Thread by @magpiekilljoy

i’m not a labor historian, but i read history books about social struggle for a living.

my takeaway so far?

unions and strikes are pretty much how we’ve gotten anything nice in this world, for anyone who wasn’t born into fuck-off wealth.

unions one of the most effective strategies for the sorts of reforms that make our lives bearable. they’ve gotten us to the point where fewer people have to work 14 hour days 6-7 days a week.

they’ve done more than that.

unions have proven effective at building actual power, the kind of power necessary to fundamentally reshape society. they’re not the only tool available, but they’re a very good one.

interested in reform? unions are good. interested in revolution? unions are good.

unions create change because they are a machine for building solidarity. it’s solidarity that gives us power.

unions aren’t perfect. they can’t accomplish everything, and they focus on the workplace which leaves out many spheres of life and many people. they work better when supplemented with other forms of organization. mutual aid in particular.

they also work better when they aren’t complacent. every structure of power will tend toward corruption, and unions in the mid 20th century lost a lot of their reputation (and therefore legitimacy) by giving in to corruption.

of course, even at their most corrupt, it was better to have a union job than to not. and if you think unions are capable of corruption, wait till you hear about bosses.

unions also work better (and this part is subjective) when they embrace and advocate for not just “getting a better deal from the bosses” but removing bosses and building worker cooperatives in which all workers have a direct stake in the success of their workplace.

so yeah, support unions. we live in a society with two classes: people who don’t have any money unless they work, and people who leverage their capital to make exploit those of us who have to work.

we are many, they are few.

you can organize unions. you can join unions. you can collectivize your workplace or start a co-op. you can also just know that you’ll never cross a picket line and that you’ll never scab. that you’ll never betray your class to support our exploiters.

oh, and the other side unionizes too. that’s the other thing i learn again and again. bosses form unions all the time specifically to counter working class organizing. cops are unionized for the exact same purpose—to protect themselves from facing repercussions for attacking us.