PUBLISHER'S NOTE – 56.2
Written by SP Editor
Even in the darkest times, some sun must shine. This issue tries to break through the clouds.
Anny Cullum shares the story of the decade long fight by ACORN in England to win the passage of the Renter’s Rights Bill ending at will evictions and winning security of tenure among other rights for tenants. Professor Ed Martin details what needs to be done to bring accountability to institutions that in the US party duopoly undermine democracy and favor elites and the rich. Bruce Boccardy counterposes the feel-good economic news from the stock market and White House with a hard look at the declining fortunes of working people in the US.
In our excerpts, David Griscom reminds us of the valiant and seminal struggle in San Antonio of pecan shellers which helped establish the deep progressive traditions in the city. Ellen David Friedman does something of the same in highlighting the solidarity and creativity of school workers in Durham, North Carolina and the tactics that shaped their victory. Longtime contributors, Steve Early and Suzanne Gordon, write about the great work of the newly formed Federal Unionists Network (FUN) created across union jurisdictions to fightback and organize in the wake of Trump and Elon Musk’s DOGE cutbacks and other attacks on federal workers bargaining and organizing rights. These are three great and inspiring stories, against the odds, that are worth reading again and again when you are tired of the struggle and your spirits are lagging.
In the same spirit, Beth Bulter, feminist, community, and environmental organizer for over 50 years with ACORN, remembers John O’Connor, an earlier community and environmental organizer with Massachusetts Fair Share and head of the National Toxics Campaign. She notes that his collection, Fighting Toxics, and his essay “Fighting to Win” remain a road map for organizing, especially in these times where the intersection of climate and community is fundamental.
Mike Miller reviews a biography of Lillian Smith, co-editor of South Today, an important publication during the civil rights era and in the fight against Jim Crow, as well as the author of the novel and play, Strange Fruit. Jill Hurst, longtime labor organizer, union leader and executive, reviews and recommends Friedman’s book, Keep Going, just as she has with her continued work in Burma.
Our regular columnists are unstinting. Phil Mattera works on the cutting edge by looking at the fast-growing prediction markets, their abuses, and, most importantly, the dangerous enabling of the regulator, imperiling participants and the economy. Drummond Pike looks at the loss of social/economic mobility and how elites and the rich have created a new Gilded Age divisions of class and opportunity. John Anderson exposes the grocery monopoly in Canada and its role in price gouging that has increasingly emerged as a central political issue. Gregory Squires argues that insurance companies have revived redlining after what seemed to be a hiatus in the 80s to bring back its tragic impact on the housing market now fifty years later. These are some hard hitting reports! In Backstory, I add a look at the increasing negation of local democracy and governance by state power in numerous countries.
This issue promised to share some shining sun, but I warned that these were dark times, perhaps no darker than other times, but still foreboding and demanding persistent organization and struggle, as all of these pieces argue. It’s still the case, “dare to struggle, dare to win.”
