by Eric Chester -

On October 2 the One Nation Working Together coalition is organizing a mass rally in Washington DC. One Nation is a wide-ranging coalition of liberal mainstream organizations, but at the core stand the American Federation of Labor and the Service Employees International Union (SEIU). Unions are putting up the money, paying for hundreds of buses to take people to DC. Indeed, within the coalition union bureaucrats wield the power, laying down the line for the demonstration.

The manifesto includes a list of nebulous platitudes such as a call for jobs and better schools. There is no mention of the war, in Iraq or in Afghanistan. There is no mention of the bloated military budget. There is nothing about taxing the rich. There is no demand relative to the health care system, even a basic call for a single payer system. There is no opposition to merit pay for teachers. Indeed, there is nothing of any substance and thus nothing that could embarrass the Obama Administration.

The truth is that the October 2 rally is just another rally organized by the union bureaucrats to generate support for the Democratic Party in the Congressional elections of November 2010. Already the AFL is committed to spending tens of millions of dollars to bolster failing Democratic candidates in a desperate attempt to stave off a Republican sweep. Union officials are pleading with discontented rank and file workers, insisting that Obama and the Democratic-controlled Congress are “making progress,” although everyone has felt the painful impact of massive unemployment and failing social services.

The union bureaucracy knows that television commercials and telephone calls will not be enough to spark any enthusiasm for the Democratic hacks. The AFL is therefore organizing a series of union rallies where Democratic Party candidates will be featured. October 2 is the national capstone to this project, a get out the vote rally thinly disguised as a march on Washington for jobs.

The problem confronting the Democratic Party, its union bureaucrat allies, and their coalition partners runs far deeper than this election cycle. With its skilful combination of populist demagoguery and scapegoating of immigrants and Muslims, the Tea Party has succeeded in engendering a significant movement. The One Nation Working Together coalition is designed to act as a counterweight to the Tea Party. It seeks to become the organizational framework for a “progressive” alternative to the reactionary politics of the Tea Party, with its ties to the most conservative elements of the ruling class.

The Tea Party is tapping into the legitimate anger felt by many working people. They are right to be angry. Politicians are corrupt, the bail out of banks was a giveaway to the rich, and the system is rigged against those at the bottom. Furthermore, the Tea Party relies on direct action and openly challenges the Republican Establishment. Its strategists have learned the lessons of the 1960s and are applying them to the building of a right-wing movement fifty years later.

The One Nation Working Together coalition counters this with a call for restraint, patience and praise for the virtues of the electoral system. In other words, the October 2 rally is not a protest rally. Quite on the contrary, it is a rally to defend the status quo against angry dissidents and protestors.

October 2 is a rally to uphold a “regulated” capitalism, not to oppose it and demand a just alternative. It is a rally designed to boost the Democratic Party, and it stands in total opposition to independent political action. Socialists have no business supporting a rally that is premised on a strategy totally opposed to our fundamental principles. Instead we should be building grass-roots protests such as those planned for October 7 to protest drastic cuts in funding for schools and colleges.