Wisconsin lessons for Labour

Grassroots, rank-and-file organization is critical to the success of any program of action; workers should always seize the moment and stay on the offensive as long as possible; compromise with capital is futile, given that capital wants the whole ball of wax and the working class is disorganized, confused, and insecure, easily manipulated and exploited; aggressive actions such as strikes are never outdated; traditional labor politics is a problem for and not a solution to the plight of workers; and workers always have power, whether they are in unions or not. A key lesson of Wisconsin is that a radically new labor movement will have to be built, from the ground up, if successful class struggle is to be waged.

Rand Wilson and Steve Early in 'Union Survival Strategies in Open Shop America' survey how unions survive Republican anti-union States. They show the problems of public service unions with union dues dependence and workers as passive consumers of services who are not surviving. Where laws take away collective bargaining rights, unions can survive with democratic organization and centres of mobilization for workers' needs.

Stephanie Luce in 'What can we learn from Wisconsin' promotes 5 lessons.

1. Mobilizing a Fightback Takes Organization

'The upsurges are not built from scratch on Facebook and Twitter. No doubt these are tools that organizers can use, but whether it's Egypt or Wisconsin, the large-scale protests were built upon existing movement infrastructure and organization.

Madison is well known as a center of antiwar and student organizing in the 1960s and 1970s, and the city and state had a progressive tradition. In the 1990s, Wisconsin unions and community groups built Progressive Wisconsin, a statewide independent third party connected to the national New Party.…The key point is that the structures of organizations were in place. …the Internet and blogs cannot take the place of good old-fashioned person-to-person outreach and organizational structures.'

2. The Right Wing is making this the Fight of a Lifetime

'The Republicans have employed a number of other outrageous tactics….the opposition may stop at nothing to push their agenda.'

3. We have to be Bold

'Because the right has been so powerful, the left has often been timid, afraid of alienating "the middle" and losing everything. We temper our demands to sound "reasonable" but usually end up just ceding all ground. The protests in Madison did not start from a position of "reasonable." Graduate students and public school teachers marched to the capitol to demand, "Kill the Bill." They did not wait to see what focus groups or polls said about their message.

The head of the state's largest police union defied orders to kick out the
protesters at one point…not all participants took such a bold stand. Leaders of the large statewide unions immediately and unilaterally agreed to the fiscal concessions in Walker's proposal, against the wishes of local leaders and members.

…the message here is that taking a bold stand can often build more support than pragmatic leaders might have you believe. …The realm of what is possible can change quickly. …There is also a lesson for political leaders, and this is that you sometimes need to step out of the way of the members…The status quo is against us, and many of the rules are not in our favor. Building a fightback movement will require us to disrupt the status quo, to break the rules, and to take risks.'

4. Hold Politicians Accountable from the Left

'This highlights the question of accountability. One thing we learned …is the need for a left pole: social movements and organizations that steadfastly make demands for what is necessary, and not just what is possible.'