The Coup’s Boots Riley says his first-ever vote will be for Bernie Sanders

I’ve spoken out many times over the years about the dangers that electoral politics hold for mass movements- reducing involvement to this one moment, this one person, and making it unclear to masses of people that power under capitalism comes at the point of exploitation.

— Boots Riley (@BootsRiley) February 19, 2020

That politicians are beholden to the ruling class- not simply due to campaign financing (although that’s part of it) But that they are beholden to those who wield power through control of the economy-

— Boots Riley (@BootsRiley) February 19, 2020

by taking the wealth that we create with our labor and controlling industry, controlling markets. And that elections, often leave people feeling disempowered after-

— Boots Riley (@BootsRiley) February 19, 2020

if their candidate wins, people take a “let’s wait and see” attitude. If their candidate loses, people either wait for or organize for the next election.

— Boots Riley (@BootsRiley) February 19, 2020

Never creating a mass movement at the point of contradiction under capitalism, which would mean organizing on the job in a way that could withhold labor collectively and shut down industry when necessary.

— Boots Riley (@BootsRiley) February 19, 2020

I believe that we need a world in which the people democratically control the wealth that we create with our labor. This would be real, actual power in the hands of the people. Actual “democracy”. You can call that communism, you can call it socialism, you can call it pancakes.

— Boots Riley (@BootsRiley) February 19, 2020

I don’t give a fuck what you call it, but that’s the world that we need.

— Boots Riley (@BootsRiley) February 19, 2020

We have a new era in the mvmnts we see growing in the US. Several polls over the last few years- Gallup polls, university polls, polls by rightwing thinktanks- have consistently shown that 51% of millennials would prefer a socialism and 43% of all ages in the US prefer socialism.

— Boots Riley (@BootsRiley) February 19, 2020

If you account for the folks that wouldn’t say that to a stranger on the phone, I’d bet that those numbers are higher.

— Boots Riley (@BootsRiley) February 19, 2020

Over the past 20 years, we’ve seen things like the Anti-Iraq War movement mobilize literal millions of people onto the streets all over the world, but was unable to stop the war. We learned that power cannot be simply shamed into capitulating to the demands of the people.

— Boots Riley (@BootsRiley) February 19, 2020

We’ve seen the Occupy Movement come along and surprise everyone. In every town and city in the US, there was an Occupy encampment that put forward the closest thing to a class analysis we’d seen in the mass media: the 1% vs the 99%.

— Boots Riley (@BootsRiley) February 19, 2020

Studies showed that before Occupy, mainstream news had only dared utter the word “capitalism” less than a handful of times in the 20 years before. After that, for at least a short period of time, it was being uttered several times a day (you wldn't be surprised if u heard it now)

— Boots Riley (@BootsRiley) February 19, 2020

And although the encampments were a small percentage of the population of each town, there was a large percentage who saw the encampments and agreed, even if they wouldn’t or couldn’t go there themselves.

— Boots Riley (@BootsRiley) February 19, 2020

Occupy Oakland was started by dedicated radicals who understood the spectacle that was happening and wanted to further radicalize it. So a one-day general strike was called, which also shut down the ports- as a symbol of where power lies under capitalism.

— Boots Riley (@BootsRiley) February 19, 2020

50,000 people- organized by nurses, longshoremen, teachers, students, transit workers and others involved in Occupy- came out and shut things down.

— Boots Riley (@BootsRiley) February 19, 2020

We’ve also seen the Black Lives Matter movement grow and valiantly respond to the epidemic of cops killing Black folks and also learning that the people that make the decisions governing our lives, don’t change their actions simply because they know that the community is upset.

— Boots Riley (@BootsRiley) February 19, 2020

We must have movements with teeth. Ones that are able to force the hands of power.

— Boots Riley (@BootsRiley) February 19, 2020

Over the past few years we’ve seen a sharp rise in people organizing on the job. I don’t mean just the traditional labor unions- altho those unions r growing faster & some are becoming more militant than they have been b4 (largely driven by their ever more radical rank-and-file).

— Boots Riley (@BootsRiley) February 19, 2020

I’m also talking about everything from previously unorganized retail workers, baristas, ride-share workers, grad student workers, farm workers, fast food workers, theater workers, tech workers, and more.

— Boots Riley (@BootsRiley) February 19, 2020

We’ve seen wildcat strikes in places the media told us was too right-wing and anti-union like the very militant West Virginia Teachers Wildcat Strike.

— Boots Riley (@BootsRiley) February 19, 2020

And things like the Chicago, LA, and Oakland teachers strikes- militant strikes which were welcomed with open arms by their communities.

— Boots Riley (@BootsRiley) February 19, 2020

Some of the militancy is becoming more radical in some instances, with folks striking in solidarity with each other- like when Wayfair furniture workers went on strike last year to stop Wayfair from working with ICE and their detention centers. And the workers won.

— Boots Riley (@BootsRiley) February 19, 2020

Or when grad students workers in many instances across the US went on strike in solidarity with custodial staff. Or when 20,000 Google workers did rolling work stoppage walkouts to have management address many issues, including sexual harassment.

— Boots Riley (@BootsRiley) February 19, 2020

Ppl want ways to exact power over their lives. More&more they’r realizing that in order to do that we need a mass, militant, radical labor mvmnt that can collectively withhold labor as a tool- not only 4 higher wages- but as a tool for larger social justice issues as well (contd)

— Boots Riley (@BootsRiley) February 19, 2020

(What would have happened if radicals had been organizing a labor movement for the decade prior to Mike Brown’s murder and a general or even targeted strike happened? Indictment, real quick).

— Boots Riley (@BootsRiley) February 19, 2020

People are realizing that this sort of a movement will need to break the current labor laws, ie Taft-Hartley, that prohibit solidarity strikes. This will take radical leadership.

— Boots Riley (@BootsRiley) February 19, 2020

In order to get some of the reforms that Bernie Sanders’ campaign platform calls for- Medicare for All, the Green New Deal, free university and trade school tuition, building 10 million more homes in an effort to address homelessness- it’s going to take movement tactics.

— Boots Riley (@BootsRiley) February 19, 2020

We're going 2hav2have strategic targeted & general strikes 2force the hand of folks who have some of these politicians in their pockets. Imagine BART & Transit workers striking til Pelosi commits to MedicareForAll. Or West Virginia teachers striking 2 force the vote of JoeManchin

— Boots Riley (@BootsRiley) February 19, 2020

If we have a movement that can shut down industries through the withholding of labor, we can make politicians do what we want. We’re going to need radicals to get us there.

— Boots Riley (@BootsRiley) February 19, 2020

I’m not voting for Bernie because I don’t disagree with him on things (Venezuela, for instance). Nor do I believe that the reforms he proposes will be the socialist world that we need.

— Boots Riley (@BootsRiley) February 19, 2020

What I am endorsing is the movement that has grown around him that involves millions of people who are willing to consciously and openly engage in class struggle in order to make these reforms happen.

— Boots Riley (@BootsRiley) February 19, 2020

These struggles will radicalize millions of people and has the potential to organize
the working class in the US to a point we haven’t seen before. We keep going from there.

— Boots Riley (@BootsRiley) February 19, 2020