Millions of people across the country are marking International Workers Day in the true tradition of the holiday that was born right here in the United States – by taking to the streets against the dictatorship of the ultra-rich. Today, the labor movement, the anti-war movement, the movement for immigrant rights and people who have been activated around Trump’s election itself are uniting in a moving display of the power of the people.
This type of unity and massive mobilization is the key to defeating Trump’s agenda. The administration is attacking on all fronts. It is kidnaping our immigrant neighbors and terrorizing our communities with ICE raids. It is shredding any regulation that limits corporations’ ability to endanger the people and the environment. It is giving billionaires and the corporations they own massive tax breaks while doing absolutely nothing to address the cost of living crisis that squeezes working families every day. And it has initiated an illegal war of aggression against Iran that has claimed thousands of lives and sent the global economy into chaos.
In many parts of the country, today is being marked as a day of no work, no school and no shopping – a general strike!
This tactic is so powerful because it underscores the strength of the working class and the weakness of the billionaire class. We make society function – working people grow the food, maintain the cities, produce the goods people use, and provide the services society relies on. The ultra-rich profit off of our labor, but they do not do any of the work themselves. By withholding our labor, and by boycotting shopping and school, we demonstrate our ability to shut everything down.
It is not true that we have to wait until the election in November to do anything meaningful to stop Trump. Besides, even if the Democrats win a majority in Congress, we’ve seen again and again how its leaders like Chuck Schumer betray all of their promises and do nothing to improve people’s lives (ironically setting the stage for far-right figures like Trump to win). The strike is a tool the people can – and are! – using right now to take a decisive stand.
