Why the Labor Movement Needs the Left
A longtime union organizer explains why socialists have a critical role to play in building the labor movement. We should pursue three tasks in unions: encouraging rank-and-file militancy, building an independent political infrastructure, and developing workers’ consciousness.
Hundreds of Verizon workers with the Communications Workers of America (CWA) strike outside of the telecommunications company’s Brooklyn offices on April 13, 2016 in New York City. Spencer Platt / Getty Images
Bob Master is the Legislative and Political Director of Communications Workers of America District 1, which represents more than 140,000 workers in New York, New Jersey, and New England — including the Verizon workers who waged a successful forty-nine-day strike in 2016. Bob was also a founder of the New York Working Families Party (WFP) and serves on the executive committee of the national WFP.
Dan DiMaggio, assistant editor at Labor Notes, interviewed Master about his thoughts on the role of the Left in rebuilding the labor movement, based on a talk on a similar topic he gave at a day school organized by the New York City local chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA).
Dan DiMaggio
I’ve heard you say before that we need to think of the labor movement as a political and ideological project. Could you explain what you mean by that? And, given that fact, what are the tasks of socialists in the labor movement?
Bob Master
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