In politics, there are winners and there are losers. And winning historically, has never depended on those who ethically play by the rules. The value that politics is ultimately concerned with is power. Ethics gets tossed aside by some when it becomes a nuisance. As Niccolò Machiavelli notes, "[pope] alexander vi never did anything, never thought of anything, other than deceiving men, and he always found material so that he could do it." The borgias family to which alexander vi belonged were ruthless. Pope alexander vi himself was often accused of buying his way to the papacy. He would applaud trump for his effort to remove mail boxes to attack mail ballots. Well, it is time for the many, the oppressed, to play to win. And when we play and go on the offensive, we must not be afraid of hurting our opponent. When we strike we must think I will hurt who opposes me.
In american football, the Wildcat formation describes a formation for the offense where the ball is snapped not to the quarterback but directly to a player of another position lined up at the quarterback position. The quarterback on a football team is someone who ideally moves the team closer to their goal. Yards gained by completed passes executed by a proficient quarterback can sizably damage the morale of the defense. The mainstream left has picked a candidate for the presidential election who for all intents and purposes has two atrophied arms and is completely blind. This publication does not believe in the system of the u.s. so no candidate is a solution but joe biden isn't even giving the popular left a chance. What we in the far left need to do is take the ball as soon as it is snapped. We, the workers establish our Wildcat offense with a Wildcat Strike.
While the Rochester American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO) calls for general strike if trump steals the election, this doesn't go far enough. Its great that the union AFL-CIO supports general strike but unions have power. And there are unions that would not support a general strike if trump illicitly won the election because leaders of those unions believe corruption of the executive branch is out of their realm of concern. But that is not true. Corruption and oppression from the executive branch intersects with labor extensively. A commander-in-chief who curtails regulations and worker protections is no friend of the worker. Additionally, there are so many workplaces and business sectors that strike hard at the capacity of workers to form unions. And federal and state labor laws do little to help the most vulnerable workers. For example, farm workers in most states don't have the legal ability to form unions. To respond adequately to difference in ability to unionize, the general strike must be enhanced as the Wildcat general strike.
Again, it is great that the Rochester AFL-CIO supports a general strike for the noted purpose but what if the larger AFL-CIO coalition doesn't agree? And what if the alternative to the AFL-CIO, the Change to Win Federation (CtW), doesn't agree either? Maybe teachers and steelworkers and pilots go on strike but farmworkers in California who are within the CtW backed United Farm Workers (UFW) continue to labor and supply produce and another CtW backed union, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT) continue picking up and dropping off the produce. And this isn't a criticism of either conglomerate but this a potential reality. And with that in mind, the earners who are either too frail in health or too disconnected from political reality of what goes on in the dredges from their home will always continue ordering (unless they are physically unable to do so) their Amazon/Wholefoods or Instacart or Misfit Market delivery; thereby insuring that nothing gets accomplished.
Well, we are in the locker room folks! And people who aren't in the trenches (and people who won't be in the trenches), people who aren't in the dredges and the grid iron aren't going to help. In fact, they very well might try to make your life harder. And as Al Pacino's Tony D'Amato says in his speech in Any Given Sunday, “I don’t know what to say, really. Three minutes to the biggest battle of our professional lives. All comes down to today, and either, we heal as a team, or we’re gonna crumble. Inch by inch, play by play. Until we’re finished. We’re in hell right now... Believe me. And, we can stay here, get the shit kicked out of us, or we can fight our way back into the light. We can climb outta hell… one inch at a time."
This game isn't about what AFL-CIO wants. This game isn't about what CtW wants. Its about what oppressed workers and further what oppressed people want. Wildcat strikes are illegal. The Taft–Hartley Act of 1947 prohibits unions from engaging in several so called unfair labor practices such as enabling the Wildcat strike, which are unofficial industrial actions that unions historically would co-opt once the strike actions developed traction. Well, if this is disheartening, and you might be thinking or even saying, "Oh well, we have to play by the rules or else we won't win." Let it be clear we will lose if we adopt this mindset. We gain inches by being unfair. We gain inches by breaking the rules. We gain inches by being ruthless.
If your union strikes, obviously strike. If they don't and tell you not to strike, gather your fellow workers and DO IT ANYWAY. We need to take the ball and take control. We need to win the game or else we lose. When we win by breaking rules, we only break rules that get us out of our hell. If they win, the rules they break will put us deeper in the bowels of hell.
It is time to bring them pain. It is time to win.