The almost two-year-old labor battle against the Motor City’s two corporate daily papers is almost at its conclusion (see the first page of The Rumble insert for latest details). Belatedly, the national AFL-CIO has called for a mass mobilization in Detroit June 20 and 21 to demand an equitable settlement of the strike. Attendance is expected to be over a hundred thousand.
The AFL bureaucrats are planning a disciplined, flag-waving, all-American march up Woodward Ave., controlled exclusively by them. We and the Trumbull Theater group are inviting people to attend, but on a basis of self-organization in decision making and activity. We intend to define ourselves in the manner of the Active Resistance at the Chicago Democratic Convention last August (see FE #348, Fall 1996)— creative, joyful, militant and with a heavy dose of radical culture at the theater and in the streets. Also, a lot of strikers have become radicalized by their clash with the corporations, cops, scabs and company goon squads, so the sky’s the limit.
Right now plans are minimal and provisions for housing, food, etc. that were well provided for in Chicago are nonexistent except for crash space at the Trumbull. Call the Theater at (313) 831-6150 or write 4208 Trumbull Ave., Detroit MI 48207. For march info, contact the IWW, 103 W. Michigan, Ypsilanti MI 48197; ph.: (313) 483-3548