which we face today.In order to overcome liberalism and win the struggle for public education, an independent movement that is rooted in the masses is needed.

Though the principal task of the moment remains to mobilize the majority of students, workers, and teachers against the cuts, hikes, and layoffs, some student activists have been mislead by the ultra-left "strategy" of "Occupy Everything." Occupations are a tactic that can be successful depending on the concrete circumstances. We in Socialist Organizer have supported and built various occupations -- and we have also argued at times against them, depending on the circumstances on the ground.

For example, the UC Berkeley occupation on November 20th was a success because a) it came at the climax of the 3 days of action at UCB, i.e. one day after the UC Regent vote to raise fees b) it was discussed and approved by a mass general assembly that was prepared to defend the occupiers. Likewise, the "study-in" occupations of various libraries across the state to protest library cuts have been a tremendous success because they were based around a concrete and reasonable demand -- keep the libraries open --understandable by non-radicals.

But many occupations have either been pointless or worse, alienated the people we are aiming to win over. For example, the various demand-less occupations that began the semester at UC Santa Cruz played a significant role in alienating important sectors of students and workers. Only now is a mass movement beginning to emerge at UCSC.

Another example of a pointless occupation would be the November 19th occupation at UCLA, in which a small group of radicals occupied a building on the side of campus from Covel Hall, where the UC Regents were voting on the 32% fee hike and where thousands of protestors were (correctly!) trying to shut the Regents meeting down. The occupiers absented themselves from the real struggle and the real mass direct actions.

The basic error of the "Occupy Everything" strategy is that it does not orient activists towards mobilizing and organizing the majority and thus feeds into adventuristic actions that give the police and administration a pretext to isolate and repress the movement. This repression is particularly detrimental for low income students and students of color who can’t afford to lose their scholarships and for immigrant students who can’t run the risk of being deported. Isolated individual actions like those of December 11th at the Chancellors house in Berkeley not only give the administration an excuse to further repress activists, but also enable them to drive a wedge between the movement and the majority of students and workers.

Without winning over the majority of people to independent struggle, the movement risks being isolated, repressed, and destroyed in its beginning stages—leaving the majority of students and workers demobilized and demoralized.

Only a Mass Democratic Movement Can Win the Fight to Defend Public Education

There is an urgent need to (re)orient our efforts towards winning the majority of students, workers, and teachers over to an independent mass struggle. Students, workers, and teachers run the schools and by simply crossing our arms and striking we can make the popular chant “Our university!” a concrete reality.

In order to advance and deepen the struggle we need to mobilize all students and workers who oppose the budget cuts and encourage them to take ownership over the future direction of the movement. We need to reestablish inclusive structures that give everyone who wants to participate in this struggle an equal voice in deciding tactics and demands. By providing for all individuals and organizations an open democratic space to collectively discuss and vote on the movement’s actions, there will be no ambiguity about what the overall movement is -- and is not --responsible for.

It is crucial that the General Assemblies and other forms of mass united-front organizing -- such as March 4 committees -- be (re)built as organs of democratic decision-making. Mass democracy is the only way in which we can assure that the majority of people involved get to decide on the tactics of the movement. Only this orientation can empower students and workers and assure us victory in the long run.

What Next? Mass Strike on March 4 to Defend Public Education

The next key step for the movement is to organize a real strike on March 4 on as many schools as possible. Building for March 4 is the most militant and most meaningful action possible at this moment. As the March 4 Call for a Statewide Day of Strike and Action gains momentum and spreads to schools and workplaces across the state and the entire nation, it is more urgent than ever that we deepen the struggle among the majority of students and workers.

This struggle cannot be won by students alone. The difference between victory and defeat will most likely hinge on the level of mobilization and militancy of the workers and their organizations in public education. That is why a central task of both student activists and worker militants is to mobilize the ranks in the unions and push for the unions as a whole to challenge the administrators and the state -- beginning by striking on March 4.

Building a real strike will not be easy. But under the current conditions it has the potential to be a turning point not only in the fight to defend public education but for the broader struggle in defense of public services, for immigrants’ rights, for single-payer health-care, against the wars, and beyond.


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