Commentary
Once upon a time music...and musicians...mattered in the labor movement. Music was a window for the general public into the lives of the union worker. It told stories about our lives, articulated our issues, rallies our masses, gave voice to our visions. It reached out in subtle and profound ways into the lives of people who were changed by what they heard. Music, in fact, did much the same for many social movements. Songs traveled freely between the labor movement, the civil rights movement, the women's movement. For every speech you can recall there are a dozen songs that you can't forget. Go ahead, try it...you'll be surprised.
But somewhere along the line we lost our way. As a nation we looked to better ourselves individually rather than collectively. We aspired to be like our bosses. Unions started to be seen as corrupt and outdated, obstructionist. Meanwhile, wages plummeted, cities decayed, the middle class deteriorated, and the rich got richer every day.
If the AFM is going to survive and thrive it must be relevant. Everyday. And not just to its membership. It must embrace and assert its position as part of a labor movement and, in fact, part of a broader social movement...redefining and changing our nation and our world. It must agitate to renew the soul of the labor movement...a soul that has, for far too long, been marginalized and unappreciated.
When the AFL and the CIO merged in the 1950's CIO president Walter Reuther arranged for the creation of the Industrial Union Department (IUD). This creation, retaining the essential soul of the CIO outside the official structure of the AFL-CIO as a political structure, would retain the commitment to organizing and education. One doesn't have to look to deeply to see the disastrous results of the AFL-CIO externalizing the job of organizing. Current levels of organized workers, the loss of power in national and international decision-making, a decline in even the presence of labor in national economic debates, the defection of the Democratic Party from the concerns of working Americans...all point an accusing finger at labor's inattention to organizing and political education as an essential tool in the building of America's future.
With the election of the New Voice ticket at 1995's AFL-CIO convention (incredibly, the first contested election in the Federation's history!), the expansion of the executive council, and the long-overdue beginning to diversify that council (heretofore described as "very male, very pale, and very stale")...bold new initiatives are being floated from both inside and, increasingly, outside the labor movement for a re-invigoration of our work. One of the most exciting was recently published in the newsletter of the IUD. In their ten-point plan for strategic action they lay out a potent prescription for change, inclusion, and rejuvenation. I'd like to share this list, along with my comments, for the benefit of encouraging the AFM to take the lead in encouraging discussion and proactive implementation of many of these items.
We have to recognize we're at war. Let's not kid ourselves, despite the commonly-held image of union leadership as part of the power structure, those parties that actually hold power do not view us as equals or even partners. They are not interested in our interests. Our complicity to their plans (most notably the Dunlop Report...which, among other things, is speeding the re-institution of company unions) makes us out to be short-sighted at best...fools, at worst. We have to define our adversaries clearly. Cooperative ventures are not out of the question, but only when they are truly cooperative. Power and interest must be equally shared. We must be more serious about mobilizing our membership. Mobilize the organized and organize the un-organized! We must develop enhanced capability for strategic action. We can no longer afford to lack the vision to tackle our struggles proactively. Take a look at Caterpillar: the company prepared years in advance for the strike that has gone on for over seventeen months in Decatur, IL. Their goal was to break the union. They were prepared, the UAW wasn't. Think this has nothing to do with the AFM? Look at the development of the recording industry in Salt Lake City. Recognize there's a New World Order...and we aren't included. Governments are becoming increasingly irrelevant. The real power lies in the hands of transnational corporations. Together with their agents (World Bank, NAFTA, GATT) they are able to move and shelter capital across national borders and are accountable to no one. Without international solidarity, without eradicating the dangerous and erroneous pitting of workers in countries against one another (a practice initiated by and for the benefit of the aforementioned corporations), there will be no effective opponent to these New World Powers. We, as workers, are both the first and the last defense. We must go beyond our walls. Nothing has been more damaging to the labor movement than its parochialism. We have to look to community, environmental, women's, and other groups for solidarity and cooperative action. We have to communicate that strong unions mean strong communities. Good wages mean strong economies. Increased power on the local level means the ability to protect local interests. We must go beyond the law. When the laws don't serve our interests we must challenge those laws. An unwillingness to do this flies in the face of history. The civil rights movement, the history of our own movement began with active resistance to those laws that were unjust. A cursory look at the National Labor Relations Act in these times reveals a piece of legislation that has failed to be anything more than a dead letter office for labor concerns. In the sage words of Local #1000 member and community organizer, Si Kahn, "In times of injustice the most civil act is to be disobedient!" We must build a culture of militancy. Notice the intentional use of the word "culture." This is critical. Culture is that part of us that is intrinsic, that is habitual. So habitual, in fact, that it is reflexive. It involves a power analysis that is clear and communicated. Internalized. We don't have the luxury to go back to square one in every discussion of unionism we enter. We must be clear and be committed. The ascendancy of John Sweeney to the presidency of the AFL-CIO speaks volumes for our movement's hunger for a more militant front. We have relied too long on letting our opposition define the rules of our struggles. We must re-examine our relationship to the political parties. Perhaps the pluralization of the word "parties" is a mistake. We have a relationship with only one political party...but do they have a relationship with us? It is commonly said that in this country we have a one party system...but, because this is the US, we have two of them. President Sweeney extended an unequivocal endorsement of Bill Clinton's candidacy for re-election at October's AFL-CIO convention. Was this wise...without condition? After NAFTA, after GATT, after the Dunlop Report, after the failure of the Democratic party to break the filibuster on the striker replacement bill, after the failure of the White House to energetically and effectively intervene on our behalf, what is our real relationship to that party? These are questions that we are foolish not to ask. We have to incorporate cultural tools in our campaign. Be honest now, how many of you were shocked to read this in a non-cultural union report? Joe Uehlein, of the IUD and member of AFM Local 161-710, was instrumental in formulating these ten points. He is also one of the most incisive thinkers in the labor movement. He understands that culture is an instrumental part to organizing...that it influences, educates, and motivates people. That, if we want to re-build a strong union movement we must restore its soul. And that's where culture comes in.
And that's were the AFM comes in. We have an opportunity, as representatives of the largest entertainment union in the world, to take an active...no, a proactive...role in encouraging the use of music and musicians in the reconstruction of a powerful and influential labor movement. We must provide links with community and environmental groups via our music and our work. We should join together with the IUD in encouraging President Sweeney and the new leadership to elevate our trade, once again, to its status as educator, invigorator, motivator. We must take leadership in establishing organizing committees devoted to outreach and coalition. We must become, once again, a union that matters in a movement that matters...connected to a broad social movement that names and battles our adversaries, protects our interests, and builds a strong and just future. Without that relevance we don't deserve to exist.