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against European, Asian, and Latin American workers-each nation's workers being asked to outdo each other's sacrifices "for the national interest."

Divide-and-rule strategy

The idea of labor-capital partnership, embraced by the present leaders of the official labor movement, is inspired and fostered by the bosses. It is the other side of the coin of the capitalist divide-andrule strategy. It provides the rationalization for pitting worker against worker: white against black, native-born against foreign-born, male against female, and employed against unemployed. It has led to ever greater restrictions placed on the workers' capacity to defend themselves from the employers' incessant attacks on working conditions. In the name of industrial peace, no-strike clauses in union contracts have become the general rule. The no-strike clause prohibits strikes in solidarity with sister and brother unionists, thus forcing the systematic violation of a basic union principle, and outlaws strikes to enforce contracts when they are violated by the employer.

The logic of such no-strike clauses has led to the point where almost every union has been compelled at one time or another to condone the crossing of sisterunion picket lines! The good old labor slogan, "An Injury to One Is an Injury to All, " has been giving way to the suicidal, "They crossed our picket line, let's cross theirs." This refrain is inspired and afraid that once set in motion, the ranks will be difficult to halt. It is no accident that those ATU locals that had begun to mobilize their members in democratic strike committees tended to oppose the last company offer-as exemplified by the stance taken by ATU Local 1225 President Dave Mix.

Most of the top union leadership have never led a fight. Most came into control of an existing powerful mass labor movement during the period of relative quiescence in the aftermath of the big rank-and-file mobilizations and sacrifices of the 1930s and 40s. They began to see themselves as heads of businesses and conciliators between the workers and the bosses. Some of them, at least, acted like businessmen to the point of lining their from the inherent contradictions in the capitalist system of production, are on the horizon. Many new and talented working-class fighters will emerge.

The built-in contradictions in the capitalist mode of production are compounded by the revolutionary upsurge of the world's superexploited people in the countries dominated by such imperialst powers as the United States. Every underdeveloped country that wrenches itself free of the big banks and corporations aggravates the historic crisis of capitalism. When living conditions are improved in the neocolonial countries, imperialist profits go down.

The new labor leadership will know how to embrace the progressive social causes of labor's allies-exploited and oppressed groups such as the unemployed, women, Blacks, Latinos, youth, senior citizens, lesbians and gays, unorganized workers, professionals, and artisans. It will know how to unite the unions with these allies and lead a force that will prove to be irresistible. This is the core of the strategy of class struggle.

The U.S. labor movement must break with the fiction that a mutuality of interest exists between workers and employers. A national campaign needs to be mounted to bring together those fighters who are conscious of the conflict of interest between the working class and the owners of industry. ATU Local 1225 leaders have already established contact with militant leaders throughout the ATU and are discussing an ongoing relastrike that the strikebreaking police are not impartial guardians of justice; that the antistrike injunction-wielding judges are hostile to strikers; that the politicians, many of whom pose as friends of labor, are in fact its enemies.

In the natural course of things these class-conscious forces in the unions will gravitate together. Most of those who came together from diverse unions to join Greyhound workers in support of their strike, for instance, tend to be of this type. It is necessary, however, to consciously assist this process.

Independent political action

There are some elementary principles that can serve to • unite class-conscious labor forces. These include such ideas as union democracy; independence from all capitalist political institutions such as the Democratic and and Republican parties; uncompromising solidarity among workers regardless of union, race, sex, or religion.

The highest expression of such a class-struggle program is the need to build a political organization to defend and advance the interests of all workers and their natural allies in every arena of struggle-whether on the picket lines, in marches and demonstrations in the streets, or in the electoral arena. The perspective of constructing a labor party based on the unions will be an essential part of a class-struggle program for the (Continued on page 10)

Socialist Action January 1984