Abstract
Labor in the Time of Trump is an essential roadmap for working people because it orients us to our present condition and suggests strategies for navigating our way out of the corporate (and bipartisan) constructed maze in which we find ourselves. This text was written and edited pre-pandemic; however, it is exceptionally relevant as we grapple with campaigns of misinformation, exploitation of the unemployed, and the outrageous exacerbation of wealth inequality as working people are asked to sacrifice their lives for the economy.
The essays in Part I—Theories About the Attack on Workers analyze the attack on workers by explaining the ideological foundation behind Koch projects. This section describes how state legislatures have been hijacked by capital and addresses the rise of libertarian fascist and white nationalist cells in conservative strands. In the first essay, Nancy McLean describes the influence of James Buchanan and libertarian ideology behind the demonization of public works and disdain for social safety nets. In the second essay, Gordon Lafer explains how the largest and most powerful corporations have come to essentially write their own legislation at the local level in order to enact their national agenda to further deregulate, privatize, and control licensing to drive policy and trillions of public moneys to the interests of capital. In the third essay, Bill Fletcher Jr. and Jose Alejandro de la Luz focus on right-wing populism and outline how the convergence of mass closings and mass migration fueled white nationalism and emboldened fascists. They critique labor on missing the boat on educating their members about the dog-whistle politics of fascists and call for internal education campaigns for members as one possible solution.
The essays in Part II—How the Right Wing Advances Its Agenda explore how the right wing advances its agenda. John Shelton presents Walker/Wisconsin as a model example for how the right wing exploits the politics of resentment by demonizing public works, specifically—public workers. Then, Sara Jaffe delves into the myth of the “white working class” and explains how the working class is simultaneously objectified, fetishized, and antagonized by right-wing actors. In the last essay, Donald Cohen’s analysis takes us through how stunningly bipartisan and successful the privatization of public resources and public workers has been. Like Lafer, he offers ideas for building issue-based agendas around a revitalization of the “public good,” aligning popular opinion with actual legislation.
The collection of essays in Part III—Challenges and Coalition Opportunities focuses on three issues creating tension in the labor movement: the environment, immigration, and police brutality. Lara Skinner begins this section by recalling Mazzochi’s concept of “just transitions” of workers as a foundational concept when confronting the tensions between labor and environmentalists. Shannon Gleeson addresses the tension between labor and immigration by analyzing labor’s social media and public statements. She also provides concrete examples of alliances between central labor councils and interfaith presenting organized responses and alliances between Black Lives Matter and immigration organizations in response to Trump’s anti-immigrant rhetoric and nativist dog-whistle politics. Finally, Cedric Johnson’s essay positions the carceral state and hyper-policing as a post war response to the positioning of the urban poor and surplus workers against the “middle-class.”
Part IV—Labor Strategies and Responses explores strategies for building power in a nationalist climate. MaryBe McMillan begins by describing successful campaigns that expose the stark contradictions between privatization and the interests of the working people around attacks on public education. She emphasizes that internal education campaigns on cross-cultural solidarity (as a foundational tenet of the labor movement) should be revitalized, as should the revitalization of boycotts. Then, Jennifer Klein describes the unionization of the fastest growing occupation, and one that is dominated by women of color: home health workers who may organize with or without recognition. Kyla Walter’s piece on a successful campaign in Massachusetts to curtail the advancement of charter schools as a back door to the privatization of public schools again connects the contradictory agendas between the market andthe public.
Labor in the Time of Trump comes at a time when workers are faced with misinformation, racial division, skyrocketing unemployment, and economic inequality, but reminds us of the commonality of our strengths: cross-cultural solidarity, advocates of public good, and optimism of the will.