ILWU Statement of Policy: The ILWU Versus Fascism

On December 12, 2025, the ILWU’s International Executive Board unanimously approved the following Statement of Policy: The ILWU Versus Fascism

The December of 1945 issue of the Dispatcher, quoting the late President Philip Murray of the CIO, warned, “it is not impossible for fascist ideas to conquer America.”^[1] This warning came mere months after the end of World War II — a war that escalated across the world because of the rise of fascism in Europe.

Those words written in December of 1945, warning us that fascist ideas can not only come to America, but conquer it, have never been more true.

What is Fascism

Fighting fascism is not new to the labor movement. Fascism is in direct opposition to labor and working people everywhere. A defining characteristic of fascism is that it is an authoritarian mass political movement centered on militant nationalism.^[2] It stands in direct opposition to the values we hold as union members: democracy in action and the rights and freedoms of individual people. Instead, the interests of the nation (and the interests of big business) come first — not the people. It is authoritarian nationalism pushed to the extreme.

One of the most glaring examples of fascism is when Nazis came to power in Germany. The Nazis didn’t immediately start by committing genocide. Nazis passed laws restricting jobs for “non-German” races and argued that money should not be spent on disabled people because they were a drain on society. Instead, they should be institutionalized and later eliminated. Nazi militias and leaders publicly flouted the law, because they knew they would not be held accountable. They encouraged voluntary self-deportation of Jews. Each one of these (and more) was another brick laid for the foundation of the concentration camps, which killed millions of people over the course of a decade. It didn’t happen overnight — it took years of meticulous planning and cementing fascist power structures and authority that enabled the Nazis rise to power so their plans could be carried out.

Most of the power of authoritarianism is freely given.^[3] “Anticipatory obedience is a political strategy,” says Timothy Snyder in his book On Tyranny — it’s a strategic test to see what people are willing to compromise on and let slide in the name of “protecting the nation.” By the time concentration camps were built, it was already too late. The power was cemented, and the only way to stop it was war.

The Threat of Fascism is Already Here

History has lessons — and warnings. European democracies collapsed into right-wing authoritarianism and fascism in the early 1900s — and we are witnessing those same warning signals play out again in America right now.

The current administration is openly pushing to “resurrect a deeply flawed past: institutionalization.”^[4] A critical component of this fight is the Protection and Advocacy for Individuals with Mental Illness Program — a vital safeguard that has been in place since 1986, protecting people receiving mental health services by providing oversight of abuse in psychiatric settings and to prevent private institutions from falsifying documentation to involuntarily commit people. RFK Jr., with the full backing of the current administration, is moving toward forced confinement of people with psychiatric disabilities.^[5] A leaked internal budget document reveals that alongside this call for mass institutionalization, part of RFK Jr.’s plan is to slash funding and eliminate the Protection and Advocacy systems altogether.^[6]

President Trump campaigned on the promise to pardon those who were convicted and charged with crimes for the Capitol Riot on January 6, 2021.^[7] And on the first day of Trump’s second term in office, he carried through on that promise,^[8] erasing the justice we had received for those who attacked our nation’s capitol and attempted a coup. The message of this pardon was clear: that the attempted fascist takeover was acceptable and approved of by this administration. “When the men with guns who have always claimed to be against the system start wearing uniforms and marching with torches and pictures of a leader, the end is nigh.”^[9]

In May, the Department of Homeland Security, under the direction of Secretary Kristi Noem, announced a voluntary deportation program to further deport “illegal aliens,” offering financial incentives to persuade migrants to leave the United States.^[10] Yet recent reports say that it’s estimated that “as many as 1,100 people of out 1,852 arrested in the Chicago area may have already been deported without due process or left the United States via voluntary departure in order to avoid prolonged states in inhumane immigration detention centers.”^[11] Can it be called voluntary deportation if the only alternatives are living in fear, facing indefinite abuse in a domestic detention, or being deported to an unfamiliar country — sometimes to only end up imprisoned there?

These are not isolated events separate from each other. And they are not the only events that are taking place under our watch. They are all part of a strategic and coordinated effort to usher in a fascist regime — and we must stand against it. We must, as working people, as a labor movement, condemn these actions and name them for what they are: fascist.

Senator Jeff Merkley warns, “What people need to understand is countries don’t lose their democracies because men with guns storm the Capitol in this modern age. It happens primarily because you have a president who starts to erode the checks and balances, and the separation of power. We have all three features of an authoritarian government: a rubber stamp Congress, a Supreme Court handing more power to the president, and an authoritarian president.”^[12]

“History Doesn’t Repeat Itself, But It Often Rhymes”

Over the 90+ years of the history of the ILWU, we have condemned fascism in all forms. The very soul of the ILWU is that of fighting racism, fascism, and authoritarianism. We condemned Apartheid in the 1980s and refused to load cargo from South African products. Echoing 90 years later, the warning printed in the ILWU Dispatcher all those years ago rings crystal clear: fascism can come to America. That moment has come. We must remain vigilant in the fight to confront, denounce, and dismantle fascism in all forms wherever it tries to gain a foothold. Fascism is antithetical to the ILWU’s Constitution and the Guiding Principles of our Union and to working class people across America. We must protect our democracy and we call upon everyone in the labor movement to join us in condemning the rise of fascism and commit to ending it in all forms. While apathy can be fatal, courage is contagious: when we fight, we win.

^[1] https://archive.ilwu.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/19451228.pdf

^[2] https://education.cfr.org/learn/learning-journey/what-does-fascism-really-mean/what-is-fascism

^[3] On Tyranny by Timothy Snyder

^[4] https://thehill.com/opinion/healthcare/5308194-mental-health-policy-coercion-funding/

^[5] https://thehill.com/opinion/healthcare/5308194-mental-health-policy-coercion-funding/

^[6]https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2025/04/16/hhs-budget-cut-trump/?next_url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2025/04/16/hhs-budget-cut-trump/

^[7] https://www.npr.org/2025/01/05/nx-s1-5200594/jan-6-attack-capitol-riot-victims-violence

^[8] https://www.npr.org/2025/01/20/g-s1-36809/trump-pardons-january-6-riot

^[9] On Tyranny by Timothy Snyder

^[10]https://www.dhs.gov/news/2025/05/05/dhs-announces-historic-travel-assistance-and-stipend-voluntary-self-deportation

^[11]https://www.jurist.org/news/2025/11/us-federal-judge-orders-release-of-hundreds-of-immigrants-from-ice-detention/

^[12]https://www.opb.org/article/2025/10/23/oregon-senator-merkley-historical-long-speech-senate-floor-protest-trump/