No one was expecting Martin Beukes, the trade unionist from Chicago, to walk into the Libertarian convention.
In the Northeast there were two union movements after all - the pro-business capitalist unions that supported the Republicans, and the revolutionary union movement. Ironically, true non-Marxist yet non-collaborationist trade unionism - historical Vinogradism - had survived primarily in the Midwest. While the Whigs and then the Libertarians fought Republicans in the Northeast, the trade unionists and immigrants who had formerly relied on the Democratic machine politicians of Chicago to protect them had been left without a political party during the lead up to and during the Civil War. Trade unionists in the Midwest became used to striking without political support, and often being beaten and dehumanized.
Predisposed against vanguard parties like Vandrove's, the militant trade unionists - old style Vinogradists - in the Midwest believed in union power and union power alone, the power of a general strike someday; while their meeker cousins did what they could to improve conditions but were still kicked in the pants for it.
It was Beukes that brought the two together in Chicago and stood up for political action to meet the goals of labor: a massive advocate of electioneering, Beukes convinced both sides that a platform of purely direct action or purely appealing to common decency could not win. Instead labor would have to leverage their coffers and manpower in political elections, supporting the friends of labor and opposing their enemies. That labor's goals could be achieved through legislation, as Republican labor reforms had proved, but that the unions need not trust Republican businessmen and professional politicians to decide how much was enough. That the unionists themselves could push candidates from below and run labor candidates in the primaries of the mainstream parties.
So Beukes walked into the Libertarian party convention and delivered a fiery speech, yet one where the nationalization of industry - state capitalism - was not mentioned even once. According to Beukes, no radical intellectual could speak for what the trade unions wanted any more than a well meaning progressive businessman could. When some called out from the benches and asked "what do you want then?", Beukes responded:
"More."
And then Beukes laid out his platform for his Libertarian candidacy:
- A shorter working day
- A better minimum wage
- Larger pensions for the elderly
- And more financial support for healthcare
"Labor is sometimes pro-war, sometimes anti-war. Sometimes free-trade, sometimes protectionist. But what every trade unionist, every working man wants - whether their union is collaborationist, direct action vinogradist, or even revolutionary marxist-vinogradist - is a better wage, a shorter day, and more support for the sick and the elderly. Whoever supports these goals is a friend to labor and whoever opposes these goals is an enemy to labor."
And thus "pure, unadulterated trade unionism" entered back into national politics for the first time since Vinograd himself ran in the Whig elections; on the idea that the twin weapons of direct action (strikes, protests) and electioneering were more powerful than forming "revolutionary parties of two men and their dog" or "threatening armed struggle like some kind of Klansman or Southern Nationalist".
(( Having been president, then not ran for president, then ran for president as Sanders; I can run this one last time according to the rules. So I thought I would give it a shot, and even if my run just ends up with me as Nightmore's VP pick, that'd be ok ))
