It has been clear from day one of the strike that the overwhelming majority of Detroiters support the teachers. Now that support must be transformed into a powerful mobilization to defend the teachers against the inevitable attacks that will be launched against them should they reject the contract and remain on strike.
What arguments can teachers expect to hear from Garrison in favor of a return to work? First, the threat—which is real—of fines and even arrests under the state law banning public employee strikes. This, however, is an argument for doing what she and the rest of the union leadership in Detroit have refused to do: turning out to the rest of the working class and fighting for mass pickets, mass demonstrations and sympathy strike action against any attempt to penalize the teachers for fighting for their rights... (boldface mine--Darren)
The real issue is the priorities of a political and social system that subordinates the social needs of the vast majority—the working class—to the further enrichment of a financial oligarchy.
That last sentence--what exactly does it mean? Socialists--indeed, Marxists--certainly have a worldview all their own.
The burning issue posed directly by the strike is the need for working people to break free of the two parties of big business and build their own, independent political movement to oppose the entire avaricious elite that is destroying their living standards and attacking their democratic rights.
Can you hear it? "Workers of the world, unite! You have nothing to lose but your chains."
There's a reason Communism only took root in economically- and industrially-backwards countries, and not in Western Europe and the United States. I leave it as an exercise for the reader to determine why that is.
Anyway, there's so much more in that story. Please go take a read, if you can stomach it. You may need a shower afterwards, though.
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