“In reality, the Democratic Party has ended their once-intimate relationship with labor, while some union officials seem in denial about the divorce.”
The fundamental difference between the powerful unions of yesterday and the passive unions of today is the unwillingness of today’s unions to wage a real fight in the streets and workplaces. You cannot mobilize and excite workers with an electoral campaign for a Democratic Party politician anymore; the betrayals of Obama put a nail in that coffin. And while it is true that the Republican governor in Wisconsin may have temporarily revived illusions in Wisconsin Democrats, that fantasy will quickly fade.
Truthout contributor Shamus Cooke has some strong words for the labor movement. Cooke contends that backing Democratic candidates is no longer a means to a union end, suggesting instead that waging “a