“The Most Effective Way to Stop Police Terror Is Action at the Point of Production”

An Interview With Clarence Thomas

Interview by Eric Blanc

First appeared in Jacobinmag.com: June 9, 2020

A container ship travels through the San Francisco Bay en route to the Port of Oakland on February 20, 2015 in San Francisco, California. Justin Sullivan / Getty

Why did ILWU decide to organize this work stoppage today? | EB

CT | Fighting police murders and white supremacy is a class question. Let’s not forget that the vast majority of black people, and the vast majority of victims of police repression, are working class.

For many years now, ILWU, and Local 10 in particular, has been protesting the racist policing of African Americans. And we understand that the way these murders can be stopped is when there are economic consequences. The working class has leverage — and we need to use it.

We think that the most effective way to stop police terror is by the working class taking action at the point of production: if the working class is going to be heard, labor must shut it down. That’s why today at 9 AM [Pacific Time], all the longshore locals on the West Coast will be taking an eight minute, forty-six second moment of silence in memory of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and all victims of racist police terror. I also understand that the ILA [the longshore union on the East Coast] will be taking a similar action.

We believe that labor should strive to be at the vanguard of all social struggles, because we understand that labor has a responsibility to fight for those beyond just our own membership. Think about the demand of the eight-hour workday and the elimination of child labor — these were demands that unions a century ago won for the whole working class. It’s that kind of spirit we need to revive today.

This is the tradition of the militant labor movement. And that’s why there is such a concerted effort by those in power to give workers amnesia about our own history — to separate us from the real history of our class and our militancy. Learning about our real past reveals the real contradiction between the interests of labor and those who own the means of production.