Oganizing the Unemployed in the States?

[palotin]

The apparent lack of much organization of and among the legions of unemployed in the US has been one of the most puzzling features of the current crisis of capitalism. I've long written this off as the consequence of a lack of effort. Now it occurs to me that a more concerted analysis of what organizing efforts have been undertaken may be necessary. I want to try to understand what methods have been used and what obstacles encountered. To that end, I'm asking for examples of organizing you've heard about or encountered, whether nationally or in your own communities. I'm even interested in non-leftist attempts.

[Victus Mortuum]

Wow, that's incredibly a-historic

American workers have historically fought incredibly for themselves.

Edit: the post I was responding to seems to have disappeared...

[KC]

One merely has to look at the progress of history the past 50 years to see that this is not only unremarkable but expected.

[Theory&Action]

I have personally thought a lot about this. I remember reading about the radicalization of the unemployed in Orwell's The Road to Wigan Pier and feeling hope that maybe something in my community would change. However, I have personally canvassed a large number of unemployed people and the overwhelming sense I get is that of deep depression and of overall hopelessness. Even with these overwhelming emotions, the unemployed are some of the most vehement supporters of free market capitalism that I have met.

I personally analyze this apathy towards societal problems as a symptom of the lottery mentality of the American worker. No matter how bad things get for themselves or for their neighbors, they truly believe that their shot at the big money is just around the corner with a little luck and perseverance. Of course, another problem is the lack of an organized, established socialist organization to come into these communities and fill the void. Despite my initial optimism that the masses of the 'nouveau unemployed' would be radicalized, I find myself increasingly disillusioned from trying to reason with American workers about what is in their own best interest.

[bcbm]

we're all doomed lol

[Le Socialiste]

While the American working-class and unemployed have proven themselves fierce advocates for socialism in the past, there is no doubting that such movements have been struggling as of late. The reasons for this are manifold: a clear absence of class awareness and consciousness, poor understanding (or lack of education) of labor struggles and movements - and a history of anti-socialist/communist propaganda. As a result, the movement for emancipatory politics has suffered, most notably from a hostile citizenry and neglect.

But that isn't exactly the point of your post. To my knowledge, there are multiple unemployment/homeless organizations throughout the U.S. The only one I can think of right now is based in San Francisco (the name is escaping me at the moment, I'll edit later if I remember).

[Omegared]

About me and my experiences organizing with the left: I am an unemployed and I was also a political science student that had several Marxists professors at the school I went to (Because of a situation not related to school, I had to leave early before I got my degree).

I associated with the RCP-USA but to my surprise most of the members showed almost no interest in the direct involvement in the organizing programs that would directly support the lumpen/proletariat. The leaders of the chapter that I attended said that such programs were not revolutionary and were the demise
of the Black Panther Party. The most senior member of the group even read a quote by Lenin which very clearly supported the idea of peoples'service programs that not only help, but educate, and the RCP group leader forced the interpertation to mean the exact opposite. Often tried to explain that the formation of the either a "counterstate"
or a mass mass movement is critical to a successful peoples' revolution; which was a main characteristic of the most successful left political parties in the world.

I think I will try against amongst a couple of friend and network in othe organizations.

[Omegared]

Also, about a year ago I took a poll on Revleft and found that 100% (there were about 16 respondents) of those that took the poll were in support of such programs.

Being unemployed myself such a program would me extremely helpful and help resist the temptation to reenlist in The Marines.

[Omegared]

In my community working class and poor people seem to be far more critical of the of "the system" and police that what you have experienced. Maybe because it is inner-city Atlanta, Ga. , but there are just no leftist orgs to mobilize them and the vacuum is filled by the Church and religion.

[scarletghoul]

Yes I too was going to mention the Panthers and their Serve the People programs.

Their big mistake however was to confuse lumpenproletariat with the general unemployed population, and to think that the lumpen would be the vanguard.

But yeah organising the unemployed in general is absolutely necessary and shouldn't be difficult to do. If they can't afford to take a full part in capitalist society, set up socialist institutions that they can use for free and they will find themselves becoming socialists by their own actions.

[Die Neue Zeit]

Also, about a year ago I took a poll on Revleft and found that 100% (there were about 16 respondents) of those that took the poll were in support of such programs.

Being unemployed myself such a program would me extremely helpful and help resist the temptation to reenlist in The Marines.

The Lenin quote you referred to was a reference to emulating pre-war German Social Democracy, which had more permanent organizations than the Black Panthers could count on all ten fingers: cultural societies, sports and recreational clubs, funeral homes, etc. Today you can even have food banks and food pantries.

Read my blog for the rest of the details. :)

[Nothing Human Is Alien]

Wow, that's incredibly a-historic

American workers have historically fought incredibly for themselves.

Auto-Lite Strike (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auto-Lite_strike) (unemployed workers played a big role)

Mon Valley Unemployed Committee (http://www.monvalleyunemployed.org/) (born out of deindustrialization, became reformist early on, still exists in that form)

These are a few examples, there are more...

[Red Bayonet]

The explanation can be found in the fact that in America, all groups left of the Democratic Party and right of the Republican Party, are kept infiltrated by US Army/police 'fusion cells', whose job it is to not only spy on them, but keep them from growing and becoming effectual by fomenting splits within their ranks. This stratagem is known as the Hoover Plan, after its founder, J Edgar Hoover, longtime director of the FBI.And has been in place since the 1930s, as a means of keeping any strong "third" party from challenging the bourgeois two-party dictatorship. The creation of the Fatherland Security Act in 2002 has only increased the amount of funding available to police departments for implementing this kind of counter-insurgency methodology. The biggest problem is that most American leftists are from petit bourgeois, and even bourgeois class origins, and are too naive, and lacking in security-consciousness to recognize it.