I am a 3rd generation working class Democrat. My father and grandfather were both good union men as I was for 8 or 9 years back in the '70s. I was a shop steward. Been through two strikes, the second of which turned nasty. The national office of the company had decided to break our union. A month before our contract expired they surrounded the plant with an eight foot tall chain link fence topped with barbed wire. They hired Pinkerton guards. At a time when inflation was running 15+% they offered us a 6 cent raise. An insult. They wanted to change all the provisions of our contact to their advantage and strip our union of all it's power. We didn't see a whole lot of middle ground here. They turned the plant into a Fortress. We sounded our war trumpets and raised our battle standards. !!! UNION FOREVER !!!
During this same time period I was living in Muncie, Indiana when the Klan tried to make a comeback. A lot of my neighbors were Klan. They even tried to recruit me. A black family moved into the neighborhood for a short while until the Klan burned a cross in their yard one night. I got to to be friends with a black friend of my neighbor's who would come with his friends to shoot hoops in the alley. One night as we were playing, a group of Klansmen came walking up the ally. Their position was "No niggers allowed in this neighborhood." Our position was "Just who the hell do you think you are to tell us who we can or can't have to our homes you shit talkin' punk ass motherfuckers." But I'm sure that if we just sit down and talk about this we can come to some understanding.
Pacifism is an admirable quality. It really is. So is negotiation and compromise. The world can't get enough of these things. But... a lesson I learned in as a sophomore in high school. Win, lose, or draw, you never, ever, back down from a bully. With these type of people there are two choices, fight or submit. There is nothing else. And more often than not when the bully realizes that you intend to fight, he is the one who will back down. For all bullies are cowards at heart and easily frightened.
Contract negotiations had broken down and a strike was inevitable. A few days before the strike the local plant manager, a decent man, resigned. The local assistant manager, a hard ass, stepped in to replace him. There were 2 or 3 Big Wheels from the Big Office there too. The first six weeks was siege warfare as each side tried to starve the other out. The company had tried to stockpile as much they could in the weeks before the strike. This was when the open skirmishing started as Company tried to max out production and Union tried to put on the brakes. The Fortress supplies steadily dwindled as the Teamsters refused to drive their rigs across our picket lines. After six weeks Company started to run out of finished product and had screaming customers on the phone. They had plenty of raw material but no workers. They decided to bring in the supervisors to run production. We later learned that Big Wheels from Big Office were convinced that we were on the ropes and would cave within the week once they started production. They would start production the next day. Two supervisors,decent men,resigned rather than cross our picket line. One of them, a working class hero, called our local president and told him what was up. Prez calls emergency Union Meeting. !!! BATTLE STATIONS !!! UNION FOREVER !!!
Now one thing that will dash any illusions of white supremacy right quick is to shoot some hoops with the brothers. After a few games with segregated teams I could see what a wonderful thing desegregation really was. Four Ten was the first real black friend I had. Former Black Panther. Said he broke with the Panthers because they preached that all whites were enemies and he knew better. He was there that night with two of his friends. My friend and neighbor Red had a basketball rim & backboard mounted on the garage. Me & Red & a couple of our white neighbors and Four Ten (that's about how tall he was) & his 2 friends. One of the neighbors said under his breath "Klan's here." Me "What the fuck do they want?" Red to Four Ten "Get out of here. Go!" I turned to see the Klan Local Big Wheel, I don't know if he was a dragon or wizard or what the fuck he was, they all had titles like D&D characters, but he was Big Wheel of the Local Chapter. He was on TV blowing his mouth off and he led the Klan Parade down Main Street, surrounded by the entire Muncie Police Force in full riot gear to protect them from the rainbow colored crowd lining the streets. He was my neighbor too. He had 8-12 others with him. Big Wheel to me, poking finger in my chest. "I told you no niggers allowed in this neighborhood." Me. "You're the only nigger I see around here." BW hits me in mouth with fist. I taste blood.
!!!CHARGE !!!
The Republic is in grave danger. The New Nobles intend to subdue us and reduce us to Serfdom. And they are well on the way to achieving their goal. They're winning the War. And make no mistake. It is War. US and THEM. They have no reason to compromise. The only thing compromised is most of our National Leaders. Of both Parties. Most, not all. We need to win this fight. We need to hold the line. That line is extending the Tax Welfare for the Rich. We must hold it at all costs or it may be the Last Stand of the Progressives.
!!! STAND FAST !!!
Mayor Wall Street was good friends with Company. He ordered his Chief of Police to order his officers to escort the Supervisors through our picket lines. The Chief, a decent man, resigned. Mayor Wall Street asks Sheriff Good Ol' Boy to order his deputies to escort Supervisors through our picket lines. Sheriff Good Ol' Boy politely tells Mayor Wall Street to go fuck himself. Councilman Main Street tells reporters that the Mayor's Office should not be taking sides in a labor dispute. We allowed Supervisors into the Fortress. It didn't matter. There was a Black Ops team in place. A shot rang out. The main transformer outside the Plant exploded. Some one had put an armor piercing round through the transformer with a high powered rifle. All power to the Fortress had been cut. The Union Electricians from the Power Company refused to cross our picket line to fix it. The Company Big Wheels were very sad. The next day they called Union Prez and asked for terms. The day after that Prez calls Union Meeting to vote on our new contact. Prez says Company agreed to 90% of our demands. He says we must throw them a few crumbs to let them save face. But we kicked their ass, we know it, and so do they. Mayor Wall Street lost his job in the next election. Councilman Main Street was the new Mayor. !!! UNION FOREVER !!!
The battle in the alley raged for a few minutes before the Police arrived and broke it up. The Klan had been stirring up trouble all over town burning crosses and firebombing black businesses. They arrived in force, swat team and all. The battle was indecisive, but we held our own. The Klan never tried to enforce their No Blacks Allowed Rule in our neighborhood again. !!! FUCK THE KLAN !!!
Mr President the Republicans hate and despise you. They hurl lies and insults at you and your family. They want to destroy you. And us. Either they will beat us or we will beat them. There is no middle ground. We either fight or submit. Form your Regiments. Mount your horse, draw your sword and lead us into battle. Unleash the Kossack Horde on these Tea Party Fuckwads. We will ride them down and pound them to dust. It's us or them. If we don't fight them on the Political Battlefield now, we'll be fighting them in the streets later. !!! NO QUARTER !!! NO RETREAT !!!