Unorthodox

I attended some local “opposition” meetings last week, grass roots groups that have sprung up organically in the (very) GOP county where I live. I attended because I firmly believe any real, effective opposition to fascism is going to come from below but I also thought I would act as a kind of intermediary and offer the aid of the county Democratic Party to the groups.

I recounted my experience with those groups here. I joined both groups and will attend upcoming meetings so I’ll know more, but I’ve been thinking about how both groups firmly rejected my offer of tying their new organizations to the Democratic Party and what that might mean for the Party going forward. The truth is I was surprised at the negative reaction and how badly the Democratic “brand” is damaged, which probably means I have been living in a kind of bubble. I’m ready to get out of that bubble.

I’m reading this 2024 analysis by David Schor and his broad conclusion is we lost ground with working class moderates across the board – Hispanic, white, Asian, Black – all of those numbers declined for Democrats. There’s one group of working class voters we didn’t lose ground with though- labor:

This 55% “union households” includes law enforcement unions, too, and they’re far Right, so the number for private sector unions excluding law enforcement is probably more than 55. Also- despite misinformation peddled by some anti union Democrats, labor unions are MORE diverse than the non labor workforce, not less diverse. A good fit for the D Party, right? For comparison, the number is basically flipped for non union working class - 55% R/45%D

If Democrats want to win back non college, working class voters the path to that runs through labor unions, because we win a majority of labor union members whether we run a white man (Joe Biden) or a Black woman (Kamala Harris). We should look to the “upstart” unions for organizing and how to reach and talk to working class people (Starbucks and Amazon are two examples).

I’m in a DSA discussion group about these upstart unions, and there are three things that define the new model of “worker to worker organizing:

1. Workers have a decisive say on organizing strategy

2. Workers begin organizing before receiving guidance from a parent union, and

3. Workers train and guide other workers in organizing methods

If we beat back the fascists and get a chance to take part in some revitalized version of liberalism, maybe we could translate this labor organizing model into a broader “movement” organizing model.