Homage to Madison
Homage to Madison
Paul Adler: Homage to Madison
Early this past Sunday morning, a close friend and I boarded a plane to Madison to see this crucial battlefield for the future of organized labor (and thus progressive politics) in the United States. I was fortunate to spend about forty-eight hours in the capitol building, which for over a week has been peacefully occupied by protesters. What I found was a fascinating nexus, where some of the deepest nightmares and dreams of the progressive movement have collided.
First, the nightmare. Governor Walker?s proposal rips away any pretense regarding the ultimate aims of American conservatism. The postwar American conservative movement has always seemed a methodical and slow-building force. Review the many histories of the Right?s emergence, from the grassroots activists in Lisa McGirr?s Suburban Warriors to the business executives in Kim Phillips-Fein?s Invisible Hands, and over and over one encounters a movement that embraces the long view, seeing in each school board election or new lobbying association an important step toward its ultimate vision for the country. In this context, Walker?s bill appears a distressing leap forward, suggesting that some conservatives view it as time to move beyond partial measures and on to their final goals: in this case, a union-free United States.
If the reasons for this fight are a progressive nightmare, the manner in which Wisconsin labor and its allies (particularly students) have reacted is a progressive dream come true. Based on my conversations and observations, the events in Madison seem a genuine populist rising, one that includes established actors, but that has also inspired a whole crop of new activists. Many progressives have found themselves confused and dispirited in the wake of the financial crisis, when the most significant protests have been the Tea Party challenges to health reform, rather than average citizens rising against the malfeasance of the big banks. Local movements have emerged challenging foreclosures, and in the days after Obama?s election workers in Chicago staged a successful sit-in strike at Republic Windows, but it is in Madison that progressives may have the game-changer they have been waiting for.
It is difficult to write about being in Madison without slipping into hagiography. The state capitol building has been transformed into a place where moribund and even outlandish progressive ideas carry renewed resonance. Take the hackneyed protest chant that ?the people, united, will never be divided.? Among a small group of like-minded activists, this can seem a theoretical abstraction. Yet when heard in a march by firefighters and police officers (who are specifically exempted from the bill?s provisions, as part of a political ploy by Governor Walker), proclaiming that solidarity with their fellow workers trumps any special deals, this slogan suddenly rings with real inspirational power. The completely sensible juxtaposition of burly firefighters sleeping next to colorfully dressed students gathered in a meditation circle offers a glimpse of that early 1960s vision (one which had an important if complex home at Dissent) in which New Left student radicals and a revived, militant labor movement would join forces to build a more deeply democratic economy and society.
Despite the high stakes, the pervading mood was good-spirited and cooperative. Whether it was the jokes shared between capitol police and protesters or the orderly lines to grab slices arriving from the now globally famous Ian?s Pizza, the cheerful attitudes of the protestors presented a striking contrast to the general malaise that has fallen on many progressives of late. This spirit even extended to the protesters? attitudes about their Tea Party rivals. When one of the protesters, a vivacious college student named ?MC Superman,? began to speak about the Tea Party rally on Saturday, his remarks were miles from the snark found on many a liberal blog or Daily Show segment. Discussing the possibility of future Tea Party counter-rallies, he urged progressives not to dismiss them as ?Tea Baggers or bigots,? but rather to listen and dialogue respectfully. Along with a general democratic spirit, there was a clear organizing component to this; only by treating people with dignity ?can we hope to change minds.?
As I write this, the situation still appears to be a stalemate. However, Madison?s resistance already seems to have had profound effects, as Republican governors in several other states have backed down from similar legislation. Yet it is also important to remember that, even if labor and its allies prevail in Wisconsin, it will be a victory that returns labor to an increasingly grim status quo.
At the same time, the struggle in Madison carries in it possibilities beyond a temporary frustration for the right wing. First, and most obviously, while victory would return labor to an ever less tenable status quo, the alternative is truly terrifying. Any eventual revival of organized labor in the United States will depend on the relative strength of public sector unions as a base of support?progressives cannot afford to lose them. Second, one can at least hope that this struggle will remind the Democratic Party how vital organized labor is and encourage Democrats, particularly at the national level, to support labor as much as it has backed them. Finally, if the struggle in Madison can give renewed confidence to organized labor, that is of great importance in itself. As historian Robert Zieger notes in discussing the heyday of labor militancy?the CIO?s organizing drives of the late 1930s?a sense of momentum and accomplishment are vital in organizing; workers ?had to be convinced that the union could be and, more importantly, could remain an assertive presence.? No one I saw or spoke with made any grandiose claims, but many did express hope that Madison could provide a needed shot-in-the-arm for the movement as a whole. As one fifty-nine-year IBEW member told me (and I paraphrase), ?I worry about the future of the labor movement being guys like me?old white guys. When I see all these young people here, inspired and involved, you can?t help but feel a little hopeful.?
