The Ohio AFL-CIO held its 34th biennial convention September 23–24, 2024, where delegates passed resolutions on subjects like organizing farmworkers and protecting democracy in Ohio. Resolution 18, “Call for Humanity and Civility,” is Ohio labor’s response to the racist attacks on Haitian immigrants by the Trump–Vance campaign.

Hospitals, schools, and businesses across Springfield, Ohio have received dozens of bomb threats after former-president Trump and J.D. Vance made baseless claims along their campaign trail and in the press about Haitian immigrants terrorizing the Ohio town. The thoroughly debunked, racist slander from the Trump campaign against the Haitian immigrant community in Springfield, Ohio is a prime example of white chauvinism — the ideology of white supremacy — being cultivated by the ruling class for the purpose of driving a wedge between native-born and immigrant workers. The ruling class is attempting to weaken the unity of labor and its pro-democratic allies. The resolution recognizes the divisive intent in Trump and Vance’s fabricated stories, and specifically condemns “politicians making things up or using violent rhetoric about immigrants to score points and inflame certain elements of the electorate.”

The resolution from the Executive Board of the Ohio AFL-CIO reflects the leading role that labor must play in the struggle for social progress, and highlights the vital importance of fighting racism in the class struggle. Developing and sustaining a consistently anti-racist working class unity is key to fighting off the ideological influence of the capitalist class and winning better working and living conditions for all people.

Labor’s role in fighting racism

The resolution sets the record straight, stating, “Many Haitian immigrants have settled in Springfield, Ohio eligible to work, some on temporary protected status, and many having gained permanent legal status, or green cards.” The statement continues: “Springfield, like any city experiencing an influx of new residents, has struggled with soaring demand placed on healthcare, housing, schools and roads.” It goes on to highlight the need for subsidized programs and services to support immigrant workers, along with condemning racist misinformation from politicians, and concludes with a statement that Ohio labor “reaffirms our commitment to fighting for the rights and livelihoods of all working people — no matter the color of our skin, what language we speak, or where we’re born.”

The housing crisis, the inhumane lack of healthcare for all, and decaying infrastructure — including roads and schools in the Midwest — are real issues that affect all working people. While the capitalist class attempts to scapegoat immigrant workers for these issues by spreading racist lies, class struggles create the basis for broad unity around material issues, and labor reaffirms its commitment to a long history of multiracial solidarity, bringing into focus its role in the struggle for democracy. The historical formation of the working class in the United States has brought together people from all sorts of national backgrounds. Because working people naturally seek to end the exploitation and oppression they face, labor in the U.S. has consistently struggled against racist discrimination and oppression.

In addition to the organically multiracial and multinational character of the U.S. working class, labor is also inclined to struggle against racist discrimination and oppression because the interests of labor and racially and nationally oppressed people are deeply linked. Labor and all oppressed people have a common enemy in the capitalist class, and their interests largely parallel one another.

Labor in unity with racially and nationally oppressed people has been a leading force in the struggle for democracy and social progress in the United States. For example, the decision of textile workers in Britain in 1862 to “refuse to touch one bale of cotton picked by slaves” was instrumental to the defeat of the Confederacy. And the industrial union movement that fought for Black and white unity on the shopfloor in the 1930s helped create the broader basis for the labor–African American alliance that would defeat Jim Crow and win the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

The resolution reflects that unions are multiracial organizations of people united by collective interests, with a specific interest in fighting racism for a broader unity capable of building greater economic and political power to fight for those interests.

Working-class internationalism

Class consciousness — labor’s understanding of itself as the producer of all wealth not created by nature — is developed in struggles on the job and in our communities. The newly reinvigorated labor movement is engaging the capitalist class and their big business ideology every day in struggles for fair wages and safe working conditions, for the enforcement of their contracts, and in the electoral arena. In the course of these struggles, working people come to understand class (and their class interests) on their own terms: they develop class consciousness. The ideological content of this class consciousness is largely informed by the shared experiences and struggles working people face at work and in everyday life.

The modern U.S. labor movement, being multiracial, multinational, made up of women and youth, and having the historical experience of multiple generations of workers, has a basic role to play in the interconnected struggle for democracy and peace. Labor’s role in the struggle for democracy can be seen in its energetic mobilization against a second Trump term. At the same time, that it is developing an internationalist class consciousness can be clearly seen in the letter sent to Biden by several national labor unions, following a meeting with Palestinian trade union leaders, demanding an end to military aid to Israel.

The budding internationalist dimension of the Ohio AFL-CIO’s resolution should not be understated. Whereas the capitalist Trump forces profess a proud sense of (white) nationalism, labor responds by stating its commitment to fighting for all working people, no matter the color of our skin, what language we speak, or where we’re born.

Image: Peace rally protesting anti–Haitian immigrant hate in Clark County, OH by Clark County Democratic Party – Ohio (Facebook)

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