The interesting thing in the Economic Policy Institute report is that the surge in strike activity this fall is a continuation – perhaps on a new level – of a trend that began in 2018. No less interesting is the challenge to link this strike surge with struggles in the political/electoral arena is a first class challenge. The energy of one would amplify the energy of the other. It seems to me that the leadership of the AFL-CIO is positioned to play a special role in this regard.

In recent years people on the left have used the terms fascism or authoritarianism (with some adjectives – racist, white nationalist, plutocratic , right wing, anti-democratic, etc. – affixed to the latter) to describe and analyze the rise of Trump and the Trumpist movement. I have no problem with either designation, although I prefer for the moment anyway, “authoritarianism.”

In any case, I don’t see the value of getting into a pissing contest over which term captures today’s realities best. Both have their merits, including that they are class based, aware of the imperative of anti-racist unity, and mindful that so much hangs on the outcome of the next two elections cycles. Of far more importance would be a concrete (not abstract) discussion on what is the class and social composition of the coalition fighting Trump and the Trumpist movement.  Where does the Biden administration and its agenda fit into this coalition? The Democratic Party? What is the specific role of progressives, the left, social justice activists within this coalition? What are the main and common tasks of this coalition at this moment?

The Virginia elections – Virginia in recent election cycles had been reliably blue – will provide a good barometer of where the country is politically. The outcome in Virginia and the governor’s race in particular, plus exit polls, will give us a snapshot – not conclusive, but likely significant – of where the Biden administration, the Democratic Party, and the larger democratic movement stand at this moment and going into the midterm elections next year.

In the concluding paragraph of the article below, the authors write, “In reality, white workers have no stake in the system of exploitation that black oppression is designed to uphold.” I’ve made the same argument myself in the past, but is that really the case? If it is then it is hard to explain the persistence of racism over centuries and the sustained resistance of white workers to anti-racist politics.

A better approach is, in my view, to acknowledge a tension (or contradiction if you will) within the working class movement. In other words, white workers have and don’t have a stake – economic, political, cultural, psychological – in racist exploitation and oppression. What is more, without accounting for this contradiction and how it expresses itself, it seems to me, the struggle against racist exploitation and oppression becomes a steep – maybe insurmountable – hill to climb.

Here are a few remarks of Georgi Dimitrov. They are a small part of a report he made to the Communist International in 1935. Dimitrov was a Bulgarian Communist leader, who distinguished himself in the fight against Hitler fascism. They remain good advice for the progressive and left movements in present circumstances. As a thought exercise, substitute the Biden administration and its progressive demands in the place of Social Democrats and their demands and left and progressive movements for communists. And then ask yourself if the substitution is apropos.

“Formerly many communists used to be afraid it would be opportunism on their part if they did not counter every partial demand of the Social-Democrats by demands of their own which were twice as radical. That was a naive mistake. If Social-Democrats, for instance, demanded the dissolution of the fascist organizations, there was no reason why we should add: “and the disbanding of the state police” (a demand which would be expedient under different circumstances). We should rather tell the Social-Democratic workers: We are ready to accept these demands of your Party as demands of the proletarian united front and are ready to fight to the end for their realization. Let us join hands for the battle.

Thus, in countries having Social-Democratic governments, the Communists, by utilizing appropriate individual demands taken from the platforms of the Social-Democratic ministers as a starting point for achieving joint action with the Social-Democratic Parties and organizations, can afterwards more easily develop a campaign for the establishment of a united front on the basis of other mass demands in the struggle against the capitalist offensive, against fascism and the threat of war.”