2020 Elections: What is to be done?

“The corruption isn’t bags full of cash. It’s the appointed positions that should be elected, the union-management partnership, the nepotism learned from the companies, and the turn from international solidarity to protectionism.”

That’s long been my answer to workers who say the UAW’s problem is bags of company cash under the table.

I still give that answer. But then came a garage full of cash, at UAW President Gary Jones’ home .

Activists like me have stood...

While keeping people focused on a strong, robust election process is a must, we also need to prepare for a coup.

We have a president who has openly said he might not respect the outcome of our election. We have to be ready if he claims victory before votes are counted, tries to stop counting, or refuses to accept a loss.

Some days I feel confident it will happen. A poll showed over 75 percent of Democrats think this is possible — and a shocking 30 percent of Republicans do too!

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"Therefore, be it finally resolved that the Rochester Labor Council, AFL-CIO calls on the National AFL-CIO, all of its affiliate unions, and all other labor organizations in the United States of America to prepare for and enact a general strike of all working people, if necessary, to ensure a Constitutionally mandated peaceful transition of power as a result of the 2020 Presidential Elections."

--Rochester Labor Council Resolution

These words conclude a resolution passed October...

President Donald Trump has  refused to commit to a peaceful transfer of power  no matter who wins the election. What is to be done if Trump loses the election but refuses to concede? The purpose of this commentary is to stimulate discussion and preparation for how to overcome such a Trump coup.

Even before the 2016 election, Donald Trump hinted that if he lost he might not accept the outcome. Now, far behind in the polls, Trump is taking action to disrupt the 2020 election and laying obvious groundwork...

The death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and her probable replacement by the much more conservative Judge Amy Coney Barrett highlight the continued precariousness of steps toward LGBTQ equality. Those developments are a reminder that the self-organization and mobilization of the LGBTQ community and its allies are a surer path to equality than reliance on legal structures.

The Supreme Court’s June decision in three employment discrimination cases brought by LGBT people marked a huge step forward....

As reported in Solidarity’s Election Poll , a Solidarity internal poll found that 47% of respondents supported voting for Howie Hawkins and Angela Walker running as Greens in the 2020 presidential election, 27% supported voting for Hawkins and Walker where the Democrats are assured of winning and for Joe Biden in “swing states,” 21% supported voting for Biden everywhere (motivated as “Dump Trump, fight Biden”), and 5% provided comments but selected none of the three options.

The poll had...

The 2020 election is shaping up as something more than merely a regular transfer of power election between the two major parties. Trump has leaned into overt racism at a time when many people thought these views were relegated to the dustbin of history; in a moment in which Black Lives Matter mass protests are met with white supremacist violence, he has aligned himself with far right street thugs, militias, and stochastically organized paramilitary forces; he is now threatening to muddy the waters...

In this election year, the anti-capitalist left needs, and some coalitions are already conducting, an activist Dump Trump, Fight and Force Biden (DTFB) organizing strategy. It could oust Trump and drive back his forces, expose Biden and the Democratic Party, and force a Biden Administration to enact and fund a set of non-reformist reforms, envisioned in radical versions of the Green New Deal and Health Care for All, and in the Movement for Black Lives program. DTFB organizing could also contribute...

In an August 22, 2020 article Solidarity’s Election Poll David Finkel, writing for the Solidarity National Committee, reported that 47% of Solidarity respondents supported voting for Green Party candidates Howie Hawkins and Angela Walker, 27% supported voting for Hawkins and Walker in “safe states” and for Democratic Party candidate Joe Biden in “battleground states,” and 21% supported voting for Biden in all states. Biden had not yet picked Kamal Harris for his running mate.

The Solidarity...

For the people of the world the real fascism of anti-democratic, brutal regimes supported by the U.S., murderous sanctions, and right-wing coups will continue unabated. 

The reoccupation of the Executive Branch by the Democrats will not bring any change in U.S. behavior in the global South.”

The “left” rationalization for collaborating with the neoliberal wing of the Democrat Party is premised on the argument that a win for the national Democrat candidate translates...