Lessons from a demonstration.

• Author: Reed, Adolph Reed
• Position: June 17, 1995, Chicago, Illinois, rally for justice and jobs

On June 17, we had what is by our standards in Chicago a major march and rally for jobs and justice. The turnout of about 3,000 was larger than the left has been able to generate here in some time. More significant than the numbers, though, was the kind of coalition that attracted them: an alliance of labor and community activists that's necessary if we are to build a social movement.

The demonstration grew from a loose coalition of groups that began meeting together after last November's elections. Several groups had planned a variety of separate events to mobilize local opposition to the Republicans' Contract on America. We publicized one another's actions, which had been scheduled through mid-may, but the feeling grew among us that it would also be good to stage one large, collective undertaking, a major demonstration.

The Jobs with Justice coalition, the labor movement's initiative for forging labor union/community alliances, was already planning a jobs march in mid-June as part of a national campaign. We all decided to broaden the focus of that march, to work aggressively to expand its base, and not to schedule any significant action between mid-may and mid-June. (The need to give Newt Gingrich a proper reception in Chicago when he came for a public appearance on June 5 led us to make one exception.)

We worked ceaselessly for what seems like much more than two months - no one harder than the staffs of the Service Employees International Union (especially Local 73's Phil Martini) and the Coalition for New Priorities - to organize the march and rally. This work included not only the standard tasks of acquiring endorsements, publicizing the event, planning its themes and structure, and trying to mobilize as much support as possible but also the delicate work of maintaining a fragile, embryonic coalition whose participants weren't equally cooperative or trusting of one another. In the process, we made contacts and formed solid working relationships among organizations and individuals that can give us a foundation for subsequent, ultimately more ambitious undertakings.

(We had a classic Jesse Jackson moment, however: on the morning before the march, his deputy called to say that Jackson would be in Chicago the next day and would like to speak at the rally. He did show up to give his standard speech, pressed the flesh for a few minutes near the stage, then left. As I watched him at the podium, I couldn't help noting that he was responsible...