How not to organize a general strike The most common question about the walkout is, “When will it happen?
” The plan for Democracy Day is that the CUPE BC leadership will give their members 24 hours notice, possibly in the next week, probably in the next month! The rationale for keeping the date a secret is that we don’t want management to be able to prepare for it. This is clearly an irresponsible tactic; we gain a gram of surprise while losing a ton of momentum. Workers cannot merely be turned on and off at the behest of the leadership. The leadership has nowhere near earned the loyalty of the members to the extent that they will pass so much power over to them. Such a plan leaves the activists unprepared and the rank-and-file uninformed. This “secrecy” effectively blocks the democratic control of the strike by the workers. The success of the UBC Teaching Assistants’ strike was based on the complete disclosure of information to the membership who voted at mass meetings and strike planning meetings on the direction the strike should take. Democratic control by the workers is not only the
