Jane McAlevey on How To Organize for Power
April 21, 2019
The veteran labor organizer on what it takes to actually win
by Current Affairs
On a recent episode of the Current Affairs podcast, Pete Davis spoke with labor organizer Jane McAlevey. A transcript follows. It has been lightly edited for grammar and readability.
PETE DAVIS: I am happy to be talking to one of my favorite people in the movement, Jane McAlevey. I like Jane because shes very serious not in the stern sense of the word, but in the sense that she actually wants to win. She is not satisfied with being on the right side of history, she actually wants to move history in the right direction, and most splendidly, she is not afraid to tell you when a strategy, or lack thereof, is not serious about winning. She knows that the new Gilded Age will not be overcome with gimmicks. No app, no targeted mail campaign, no super-lobbyists, no hashtag, no shallow mobilization strategy is going to save us, only the slow and steady work of smart organizing. Put another way, Jane McAlevey is very hardcore, and she is from one of the most hardcore branches of the left, which is the world of labor organizing. Shes a long-time organizer in the environmental and labor movements, shes a contributing writer at the Nation magazine, and she is the author of Raising Expectations And Raising Hell, and No Shortcuts: Organizing For Power In The New Gilded Age.
So Id like to get started with one of the big distinctions in your book, No Shortcuts, which is mobilizing versus organizing. You are critical of the mobilizers, and you are a sage of the organizers. What is the difference? Educate our listeners between mobilizing and organizing.
JANE MCALEVEY: I should say, Im not critical of mobilization, Im very clear that we need plenty of mobilization. Its just, Im critical when thats all we do. Thats where my critique comes in. The difference between the twoand this is sort of the essential reason why we have to do both, not just onemobilizing is essentially when we just spend all of our time talking to people who already agree with us. Its getting more effective at the technology of turnout. Its calling up a protest, and 300 people show up the first time, and you say Wow, that wasnt what we thought, and you double down, and you do way better social media, and you use every single piece of technology you can, and you get 4,000 out the next time. And thats a huge jump, and you feel great. The problem is that your organization is more like 100,000, and so youre still only turning out a teeny fraction, and even worse, youre not actually engaging anyone or expanding your base.
https://www.currentaffairs.org/2019/04/jane-mcalevey-on-how-to-organize-for-power