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Official statement of the Milwaukee IWW concerning the 2020 DNC

“The Milwaukee IWW officially denounces the presence of the DNC in our city”

Statement approved by the Milwaukee General Membership Branch of the Industrial Workers of the World on 03/07/20

The Milwaukee IWW officially denounces the presence of the DNC in our city. We believe that the DNC being present in our city can have only negative impacts on the working class people that live here. With the commotion and traffic brought by the DNC, our city streets and sidewalks will become increasingly congested and create a massive inconvenience for Milwaukee residents trying to go about their day in the city as well as for a large portion of our membership who work on and near Old World 3rd St.

With the DNC will come an increased law enforcement presence to ensure that the city is presentable to the eyes of the convention-goers. We know that the police do not serve and protect working class people but employers and the wealthy, and they will be here to serve the interests of DNC-goers and not the city.

With the focus on the media spectacle of national-level politics about to occur, the conversation surrounding the DNC is not on how the Democrats are going to fix problems that Milwaukeeans actually face, but on the planning and running of the convention.

The Industrial Workers of the World is different from many other unions in that we do not donate to or affiliate ourselves with any political party or candidate. The IWW as an organization believes that through the united power of the working-class we can directly make the improvements that we wish to see in our workplaces and in our communities. The Democratic Party receives many votes and endorsements from working class people and organizations with the hope that they will help make our lives better, but when they’re elected to office, time and time again, they cooperate with Republicans and economic elites whose interests run counter to ours.

While the union has no official political affiliation we understand that our individual members may support one candidate or another. Organizing, however, does not begin or end with any political representative or election but with the unity of the working class. The place where workers hold the most power for change is not the voting booth but the workplace.