Stop the Coup: Mobilize and Organize!
“Escaping this crisis will depend, above all, on the actions of federal workers.”
—Eric Blanc in ”Federal Workers Can Defeat Musk’s Coup”
While we felt it as a gut punch, most of us, as socialists, were not really surprised to see some of the first and fiercest attacks from Musk’s munitions exploding on social service workers. Their publicly funded jobs, creating care and use value for the working class at large, hold seeds of the economy and society for which we agonize and organize every day. I was particularly concerned for two friends, working in different capacities for the Environmental Protection Agency. When I asked them how they were holding up, I got reports of a crazy atmosphere, but also of “interesting developments” they’d soon make public.
Interesting, and heartening indeed, was the announcement from Labor Network for Sustainability and American Federation of Government Workers of a February 14th webinar on fighting funding and job cuts at the EPA. On the heels of this announcement was a message from the newly-formed Federal Unionists Network (FUN), calling for SOS (Save our Services) actions–from rallies to social media posts—across the country on February 19th. This cross-union call for public support to defend the workers and services we all depend on was just what we needed! But how were we to get it together in a scant week?
Event map organizing
FUN was smart. They used the now-common ‘event map’ first seen in Move On actions. Soon, they were partnering with Move On, and the map quickly filled with 59 events across the county.
With a few minimally annoying minutes filling out the online form, we had a local photo-op here in the East Bay on the map.
An older technology—human relationships—also facilitated a nimble response to FUN’s call. La Peña Cultural Center in Berkeley holds monthly meetings of “the Old Guard”—activists who founded the Center in solidarity with Chilean refugees in the mid ‘70s. What better place to fight a coup! I quickly asked the Old Guard organizers (whom I’ve known for fifty years) if we could tack the photo op on the end of the meeting, and they were more than happy to support the cause.
I sent email and texts with the link to the FUN site for our Berkeley action to a few of my own connections—Labor Rise Climate Jobs Action Group and Bay Resistance—and voila! we had an action planned! Day of, I brought a few signs I whipped together and brought some poster board, fat pens and tape for some spontaneous sign-making. Grabbed a comrade with a phone to take pictures to post at #saveourservices on Instagram and Facebook. Brought a guitar to support singing the high energy “Ain’t Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me Around” during the shoot. It was fun, it was easy, and 75+ folks chatted with each other about resisting the coup. We felt the connection with thousands of protesters around the country. I’d venture to say we all felt some degree of power in collective resistance to fascism.
Effectiveness requires streets and durability
But was it effective? A question time best answers. I’m convinced that we need mobilizations of large numbers—a visible, noisy united front of all who object to the Musk/Trump takeover. But we’ve seen the limits of mass mobilization in past years. While providing learning experiences and making relationships that may facilitate more enduring organization down the road, the 2020 anti-racist uprisings after the George Floyd murder raise some questions about our failure to stop, or even reduce police violence and murder.
We need millions in the streets and on apps amplifying our chants and slogans. But we also need durable organizations that can build power to win our demands. We need democratic organizations that can strategize, campaign and evaluate practice free from funders druthers. We need long-lived, brick and mortar institutions like Peña, where food and music and art nourish a culture of resistance over generations. We need membership organizations that nurture leaders and facilitate meaningful participation from busy workers and parents. Little of that happens quickly or on social media. But that kind of organization-building is what drew me, and I’d wager some of you readers, to DSA.
Bridging the gap
How do we bridge the seemingly spontaneous, one-shot, energizing, high-turnout mobilizations with our slower, democratic process of building long-lasting working class organizations? Does this nascent Federal Unionists Network offer a clue?
We don’t know where FUN will go from here. But we do know that this Save Our Services defense against Project 2025 and its fascist trajectory came from (at least intentionally) democratic membership organizations: unions! A network of unions is a different beast from the staff-run, often siloed non-profits that have called for many of the mobilizations we’ve seen. I’m writing this in hopes that our chapters and California DSA will support the growth of FUN and whatever other union opposition rises against the coup. (Think Shawn Fain’s call for a 2028 general strike?) As resistance to fascism continues to build, I hope DSA will not stand above or apart from the mobilizing events that are springing up in response to the shock and awe of the Musk/Trump monster. But, as socialists, let’s lend major muscle to those actions that help us fight as a class and contribute to the durability and expansion of union and socialist organization.