We Need to Build Workers Power

There are too many reasons to count to want Trump out. For some workers, it’s the rising cost of living, the war with Iran, support to Israel and the threat that AI will steal their jobs. For others, it’s the attacks on immigrants, black people and everyone who tries to resist those attacks. For still others, it’s all of these things and more. With the future feeling so uncertain and anxiety ridden, some workers want to return to the old ways, to the “devil you know.”

This is exactly the thinking that the Democrats are banking on in the midterms: give them Congress and wait out the next two years. Democrats across the board have clung to a “do nothing, win” strategy. Over the last two years, they have offered the feeblest of opposition: some anti-Trump rhetoric, a slew of lawsuits and otherwise general passivity—sometimes even lending a hand as Trump carries out his attacks. Now, they hope to tap into anger at Trump and fears of what comes next.

The Democrats will most likely win the midterms, but that won’t reflect a rising wave of support for the party. Sure, they may win votes from people who see them as the “lesser evil,” along with hardened blue voters. Trump is driving people away, but they are not all just switching to the Democrats. They remember very well the previous austerity and liberal shaming sessions.

Instead, most 2024 Trump voters will just stay home, demoralized, while others move further to the right. MAGA itself has split over Trump’s foreign policy and his failure to put “America First.” Some workers look to conspiracy theories touted by fascists like Nick Fuentes. Fascists are the ruling class’s attack dogs whom they fall back on in times of crisis. If anything, a Democratic Party victory will only hasten the right-wing reaction.

Two Years Too Late

The second half of Trump’s second term could be very volatile and cracks are already beginning to show. Trump’s midterm convention and attempt to woo workers back with a $5,000 bribe were a bust. He dismissed protests by sailors aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln against their extended service, miserable conditions and lack of food, calling it fake news. That response just shows how little U.S. imperialism cares about the working people it sends to kill and die for its global domination. Meanwhile, the White House has launched a trade war against Canada, adding to economic uncertainty as the stock market trembles at the mere suggestion of an AI slowdown. These are all signs of a brewing crisis.

Placing faith in the Democrats will only give Trump more time to wreak havoc. For the next two years, he retains all the powers of the imperial presidency, including command of the government’s repressive agencies. The Democrats won’t be able to override his veto, even if they wanted to. And mostly, they don’t. They have no interest in checking Trump beyond proposing slightly different tactics to steer U.S. imperialism toward its strategic goals, like the reconquering of China and Cuba.

It’s necessary to understand what’s happening internationally: U.S. imperialism is slipping, and both parties will do everything they can to stop its decline by making life harder for the working class, even if they go about things a little differently. Trump has taken the ax to the old liberal order, and in turn the Democrats have dropped their liberal facade, which the ruling class no longer deems useful. The Democrats do not even pretend to do anything to stop attacks on black and trans people, those days are over.

Between an unstable economy, endless war and a political rebuke in the midterms, Trump is likely to become even more erratic. He may well unleash the wolves against perceived political enemies, not least the far left, and turn up the heat on immigrants, black people and labor to prove he can get results. The working class and oppressed people can’t afford to wait two years, and they definitely can’t afford to put their money on the Democrats. So, what to do to stop Trump?

Strengthen the Unions

Earlier this year, there was a spate of strikes, including by New York and California nurses, Colorado meatpackers and Philly electricians. As the midterms draw closer, strike activity has almost entirely dried up. This is no accident. Union leaders are selling out workers struggles to save face for the Democrats ahead of the midterms.

This summer, ILWU Locals 6 and 10 joined forces in the Crockett C&H strike, shutting down the sugar refinery for a day. With the midterms on the horizon, the ILWU International did everything it could to muzzle the struggle, forcing a retreat and a sellout contract. In the Northeast, 1199 hospital workers also got shafted when union officials imposed an inferior new contract on the ranks well before the previous contract expired, tying everything up in a bow for the Democrats. The bureaucracy clamped down on any strike talk, while gearing up a major “get out the vote” campaign.

Every time there’s even a hint of struggle, the Democrats and their agents in the union bureaucracy swoop in to try and curb it. NYC transit workers have been working without a contract for months, and the bureaucrats are just stringing them along. They want to delay the consequences of enforcing a lousy contract until after the midterms. Having Governor Hochul and Mayor Mamdani crush a transit strike would be a really bad look for them right now.

Workers won’t get what they need by waiting for Democrats (or Republicans) to deliver. That train of goods isn’t coming. Workers must challenge union leaders who subordinate their needs to the whims of the Democrats. These capitalist politicians don’t give a damn about workers’ safety, pensions or rising healthcare and housing costs, let alone protecting immigrant coworkers from ICE or defending black people’s rights.

By keeping these struggles separate, union bureaucrats are doing the bosses’ dirty work, leaving the working class weakened and vulnerable to attack. A crucial step in beating back Trump’s onslaught is to find ways to unite economic and social struggles in opposition to the oligarchs and their politicians on both sides of the aisle. That means confronting union leaderships who say their hands are tied while they pour union dues into Democratic campaigns.

Beware of Poverty Pimps

Some workers are taken in by slick talking Mamdani and other Democrats whose main virtue is that they don’t come across as racist bullies. This creates false hope that the Democrats can make things better. They may be backstabbers, but at least they don’t spew open race hatred. Fear of what may come under Trump fuels these sentiments. Black and brown people worry, with good reason, about the rise of white nationalism, the gutting of the Voting Rights Act and their safety at the voting polls. But Democrats play on those fears to keep workers and the oppressed subservient to the ruling elite, setting them up for far worse attacks.

In the recent period, even black Democrats had little to say about lynchings, killings by cops and other attacks against black people until the elections rolled around. Now, they shamelessly use these racist atrocities for their own political gain. They tell us that to fight for justice for Nolan Wells, we must vote Democrat. After voting rights were shredded with barely any protest, they now tell us to march on Washington to get out the vote for Democrats, as happened on the anniversary of the 1963 March on Washington. The rollback of the Civil Rights Movement’s gains makes clear that the “arc of the moral universe” does not bend toward justice.

Over the summer, the size and frequency of anti-ICE protests declined as Democratic electoral campaigns picked up steam—and ICE operations and arrests hit historic highs. This is due, in part, to the left’s hitching anti-ICE protests to Democratic Party liberals. In turn, Mamdani and other Democrats repay that support by siccing their cops on anti-ICE protesters.

The Democrats haven’t sorted out their differences either. They are divided, with DSA or moderate populists vs. Establishment candidates vying against each other in the primaries. But at the end of the day, the DSA Democrats are no better than their mainstream counterparts. Fundamentally, they’re headed in the same direction. Neither will tolerate workers and the oppressed mobilizing in struggle to improve their conditions, and neither is about to stick its neck out to help. DSA darling AOC is a prime example.

Ditch the Liberals, Build Labor/Black/Brown Power

AOC’s renouncing “Woke 1” as crazy was her way of giving the middle finger to George Floyd and the countless other victims of police terror. She’s letting everyone know she’s no longer about that kind of fight. Defund the police? No way! She’s going to focus on “meat and potatoes” now.

To be clear, “Woke 1” was crazy, not because it went too far in defending the oppressed as AOC would have it, but because its liberal strategy and identity politics alienated white workers by blaming them for black oppression. It let the Democrats and the rest of the ruling class off the hook for their role in enforcing segregation and racist state terror. It also deepened divisions within the working class, weakening both the black struggle and workers struggles. Sticking with liberal Democrats, like AOC, is exactly what has buried the black struggle for decades, and the aspirations of the millions who marched for BLM along with it.

Voting for Democrats is a dead end. But in a few races across the country, candidates on the ballot offer a working-class alternative: Ed Hershey in Chicago, Andre Easton in the Bronx, Ben Davis in Indiana and Greg Levy in Ohio, to name a few. They are running against Democrats and against capitalism. Even if you don’t live in their districts, you can support them by spreading the word on social media, donating to their campaigns or helping with phone banks, whatever it takes to raise their visibility and increase their chances of success.

The only real protection that working people have is to fight together in defense of ourselves and all the oppressed. One way to start is by building these independent working-class campaigns; another is to take every opportunity to get labor to stand with black people and immigrants under attack, based on shared interests, not moral appeals. Whatever steps we take, we won’t get anywhere with the Democrats. Ditch the Democrats! Build labor/black/brown power!