Socialism

“What keeps us going, ultimately, is our love for each other, and our refusal to bow our heads, to accept the verdict, however all-powerful it seems. It’s what ordinary people have to do. You have to love each other. You have to defend each other. You have to fight.” —Mike Davis

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Starting in the 1990s, the Democratic Party emerged as the champion of a new globalized, knowledge economy, whose centralizing tendencies concentrated the most sophisticated and profitable enterprises in metropolitan areas. As a result, the historic party of industrial workers morphed into the home of highly educated metropolitan professionals. Meanwhile, rural areas struggled to adapt to the global era, becoming a repository for slow growth sectors—manufacturing, retail, construction, agriculture, and gas and oil—that provided mostly low paying, unskilled jobs. The Republican Party capitalized on this decline, arguing that their economic agenda of low taxes, minimal government spending, and weak regulations was critical to the well-being of rural industries and their largely non-college educated employees.

By examining the emergence of the urban-rural divide in detail, we can see that the results of last week’s election were by no means inevitable. The Democratic Party’s collapse in the countryside was the predictable consequence of decisions to prioritize certain constituencies to the neglect of others. If the party is ever again to capture a sufficient governing majority to enact the social and economic agenda our country needs, it won’t be through eking out 2% higher turnout in the suburbs. It will be through transforming the Democratic Party into an organization that once again can compete in both urban and rural counties.

On October 24, the Clark University graduate workers union, affiliated with Teamsters Local 170, organized a panel of grad worker union activists from universities in Worcester and Boston to speak about their organizing experiences. Contract negotiations for Clark University Graduate Workers United (CUGWU) are set to begin in January, and the panel was held on Clark’s campus as part of CUGWU’s efforts to prepare its members.

The hosts of the event – two CUGWU shop stewards, including one Worcester DSA member – introduced the panelists, started with opening questions, and then fielded questions from the audience on the successes and failures panelists have experienced in their respective unions’ contract campaigns.

The hectic situation at Gleaton’s store has calmed down, but Helene’s aftermath continued to impact his community and his customers. For days, locals whose homes (and kitchens) were damaged by the storm still come to his Waffle House for meals, to charge their phones, to fill up on water, to grab to-go cups of milk for their kids, or just to sit somewhere brightly lit and friendly for a couple of hours.

Gleaton was happy he could provide that for them, but admits it is frustrating for workers like him to see the lack of respect and acknowledgement that he and other service workers receive from their employers and the public writ large, even after stepping up during a literal disaster.

“We were really providing so much for the community, and people do not think about that,” he tells me. ​“They belittle it, they downplay it, as if it’s not a lifesaver, and it literally was.”

The USSW has continued to push for more, calling for a $25 hourly wage for its members. ​“25 is a number,” Gleaton explains. ​“What we’re actually fighting for is a livable wage, because the cost of living just keeps skyrocketing. The whole inflation thing, it’s not getting no better for us, and they’re making it even harder, taking our credit card tips and then taxing them.”

USSW members like Gleaton are also pressing Waffle House to end its meal deduction policy (in which workers can only order off a limited menu and are charged whether or not they partake), and, even more importantly, to provide 24/7 security at its restaurants (workers say security is currently inconsistent). It’s no secret that the 24-hour diner can get a little rowdy, especially on weekend nights, when customers often show up drunk.. ​“I’ve probably cleaned blood off of every surface of a Waffle House,” Halie Booth, a Texas Waffle House worker whose gifted reflexes turned her into a meme queen, told the Independent (UK) in 2023.

Organizers from Chevron Out of Palestine, Oil & Gas Action Network, Scientist Rebellion, Palestinian Youth Movement, and Boycott-Divest-Sanction (BDS) Movement passed out stickers to protestors, solidifying the call to expose Chevron’s complicity in “fueling the genocide.” According to organizers, this was the seventh protest in the Bay Area this year against the oil giant, which is one of Israel’s largest power sources.

A half-hour later, the group made their way along a dirt-paved trail parallel to a lake that sits within Chevron’s headquarters. Dressed in keffiyehs, protesters carried signs that read, “Boycott Chevron” and “Chevron Out of Palestine,” while chanting, “Chevron, Chevron, you can’t hide, you are fueling genocide!” Meanwhile, at the center of the lake, activists stationed on three boats unfurled a banner that read, “Boycott Chevron.”

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