Hi everyone! This is Harpreet Chima, and I would like to extend a warm welcome to the Working Class Unity Forums! You can create an account by using the Sign Up/Log In button at the top of the page. I suggest making your username FirstNameLastInitial, but you can also make an anonymous username.
To kick things off, we’d love for you to introduce yourself and share your thoughts on some of the questions below:
What motivated you to join Working Class Unity?
What are your hopes for what WCU can achieve in the next year?
Are there particular issues or topics you’re passionate about and would like to see WCU address?
Feel encouraged to share any additional thoughts or ideas you have about WCU, or about politics/organizing in general.
We are just getting started and are 100% member-controlled, so it will take all of us to make this organization successful. Looking forward to hearing from everyone.
After, please cast your vote on when we should hold our first meeting (it will be a hybrid one) in this thread: WCU - First General Meeting.
I will keep our reason for starting WCU brief, as we plan to cover it during the first meeting.
Few people in this town are willing to fight for and help organize working people. Even fewer are willing to sacrifice their prestige or proximity to power to do so. The truth is, no one is coming to save us, be they liberal or conservative. Socialism will only be fought for and won by the workers themselves.
It should be abundantly clear that aligning ourselves with the Democratic Party and attempting to push them left has not been a successful strategy for the left. While WCU is not aiming to become a political party in the near future, there are no shortcuts to building independent working-class politics. From shop floors and apartment complexes to the electoral arena, we have to do the difficult work of building our own foundations.
As an organization, I would advocate for us to do the following in the coming year:
Form a tenant union and produce resources for tenants, that are compiled by tenants - especially those dealing with the worst landlords.
Use the fight against charter schools as a vehicle to build class consciousness. Help folks understand that violence in Stockton is rooted in disinvestment and that resources and opportunities for young people are actually available, but are currently being funneled into the pockets of a few people.
Join farmworkers in their struggle for dignity and security. This is a fight that farmworkers must lead, but we must stand in solidarity with them, especially now that we see how hollow the Democratic Party’s rhetoric was on immigration.
I hope that we are able to reach 300 dues-paying members by next year. This is a tall task in a place like San Joaquin County, where people are either apolitical or tied to one of the major parties. However, by building out our organizational infrastructure, which includes political education, social events, and sports/game leagues, we can make WCU a part of the social fabric of this county. If we can achieve that, attracting 300 dues-paying members should not be a problem.
I want to join because I believe in the importance of building a strong and organized working class.
Q: What do you hope WCU can achieve?
I hope we can create opportunities for individuals to come together and address the many hardships created by our current economic system.
Q: Are there specific issues or topics you’re particularly passionate about and would like to see WCU address?
I’m interested in members learning from one another on a range of issues (health care, housing, immigration, etc.), so that we can better know our rights and how to assert them.
I want to change the world.
I know it sounds silly but but this seems like a ok first step.
My hopes for for WCU for it’s first year, honestly is just for it to survive.
If WCU makes it to 2024 with more members than it started with I will count that as a victory.
It would be great if we could do something positive for our respective communities too.
Unions, Radical Political Education, Human Rights especially the one’s the Right seems to want to trample, I’m pro gun but anti gun culture, Universal Health Care, Universal Housing, And making sure no one is hungry.
That seems like a lot, but it’s really just the basics.
Hey y’all.
I’m interested in WCU because it seems like things just keep getting worse and worse for everyone but the billionaire class.
I don’t know what we can achieve but the only way to find out is to try.
I’m Adri. I use they/them pronouns. I’m a full time grad student and work part time.
I have felt like I’ve started to lose touch with any leftist ideology as my life got busier or I had less people around me sharing similar beliefs so when I saw WCU it felt like an opportunity to join and be active in my community in some form. Whether it’s promoting unionizing, mutual aid efforts, or increasing class consciousnesses amongst people.
I don’t have a ton of free time being in school but I wanna try where I can.
Hi, my name is Basma; I use she/her pronouns. I’m excited to start working with you all.
Q: Why do you want to join Working Class Unity?
Growing up, I heard that it was the work of different forces that caused people’s struggles and that there is only room for one issue at a time, but I have since learned that is not true. Rather than believing in the ideologies that split us, if we unify under our shared and individual struggles, we become so loud that it’s impossible to ignore. That is why I am motivated to join Working Class Unity, to see the revolutionary change we collectively dream about become reality.
Q: What do you hope WCU can achieve in the next year?
I want more members to join and attend general meetings, greater communication/coordination of events with other organizations, and more teach-ins.
Q: Are there specific issues or topics you’re particularly passionate about and would like to see WCU address?
I’m very interested in the effects of US imperialism both globally and domestically; racial/religious/gender inequalities in healthcare, housing, education, and job opportunities; the role Western media (films, news, books, etc.) plays in the stereotyping/stigmatizing of groups; and educations on one’s rights, specifically in the workplace.