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﻿<title﻿>﻿New Socialist Magazine, Tens of Thousands Rally in Support of Locked-Out Detroit Newspaper Workers - Article﻿</title>﻿

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﻿<b﻿>﻿Tens of Thousands Rally in Support of Locked-Out Detroit Newspaper Workers 

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by Barry Eidlin﻿<br﻿>﻿

﻿<i﻿>﻿New Socialist Magazine, July - August 1997﻿</i>﻿<br﻿>﻿<br﻿>﻿<br﻿>﻿

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Tens of thousands of labour activists from across the U.S. converged on Detroit, Michigan on June 20-21 for Action! Motown '97. The event was held to rally support for the 2000 locked-out workers of the Detroit News and Free Press, who will mark the two-year anniversary of the beginning of their struggle on July 13.

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Friday the 20th was primarily a day for reflection and education. Interfaith groups held prayer vigils in front of the newspaper office buildings, as well as an afternoon discussion billed as "A Gathering of Friends Engaged in Social and Economic Justice Work: How to Connect the Lock-Out to Broader Issues." A teach-in was held in the evening, featuring a variety of speakers, including Harvard Trade Union Program director Elaine Bernard, and Teamsters International representative Mike Zielinski. Bernard's talk focused on how to rebuild the crippled U.S. labour movement, and she brought the raucous crowd to its feet when she declared that union activists had to begin this process by "challenging management's right to manage and to own." Zielinski gave a both entertaining and agitational speech, outlining how the "Road Warrior" crew of locked-out workers has been broadening the struggle in Detroit by bringing it to the corporate boardrooms and posh neighbourhoods of the executives and trustees of the international media conglomerates that own the two Detroit papers, Gannett and Knight-Ridder.

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Saturday the 21st was the day for action, albeit carefully orchestrated and controlled. In the morning, two groups set off to perform "peaceful and lawful local actions." My group protested in front of the Sterling Heights police department, which has been paid off by the newspapers to "protect" their scab operations, and has been rivaled only by the newpapers' paid army of Vance Security goons for the level of brutality with which it has ruthlessly attacked and terrorized strikers. The second group picketed in front of Detroit Newspaper Agency CEO Frank Vega's house in the tony Detroit suburb of Grosse Point Farms. From reports I heard, this action was somewhat more militant than the largely ceremonial Sterling Heights action, with participants tying up traffic in the downtown area before proceeding to Vega's house.

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In the afternoon, the many thousands of activists assembled at Tiger Stadium for the march. The proceedings were rather quiet in general, the only exception being the spirited chants of "Jump Scab, Jump!" as we marched passed the newspaper buildings under the watchful eyes of a few scabs and the Vance security guards. I was also quite heartened by the carnage of destroyed News, Free Press, and USA Today (Gannett's flagship newspaper) newspaper boxes strewn along the march route. The march was followed by a sizable rally. Ironically, official crowd numbers were dramatically higher than the actual turnout, some reports venturing as high as 125,000. Most people I talked to were much more comfortable with a high estimate of between 40-50,000. All the big-name labour tops from the AFL-CIO were in attendance, and they engaged in their trademark fiery rhetoric, but for the most part, I was pleased to see that the crowd was composed almost entirely of rank-and-file union activists who had come to show solidarity with their locked-out sisters and brothers. Especially noticeable in their presence were contingents of veterans from earlier labour struggles, particularly Caterpillar workers and other survivors of the infamous Decatur/Peoria, Illinois "War Zone."

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While any large gathering of labour activists is a good thing, Action! Motown '97 was problematic on several fronts. Most importantly, it was a stinging indictment of how unwilling the labour bureaucracy is to truly do what it takes to confront the intensifying capitalist assault on workers. The very fact that this mobilization took place when it did, instead of a year ago, prior to the unconditional offer to return to work, is the latest in a long line of examples of internal union politics taking precedence over winning the strike. These examples include such things as beginning the strike without a coordinated strategy, agreeing to abide by the picketing injunction at the plants, relying instead almost solely on consumer-based boycotts and corporate campaigns, and the aforementioned unconditional offer to return to work. While the AFL-CIO has correctly identified the Detroit Newspaper strike/lockout as one of the most important labour struggles of the past ten years, its rhetoric of national support for the strike has been shown to be hollow. Action! Motown '97 did nothing to suggest that this is about to change. Although 40-50,000 people is a decent turnout, this is nothing compared to what could have been achieved in a highly-unionized city like Detroit, with the resources at the AFL-CIO's disposal. Rather, the turnout was achieved almost entirely through rank-and file mobilization, with virtually no support at the national level.

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In this last fact, however, lies the one truly positive outcome of Action! Motown '97. That is that we may be beginning to see, for the first time in at least thirty years, the formation of a class-conscious layer of rank-and-file U.S. union members, who have learned the value of solidarity and rank-and-file organization separate from the labour bureaucracy from the often bitter lessons of Hormel, Caterpillar, Staley, Bridgestone/Firestone, Pittston, and others. Of course whether or not this is actually true remains to be seen but as socialist activists, it is vital that we continue to play a role in rebuilding the labour movement from the bottom up, so that this class-conscious layer continues to grow, and we can truthfully say that we have learned from labour's past mistakes. 

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