MEMPHIS, TN, April 4—Fifty years ago, 1,300 mostly Black sanitation workers fought an important and bold battle here. Today, Memphis is still ravaged by capitalism. All voting has done is promote some Black politicians. More than ever, we need a militat anti-racist, anti-sexist movement with workers’ power, communism, as our goal.
The sanitation workers’ fight was both an economic and antiracist struggle. They began a strike in February 1968 against the city of Memphis after two workers, Echol Cole and Robert Walker, were crushed in the faulty mechanism of the truck they were using to pick up trash, while on the same day, 22 Black workers had been sent home with no pay, while their white supervisors were kept on. Their courageous strike was for economic demands (they earned poverty wages) and also against plantation-like working conditions. The Mayor of Memphis refused to even talk to local 1733, the workers’ union. The workers’ iconic slogan became: I AM A MAN. The Memphis strike occurred as militancy against racism in the U.S. and around the world was increasing and the Vietnam War was raging. Mass movements addressing these issues were shaking the foundations of the U.S. capitalist system.
Today, the American Federation of State County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) and the Church of God in Christ (COGIC) have called for a commemoration of the strike and of the assassination of Dr Martin Luther King Jr., which occured the morning after his speech to the strikers and community supporters at the Mason Temple.
Fifty years after the 1968 strike, AFSCME’s local 1733 had finally won a modest pension plan so that sanitation workers might be able to afford to retire. The city of Memphis is the poorest city of its size in the U.S. Racism and poverty still grip the Black population there, who make up 63 percent of the city.
Don’t vote; organize!
In the workshops and remarks by union and church leaders, we were urged to register to vote. Speaker after speaker trotted out that worn-out, failed strategy. Reverend Blake of COGIC made the misleading argument that divisive militants had weakened the civil rights movement. One speaker, however, let the truth get out. He recalled that Dr. King had been rebuffed by President Lyndon Johnson in 1965 about passing a voting rights bill. It was reported that Johnson said he didn’t have the power to pass such a bill. King said then we’ll give him the power. How was that done? Millions of people marching in the streets. Millions of people questioning the nature of capitalist society and inequality. Millions of people questioning the imperialist war machine.
The real truth, however, is that voting never has and never will give workers real “choice” and never will free us from the war and misery of capitalism. Time and again, these misleaders work to convince masses of workers to rely on the very system that is built on racist lies and designed to exploit. The real truth is that only overthrowing capitalism and building a worker-run communist system can create the conditions that we need and deserve.
Today, what AFSCME and other unions are really concerned with is the Supreme Court ruling on the Janus v. AFSCME case, which would put right-to-work laws into effect for public employee unions in 23 states, in effect making them nationwide. Right-to-work means that workers do not have to pay union dues. This would dramatically weaken the remaining union sectors and disproportionately penalize Black and women workers who hold many public sector jobs.
The lessons of 50 years ago are that masses of workers can make history but without a revolutionary communist outlook, they will remain on a capitalist treadmill fighting for crumbs off the bosses’ table. Join PLP and keep the fight moving forward!