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﻿<title﻿>﻿New Socialist Magazine, Toronto: Only a Beginning - Editorial﻿</title>﻿
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﻿<b﻿>﻿Toronto: Only a Beginning 
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﻿<i﻿>﻿New Socialist Magazine, November 1996﻿</i>﻿<br﻿>﻿<br﻿>﻿<br﻿>﻿
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They stayed away from work in their hundreds of thousands, many thousands of them setting up picket lines: teachers, postal workers, government employees, aircraft workers and more. Joining them were native peoples, students, seniors, feminists, the unemployed. Altogether, they threw picket lines up at 300 workplaces, closing schools, offices and factories. Defying a court injunction, they closed the city's transit system. With great audacity they marched to the city's stock exchange, chanting their defiance. For a day, the city belonged to them. Nothing spoke more eloquently of their power and determination than the quiet, empty streets, the silence broken only by the cheers and from their picket lines. 
﻿<br﻿>﻿<br﻿>﻿
Twenty-five years ago, historian Edward Thompson wrote the following words about a similar event: "It is only when the dustbins linger in the street, the unsorted post piles up -- it is only when the power workers throw across the switches and look into the darkness of their own making -- that the servants know suddenly the great unspoken fact about our society: their own daily power." With a few amendments he might have been talking about Toronto on October 25th. 

﻿<br﻿>﻿<br﻿>﻿
The next day they took to the streets again, this time in yet larger numbers. Native peoples led the way. Then for three hours a human wave awash with banners and placards made its way to Queen's Park, the seat of the province's Tory government. The mood was militant, festive, determined, uplifting. People sensed they were making history. And they savoured the feeling. 

﻿<br﻿>﻿<br﻿>﻿
If ever proof was needed that we have the opportunity to build a new mass protest movement, it was provided during the Metro Days of Action. And it was not just the impressive size of the actions. It was also the resurgence of grassroots organizing. These were not simply protest actions called by labour leaders; in community after community, committees of workers, students, parents and others came together to organize and mobilize for the strikes, rallies and demonstrations. One sensed the beginning of a new kind of rank and file democracy as people discovered their own power and developed a new solidarity. 

﻿<br﻿>﻿<br﻿>﻿
But it was only the beginning. These precious shoots must be watered, nurtured and encouraged to grow. Social movements need energy and momentum. They cannot be sustained with "leaders" calling people out every few months. We need an ongoing campaign which builds towards larger and more power actions. And after Toronto that can only mean one thing: launching an escalating campaign designed to culminate in a province-wide general strike. 


﻿<br﻿>﻿<br﻿>﻿
Some labour leaders are making such sounds. But they will need to be pushed to act in ways that go strongly against the grain of their bureaucratic habits. And that push can only come from below ﻿&shyp;﻿ by keeping the grassroots committees going, by linking them up, and by encouraging them to put real demands upon labour and social movement leaders.
﻿<br﻿>﻿<br﻿>﻿
With the Metro Days of Action, we've come too far to turn back. We need to push the movement forward. And we need to keep reaching out to more and more people who haven't yet found a way to become involved. 

﻿<br﻿>﻿<br﻿>﻿
This issue of New Socialist looks at these recent experiences. It tries to analyze them by showing how much the Metro Days of Action have in common with the strike by GM workers, recent rebellions in Mexico, struggles for sexual choice, and historic movements against colonialism. If we are to move forward in our battle against the war on the poor, we need to draw upon every battle for freedom, every moment of solidarity, for all these struggles are rich with lessons. 

﻿<br﻿>﻿<br﻿>﻿
Hundreds of thousands of people demonstrated tremendous energy and determination over the course of October 25th and 26th. We cannot afford to let those marvelous achievements be squandered. As the French workers and students are fond of saying "la lutte continue": the struggle continues. 

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