Today is May 1st, International Workers Day. This year its messages of labor power and solidarity have been imbued with the urgency only an international crisis can provide. Between the parallel emergencies of global pandemic and economic catastrophe the division between labor and capital is as stark as it has ever been. Previously unengaged workers, often too beaten down to see resistance as an option, have found themselves on the front lines of both emergencies.
Now, when offered an infernal choice between their subsistence and their safety, many are deciding to take heroic action for themselves and their fellow workers. Since the beginning of the COVID-19 outbreak we’ve seen an uptick in wildcat strikes, sick outs, walk outs, and labor confrontations of all kinds.
Food service, delivery drivers, warehouse workers, medical staff, and laborers from practically every industry large or small have been banding together. Whether organically grown or cultivated by seasoned unionists these struggles are building upon an old foundation of worker solidarity. While that foundation has been neglected for too long, it only needs the care and skill of people willing to build upon it to be restored.
In recent years teachers, nurses, flight attendants, the imprisoned, and many others have been sealing the cracks. Now we’re seeing an army of workers that might also become builders turning a critical eye to what labor stands on and wondering, “is there room for us?”.
And there is. That foundation of solidarity can hold any weight. It can house each and every person who toils for a wage. The exploited and downtrodden, the incarcerated and disenfranchised, the colonised and occupied. All of our struggles must be fought and won together.
The fights in front of us haven’t changed, but the world has. For all the horror of the current moment we’re also discovering new links and new routes to solidarity. The crises we face right now may not be an opportunity, but in their aftermath will be a fight to determine the new shape of things.
We have a world to win. Let’s not forget we can.
Solidarity Forever.
Jean Krill is is the co-editor and co-founder of Zero Balance. His writing navigates the many disparate visions of a radically better future.