Labor Notes conference in Chicago draws thousands of militant unionists ( www.workers.org )

Five workshops and meetings devoted to solidarity with Palestine, along with an impromptu meeting to support the Columbia University encampment, were well attended. However, the failure of conference organizers to have a single speaker on Palestine in any of the main sessions was a glaring omission. The militant rally for Palestine that took place outside the conference hotel was not officially part of the conference.

Some activists at the conference were frustrated by its political limitations. While Labor Notes makes a point of hailing worker-leaders deemed “troublemakers,” one participant commented: “I’m not a troublemaker, I’m a revolutionary.” Another described a workshop on socialism as “horrible” due to a conception of socialism that would merely reform capitalism.

Despite the limitations and contradictions, however, the Labor Notes conference was a positive event that brought together thousands of class-conscious workers who want to fight back against the capitalist class.