As Bush continues upon his march to war with Iraq, the anti-war movement has continued its efforts to reach out and build as broad of a movement as possible to oppose this war.

Hundreds of thousands of students, activists, leftists, religious folks and others have come together to organize some of the largest anti-war rallies and teach-ins this country has seen. But perhaps the most dramatic of these efforts to build a mass anti-war movement that involves broad sections of everyday people has been made in regards to the labor movement.

The labor movement has a long and militant history, but in recent decades has tended to either stay clear of taking a stand on foreign policy issues, or supporting Washington’s military adventures abroad. Fortunately though with this war, that is beginning to change.

To date dozens of local unions, central labor bodies, and even international unions have joined the Duluth Central Labor Body in coming out against Bush’s threatened war with Iraq, or have at least urged the administration to use war only as a last resort. Among these labor bodies has been the United Electrical Workers (UE), the San Francisco Labor Council, the California Federation of Teachers, Teamsters Local 705 in Chicago, Transit Workers Union Local 100 in New York and the Albany, NY Central Labor Body.

The Bush administration’s attacks on West Coast longshore workers under the guise of national security, its banning certain federal workers from joining unions and its announcement that it will be privatizing hundreds of thousands of federal jobs have all combined to make more and more workers realize that Bush’s war abroad has a direct connection with his war on working people at home – and that connection is pursuing corporate interests at the expense of all else.

But this development is not simply one that is happening in big cities in the United States, in fact the labor movement of the upper-Midwest is very much part of this historic stand by labor. At its November meeting, the Duluth Central Labor Body, which represents some 15,000 AFL-CIO members in northern Minnesota, unanimously passed an anti-war resolution. The resolution has since been passed on to the Minnesota AFL-CIO to urge it to adopt a similar resolution.

This anti-war resolution was followed up at the CLB’s December meeting where it voted unanimously to co-sponsor the January 25 regional anti-war rally that has been called by the Northland Anti-War Coalition (NAWC) and Students Against War (SAW). This rally, which will take place at noon on the corner of Lake Ave. & Superior St. in Duluth, is projected to be to the largest anti-war rally this region has ever seen.

To get involved in building the Jan. 25 rally, or to be part of the Labor Against War contingent that will be participating in the rally, you can call (715) 394-6660 or send an email to <mnsocialist (at) yahoo.com>.