Role of the electoral political system in labor organization
Russell offers his thoughts on whether or not trade unions should become increasingly involved in electoral politics. According to Russell, the political system was deeply flawed and here, as elsewhere in the interview, he explains his adherence to radical politics and his belief that putting power in the hands of workers should be the ultimate end goal of the labor movement.
Citing this Excerpt
Oral History Interview with John Russell, July 19, 1975. Interview E-0014-3. Southern Oral History Program Collection (#4007) in the Southern Oral History Program Collection, Southern Historical Collection, Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Full Text of the Excerpt
- WILLIAM FINGER:
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Do you think that labor in terms of being political trade unionists
currently? Do you think building an interest in electoral politics is
important. building a separate party or working within one of the two
parties?
- JOHN RUSSELL:
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Let me just say how I feel about it. I guess I'm just like
anybody else, I get so god damned disgusted with the pragmatic approach
to politics that I get sick of it. For instance, you see
what's happening in Congress right now, waltzing around on
the energy issue. Each one, they try to blame the President, and he
tries to blame them. It's all getting ready for seventy-six,
and it doesn't seem they care about what happens to people in
between, providing they are in a good position in seventy-six. Some of
it may be important, that they expose Ford, I think he's a
fraud, I think he's a continuation of Nixon in a much more
gentle, subtler form. But it's the same god damned politics
of aiding the rich and the rich are getting richer, and the poor are to
get poorer, you see. That to me is how I make my decision. Here is the
way I feel about electoral politics, the common approach to elections
and electoral politics, you had to do it. You got to do it for some
reasons. First of all, there can be some practical advantage
that's made by labor and by the people. More, important, how
can you get people to look inside of a system and see how corrupt and
rotten it is unless they take part? If a man is
isolated, and he says, ah shit, they ain't no god damned
good. He says that, but if he really means it and has a philosophical
understanding of why they're no good, I don't care
then. But if all it is, is because they gave me a screwing on this last
year or three years ago, and I don't like it, or I
don't even know what the hell they're doing, I say
that's crap. The best way to change people is to get them in
and see the impossibility of doing something with a certain system or a
certain procedure. If they can see that, the time comes when
they'll say, there has got to be a change, but it
can't just be a change of taking Joe instead of Bill, or Pat
instead of Pete, it's got to be a fundamental change. Where
people have a real, genuine right to say something because they own and
control the methods and the means of media, and everything else in this
country of ours. Production, everything else. I see this as important to
take part in them, because I don't buy this bullshit of
saying the people don't engage in these things because up
a high goal, you see. I don't buy
that kind of business because first of all they got to see the
ineffectiveness and inefficiency of the system they've got
now and then maybe at the same time, if you point directly and properly,
they may see that's got to be the goal, because this
ain't going to be…
They have got to see that alternatives based upon their recognition and
experience of the failure of the system they live under.