I like to think that I'm a very knowledgeable organizer, so if folks want some advice ask me in the comments!
this post was submitted on 29 Sep 2023
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At least in regards to the UAW, I think he is actually genuine. It's actually a major historic landmark for a president to join a picket line. I know some people that are organizers for the historic unions in the games industry, they were invited to the white house to discuss labor and the working class. The one and only major blow to this historic support was shutting down the rail workers. To me, he's meeting the incredibly low bar of being "the most pro union president", however the way the rail workers were forced to accept their contract highlights that he is still a center-right liberal.
It's a good view right now in this instance, and although historic what is the concrete effect of him joining a picket line? He can easily still be working against the ultimate goals of the unions. Though the backlash if he took obvious action against the unions could be much worse now that he has been seen in such a way. But yeah, we shouldn't be too critical because it is still above what most politicians do in regards to unions.
I agree with the comment currently below mine not to let this sort of gesture diffuse the drive for deeper changes.
What do you think it means, though, for Biden to be genuine?
Capital consistently uses all its muscle to press political leaders to strengthen corporations and to repress workers. F. Roosevelt is often credited with building the welfare state in the US, but did so only once labor had become strong enough that he and other capitalists feared a revolution. Later, the dismantling of welfare and unions occurred in tandem. For politicians to apply their power in favor of workers, we must have the power to press them even more strongly than capital.
Is it really possible that Biden can help achieve worker objectives impelled merely by his own personal conviction?
I think that Biden believes he is personally doing what he believes is right to support US workers, which is what makes him genuine. As someone previously confined to the liberal mind prison, I can also see how a liberal would justify breaking the rail workers strike. FDR was evolutionary in capitalist society with SocDem. At the time, we moved away from resource backed currency to fiat currency. This liberated the US from debt, as the money essentially had the same amount of worth as the resource and labor capital available to the state. The federal government was completely and fully aware of this, and the first red scare confined workers to liberal ideas of labor-capital relations. Biden is also evolutionary in this situation. He is not doing anything to directly or materially improve conditions for workers, but he is instilling into the minds of future generations that organized labor is the only way forward.
I think he may be "personally doing what he believes is right". Only, I feel doubtful that such a characterization has any significance for future events. POTUS may be more powerful than others, but his power, like all power, comes from within a system of power. Development of the broader structure with the overall system seems to me far more interesting and relevant than what Biden believes is right.