| March 4: A Strategy to Stop the Cuts |
| Written by The Organizer | |
| Tuesday, 16 February 2010 | |
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March 4: A Strategy to Stop the Cuts Momentum is building for the March 4 Strike and Day of Action. Hundreds of schools and virtually ever labor union in all sectors of public education across California — as well as in dozens of states across the country — have begun mobilizing. Clearly, this is an historic movement — with national repercussions for all working people and youth, particularly in communities of color. But victory will not come easy. To win this struggle will require mobilizing and organizing independently the majority of students, workers, and teachers — and their organizations — against the cuts. Reject Cooptation The powers-that-be are getting increasingly worried about the rebellion growing in our schools. That is why, in addition to increasing police repression, the authorities are making significant moves to coopt our movement. Governor Schwarzenneger, for example, recently declared that he supports public universities. But his proposed budget does little to reverse the catastrophic cuts to the UCs, it deepens the cuts to other areas (pre-K-14, CSU, and the public sector), and it cynically aims to pit public education against other public services and workers, as well as drastically privatizing the prisons. And on January 20, UC President Yudof and various UC Regents came out in support of March 4! We must expose these maneuvers. Yudof and the other bureaucrats try to wash their hands of any responsibility for the cuts — telling us that instead of organizing on campuses we should "go pressure Sacramento." But the UC currently has enough money in reserve funds and executive salaries to prevent any cuts! And if the UC, CSU, CC, and K-12 administrators were serious about defending education, they would do everything possible to promote — rather than prevent — strikes and mass mobilizations on March 4. Sacramento and the bureaucrats will only cede to our demands if we force them. Likewise, we must convince our peers, co-workers and organizations that "lobbying" the Democrats is a dead-end. What have been the results of this strategy? Cuts, cuts, and more cuts — by both the Republicans and Democrats, parties funded and controlled by the ruling rich. The trade unions and all organizations of the oppressed must break with the Democrats and form a mass Labor Party! Organize the Majority People are ready to fight back, but we have not yet involved the majority in this struggle. People are overwhelmingly opposed to the cuts — but too many think that nothing can be done or that "there is no alternative." We must explain with compelling facts and figures that this is a crisis of priorities not a "budget crisis" — and that this struggle is winnable. We must build a broad, inclusive, mass democratic movement, open to all individuals and organizations that want to fight the cuts. We must involve and champion the demands of students and workers of color, who have been the most affected by the crisis. 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 (re)establish inclusive structures that give everyone who wants to participate in this struggle an equal voice in deciding tactics and demands. It is crucial that the General Assemblies and other forms of mass united-front organizing — such as the March 4 committees — be (re)built as organs of democratic decision-making. Only this orientation can empower students and workers and assure us victory in the long run. Our tactics should be flexible and should aim to involve the largest amount of people as possible. For example: Occupations and other forms of direct action can be productive if they have mass participation, if they have a clear purpose and demands, and if they are democratically decided on by the movement as a whole. Experience shows that small, demand-less, and unaccountable occupations can alienate the people we are aiming to win over and give the authorities a pretext to repress and isolate our movement. The point: We should support whatever actions and tactics are most appropriate for advancing the mass struggle at a given school or workplace. But without winning over the majority of people to independent struggle, the movement risks being isolated, demoralized, repressed, and/or demobilized in its beginning stages. Build Student-Worker Unity Across the State The ruling class relies on the strategy of "divide and conquer." Schwarzenneger's proposed budget pits UCs against the other sectors of public education and public services, and it pits higher education unions against other unions. We must not fight among ourselves for the crumbs of the budget. Instead, we must collectively fight to fully fund all public services and sectors by taxing the rich, using the bailout money and war funds for human needs, etc. We must continue to build unity among students, workers, teachers and their organizations; unity among the different regions of California; and unity with other public-sector organizations and community groups. For the moment, students have taken the lead, but this struggle cannot be won without the power of workers (including teachers) and their unions. It is an historic important step forward that the entire labor movement in public education in California is now mobilizing for March 4. We must now push the unions as far as possible. The Oakland Education Association voted massively to strike, and we must push others unions to do the same. But given the uneven level of mobilization in different sectors, the reactionary labor laws preventing strikes and penalizing workers, and the subordination of most statewide union leaders to the Democrats, it would be a mistake to denounce local unions and workers who are mobilizing but not striking on March 4. While we, as socialists, would love to see a mass general strike, we're not yet at that point in the struggle. Until we get there, we should build strikes, walkouts, rallies and all forms of mass action. This struggle is still in its early stages; it will not be won or lost on March 4. Instead of focusing on denouncing the labor leaders — a dead-end practice that makes some ultralefts feel good, but which does little to advance the struggle — all class-conscious activists should do the necessary bottom-up organizing required to make March 4 an historic turning point. And remember: if the majority of students strike on colleges and high schools, teachers and workers will be more likely to walk out unofficially in solidarity, as occurred on May 1, 2006. Conclusion March 4 can be an historic turning point not just for the fight in public education, but for the broader struggle in defense of public services, for immigrants' rights, for single-payer healthcare, against the wars, and beyond. The struggle to reverse the cuts can be won today, but the fight for Free Education for All goes beyond what the terminally ill capitalist system can provide. Thus, in the current fightbacks it is necessary to win the most advanced activists to the revolutionary socialist perspective, i.e., to the fight for a government of and for working people and all the oppressed. We invite you to join Socialist Organizer to work with us to make this vision a reality. * All out for strikes, walkouts, and mass actions on March 4! * Reverse the fee hikes, cuts, layoffs, and re-segregation of public education! * Tax the rich! Bail out the people, not the banks! |
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