Sawant Urges Workers To Seize Factories For Democratic Ownership

Now this is what I'm talking about.... You go girl....

The lead:

Kshama Sawant was recently elected as the first socialist city council member in Seattle in more than one hundred years, and within days of her election, this lawmaker is already stirring controversy and drawing condemnation for her radical, truly socialist policies. No private insurance companies in this version of progress!

Initially seen as a longshot candidate, Sawant refused to concede the Seattle city council election earlier this month and went on to defeat the 16 year Democratic incumbent Richard Conlin. While her campaign platform was noticeable for pulling no punches with its anti-capitalist, pro-worker bent (the $15 minimum wage is a key part of her message), her successful election has only galvanized her to promote an even more explicitly socialist agenda.

Like taking a page out of Marx’s book and urging workers to seize the means of production from the company executives at Boeing; after all, executives don’t build planes.

Sawant’s argument that workers should seize the physical assets of Boeing is (probably) not the beginning of a drive towards the widespread public seizure of private assets. It is, however, a response to decades of Boeing’s manipulation of the tax code and labor policy; this manipulation has lost the State of Washington billions in tax revenue that may or may not have been offset by the economic activity Boeing brings to the state.

www.popularresistance.org...

reply to post by FyreByrd





This should be interesting for Seattle.

I predict here and now that not only will case law be made, a special election will be on the horizon to replace her.

I get the argument by people saying Capitalism does not work... However, I don't see socialism / communism being any better. In fact based on history its worse.

It only works when all members are actively participating at their top notch. When some people decide to work less hard, knowing the others will pick up their slack....

well, you know how it goes..

reply to post by FyreByrd

“The only response we can have if Boeing executives do not agree to keep the plant here is for the machinists to say the machines are here, the workers are here, we will do the job, we don't need the executives. The executives don’t do the work, the machinists do,” she said.
Sawant says after workers “take-over” the Everett Boeing plant; they could build things everyone can use.
“We can re-tool the machines to produce mass transit like buses, instead of destructive, you know, war machines,” she told KIRO 7.

Does this make any sort of sense to any thinking person?

-She's a fine manipulator of, you know, emotions. Seattle should be proud to have her.

reply to post by slowisfast


Agreed.
Machinists make the airplanes, she says.... what would they make if there were no aerospace engineers designing them? Or marketing people selling them? The list of white collar people that are indispensable goes much further. And they rake in a lot of money... why? Because there are fewer of them. Because they have to have a lot more education.
ETA: Make things other than 'war machines'? Boeing does... I guess she never heard of Boeing jetliners.
The Seattle crew might find out about how things work if they switched up production... a bus needs to be designed too.

slowisfast
Does this make any sort of sense to any thinking person?

Actually it makes perfect sense..... too anyone who has read the book Animal Farm.

Remember, the pigs are in charge and everyone is equal....although some are more equal than others...

Could the same argument not be applied to the new council woman? Do we really need the Mayor / City Government at all? Since the charter is for Seattle, and the people of Seattle live in Seattle, then there is no need to keep the Mayor / city government, especially if they refuse to let the people do what they want.

Here is the new City Anthem - Sung to the tune of Clementine.

Beasts of England, Beasts of Ireland,
Beasts of every land and clime,
Hearken to my joyful tidings
Of the Golden future time.Soon or late the day is coming,
Tyrant Man shall be o'erthrown,
And the fruitful fields of England
Shall be trod by beasts alone.Rings shall vanish from our noses,
And the harness from our back,
Bit and spur shall rust forever,
Cruel whips no more shall crack.Riches more than mind can picture,
Wheat and barley, oats and hay,
Clover, beans and mangel-wurzels
Shall be ours upon that day.Bright will shine the fields of England,
Purer shall its waters be,
Sweeter yet shall blow its breezes
On the day that sets us free.For that day we all must labour,
Though we die before it break;
Cows and horses, geese and turkeys,
All must toil for freedom's sake.Beasts of England, Beasts of Ireland,
Beasts of every land and clime,
Hearken well, and spread my tidings
Of the Golden future time.[2]

Then again I would like to see us change our National anthem from the first verse over to the last verse -

reply to post by Xcathdra


Everyones read Animal Farm.

-Take it back...

That's the sort of simplistic thinking the gets people emotionally riled up while, in no way, provides an actual solution to the problem.

The freakin problem is there are far too many people in the world who think there are just not enough bicycle paths............(pissed off smiley)

reply to post by FyreByrd


*sigh*

Steal what isn't yours... as a great idea for success, right?

Hope you don't own a car... if you do, better garage it under lock and key, lol.

She is living proof that the dumbing down of America is alive and well. What is even more problematic is there are those who will buy that line of crap. Seattle didn't get it's tax revenue then change the tax code like the rest of California and watch more business flee the robber state.

Fine with me, seize that Boeing campus.

Watch them move the production to Texas.

The Stalinist "expropriation of the means of production" never bears the promised fruit; all Marxists cannot admit that managers and owners actually add value to the production process.

The reds always end up with a 'management by committee." The problem is that most of the assembly workers don't know the first thing about either management of people or opportunity costs, and eventually drive a factory into bankruptcy, as they replace competent decision making with political grandstanding.

In the real world, marxism gives you a factory run by politicians, doing business as union leaders.

slowisfast
reply to post by Xcathdra

 

Everyones read Animal Farm.

-Take it back...

That's the sort of simplistic thinking the gets people emotionally riled up while, in no way, provides an actual solution to the problem.

On the contrary.. The solution is to not elect people who do not have a basic understanding of government operations.

If she wants to tell someone how to run a business then she should go to work for said company.

Isn't this the same Boeing that has been trying to move to Right to Work Carolinas and been blocked repeatedly by Obama's Labor Relations Board?

Otherwise, I agree. Let the Union folk seize the factory and let Boeing move things to the Carolinas and send the factory workers a big fat lawsuit for the losses incurred.

Although I consider myself a (moderate) socialist I haven't been paying alot of attention to this story. After doing an admittedly scant amount of research it would seem that the Boeing plant in question is not being shut down, but rather partially moving its production out of state after the worker's union rejected a new contract offer presented by Boeing. This will undoubtedly lead to layoffs.

While I don't necessarily disagree with the idea of the workers seizing the building and means of production from Boeing as an act of protest or strike, I don't exactly sit well with this Councillor's very public and vocal calls for such an act either. I know nothing about her or her politics but she does seem to be grandstanding an awful lot given her very recent election, making waves in an effort to make a name for herself. And if such a decision is reached it should be made by the union itself and not through the urgings of an inexperienced and naive Councillor.

tovenar
Fine with me, seize that Boeing campus.

Watch them move the production to Texas.

I think it's a great idea.
The old Ellington / Nasa complex in Houston would be a great place for Boeing to set up.
Lots of qualified labor. Plenty of infrastructure.
Affordable housing.
Beach is just 30 minutes away.


Plus,Seattle will be the first third world country inside of US borders.

Everybody wins.

reply to post by ArchAngel_X


I think she's the first open Socialist elected in the US. Yeah, I know most Democrats believe in it, but she actually ran from a socialist party and beat a Democrat, but what she's advocating is straight up communism. Her party is Socialist Alternative ... maybe they should just call it Communist?

Seattle should be proud.

If I were Boeing, I'd be thinking about completely tearing up stakes.

What they were originally wanting was to build a new facility in another state while keeping the old in Seattle. This meant that about 500 or so jobs would be created in a different, nonunion, state. The union got angry with this and complained to the Labor Relations Board which moved to block Boeing, as if the Feds have any business telling a company where it can and cannot do business, especially after the company announced that it had no plans to shut down the Seattle facility, but the union felt it was entitled to those jobs, too.

Now, the dispute is ramping up again I guess. If they're not careful between the Feds and the union, they might simply drive Boeing overseas and everyone will lose.

ketsuko
reply to post by ArchAngel_X

 

I think she's the first open Socialist elected in the US. Yeah, I know most Democrats believe in it, but she actually ran from a socialist party and beat a Democrat, but what she's advocating is straight up communism. Her party is Socialist Alternative ... maybe they should just call it Communist?

Seattle should be proud.

If I were Boeing, I'd be thinking about completely tearing up stakes.

What they were originally wanting was to build a new facility in another state while keeping the old in Seattle. This meant that about 500 or so jobs would be created in a different, nonunion, state. The union got angry with this and complained to the Labor Relations Board which moved to block Boeing, as if the Feds have any business telling a company where it can and cannot do business, especially after the company announced that it had no plans to shut down the Seattle facility, but the union felt it was entitled to those jobs, too.

Now, the dispute is ramping up again I guess. If they're not careful between the Feds and the union, they might simply drive Boeing overseas and everyone will lose.

She's not the 1st and Democrats don't believe in Socialism they believe in Capitalism with a strong social safety net and sadly have become as sold out to corporations as Republicans.

Let's not talk about what Boeing is doing wrong here, the machinist union only has 70,000 employed at Boeing in the Seattle area... and are the cornerstone of Seattle's economy. Let's not talk about how Boeing wants to freeze pensions and switch to 401K's with much less contribution on their part. Let's not talk about the pay freeze they want to impose with negligible pay raises. Let's not talk about how that's going to destroy Seattle's economy. Let's not talk about how Boeing had 13 Billion in profits and needed to not change a thing in the contract with the machinist union. Let's not talk about how the union owns most of the machines they build aircraft for Boeing with.

Let's just add to the circle jerk instead... "Unions and Socialism are bad... 'Murica!"

ArchAngel_X
Although I consider myself a (moderate) socialist I haven't been paying alot of attention to this story. After doing an admittedly scant amount of research it would seem that the Boeing plant in question is not being shut down, but rather partially moving its production out of state after the worker's union rejected a new contract offer presented by Boeing. This will undoubtedly lead to layoffs.

While I don't necessarily disagree with the idea of the workers seizing the building and means of production from Boeing as an act of protest or strike, I don't exactly sit well with this Councillor's very public and vocal calls for such an act either. I know nothing about her or her politics but she does seem to be grandstanding an awful lot given her very recent election, making waves in an effort to make a name for herself. And if such a decision is reached it should be made by the union itself and not through the urgings of an inexperienced and naive Councillor.

Extortion and bribery for mid-contract concessions.... real american deal making.


See: Workers Won't Bend to Boeing's Blackmail in Washington
Machinists defeat Boeing proposal, boo union brass who pushed it

www.commondreams.org...

Machinists at Boeing resoundingly voted down mid-contract concessions yesterday and then booed the union leaders who had pushed the proposal on a shocked membership.

A group of Boeing workers marched to the union hall yesterday to vote down a surprise mid-contract concessionary agreement. (Photo: Jim Levitt)
Their contract doesn’t expire until 2016, but the company is threatening to move production of the huge new 777X aircraft out of Washington state to avoid the union.

Boeing even promised $10,000 apiece upon approval, but the workers didn’t take the bait, opposing the scheme by 67 percent.

reply to post by FyreByrd


The term "Play stupid games. Win stupid prizes" doesn't even come close to this crap.

Just another shining example of why society is circling the toilet.

reply to post by butcherguy


There would be nothing to machine if the business owner(s) didn't get the contracts to build those planes.
Nor would there be anything to machine on, if the business owner(s) didn't fund the actual equipment and location.


Morons.

reply to post by Kali74


You know who else felt they were getting bilked by the company?

The union at Hostess ... We can see how well that turned out for everyone.