Measure G, Political Nastiness, & the lies of liberal democrats

"The working class and the employing class have nothing in common. There can be no peace so long as hunger and want are found among millions of the working people and the few, who make up the employing class, have all the good things of life." (Preamble to the Wobblies manifesto 1905)

While riding towards Taqueria Vallarta this past Saturday, I spotted one of Santa Cruz's best loved former state assemblymen sweeping the sidewalk outside his Victorian home. Occasionally, I approach this high ranking democrat as we live in the same neighborhood, and ask his opinion on various local issues. Considering the undeclared war between the proponents of the living wage, a.k.a. Measure G initiative and local business owners, both of which are Democrats, I couldn't help but take a detour and ask him point blank – Is there any tension within the local democratic party over this?

Being the nice good guy politician that he is, he equivocated and said he empathized equally with the anti-Measure G position of local "progressive" business owners like recently elected county board of supervisor and Bookshop Santa Cruz owner Neal Connerty and his son, city council member Ryan Connerty as well as the pro-Measure G position of longtime living wage activist Nora Hochman.

When pressed about the fact that Santa Cruz is a solidly Democrat town and that this issue would seem to have pitted the "family" owned business democrats against the union supported worker democrats he shrugged and said he didn't really see this as a hot potato issue as it is a non-partisan race.

Not a hot potato issue?

It would seem the two of us live in the same town but in very different worlds. How could our very affable former state assemblyman (possible future U.S. House Rep) not notice the huge "NO on G" billboards that sprung up like bull thistle around town this past week? I ride my bike from the Westside, through downtown, and near the Eastside everyday and can state without question businesses, big and small are united in a big "FUCK NO" on Measure G. Greasy-spoon stalwart the Santa Cruz Diner even has gone so far as to print up a separate giant sign denouncing G and place it on their roof - How big are we talking? Let's just say space aliens should be able to read it.

The fact that two different classes - workers and bosses have squared off, thereby exposing a longtime contradiction within the Democratic Party and the shallowness of so-called Santa Cruz's progressive/liberal mainstream, has not gone over the head of just our former state assemblyman. Last week at a coalition meeting, the head of one of the only radical working-class unions casually mentioned the anti-Measure G forces being Republican - When I pointed out that the majority of anti-Measure G folks are actually Democrats he quickly changed the subject.

What's wrong with this picture?

Even if we accept the schism over the living wage initiative between bourgeois Demos and proletariat Demos as nothing more than a temporary one that will evaporate after Nov.7th, it would seem important for the latter group to remember that the Democratic Party, when push comes to shove, is still a pro-Capitalist party. To most longtime Democrats both pro-business and pro-union alike, the previous point is always met with a big "Duh!" And yet, if this issue is settled, then why does the same question that's been asked since 1947 keep coming up?

"Why doesn't American labor have its own political party"?

As labor history buffs might recall, it was in 1947 that American labor power was at its zenith - the New Deal and World War II had helped unite unskilled and skilled workers into the huge (now not so huge) American Federation of Labor & the Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO) a few years earlier. The industrial capacity of Europe and Asia had been wrecked by war which meant American factories were free to take over - Up went production, productivity, and wages. In short, it was good to be in a union. Then 1947 came - the left wing of the AFL-CIO decided the American working class would benefit by having its own political party (a standard concept practiced by most industrialized countries at the time). This didn't sit too well with the Democratic Party establishment, which had only recently (and begrudgingly) accepted the card carrying union man into their ranks - Another red scare followed and to make a long story short, many a good socialist and communist unions were expelled from the AFL-CIO.

Flash forward almost 60 years later - American labor is at its weakest point since Free Trade agreements began liquidating the living standards of those at the very bottom of the Capitalist pyramid over 10 years ago. Democrats voted in favor of these agreements, continue to do so, and yet organized labor, pushed into a corner with nowhere to turn, continues to support them. In regards to that fateful year, a long running joke within the union movement is, "In 1947, American Labor shot off its left wing, ever since then it's been flying around in circles."

But history isn't a static thing - The current alignments within the Democratic Party are only 30 years in the making. Just as religious white-male blue-collar red-state workers may someday realize that voting Republican isn't in their class' interest, blue-collar blue-state workers may realize they can do better with their own political apparatus. Of course, that's if Americans can get back into the habit of thinking in terms of class.

Back here in Santa Cruz, it would seem that Measure G is gonna be a showdown at the O K coral. The true face of the business classes, regardless of their so-called progressive leanings, is coming out, and it ain't pretty. Almost six years ago, the City of Santa Cruz passed one of the highest living wage laws in the country - that law, applied only to city (county?) jobs - i.e. not private enterprise. Now that union folks have set their eyes on lifting up the majority of low-wage workers, who do not work in the public sector, the business folks are throwing all their weight against it.

While I can't speak for the political insights of my neighbor, I can tell you that on my way to work Monday morning, while riding on King St, I noticed a large "No on G" sign had been defaced with graffiti - About 2 miles further down by Kelly's Bakery I rode past what was left of a "Yes on G" sign – It had been torn to pieces.