The following transcript is from a recently published video by internet content creator PaulsEgo. The “speech” occurred following a lengthy livestream discussion with another content creator on topics ranging from revolutionary theory to the current United States presidential election. The commentary has been edited to maintain conciseness and clarity, however no relevant context has been left out and all words in this adaptation are PaulsEgo’s own.
Solidarity, in particular, is a word that I want to start talking about because it’s a word that the Left doesn’t use anymore; and it mean something different than the current language you hear coming out of most of the Left. We hear a lot about unity in the Left and unity is different from solidarity. I’m going to try to explain to you why. Unity means that we all have similar ideological positions. So if we’re talking about Left unity, we all have similar enough ideological positions and goals that we are unified with one another. We set aside some of those differences in order to provide state on the Left where there is unity. You hear a lot of calls for unity on the Left.
Solidarity is different. Solidarity means that you set aside your ideological and political differences for a commonly beneficial goal. That’s solidarity, and it’s a very distinct difference. Because solidarity allows us to do something we’ve been talking about on the Left for a long time. That is, how do we convince these people that are Trumpers, how do we convince people that are staunchly on the Right wing? And right now the answer is we don’t. The answer is we fight them in the electoral process and hope we come out on top. Hope our turnout is better than theirs. Hope are candidate is better than theirs.
I think there’s a lot of us that feel that there’s no way for us to have solidarity with people who are ideologically opposed to us on social issues or economic issues – people on the Right. People who don’t like gays, people who are uncharitable to minorities. There seems to be this kind of feeling on the Left that, “Those people have to be pushed out! We’ve got to fight those people, we’ve got to challenge those people and alienate them. Relegate them to this ephemeral Right. Put them on the Right!”
And when we put someone on the right, we stop considering their positions, we stop considering their common humanity. We say, “This is our foe… on the Right.
Solidarity allows us to get around that. But in order for solidarity to work when I’m talking about the current Left-Right paradigm in the Western world, particularly in America, there has to be a common cause. There has to be something that is common between leftists and rightist. And there is; that commonality is labor. The People on the right have to go to work. People on the left have to go to work. And it’s within that space that a true sense of solidarity could start to take shape.
If this sounds fanciful to you, if this sounds unlikely to you, I don’t blame you. But I have proof that this works.
I was raised in a labor household. Both of my parents were factory workers and part of a strong local union: Glass Molders, Pottery Plastics & Allied Workers Local #254. My dad was the president for about six years, and I was very privileged as a child to get to witness people deliberating and engaging in direct action as members of a labor union.
I grew up in a place where there were a lot of racists. In fact, if I’m honest with you, my parents themselves are racist. Many of the people that they work with were white racists. Many of the members of the labor union were white racists. But in addition to those white racists, there were Black folk, Brown folk, Mestizos of every kind; and when it came to the subject of labor, there was no conflict because of solidarity. Solidarity, in terms of the labor movement, meant setting aside your politics.
This is why I think this is in an important idea to discuss. Solidarity is a post-political idea, and right now, step one of my plan is to get everyone in the same basket despite these ideological differences. We need a post-political movement in this country.
A lot of this is not going to sit well with a lot of people. Because what does this mean? That means that you stand shoulder-to-shoulder on the protest line with a man or woman who may just make you disgusted with their beliefs. They may be covertly racist, they may be Republicans, they may be Trump fans, they may be MAGA folks… You may not agree with them at all, ideologically speaking.
But if you are a part of an organized labor union, you stand in solidarity with them anyway. Because when you’re standing shoulder-to-shoulder with that man or that woman, who holds a position that you don’t agree with, you’re not there to argue about Trump. You are not there to argue about race-mixing, or any of the other silly ideas that they may have. You are there to stand in solidarity and in protection of your collective-bargaining rights and in protection of your job and the working conditions.
I grew up around this. I watched my parents, who I have already told you are white racist, stand shoulder-to-shoulder with Mexicans, South Americans, Central American people that they worked with. Black people that they worked with. Mixed-race people that they worked with. In absolute, unquestioned solidarity. Politics were left at home.
And I was very lucky to see a number of times the very factory that my parents worked at shut down over a labor dispute. Let me explain to you how that would happen, because I think it is very important. We are talking about tactics here, folks. Here’s what happens at a factory that has a strong union with a strong sense of solidarity; and a union that has connections from the local to a national chapter, so that you have the back up of people that don’t even know you exist and don’t even work in your factory.
I’ve watched it. I’ve actually got to see personally and have very vivid memories of this entire process:
There is a new contract that is being drawn up for laborers at the factory. Some of the things in the contract nobody is happy for. Everybody in the labor union has different ideas for what it is they want to see in that contract and what it is they want to see changed. What it starts with is a bunch of really spirited meetings where people of all different walks of life – all colors, all races, all creeds, all economic backgrounds – are sitting together and arguing about what is best for this contract.
“I think it’s this!”
“Well, f*ck you, man!”
It gets heated among these people. I know I was talking about solidarity earlier, but solidarity doesn’t just mean falling in line. It does mean that, but that’s not how it works. What happens first is that the labor union, the people that work in that factory, get together and in a very messy, very democratic process, air their grievances with the new contract or with the company and how they are being treated. It’s messy and it’s contentious. People yell at each other, scream at each other! I’ve seen fistfights over this. This is a very important time in a labor union: The argument period.
And you will see passionate men and passionate women stand up and advocate for positions that you don’t hold. Those positions are run an through the grist of the mill of the union until, magically, concessions are made and a way forward is decided. And that’s a very important part of labor organization because it always happens. It may seem like it’s not going to happen at first, but eventually men and women come together, they air their grievances, they talk about this contract and how it needs to be changed… and eventually this beautiful moment happens – after all the fighting, after all the fussing after all the sh*t we do – after all of that, it’s action time.
Because now something has been decided. Now the time for rancor, personal attacks, and impassioned speeches against the decision have passed. Now, we are in the position of solidarity.
We have decided that the company is not coming to the [negotiation] table in a way that we want them to, and we have decided that, collectively, as workers in this factory, we’re walking out!
At the particular factory that my parents worked at here’s how it would work. The shift that decided this would shut down all the machines. We don’t just leave things running, of course, as it’s not our intention to burn the factory down – yet. Machines are shut down and safety protocols are followed. Then everybody (not just some people) on shift leaves all at once. They don’t go home, but they leave and make their way to the entrance of their factory. They congregate there. Then word starts going out to the other shifts.
Let’s say this happens on dayshift: The dayshift shuts everything down at the factory and walks out and congregate at the front gates. The reason for this is that you are now establishing that nobody is coming into this place. The dayshift stands there – they might chant, there may be protest signs, but for the most part they are there to block the entrance to that factory. The swingshift then shows up, around 3 o’clock. A lot of them might not have checked their messages, they may may not even be aware that there’s a strike going on. But they show up to work and they see today’s the day: “It’s happened.” And you know what kicks in? Solidarity.
That swingshift, even though they know they risk their livelihood and their paycheck when they show up, they don’t break or pass the protest line. They relieve it! The dayshift gets to go home, get a bite to eat and get a drink of water, and now the swingshift is standing at the front of the gate.
No why are they doing that? Why are they standing at the front of the gates? And why is a powerful?
This is something that Leftists are going to have to get used to, in my opinion. They’re standing at the gate because when this type of thing happens, the company has tactics – a number of tactics to bust this collective action up. The most common one is the use of scabs. If you’ve never heard that terminology I’m kind of sad because it should be one that everyone that has ever worked a job knows. Scabs are people that are hired temporarily so that the corporation can keep the factory running and starve out the protests.
“Oh? You guys don’t wanna work? We’ll hire a bunch of scabs. They’ll come in and work for less than what you were working for. And then you guys can wait as long as you want to come back to the bargaining table.”
The starve you out.
So the reason the dayshift and swingshift and the graveyard shift are blocking the entrance to this place is because when I scab shows up, he or she is not going to be let in. Here’s where a lot of people might disagree with me. I am not an advocate for violence, but in this case if it escalates to that… If a scab pulls up and you tell them, “Look this is a picket line. This is a general strike here at this factory. You’re not coming in here, and it’s not because we are trying to take bread out of your mouth. We understand you are a temp worker trying to get some work. We are not trying to do that. But you were not going into this factory. You are not working today.”
Scabs are always spoken to first. The principles of labor and collective organizing are explain to scabs, if they are willing to listen. A lot of times, once that’s been explain to a scab, they turn around and leave. Sometimes they don’t; sometimes they say, “F*ck you! I work for a temp agency. I was told to come work here. I’m going through, I’m going to work, I’m going to get paid. Your struggle is not my struggle!” And it’s that point that solidarity, once again, kicks in.
Because ultimately what solidarity means is once that’s been decided – once the strike has been decided – once we’ve decided we are going to shut this motherf*cker down until the corporation comes to the table, it’s not opening. So if that scab tries to break the line, if he tries to drive his car through the line, some tire irons come out. And his nice little car or truck that he drove gets busted the f*ck up.
I’m not trying to be a tough guy, but I’ve seen it happen. I watched this scab’s little white pick up, a scab that refused to turn around and leave the picket line (or join it), that was determined to [think], “I’m going to inch my car closer and closer to the line and eventually these people will get out of my way and I’m going to get paid…” He didn’t get paid that day, he got his ass beat. He got his car f*cked up, and when he got out of the car to try to stop those people, he got his ass beat.
He wasn’t killed or hurt to a point that he would never heal. But that scab did not work that day. He went home nursing a headache and a fat lip, and a car with a bunch of dents in the hood because people smashed up his car. And guess what? The next scab that was in line behind him, didn’t need as much convincing. In fact, he didn’t need any at all. As soon as that guy was picked up by the [picket] line, dusted off, and put back in his car, guess what happened to the rest of the scabs that tried to break the line? One by one, U-turn started being flipped up and they started making their way out from the front of the factory.
Now you have starved the company. You’ve taken the company’s tactic of trying to starve you by hiring temp workers, and now you’ve started starving the company. That machine is not running. And when you talk about a factory, every minute that the machinery of that factory is not running, that’s profit going right in the toilet. So, you’ve got them by the balls at this point.
A lot of you might ask, what happens if things get rowdy and the cops get called? The the cop show up to break up your protest, break the line, and let the scabs in… It’s a fair question. So let me try to explain to you what happens if that happens. And this is really where solidarity kicks in, yet again.
The cop show up and now your protest is out numbered. Now you are out-gunned, and now your line is going to be broken. You may think “Defeat!” But now the cops are just the next step. The cops come and break up the protest and scabs enter the factory to begin working. You failed, right? No. Solidarity.
What solidarity means is that people that don’t even work in your industry get word that a group of people at a factory – a unionize factory – collectively bargaining on their contract gets busted up by the police and scabs have been led into the factory to work. Guess what happens? More come. Reinforcements.
One, two, three days later, instead of there being four or 5,000 people protesting at the front of the factory in solidarity, now there are people from industries that are aren’t even connected start showing up. And that 4,000 people, max, becomes 10,000 people. And that 10,000 people becomes 20,000. Now we have a different idea happening, right.
I participated in this type of action. My parents were glassware workers. They were members of a local glass molder and pottery molder union and I spent weeks camping out in front of a casino in Las Vegas. The corporate ownership of that casino wanted to tear it down and build a new one, and all the people who work there we’re going to lose their jobs. They were not being given a guarantee of rehiring once the new casino went up, and I saw people from all over the country – glass workers, cops, teachers, factory workers of all stripes, unionized people, in solidarity – showed up to Vegas and got those concessions.
We would not allow the demolition people to come tear it down, we block them from tearing it down. Our message was, “Until you meet our demands, until you come to the table and make some concessions, and agreed to hire these people back – these union people that we stand in solidarity with – you are not opening your casino. You’re not even tearing down the old one!” And after a couple weeks of holding up their capitalistic ideas, [the company] came to the table. And guess what concession they made? The concession to rehire all of their previous employees as new employees of the new casino. And the beat went on.
Now I want to keep you all reminded of something as I tell this story. Standing on that line in Las Vegas were Republicans and Democrats, racist and non-racist. Black, white, Asian, Mexican, Hispanic, and Mestizo people. First generation immigrants, second generation immigrants. Every last one of them had a different political opinion. Man-to-man, woman-to-woman, if you went down that line and asked “What are your politics,” you would have heard everything under the sun. But these people were post-political – they stood together despite that. They agreed that, “For now at this point in the struggle, we set aside our ideological distances and focus on solidarity.” That’s how this works, that’s how we take the power! It’s an escalating response and it requires organization on a mass level.
To bring it all full circle and answer the question “What is your plan,” I don’t know the whole plan, but here’s step one: A new national labor movement that encompasses everything. Customer service and fast food workers, Amazon warehouse fulfillment workers, factory workers, bus drivers, truck drivers, cops, teachers, lawyers… Whatever! The establishment of strong [local unions] and the establishment of solidarity – not based on ideological purity, but based on common human collective-bargaining – is the answer to all the big questions.
“How do we deal with the racists? How do you take a racist and convince him not to be a racist?”
Take that racist man and let him stand in solidarity with his brother in labor for six months in front of a factory, and go hungry, and swelter in the heat together… see how racist that guy really feels at the end of that. He might remain a racist, but at least he’s being challenged. At least his narrative that “These people are less than us…” is being challenged in a positive way.
Collective bargaining, collective action, and solidarity is step one. And it’s a tough step, but this is direct action. This is something that could be done. It requires the right kind of voices positioned in the right ways. This is an argument you can make to anybody. It doesn’t matter where you stand. Workers are getting f*cked. I don’t care if you’re Republican, if you’re a Democrat, independent, or vote Green. If you’re a worker, you’re getting boned – that’s a commonality.
If we don’t grab that and bring these people into the fold and be willing to work with people who we find reprehensible… Racist, Neo-Nazis maybe even. As long as they are willing to stand on the line shoulder-to-shoulder in solidarity, we are making progress. We are taking the power back from these companies. We used to have that power. Unions used to be incredibly strong in this country. But they were undermined and weaken because of complacency. Because solidarity failed.
That is one thing that has been forgotten in this country. When I hear of leftist, or people on the Right, talk about electoral politics, I hear about how “We have to beat them. We got to beat these [corporations].” But they never do. This is how you beat them! This is how you win! You take it from them.
You make reasonable expectations reality and go to these people that you work for and go “Hey, unless I’m making X-amount of dollars, and have some medical benefits, I’m not doing this work anymore. My body is falling apart, my children are sick. I need a living wage and I need to be taken care of. And if you are not willing to provide that to me, guess who’s glass bottle factory is not turning out beer and wine bottles for the foreseeable future? Guess who gets to watch all the profit get eaten? Guess who’s going to miss all those shipments? That shipment of wine bottles is not coming until you come to the table and make some concessions for the people that make them.”
You extrapolate that out to all goods and services and then you start seeing the power of what I’m talking about. Their money is going in the trash every day and we are the cause. They have to come through us!
Make no bones about it, union busting is a real thing and they are not just going to try scabs. [The corporations are] going to try direct violence and they’re going to use the police force against us. They are going to use agent provocateurs and plants to come in to our unions to spin false narratives and try to drum up this political nonsense that we’ve all agreed to set aside in solitary. They are going to do everything they can to fight us.
But if we stand in solidarity we win.
thank you for posting this. made the message much easier to share with family and friends instead of the 2hr video. keep up the great work