A Call to Action by Solidarity Now!
Why We Need A United Front and Long-Term Organizing
The Crisis We Face
Working people across America are facing unprecedented attacks. The Trump administration is carrying out devastating attacks on our standard of living and even our life expectancy - dismantling key institutions such as the CDC, EPA and USDA inspections, cutting essential programs like Medicaid and food stamps, and significantly expanding ICE with funding that now exceeds the military budgets of most countries. ICE, in tandem with the National Guard and local police departments, are approaching instituting martial law in several Democratic-run cities. The attacks are also causing serious damage to the economy, which Trump and his supporters clearly view as the acceptable cost of disruption. This “shock and awe” campaign serves the ruling class’s war on working class people, severely weakening on-the-job protections and increasing exploitation by tech and fossil fuel industries.
At the same time they continue to push towards more wars and more spending on arms, paid for by cuts to social programs, while demanding that their fellow imperialists in Europe and Japan do the same. Meanwhile, climate catastrophes devastate communities from North Carolina to California, AI data centers poison water sources, mass layoffs gut federal agencies, and Amazon continues exploiting millions of workers. The billionaire class has put both feet on the gas pedal, driving us toward war and ruin.
The Democratic Party offers no alternative for working people. Clinton’s guru James Carville, in an NYT opinion piece says the Democrats should make a strategy of their failure:
“It’s time for Democrats to embark on the most daring political maneuver in the history of our party: roll over and play dead. Allow the Republicans to crumble beneath their own weight and make the American people miss us.”
This anything-but-daring plan is fully consistent with their role as a genocidal, pro-war party beholden to corporate capitalists. They have no intention of restoring anything that Trump takes away from the working class. Progressives like Jamaal Bowman and Cori Bush were forced out of office for defending Palestine, while democratic socialist candidates like Zohran Mamdani are viewed as existential threats by Democratic leadership. Already, Mamdani is showing serious warning signs of capitulating to the capitalist ruling class, foreshadowing the limitations of his candidacy (very similar to Bernie Sanders’ willingness to capitulate in both 2016 and 2020).
We do not believe that the Democratic Party can be reformed. But at the present time, most working people see the idea of building our own political party as a far-off dream. So while we ourselves will support progressive, independent, Green or other third party candidates, we will also work together with anyone genuinely fighting for working class demands like those put forward by the Zohran Mamdani campaign.
We need a United Front to Defeat the Oligarchy
The working class needs to unite to defeat the oligarchs that are making life unaffordable for us. While our existing movements and organizations have meaningful differences, none of them are as important as the need for unity in the face of the billionaires destroying our planet, committing genocide, and driving us from our homes.
The working class faces a critical moment. Despite weak labor leadership, union support is at a 60-year high, with 60 million workers wanting to form unions in their workplaces. Despite disappointments with Bernie and the Squad, the majority still supports progressive policies. But working people remain politically homeless and our movements disorganized—precisely the conditions that allowed Trump to convince millions that his anti-establishment posturing was better than nothing.
The absence of wins feeds far-right and fascist forces. As Trump’s agenda begins destroying jobs and impoverishing millions, it’s not guaranteed that workers or middle class people will continue to support progressive policies if they are not being consistently fought for. There are already millions who have fallen into line behind Trump’s destructive policies because they have been led to accept the idea that that economic pain is needed to “make America great again.”
Our Vision for Victory
Defeating Trump’s authoritarianism requires connecting isolated struggles from city to city and organization to organization. From defending immigrant communities in LA and Chicago to fighting Trump’s federalization of DC, from organizing Amazon and Starbucks workers to protecting climate disaster survivors—all these fights ultimately require a mass working class political party rooted in movement building and every community nationwide.
We need system-wide victories for the working class:
National single-payer healthcare, not just defending Medicaid
Social housing, rent control, and a $30 minimum wage
Federal jobs guarantee and free higher education
Massive, job-creating investments in infrastructure, transit, healthcare and education
And end to US military adventures and support for Israel’s genocide
Full transition to a green economy
Shorter work weeks, workplace safety, and community control over development
And never letting up on the fight against racism, sexism, anti-LGBTQ policies and all the mechanisms the rich use to divide us.
The working class deserves not just survival, but a higher quality of life and genuine democracy. We need strong unions and a mass workers’ party that can take power from the billionaires and their corporate parties.
Building Toward Mass Organization
The United Front Approach
A United Front doesn’t require complete political agreement. We recognize real differences and the vital need for debate. But we march alongside one another, testing which strategies and tactics work best through shared struggle. Our organizations and leadership must be molded and proven in these battles.
We take inspiration from the UK’s Your Party, launched by Zarah Sultana and Jeremy Corbyn with backing from left, local, and labor organizations. 700,000 people signed up in just the first seven days. US leaders, such as those from the DSA, union leaders like Shawn Fain of the UAW or flight attendants’ leader Sarah Nelson, or the Green Party, could organize similar conferences or national movements of protests, strikes, and mass civil disobedience but have yet to do so.
Where leaders won’t take the necessary steps toward mass organizing and political independence, we’ll pressure them. Where they won’t act, we’ll do the work ourselves.
Our Structure and Functions
Solidarity Now! operates as a highly democratic organization where regular members determine its direction, especially in local chapters. We meet weekly nationally, with membership based on consistent attendance and active participation in local organizing. To join, prospective members must attend at least two consecutive national meetings and have a 1:1 chat with an existing member.
Primary Functions:
Networking - Being the “Connective Tissue” of our Movements
Be a home for everyone fighting the billionaire class, their political agendas and movements, and for an end to exploitation and oppression
Supporting protests, meetings and other events hosted by other organizations with similar goals, that are not controlled by the corporations or their two party system
Building genuine relationships through solidarity and meaningful conversations
Connecting isolated struggles and promoting collaboration nationally and internationally
Political Education and Strategy
Develop accurate and ongoing analysis of politics and struggle from the perspective of the working class and oppressed
Discuss strategy and tactics for ongoing struggles
Study and compile the lessons of past movements to aid in analyzing and strategizing
Study and connect with movements of the working class and oppressed internationally
Democratic Decision-Making
We are building a democratic organization independent of the two parties of the corporations. All members will have the final say on the direction of the organization, particularly their local chapters. Major policy and campaigns will be voted on by membership, after a period of discussion, education and debate.
We will build towards a founding Convention at which we will elect a leadership body. In the meantime, we have elected conveners responsible for hosting meetings and setting agendas according to democratic input.
Given that we are a small group of students, working, retired, and disabled people with limited time, focusing on actionable goals is paramount.
Meetings will include:
A discussion of current events and political analysis
Reportbacks on local struggles, which may include volunteering and delegation of tasks
Members, as part of their local chapters (where applicable), are encouraged to take part in local actions independently. Members are encouraged to hold dual/multiple memberships with other organizations to promote connection.
Join the Fight!
The survival of the working class and the end to multiple crises leave us no choice: we must unite wherever we share common goals.
We invite anyone who agrees with these ideas to join ongoing discussions about achieving them.
The future belongs either to the far right or to a united working class movement capable of delivering real victories. The choice is ours, and the time is now.
Join us by sending us an e-mail at organize@solidaritynow.info , and someone will get back to you promptly with further information about an upcoming meeting.