O.C.A.W. leader discusses possibilities of labor party
1989Jake Cooper 1989-03Read it in the scan (PDF at ETOL), page 3 →
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SOCIALIST ACTION MARCH 1989 3 ST. PAUL, Minn.-On Jan. 30, Tony Mazzocchi (international secretary-treasurer of the Oil, Chemical and Atomic Workers union) addressed the speakers' club of the trades and labor assembly here. Over 100 workers heard him speak on the question of labor political action.
Mazzocchi has been a national figure in the labor movement for 41 years. He was a constant supporter of the Democratic Party for most of these years. He supported Jesse Jackson in the last presidential campaign. And when questioned about new Democratic Party head Ron Brown, his answer was, "Wait and see."
In spite of this, Mazzocchi's speech before the labor assembly was a breath of fresh air. He said it's time to talk about a labor party. He also emphasized that the Taft-Hartley Act of 1947—which limits the right to strike and organize mass pickets-has hamstrung the American labor movement.
The labor movement is down to 13 million members from a high of 36 million, he said, and a new approach is needed to attract members. Mazzocchi pointed out that every major industrial country in the world has a labor party—except the United States.
There was a lot of discussion from the floor. Some people asked, "How do we start a labor party?" Mazzocchi's answer was that now is the time for discussion only. Others wanted to know, "Can we run candidates?" Mazzocchi replied, "No, we can only discuss the general question."
Mazzocchi didn't mention the terrible role of the Democratic/Farmer Labor Party in Minnesota. Two years ago, for example, Democratic Party Governor Rudy Perpich sent the National Guard to break the strike of the Hormel workers.
More recently, Mayor Don Fraser of Minneapolis-also a Democrat-used the cops to murder two Blacks in a "drug raid." And St. Paul's Democratic Party administration sent police against the can workers here.
Mazzocchi didn't explain that the Democratic Party is controlled by the employers. If the bosses control your union, for example, you'd be right to call it a company union. In the same way, if they control a political party, it's a party of the capitalists—not of the workers.