Our Long Twilight Struggle 

The other week I attended a meeting of the Northeast Labor Council, an organization representing various area trade unions - pipe fitters, sheet metal workers, electrical workers and such.

It was a diverse group of blue collar men and women gathering to talk about licensing issues, jobs and the importance of organization. The union tradition is an old one in our country.

One of the speakers talked about the four generations of workers who came before him. But what caught my attention was the man in an old work shirt who rose to speak holding a simple notebook.

Rik had been thinking - and not strictly about labor issues.

His notebook had a list of politicians who had been targeted by the Minnesota hit man who shot four legislators last month. He looked at me specifically as he discussed them.

In emotional tones he talked about the dangers in our society today, and the importance of fighting back against terror and tyranny. In the pocket of his shirt he had a pen with the colors of the Ukrainian flag, and he mentioned the importance of that struggle in the global context.

To him it was all part of a piece.

Rik inspired me to think about the long arc of history.

A hundred years ago labor fought the robber barons to secure the right of workers to organize.

Eighty years ago, labor fueled the American war machine that destroyed fascism.

And forty years ago, American labor was the economic engine that overcame communism in the long twilight struggle of the Cold War.

Rik’s message called into sharp relief the challenge of our times: a struggle not of right and left but of rule of law versus the jungle.

Organized labor lives by rules that enshrine the right of ordinary people like Rik to work, to support a family and to be heard. And he saw the violence in Minnesota - and in Ukraine - as a rising threat that would convert our rules based system into a war of all against all, where the strong do as they will and the weak suffer what they must.

America is a very tough country, with strong bones and a long history of overcoming oppression. Rik inspired me to think of that. There are people in this country, and around the world, who think we need strongmen to protect us, and that we should be led by bullies.

But in this country, working men and women learned that they were stronger together, in defense of a rules-based system that gave everyone a voice.

What began as an ordinary meeting of union organizations turned into an eloquent expression of American democracy.

Not bad for a Thursday night.

Forward Together,

John Waldron

OKDEMS Chair

We are Democratic strong, powered by grassroots efforts and activists of this Great State. Our mission is to fight for Oklahoma’s most vulnerable communities, protect working families and ensure that we live up to the promises of the Oklahoma dream.