WORKERS' SOLIDARITY CIRCLE
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WORKERS' SOLIDARITY CIRCLE ✦
Statement on the MN 15
We all must stand arm-in-arm with the MN 15 in opposing state repression and defending the right to protest.
In the early morning on Tuesday, June 16th, ICE agents arrested 15 activists and community members, a number of whom are affiliated with the Workers Solidarity Circle. They arrested teachers. They arrested healthcare workers. They arrested carpenters. They arrested electricians. They arrested community members who took a stand against ICE terror. They arrested organizers of the mass strike against ICE on January 23rd.
These 15 activists have been charged with “conspiracy to impede federal officers,” and the Department of Justice describes them as “members of Antifa groups.” The charges include making anti-ICE statements online, planning and attending anti-ICE protests, and engaging in rapid response and mutual aid to defend our immigrant neighbors. These charges are political theater, targeting activists involved in the defense of our immigrant neighbors from the federal occupation of the Twin Cities.
These same allegations could be made against tens of thousands of Minnesotans. Most everyone living in the Twin Cities acted with “intent to impede ICE” this winter — and succeeded. These charges are the Trump administration’s attempt to punish Minnesota for our fierce and victorious resistance to ICE. While our comrades are arrested, the murderers of Renee Good, Victor Manuel Diaz, and Alex Pretti still walk free.
This indictment must be seen in the context of a broader crackdown on anti-fascist organizing. It follows on the heels of similar raids targeting anti-fascist, Black voting rights, and pro-Palestine activists in Georgia, Texas, Michigan, Oregon, and Ohio. This repression is designed to split off “good protesters” from “bad protesters,” to divide our movement, and to dismantle the working class’s ability to defend itself.
It’s no coincidence that many of the arrestees are union organizers. The unbreakable solidarity of the Minnesotan working class, forged through generations of struggle, is our most powerful weapon against ruling-class terror — our rapid response networks, our mutual aid networks, and the real threat of a General Strike are what forced ICE to retreat.
We oppose all state repression, whether it comes in the form of ICE’s racial profiling and kidnapping of immigrants, or their violence towards anyone who dares stand with those immigrants. The Twin Cities have risen up to demand justice in the face of police murder before. We rose up to defend our immigrant neighbors this winter. And we can rise up again. We know that real justice will not be found in the courts, but in the streets.
We all must stand arm-in-arm with the MN 15 in opposing state repression and defending the right to protest. We demand the following:
Drop all charges against activists for bravely resisting Operation Metro Surge.
Charge and convict the ICE agents who murdered Renee Good, Victor Manuel Diaz, and Alex Pretti.
Return all our stolen neighbors who are still held in ICE’s concentration camps.
All across the country unions, workers, community and immigrant groups and students are planning for a massive day of "no work, no school and no shopping" to stop Trump's fascist agenda dead in its tracks. Millions will not go to work or school. They will protest in the streets, at rallies and marches to say no to ICE, attacks on immigrant communities, attacks on democracy and the entire working class.
In the Twin Cities, a coalition of over 400 class-struggle workers from a range of different workplaces, unions, neighborhoods, and organizations gathered to begin planning our day of action. Join us!
what we believe
The Working Class and the Employing Class have Nothing in Common
We are class struggle unionists -- we want a fighting labor movement. We want to build working-class power on the job, in our communities and across society. We reject "partnerships" with the bosses, collaboration with management, careerism and corruption.
An Injury to One is an Injury to All
We want to unite all working people - and that means taking a firm stand against racism, sexism, anti-LGBTQ bigotry and all oppression and discrimination. We seek to build solidarity across borders with workers in all lands. We want to link ecological struggles with the labor movement. We defend workers and working-class communities who are under attack.
Nothing About Us Without Us
We believe that a strong labor movement must be controlled and led by rank & file workers -- not politicians, bureaucrats, or union staff. We stand for democratic unions -- and a democratic labor movement -- where open discussion, debate, and decision-making is encouraged, not hidden or repressed. Workers are not spectators or pawns to be moved across the board.
Direct Action Gets the Goods
We are an organization of action! We know that real change comes from collective action of working-class people -- from protests and marches on the boss to walk-outs and occupations to mass strikes to general strikes. Towards this end, we organize events, assemblies, actions, and trainings that educate workers, build our skills and confidence, aid those under attack, put pressure on the bosses, and inflict costs on the enemy.
We Only Want the World
We fight hard for any change that increases the living standards, benefits, and freedoms of working people -- but we know that ultimately we need a massive transformation of society where all exploitation and oppression is ended and workplaces, schools, and communities are collectively and democratically controlled by all. We build our organizations, our capacity, and our fights with that goal in mind.
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nearly 400 workers — from 30 different unions and multiple political and community orgs — gathered to democratically debate and vote on proposals about how we would work together to continue to resist ICE & Authoritarianism. This is working-class power.
what we do
We are an organization of class-struggle militants that believes deeply in democratic functioning. We put on class-struggle actions and events every 4-6 weeks, framed by our Points of Unity. We are committed to experimentation and creativity in these events in order to reach new people, learn among ourselves, and grow WSC and the power of our class. We aim to be proactive to strategically build the movement we need to win and also responsive to the conditions of the class in real time.
1 - Solidarity & Mutual Aid with Workers in Struggle
Consistent, structured support for strikes, union drives, and fights on the shop floor
Picket line turnout
Strike fundraisers
Rapid response for retaliation
2 - Direct Action in Streets & Workplaces
Coordinated days of action to support campaigns
Workplace delegations
Direct actions against bosses and fascists
Broad resistance campaigns grounded in the working class
3 - Trainings & Political Education for Working-Class Militants
Regular trainings, clinics, and political education rooted in real fights: contract campaigns, strike prep, anti-fascist defense, tenant struggles, immigration defense, climate fights, and democratic function and processes.
Integrate political education into our actions and events creatively wherever we can
In all we do we develop militant class consciousness
4 - Agitation & Propaganda
A regular, militant class analysis and worker-centered newsletter and social media presence
Posters, stickers, memes, and other “silent agitators” that spread class struggle politics in everyday spaces.
5 - Internal Discussion, Summation, and Strategy
A commitment to ongoing debate, strategic thinking, and summation inside WSC, across the labor movement, and within the class
6 - Develop workers as worker-organizers in all of our practices and in everything we do
Looking at every event from the point of view of including newer people in planning and execution
Train and encourage workers to speak, write, plan in every part of what we do
Build the Commitment, Competency, Combativity, and Consciousness of our membership and the working class
Political education on our history, important issues facing the workers movement
“There is no illegal strike, just an unsuccessful one.”
— Unionists’ slogan during the 1960s and ’70s public sector strike wave
“Lawmakers could impose draconian penalties, courts could issue injunctions, and the corporate media could fulminate endlessly. But if the strike was strong, if the cause was just, and if community support was robust, harsh penalties were rarely imposed.”
By Creator:Lorie Shaull - Flickr, CC BY 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=182355054