T.O. 98: “We put together a coalition of maritime labor, teachers and community to stop the privatization of the Port of Oakland” — Clarence Thomas

[Clarence Thomas is a rank-and-file leader of ILWU Local 10 and author of “Mobilizing In Our Own Name.” Following are major excerpts from his statement to the National Conference of Labor and Community for an Independent Party (LCIP). The full statement, in audio and video, is posted to the LCIP website: www.lcipcommittee.org. The interview was conducted for LCIP by Connie White.]

LCIP: Clarence, how can we best take action to form labor-community coalitions that run candidates on a local level in 2024, starting from the bottom up, to place building blocks for a genuine independent workers’ party? How do we move this discussion into local unions, the Black liberation movement, and among youth – particularly Black and Latino youth.

Clarence Thomas: The best way that I can answer that question is by giving an example of an action that we took here in the Bay Area, where I am a longshore worker. We had a situation where a billionaire wanted to build an exclusive development at the third busiest port on the West Coast: the Port of Oakland. We put together a coalition involving labor – specifically, maritime workers and teachers – along with the community people, and it was built around the issue of stopping the privatization of public land.

When you talk about how to build the foundation and building blocks for an independent working-class political party, you first have to establish an agenda for working people, specifically involving the Black community, the Latino community, youth, workers. You have to do that first. There are no shortcuts.

In 2004, we organized a Million Worker March, which called for the labor movement’s break from the Democratic Party. We received a lot of pushback from organized labor and the Democratic Party. Before you can build a party, you must first build what I would consider an agenda, which is reason why I’ve been involved with the Labor and Community for an Independent Party (LCIP), because I think that they serve as the foundation for moving forward.

But having said that, you have to be able to do things on the ground. To go back to the situation with Howard Terminal. This development was going to be built by a man by the name of John Fisher, who owns the Oakland A’s. We stopped Fisher. We beat back this $12 billion project at the third busiest port on the West Coast.

We stopped Fisher because we organized this alliance. He was not only trying to take over the port of Oakland, he is also a major privatizer of public schools. I think this is an example for workers, youth, the community and labor — all mobilizing and organizing in their own name.

It was a revolutionary concept to have teachers and longshore workers working in coalition together. Longshore workers made the connection with the Oakland Education Association (OEA), which was – and remains – engaged in a major fight against privatization. That happened on April 29, 2020.

These kinds of alliances and coalitions are what will serve as the basis for organizing a political party.

As far as running candidates, that’s more of a challenge. We have to get people to represent us who are committed, who understand the necessity for speaking truth to power and who understand the class and race analysis in this country.

We are being misled by the Democratic Party. These are misleaders. They are not committed to the working class. They are committed to their funders, which are the same as the Republican Party. We have to understand that we’re anti-imperialist, we’re anti-capitalist, we’re anti-racist, we’re pro-environment, we’re against mass incarceration, we’re against all forms of discrimination.

Whether it be trans people or LGBTQ, we need to be very clear: If you’re anti-LGBTQ, you’re anti-Black, you’re anti-Latino, you’re anti-woman. We need to be opposed to all forms of discrimination.

We also have to understand another thing. When we talk about the candidates that we want to see representing us, we must be clear that these candidates need to be committed to making the break from the Democratic Party and the machine. Our candidates have to be pro-education. They have to oppose the dismantling of public education. They have to call to protect Social Security. They have to call for a national living wage and an end to corporate greed.

We need to be very clear about these things. I want to thank you very much for allowing me to be a part of this national conference.