How Democratic Socialists Can Stand in Solidarity With the UAW Strike
Members of my chapter, Detroit’s Democratic Socialists of America, are mobilizing to support the United Auto Workers’ historic strike. Here’s some of what we’re doing — and what other socialists can do when the strike comes to their town.
UAW workers and supporters rally outside Ford’s Michigan Assembly Plant on the eve of the strike. (Matthew Hatcher / AFP via Getty Images)
In Detroit, these are heady days. Veteran autoworkers, chatting with supporters at rallies and pickets, have said over and over, “The UAW has never felt like this before.” They are talking about the energy of a historic strike in a newly transformed union that is appealing to all working-class people for support — and getting it — with the fate of 150,000 autoworkers and an industrial green transition on the line.
Members of my chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) are pulling out all the stops to organize the biggest strike support operation in our history. With the walkout now spreading to more areas of the country, we are eager to share what we’re trying and to inspire other supporters to prepare for the day the “stand-up strike” comes to their area.
Experiments at Scale
The UAW’s new president, Shawn Fain, was elected recently as part of a reform movement, Unite All Workers for Democracy (UAWD), that is seeking to make the union more militant and democratic. In a dramatic departure from the UAW’s recent history, Fain is leading a strike against all of the Big Three automakers at once and openly describing the strike as a fight for the entire working class. Union leadership is also being very public about its contract demands and proactively involving rank-and-file members in the contract campaign, including training them on how to speak to the media.
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