The Utility Workers Rally in Boston, May 23

There were over a hundred utility workers, some families with small children, all fired up, rallying in front of the Nstar corporate headquarters in Prudential Center, in defense of their strike against Nstar. Teamsters Local 25 had one of its monster trucks parked in front of the Prudential on Boylston Street, with Springsteen's "Born in the USA" blaring so loud, they claimed it shook of the windows of Tom May's office. May is the corporate head of Nstar; he made $4 million last year and just a few days ago took health coverage away from the strikers and their families.

I stood with the strikers in the rain and cold for over an hour listening to speeches by the head of Utility Workers Union and the leader of the United Mineworkers Union, as well as a variety of local union leaders, followed by local political hacks. Sweeney even sent a message. The union leaders, both national and local, can turn on the militancy when they choose. They know the power that workers possess. After a lot of very militant rhetoric by the union leadership today, it will be interesting to see just how much of a sell-out they impose on the membership a few weeks from now.

The Sparts were there, and so was PL, which had it together enough to produce a union-printed flier that the strikers eagerly took. No one was buying Workers Vanguard. I managed to sell to one of the Sparts, which is a first, and also to a Belgian student who happened to be there. Then I gave out a few papers. We have to write a leaflet on the strike, so we have something to give the workers.

One of the Sparts told me that ISO had been responsible for organizing the anti-fascist demo on May 8, and he added that ISO had pushed, in a planning meeting, for not trying to stop the Nazis. So what happened, which was much less than a victory over the fascists, may have reflected conscious planning by the ISO, which is incredible. It is true that in the first confrontation, between the anti-fascists and a small number of the fascist vermin, the ISO was right up front, and they could have taken measures to discourage the fascists from ever returning to Boston, and they did not do anything like that.

Apparently there are several Nstar offices in Boston, one of Mass Ave., with picketers out in front. We have to get them a leaflet. The strike is a wide-open, very positive situation right now.