The next 24 hours are going to be electric for a lot of people across the country; many will be celebrating a hard-won victory, having talked the talk and walked the walk under a crimson banner for a long time. I’d also guess that a good number will finally find the courage to google “democratic socialism” and join the movement.
The next 24 months might bring many more highs and just as many lows. Some might look back at this evening with bitter disappointment, as lofty expectations are inevitably dashed against the rocks of compromise. Many will withdraw altogether, but enough would have grown up through the movement by then, and so, will carry on.
Tonight is about great hope, for sure, but it’s not in one person or another, however capable and charismatic they may be. It’s not even about any particular org or tendency.
Tonight is about hope in the movement.
Hope in the unstoppable force coursing through history saying “yes” to life because it is life. A life worth living. A life that’s changed but never ended. x
We heard the news today at a screening of a piece of labor media called @partnersthefilm – a documentary about the origins of Starbucks Workers United that relied heavily of footage compiled by the labor organizers themselves who, with no guarantees of victory, knew deep down that they were in the midst of writing labor history. That foresight and presence of mind is in itself inspiring.
It’s protagonism: the antidote to our culture’s incessant disparagement of “main character syndrome,” as though there’s valor in striking ourselves out of our own lives. That’s a story that’s far larger than any particular union in any particular industry.
As one of the “main characters” in the film put it: it’s not the bureaucracy of forming a union that ought to draw us, it’s the fight. Or, to draw from yet another “heroine” in this story, it’s not a grievance that we work to undo, it’s our voice that we win back. x
That’s the metaphysics of the movement; it stretches farther back and deeper within than we can possibly imagine or have the time to contemplate while we struggle to survive and fight back under capitalism.
It takes many forms, each an imperfect approximation of our aspirations, but all necessary to keep us in motion. It’s easy to lose sight of that when we’re caught in each frame.
There’s a fight coming to our city. Win or lose, be part of the movement. x