Minneapolis shows the way

Minneapolis has become the frontline in the emerging soft civil war between the U.S. government and large sections of its population. The city is now building toward a mass strike this Friday. While the exact scope of the strike is still to be determined, the talk of a “general strike” for the first time in a very long time is grounded in reality.

The significance of this step, of an entire city withholding its labor to win a set of demands, should not be underestimated. In his attempt to terrorize a section of workers and divide the working class, Trump has instead helped create the conditions for workers to recognize their own power. While the tactic of the mass strike is a part of working-class consciousness in many other countries, that has not been the case in the United States for many decades. A year after Trump’s inauguration, a section of the working class is embracing a tactic rooted in the system’s dependence upon our labor. In our own cities, we must use the example of Minneapolis to build the type of movements that can defeat the attacks of the Trump administration.

The stakes for building this type of movement are dire. As his regime goes into crisis internationally and domestically, the more Trump will turn to war abroad and attacks on migrants at home to divide the resistance. The only effective way to pull the brakes on this project is through mass coordinated working class action throughout the country.

The situation in Minneapolis

The state’s naked use of terror in the Twin Cities is tantamount to a military occupation, with the Trump administration declaring ICE agents to have “immunity” from prosecution while executing their duties. The result has been weeks of mindless, lawless violence from 3,000 members of a state institution with a larger budget than all but two militaries on earth.

The “Day of Truth and Freedom,” initially called by faith leaders, union representatives and community members, called for no work, no school, and no shopping in order to, in the words of Auxiliary Minister JaNaé Bates Imari, “leverage our economic power, our labor, and our prayer for one another.” The call has been endorsed by major unions, including SEIU Local 26, UNITE HERE Local 17, CWA Local 7250, St. Paul Federation of Educators Local 28, Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1005, and even the Minneapolis Regional Labor Federation, AFL-CIO. The demands they put forward are:

1. ICE must leave Minnesota now.
2. Renee Good’s killer, Jonathan Ross, must be held legally accountable.
3. No additional federal funding for ICE in the upcoming budget.

The situation on the ground in the Twin Cities is a complicated one, with activity largely driven from below. While the unions mentioned above have endorsed the actions, they have also made it clear that they are not calling for their members to strike. A Facebook post from the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1005 clarified:

The ATU IS NOT participating in the general strike. While we support the purpose of the rally, we encourage members to engage in alternative forms of protest, such as refraining from shopping or other lawful actions that do not conflict with their work obligations.

This hesitation reflects a complicated dynamic within the bureaucracies of the unions, which have recognized the existential threat that Trump has posed, yet remain tied to the habits of an age of docile unionism that have long ceased being appropriate. According to one activist in Minneapolis that the present authors spoke to, the result is that the unions are at least not getting in the way of the organizing that is taking in more or less a wildcat basis, from person to person and from workplace to workplace. According to one report, it is quite possible that many of the workplaces represented by these unions will still experience mass walkouts.

Minneapolis has a proud radical history. It is the city that gave us the general strike of 1934 and also the place where the Black Lives Matter uprising of 2020 began after the police murder of George Floyd. The whole city went through that experience together, and the solidarity that emerged from it is still very much a part of its fabric. Minneapolis is also an oasis in a sea of red states, and many young, queer, and radical people flock to the city as a refuge. This has given the city a more sharply radical character.

While the rallying demands are incredibly important, the role of radicals in this movement must be to widen their scope and targets. The movement must place demands upon the local and state Democrats to take strong action to protect the people of the Twin Cities. It must raise demands about not just stopping additional ICE funding, but abolishing ICE altogether, something that Democrats have no interest in doing. It must also include a demand against the Democratic state government sending the national guard to squash effective direct action against ICE. It must be remembered that the Democrats have consistently voted to fund ICE, often breaking funding records under their administrations, and they have every intention to continue doing this in the future. In a context where 57 percent of people in the U.S. disapprove of how ICE is enforcing immigration laws, and 46 percent support abolishing ICE outright (with only 43 percent opposed), raising these demands at this moment is both popular and important.

Organize now for mass strikes

There is national momentum building around mass political labor action, but this momentum will not result in mass strikes on its own. It will require militants to continue pushing it along. We must work towards building for a May Day this spring that will illustrate the power of our re-awakened class.

To start building capacity for this kind of militant action locally, there are a number of steps that we can take.

• Establishing May Day Strong coalitions with unions and pushing for mass political action within them
• Pass resolutions in support of the Minneapolis strike and their demands within our unions
• Build democratic community defense organizations and encourage everyone to establish ICE watches to alert people to ICE’s gestapo activities
• Seek to force cities and towns to declare themselves to be sanctuaries and not cooperate with ICE in any way
• Form rank and file committees in unions to push for resolutions and action against ICE.

These are the building blocks of concrete activity in the present that can unite our forces to push for more mass strikes against Trump.

The exact extent of the refusal to work in Minneapolis will be revealed on Friday. This may very well be, to re-purpose a famous phrase, “one small step for the people of Minneapolis, one giant leap for the U.S. working class.”

Featured Image credit: Chad Davis; modified by Tempest.