wisconsin recall elections: 'labor' in vain

[bcbm]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2011/aug/10/wisconsin-recall-elections-labor-vain

i'm guessing everything here is pretty much over since almost all of the energy got channeled into the recall elections. but i hope i'm wrong

[Ilyich]

You might be right, unfortunately. I was initially supportive of the recalls, thinking it would frighten both Republicans and Democrats who seek to overturn reforms, but the momentum of the Wisconsin protests has really died down since th recall efforts began. What had the potential to become an Egypt, Greece, or London has now become a pathetic power struggle between the two factions of the Capitalist Party. No matter which faction takes power in the end, the working class will lose yet again.

[apawllo]

Looks like they're going to move ahead with the Scott Walker recall efforts regardless.

[North Star]

If there have been workers and youth engaged in the movement and turned onto politics (hopefully beyond the Democrats) then the recall election hasn't been in vain. It takes patient work.

[Geiseric]

At least when workers read about this, they'll see an example of what happens when democrats take control of a movement, and will be inclined to not make the same mistake.

[Rusty Shackleford]

General Strike NOW!

[CAleftist]

Nothing like channeling popular anger into an...election.

[Martin Blank]

We warned about this back in May:


The experience of this election exposes two central facts: 1) that the Republicans currently holding power in Wisconsin will not yield that control, and will resort to ballot fraud and other anti-democratic methods to insure they continue to keep their majority, and 2) that in the face of these blatantly anti-democratic actions, the Democratic Party officials would rather concede the races than mount any attempt to defend even the most basic of democratic rights — even if it is to their advantage.

And herein lies the heart of the betrayal of the struggle for workers’ rights in Wisconsin. The utter failure of nearly all of the self-described partisans of the working class to offer a political solution that went beyond abstract slogans and attempting to give an economic struggle a tinge of political coloring has led the working class to see this electoral plan by the Democrats as their only avenue. Beyond the Prosser-Kloppenburg election, we see the upcoming efforts to recall many of the Republicans who voted for the unionbusting bill. There is little doubt that the same anti-democratic tactics employed by Nickolaus to insure a Republican victory will be used to derail the recall campaigns. There is also little doubt that when these dirty tactics are used to deny recall efforts, the same Democrats who were pleading with Kloppenburg to concede will be there (with the union officials right by their side) to tell workers to give up the fight.