Fed-Up Railroad Workers Ready to Strike

If 115,000 angry freight rail workers defy government pressure and go on strike, commerce in the United States will slow to a crawl.

These essential workers are furious about their deplorable and dangerous working conditions. Their anger and readiness to fight showed when in July, members of one industry union, the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen, voted by over 99% to authorize a strike.

Midterm Elections: And the winner is … not Trump!

The big news about the 2022 midterm election is that the news is not as big as expected. Or, at least, not as earthshaking as prematurely claimed by the Republican Party, feared by their Democratic counterparts, and predicted by the punditry.

Any reflection on the meaning of an election must start with a couple often-ignored caveats. For one, the U.S. has lousy voter turnout, though it’s been growing recently. Turnout this time seems to have been relatively large (with ballots still being counted as of this writing).

And no wonder: a lot was at stake!

After Their Historic Strike MN Nurses Are Still Fighting for Justice

In the seven and half years Ali Marcanti has been working as a nurse, she has been yelled at, pushed against a wall, and put in ​“all sorts of shitty situations,” she says. But she never actually cried on the job until the winter of 2021, she recalls, when a Covid patient in his 70s who had been sitting alone in a room for hours turned to her, in tears, and said, ​“You were supposed to take care of me.”

Ten Lessons for Today’s Unions from Labor’s Militant History

 As the inequalities in wealth continue to grow, some have argued that the decline in the labor movement is a strong contributing factor to this tendency. During its period of ascendancy in the 1930s through the 1950s, organized labor scored huge gains for working people and narrowed the income inequalities that hit a zenith in the 1920s. Accordingly, it is instructive to take a retrospective look back at the labor movement in its period of militancy to benefit from lessons learned during this climactic period.

Defend the Indian Child Welfare Act!

Lisa Herthel and Sid Perrault organized a gathering at the Duluth City Hall on November 1, 2022 to raise awareness and to protest the attack on the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA).  On November 9th, 2022, the United States Supreme Court will hear a case that threatens tribal sovereignty. Brackeen v. Haaland could overturn the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA), a federal law enacted in 1978 in response to Native children being removed from their families and communities, and adopted out to non-Native families, even when fit and willing relatives were available.

Halloween Unmasked: A Socialist Feminist History

Halloween is here again. Homes, stores, and communities are adorned in the imagery of bats, pumpkins, black cats, spiders, and creepy things. Adults and children are busy with costumes, carving pumpkins, going to corn mazes, enjoying the brilliant hues of fall, and consuming pumpkin spice everything. It is the time of year for scarecrows, migrating birds, gray skies, and empty fields. But behind the holiday fun is a world of workers, oppressions, and historical wrongs.

End the U.S. Embargo on Cuba!

Activists in Duluth held a rally in Duluth on Oct. 29 calling for the United States to end its decades long embargo against Cuba.  The protest was sponsored by the MN Cuba Committee, the Solidarity Committee of the Americas, Twin Ports DSA, Grandmothers for Peace and the Northwoods Socialist Collection.

The action was held in solidarity with similar events all over the country being held this week, as the United Nations prepares once again to condemn the decades long embargo.

Making Sense of the Jan. 6 Committee Investigation

The “Stop the Steal” riot in the U.S. Capitol building on Jan. 6, 2021, did little to break the hold Donald Trump has on the Republican Party or his base. The “Select Committee to Investigate the Attack on the United States Capitol” (the J6 Committee) was formed against opposition from Trump’s key supporters in Congress, with only two GOP Representatives choosing to participate, Liz Cheney (R-Wy.) and Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.).

The right has used the lack of GOP participation in the committee as a talking point to attack the legitimacy of any investigation of the Capitol riot, while the Democrats have mainly stage-managed the investigation to underpin their mid-term election strategy of using the attack, and the rise of the far right, to scare working and oppressed people into voting, once again, for the “lesser evil.”

Indigenous Liberation, Decolonization and Socialism

It has been almost seven years since Justin Trudeau was elected prime minister on a vaguely progressive sounding platform of proportionate representation, climate change legislation, and reconciliation with Indigenous peoples. He went on to abandon all three as soon as it became convenient. The full weight of the federal government has been thrown behind the construction of environmentally disastrous fuel pipelines and related “development” through Indigenous land as they sic the RCMP on anyone who resists. They have spent hundreds of millions of dollars fighting against Indigenous peoples’ rights in courts, as well as against restitution to Indigenous children harmed by the welfare system. Indigenous over-representation in prisons has grown over the past seven years, and the murder of Indigenous people—particularly women—continues apace. All the while, Trudeau has waxed poetic about Canada taking responsibility for “the mistakes of the past.”

The West Bank Is a Specially Oppressed Zone — Free All of Palestine!

A crisis is occurring in the northern West Bank. Since April, Israel has made constant military raids, especially into the cities of Jenin and Nablus, arresting over 2,000 Palestinians. On September 28, Israeli soldiers entered the Jenin refugee camp with dozens of armored SUVs and killed four men.

Teamsters Vote to Stike at UMD!

Teamsters Local 320, who represent service workers at the five University of Minnesota campuses (including Duluth), have voted to authorize a strike. The date has yet to be set, but we'll keep you posted. Workers are demanding that the university give its lowest paid workers a living wage.

Lessons From the Vietnam Anti-War Movement

Fred Halstead: “Out Now! A Participant’s Account of the Movement in the U.S. Against the Vietnam War” (Pathfinder Press, New York) 1978, 1991, 881 pages.

Peter Camejo: “Liberalism, Ultra-leftism, or Mass Action” (Pathfinder Press, New York) 1970, pamphlet.

The U.S. emerged from World War II as the most powerful imperialist country the world had ever seen. American imperialism had unsurpassed military, diplomatic, and economic power, which it used aggressively in every corner of the globe. Its enemy was the world revolution, as rebellions accelerated rapidly after World War II. The U.S. war against Vietnam stands as a particularly grisly example of the application of these powers against an impoverished people trying to escape from colonialism.

Who Gets to Define a Recession?

Pundits are asking, “Is the economy in recession?” Regardless of definitions, working people are hurting, with pandemic aid programs evaporating and inflation eroding wages. Big business uses the threat of recession to its advantage, pleading for public handouts to bolster profits, or as now, encouraging a downturn in order to neutralize growing worker power by increasing unemployment.

Current conditions in the U.S. economy are not normally found in a recession. Corporate profits are surging, and inflation is at near record levels. Lingering supply-demand imbalances are unique to the pandemic. There’s a tight labor market and workers have gained some leverage in the last 18 months or so due to their own increased militancy.

Nurses Three Day Strike Concludes

The 3 day nurses' strike ended this evening with a rally at Essentia and then St. Luke's. Ten minutes into the rally at Essentia, the building right behind us went up in flames. Luckily everyone was able to successfully evacuate the rally site, and after regrouping on the other side of St. Mary's Hospital, we marched to St. Luke's for a powerful wrap-up rally. 

Thank you to strike captains and leaders who ushered everyone to safety during the fire. And thank you to all of the nurses who stood up against Essentia and St. Luke's with this strike. The struggle isn't over! The Minnesota Nurses Association will be going back to the table to negotiate.  It remains to be seen if there will need be further actions to make the hospitals move.

 Stay tuned in the days and weeks ahead for further updates on the nurses struggle for safe staffing and a fair contract!

Solidarity Rally With the Nurses, TONIGHT!

 

Solidarity With the MN Nurses Strike!

The Northwoods Socialist Collective stands in solidarity with the Minnesota Nurses Association and their strike. This morning, at 7am, nurses went out on strike across the Twin Ports and Twin Cities. The strike will run for three days. Picket lines will be up every day from 7am to 7pm - including at Essentia Health and St. Luke’s hospitals in Duluth. We urge all of our members and supporters to get out and walk the line with the nurses whenever you can.

You can stay in the loop about the strike from the nurses union directly by checking their social media sites and their website: https://mnnurses.org/

And if you’re able to, you can donate to a strike fund set up for the nurses at https://mnnurses.org/strikefund/

We’ll be sure to also post all important updates over our email list and on our own social media and website.

Activists Shield All-Ages Drag Show From Transphobic Protesters

It's Pride Weekend in the Twin Ports, and as part of the festivities an all-ages drag show was held at the Duluth Flame on Labor Day.  A reactionary, out of town, group called "Hold the Line Minnesota" worked themselves into a lather that the event was designed to brain wash kids, so they called a protest.  About three dozen of them showed up about an hour before the drag show was to start.  They had to set up across the street though, because a group of WE Health Clinic escorts had gotten there even earlier and occupied the space in front of the Flame.  

The Clinic Escorts, along with some other activists and Flame staff, wore bright colored vests, and held either rainbow umbrellas or flags.  We formed a "welcome line", blocking the reactionary protesters, and allowing room for the drag show attendees to get through.  The goal was to keep the space open, and to try and make it as welcoming and safe feeling as possible.  The umbrellas and flags were used to both form a protective barrier, as well as to shield the drag show attendees from being filmed.  (For military history buffs, picture a medieval shield wall.)

Technology and the State in a Post-Roe America

Since the fall of Roe v. Wade in late June of this year, fears have begun to spread about what a post-Roe world will look like for people who can get pregnant in the United States. The trial of a mother and her 17-year old daughter based on Facebook messages discussing the daughter’s abortion shows that some of these fears are starting to be realized.

Since the fall of Roe v. Wade in late June of this year, fears have begun to spread about what a post-Roe world will look like for people who can get pregnant in the United States. Discussions of things like online privacy, abortion networks, and self-managed abortion options have dominated conversations both inside and outside of the reproductive justice movement. Now, it seems that some of those fears are beginning to be realized.

Community Beats Back Reactionary Attempt to Ban Gender Inclusive Curriculum

 A small group of reactionary parents tried to get the Superior School District to ban some of the school's curriculum covering gender.  They had zeroed in on a 5th grade lesson that covered gender identity and pronoun use.  After they failed to get the District's Curriculum Committee to ban it, they appealed it to the School Board.  However, after an outpouring of community support for diversity and inclusivity, the Board voted 5 to 2 to reject this reactionary request!  Thank you to everyone who turned out in support of trans and non-binary youth!

Monkeypox is a Workers' Rights Issue

As of early this week, over 11,000 cases of monkeypox have been reported in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The virus that causes the disease, which many cities and towns have now declared a public health emergency, spreads through close personal contact, but in certain cases it can reportedly also transmit through contact with surfaces infected people have touched.