Workers Strike Back endorses Jill Stein at Inaugural Zoom Conference — Report
by Willow Reader
On Sunday, July 21, Workers Strike Back held its Inaugural National Zoom Conference, attended by more than 300 working people from around the country, to discuss the path forward to end the genocidal war on Gaza–including the crucial question of what working people should do during this year’s Presidential election to oppose the warmongers in the Democratic and Republican Parties.
When Seattle’s socialist City Councilmember Kshama Sawant announced she was not running for re-election after a decade of leading the movement in Seattle to historic victories like the first $15/hour minimum wage in any major city and the Amazon Tax to fund affordable housing, she launched Workers Strike Back as a way to carry forward that movement nationally and continue fighting for the working class. Since its launch in March 2023, Workers Strike Back has organized meetings and rallies in 14 cities across the country, raised over $50,000 to build the fight to unionize Amazon at the company’s critical KCVG air hub, brought class-struggle methods into union contract fights, supported historic strikes like UAW’s at the Big Three automakers, organized against the genocidal war on Gaza, and built On Strike, a weekly video broadcast which has reached tens of thousands of working people with a socialist analysis and a fighting strategy for the workers movement.
The timing of the conference, mere hours after Biden announced he was ending his re-election bid, underscored the importance of building the strongest possible left alternative to the Democratic Party, as the Democratic establishment moved quickly to anoint Kamala Harris, Biden’s Vice Warmonger, as the party’s nominee. The agenda for the conference included building for the strongest possible protests at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago in mid August, including a rally in Chicago on August 20, along with national protests in other cities on August 19. It also included democratically deciding whether to officially endorse Jill Stein’s independent, antiwar, pro-worker campaign in the 2024 Presidential Election.
Jill Stein, three-time presidential candidate for the Green Party, spoke about her anti-war platform and the importance of seizing this moment and building power as working people. Nick Cruse, co-founder of the Revolutionary Blackout Network, emphasized the need for a true alternative to the two-party duopoly and the importance of collective action in the ongoing struggle against capitalist oppression. Kshama Sawant then addressed the conference, excoriating the failures of the Democratic Party and the betrayals of so-called progressives like Bernie Sanders and AOC, pointing to the urgent need for an independent working-class movement, and urging an endorsement of Jill Stein as the strongest left, anti-war, pro-worker alternative to the two billionaire-backed parties.
We smashed our fundraising goal of $10,000 to build the protests at the DNC. The financial appeal was followed by a democratic discussion and questions including why and how socialists can use elections to build our movements, how to tackle the climate crisis, specifics about Jill Stein’s platform, and why unions and the labor movement need a fighting approach independent of the Democratic and Republican Parties. Workers Strike Back members shared experiences fighting for and winning union ceasefire resolutions and petitioning for Stein to gain ballot access.
Workers Strike Back then voted – with overwhelming 99% approval – to officially endorse Stein’s Presidential campaign. Stein’s platform includes an end to the genocidal war on Gaza including an end to all military aid to the Israeli war machine, a minimum wage of $25/hour, free college, Medicare for All, a Green New Deal including a green union jobs program, and quality affordable housing paid for by taxing the rich – all incredibly necessary and popular demands among working people. Workers Strike Back is calling for the largest possible vote for Stein in November as a powerful rejection of both capitalist, warmongering parties and as a concrete step towards building a new worker’s party.
Nick Cruse and Jill Stein will be joining us once again for our rally during the Democratic National Convention in Chicago on Tuesday, August 20 at 6pm at Grace Church of Logan Square to demand an end to the slaughter and an end to ALL U.S. funding of the Israeli war machine. Can’t make it to Chicago? Sign up to help organize a rally in your city for the National Day of Action on August 19!
Get involved with Workers Strike Back today to find out how you can help build this movement.
Organizing takes resources, and we’re up against the billionaires. Consider making a donation today to support our actions in Chicago and beyond. If you agree with our five demands–a $25 minimum wage, good union jobs for all, free healthcare and quality affordable housing, the fight against all oppression, and a new party for working people–and want to get active in Workers Strike Back, become a member now! And if you haven’t already, be sure to subscribe to our weekly broadcast On Strike for working-class news and analysis you won’t get anywhere else.
