Will the 2020s make the 60s look like the 50s?

So far, no. But there is time. And the student protests in support of Palestine, and the union support of them, particularly at the University of California, is a positive sign.

What are the lessons we can learn from the past?

Organizers of Redwood Summer, in the 1990s, had the hubris to make a similar claim, that the actions they were organizing were so radical, would be so effective, that they'd make the radical 60s look like the mundane 50s. To be sure, the 90s were a radical time. We were organizing mass civil disobedience, direct actions and sabotage to end US support of death squads in Central America, to end the death penalty in the U.S., to end nuclear testing, to support immigrants at the southern border, to support LGBTQ rights, and to halt the U.S. war in Iraq. Food Not Bombs were getting arrested for serving free food to the unhoused, while publicizing the U.S. war machine. Homes Not Jails was liberating federally-owned buildings and converting them into squats for the unhoused to live in. And left-wing pirate radio stations were popping up in cities to report on and publicize these efforts. But in the end, the 90s did not make the 60s look like the 50s.

I participated in Redwood Summer (and many of these other movements). It was fun and exciting. But Redwood Summer, in particular, was supposed to be a collaborative effort between radical environmental and labor activists, as well as indigenous rights activists and others. There was a bit of this. A very little bit of it. Worse, there was too much class bigotry and arrogance by the predominantly white, middle class environmental activists, and this alienated the working class timber workers we hoped to unite with over saving the ancient redwood forests from being clear cut by Pacific Lumber.

So, one major lesson is that effective coalitions require real solidarity, which requires listening to others, and authentically nonhierarchical structures, in contrast to the hidden power structures that often evolve in movements, even within so-called anarchist organizations. (A great read on this topic is: "The Tyranny of Structurelessness," by Jo Freeman).

Perhaps the most powerful tool we have is the General Strike. Of course, this tool has been virtually obliterated by the Taft Hartley law, which bans them. Consequently, none of the mainstream unions will ever consider this tactic out of fear that their leadership will be imprisoned, and their war chests will be seized. But that doesn't mean we can't still have a General Strike. Just means it will have to be organized in other ways, outside of mainstream union channels, like word of mouth, social media, wheat pasting posters, stickers, etc. But it also requires good old-fashioned relational organizing: going "door-to-door," talking with colleagues at work, at school, neighbors, family, friends, educating them about the power of this tool. Actually listening to their fears and concerns. Providing support and mutual aid whenever possible. Empowering them. And it will require employed workers, not just students and professional activists. Why? Because if we really want to hurt the bosses, we need to halt profit-making, which is most effectively done by halting production. And while blocking roads and bridges can slow down business as usual for a few hours, getting millions of workers to refuse to work can halt a lot more business for a lot longer. It can literally bring capitalism to its knees. Compel leaders and decision-makers to buckle to our demands. It can even become revolutionary and lead to major social change. But we don't currently have millions of workers who are already radicalized to the point that they will participate in a General Strike, let alone believe that revolutionary social change is possible. So, there's a lot of organizing that still needs to be done. That's a lot of us going out and listening to our colleagues, neighbors, peers, doing the underappreciated, not so glorious, time consuming work of building a movement.

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