fredbergen
17th May 2008, 04:25
“Workers Vanguard” Brings Up the Rear
The Opportunist Left and the Port Strike Against the War: The Sound of One Hand Clapping
On May Day, ports up and down the Pacific Coast were shut down by the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) to demand an end to “this bloody war and occupation for imperial domination.” It is the first time ever that an American union has taken industrial action against a U.S. war. News of the ILWU’s strike against the war has reverberated among labor militants internationally. While the maritime employers threatened legal action and trade papers denounce reds under the beds, most of the left was notably silent. The reason: they are part and parcel of the popular-front antiwar movement, whose purpose is to pressure the Democrats, and militant labor action gets in the way. The Spartacist League for many years called for workers strikes against the war, as well as “hot-cargoing” war materiel. However, as part of its turn from revolutionary Trotskyism to centrist opportunism, the SL abandoned these key programmatic positions, along with its prior calls to defeat U.S. imperialism. Meanwhile, it smears the Internationalist Group for upholding the Trotskyist program of workers action against imperialist war. The Opportunist Left and the Port Strike Against the War: The Sound of One Hand Clapping (http://www.internationalist.org/ilwumaydaystrikeleft0805.html) (15 May 2008)
The Opportunist Left and the Port Strike Against the War: The Sound of One Hand Clapping
On May Day, ports up and down the Pacific Coast were shut down by the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) to demand an end to “this bloody war and occupation for imperial domination.” It is the first time ever that an American union has taken industrial action against a U.S. war. News of the ILWU’s strike against the war has reverberated among labor militants internationally. While the maritime employers threatened legal action and trade papers denounce reds under the beds, most of the left was notably silent. The reason: they are part and parcel of the popular-front antiwar movement, whose purpose is to pressure the Democrats, and militant labor action gets in the way. The Spartacist League for many years called for workers strikes against the war, as well as “hot-cargoing” war materiel. However, as part of its turn from revolutionary Trotskyism to centrist opportunism, the SL abandoned these key programmatic positions, along with its prior calls to defeat U.S. imperialism. Meanwhile, it smears the Internationalist Group for upholding the Trotskyist program of workers action against imperialist war. The Opportunist Left and the Port Strike Against the War: The Sound of One Hand Clapping (http://www.internationalist.org/ilwumaydaystrikeleft0805.html) (15 May 2008)