Part of GDC’s International May Day 2024 Campaign
On November 29, 1973 nearly 2000 Arab workers (and some Black workers) at Dodge Main (Chrysler’s Hamtramck factory) went on strike as a political stance against the UAW bureaucracy’s support of Israel. The strike was organized by the Arab Workers Caucus. At the time, Arab workers made up about 25% of the workers at Dodge Main. The striking workers marched down to Cobo Hall to protest UAW President Leonard Woodcock accepting a “Humanitarian of the Year” award from B’nai B’rith, a Zionist organization. Woodcock had to leave the event out a back door to avoid facing the workers. The strikers also protested the UAW’s purchase of nearly $1 Million in Israeli war bonds during the Ramadan War that October.
Signs Read:
Dispose of the Bonds
Jewish People Yes, Zionism No
Don’t Abuse Workers Dues
No More Bombs, No More Bonds
Two weeks before, 2-3,000 Arab UAW workers held a demonstration to protest the purchase of $300,000 of Israeli war bonds by UAW Local 600 (Ford River Rouge) using member dues. Workers continued to organize around divestment from Israeli war bonds, and in 1975 succeeded in pushing multiple Locals to divest a total of $48,000 from Israel. This is an early precursor to the Boycott, Divest, Sanction (BDS) movement.
Then, as now, the rank and file supported Palestine’s self determination and opposed U.S. Imperialism, while the leadership and bureaucrats support Israel and U.S. imperial involvement in the Arab world. We see this currently, where even the most radical UAW president in decades has declared the union’s support for a ceasefire in Palestine but turns around and endorses President Biden who is directly responsible for funding and supplying the genocide Israel is conducting with no meaningful opposition.
Learn more:
https://www.marxists.org/history/etol/newspape/workersvanguard/1973/0034_07_12_1973.pdf