Election Mania: Mamdani Wins Big, UFT Loses Bigger, The State of DSA in the UFT

I hold this truth to be self-evident: 

The UFT leadership continues to be in bed with the establishment political machine that often is not aligned to our values and not held accountable for making decisions that affect us.  The uft is the democratic establishment and Mulgrew will try very hard to keep the Nancy Pelosi, Chuck Schumer, Grace Meng, Hilary Clinton, Randi weingarten etc etc etc power going along with his own.

Sunday, June 28, 2026

Before I get into thoughts on the recent election, tonight is a Fix Retiree Benefits Zoom. Stop by and check it out. The goal is to do one hour from 7-8 but it might run a bit longer. I need to write a lot more on what's going on in the retiree chapter and might get a chance at the zoom tonight.

28 Jun 2026WEBINAR

Fix Retiree Benefits Launch Town Hall Meeting

7:00 PMZoom

RSVP

Congrats to all my still in-service friends on the end of the school year and another step to retirement. But I should point out that a number of my colleagues in ABC ended the school year writing about how much they still love teaching ever two decades in.

I'm about to head out to a DSA celebratory beach party that will last all day.  

Tuesday I speculated on the election outcome. I expected a closer race in 7 where Reynoso had the advantage of the Nydia Vazquez and his own machines, which turned out to be barely machines at all, a sign of the deterioration of the Dem Party generally and how non-competitive it has been nationally. National and local media were going nuts in shock over the big 3 wins by Mamdani as all losing candidates were backed by the Dem machine led by Hakeem Jeffries.  And if Mamdani had allowed Chi Ossi to primary him, guess what? 

Jeffries will face a primary next time and if he was smart he would take a run for Chuck's Senate seat, though DSA will probably go for that, though I'm not sure there is enough DSA muscle to win a state race. Or Jeffries might just do a turn around if he's a good politician. But DSA should also keep its discipline and talk of a 2028 candidate is fantasy at this point, though Ro Khana is beginning to look like an acceptable candidate along the lines of Brad Lander has been. Not as left but not center.

It was a smashing victory for DSA which also elected 16 members at the state level and is spreading outside NY. 

DSA Dominates Albany Elections Despite Super PAC Deluge:  The DSA made gains in New York despite super PACs spending $9.6 million in state legislative races — nearly five times the total from 2024... ny focus

Note this Jacobin headline: 

Socialists Won Big in NYC Last Night and Aren't Done ...

Reynoso was more embedded in traditional backroom political dealmaking and backed by the low-expectations wing of the labor movement, in which politics is mostly a matter of making safe bets on electing and reelecting traditional corporate Democrats — even in cities and neighborhoods where it’s clear that the horizons have shifted in a more expansive pro-worker direction. That approach to politics was decisively defeated.

Center Dems don't seem to have enough of a ground game left, relying on endorsements and ads but not enough of a GOTV game. 

I would apply the same idea to UFT elections where the only way to defeat Unity is with a ground game, which the oppo has never developed. 

I've been a fringe member of DSA for about 8 years even when I disagree with a bunch of their positions but love the energy and organizing ability. I attended South Brooklyn branch meetings until the pandemic. They live up to the democratic label with extreme democracy at local levels. I get to vote on so many issues and leaders. Recently I've hooked up with a group of DSA in Rockaway and we canvased for Mamdani. They are even having an all day beach party in Rockaway today. 

Tuesday was also a smashing loss for the UFT/Unity leadership. Look at this graphic:

An ABCer on FB commented:

Michael Mulgrew and the UFT leadership not only once again backed a losing political candidate, they did so:

a) when every single poll had him behind the candidate that ultimately won — at one point Goldman was polling nearly *thirty points* behind Lander, and

b) without a vote from the Delegate Assembly, the only body in the UFT with the authority to make political endorsements (unless the Delegate Assembly votes to kick the decision to the Executive Board, which to be clear in this instance they didn’t) 

Three out of four lost, though I liked the Bores endorsement which was interesting since the UFT endorsed Micah Lasher last time for the state assembly, as I wrote about a year ago:

Another Unity/UFT Sellout - Backs Micah Lasher, Bloomberg pro Tier 6, Charter School, Student First Acolyte - for State Assembly

What happened I wonder for them to abandon Lasher? Maybe the Tier 6 issue stuck?

Mulgrew endorsed every one of the three losing Congressional candidates. The UFT endorsed Goldman over Lander without an endorsement vote from the Delegate Assembly while Mulgrew lied, claiming NYSUT endorsed Goldman. Which means someone somewhere in the union (guess who?) made a decision to undemocratically exercise their political prerogative over the members. Doing this not only violated the UFT constitution, but more importantly it’s flat-out wrong and selfish, and made all the more so when you consider that whoever this presumed "expert" was backed a candidate that lost by nearly 30%.

The union leadership continues to be in bed with the establishment political machine that often is not aligned to our values or not held accountable for making decisions that affect us.

DSA has been a hot item in the mainstream press with the emphasis on the growing threat to the Democratic Party by both the right and the so-called "moderate" Dems, which is really corporate/AIPAC friendly. James Carville positively lost it, joining Trump in seeing a threat to the nation by DSA wins. 

Think of the Corp Dems calls for DSA to stay out of the Dem Party and form their own party. The James Carville off the wall comments. Imagine they replaced the Green Party in a much more effective manner and ran a third party presidential candidate, thus making the Dems a sure loser. Oh the howls of protest for them doing exactly what they are being told to do if they did not be part of the big tent? 

Most Dems still say the party is big-tent even with the extreme views expressed by some winning candidates. Now never forget that our own beloved UFT/Unity leadership are very much part of the anti-left Dem Party going back to the Shanker roots of supporting the Vietnam War. The Mamdani endorsement was forced on them by the stark choice of him or Cuomo - and the clear direction of the momentum. But make no mistake, the UFT fundamentally is where it was politically in the Shanker years. 

The UFT leadership engaged in a vicious red-baiting attack on DSA as recently as January, 2025:

 

How different is this from the Trump comments?

I blogged about that post: 

DA Chaos - Unity Goes Red-Scare Wilding In Dual Attacks on MORE Caucus and Arise - And also Aims Dart at Marianne

 I noted:  

A strong candidate for mayor, Zohran Mamdani is in DSA. Imagine the UFT, given a choice between Cuomo and Mamdani, will back Cuomo because of their 65 year history of vicious anti-communism and red-baiting. 

Well I was wrong on that as it was clear Cuomo was going down and give Mulgrew credit for hopping on board with a winner, though it may not help much in upcoming contract negotiations.

The Unity crowd toned down their critiques of MORE and ARISE with the rise of ABC, a big tent group that both ARISE components and Unity see as a bigger threat, as it proved in the election with their 32% compared to the ARISE 14%. 

How come the DSA crowd centered in the 14-year old MORE Caucus has failed to develop a ground game in the UFT, as evidenced by the 14% vote in the 2025 election for the ARISE slate? Remember, the other two caucuses in ARISE are retiree RA and the mostly retiree New Action, so MORE was expected to carry the load and clearly failed. The failure of DSA people in the UFT compared to the success of DSA on the larger playing field is worth exploring in a follow-up but here's my initial view: MORE began in 2011 as a big-tent operation but post-2016, the DSA/ISO (now defunct) leadership decided to narrow the tent with a move to the left that pushed out even fellow-leftists, many of whom have drifted to ABC. 

One of the keys has been the hemorrhaging of MORE members who leave teaching or jump out of the intensity of the regular classroom. Or jump from school to school. I came into my new school after 3 years of teaching when I got my full appointment as the resident big mouth radical and turned many people off. It took me 5 years to begin to gain the trust of my colleagues and yes, I modified my big mouth radicalism. I heard Hasan Piker last week make the point that newly organized often go over the top and it takes years to learn to temper things as you work with people not of your views. 

The internal big tent vs narrow tent struggle in MORE was between the older lefty ICE people and the younger International Socialists who at one point according to internal memos, considered giving up on the MORE project until they came up with the idea of going to DSA to recruit teachers into MORE - and they were so successful they were able to dominate by 2018 and push the ICE people out, this cementing MORE as a hard left caucus, which meant they could never win a UFT election on their own, as they found out when they ran alone in the 2019 election, thus forcing them into alliances with United for Change in 2022 and ARISE in 2025, with increasing alienation from a strong minority that either doesn't want to run in elections or doesn't want to compromise with other groups that don't adhere to their rigid ideology.

Big tent vs narrow tent

Unlike the DSA in the big tent Dem Party, the DSA faction in MORE believes the caucus must remain small tent pure. I contend that if the original MORE as big tent that included people from ICE had been adhered to, MORE would be a contender. Let me give you one example of a hard-core MOREista I was friendly with a few years ago. She texted me asking where I stood on Israel about a year and a half ago and I replied I was still working things out due to my growing up in the post-holocaust era. I was Done. Ghosted. 

The DSA has proven it can be a major force on all levels of politics with a big-tent approach in the Dem party and internally there is some room for a variety of caucuses to operate. Is that a perfect solution to democracy? I had offered that type of idea at the very first meeting of MORE -- let ideas compete in an open way. But that's not the way of ideologues. 

In my final days in MORE I proposed they were more of a club or advocacy group in the UFT, which I was fine with -  just not a caucus in UFT elections and I have been proven right. My advice is to not run as a caucus in UFT elections but to be open to whatever members who do want to be involved do so. ABC would be the perfect place for them to land. If MORE followed my advice, ARISE would be dead, it it already hasn't died and we would have one group facing Unity head on, with an actual chance to win in 2028. But don't expect practicality to win out. 

Afterburn 

Check out Ross Barkan  

The New Socialist Revolution: Zohran Mamdani's remarkable night

Mamdani cannot impose his will on the Democratic Party like Trump has on the Republicans. The moderate, institutional Democratic faction lucked out; they will not, for now, be driven to extinction. They will not suffer the fate of all the Republican politicians who stood against Trump over the last decade. Luck, though, comes with caveats. Within the five boroughs—this beating heart of Empire—they are going to have to fight for their life.

 

 

 

Retired Teacher Chapter Exec Bd meets gets sad news, Analysis of Texas Dem Primary - Surprise - Real Progressive Won, Is Iran winning?

The Kazansky/Brown race for TRS heating up as hundreds attend an ABC info zoom -- report coming soon. 

 

Respect Means Retirement Security... David Kazansky Mar 7

Monday, March 9, 2026

 

I attended the March 3rd (my birthday) Retiree Teacher Exec Bd meeting on Tuesday after rushing back from a weekend jaunt to attend The Philadelphia Flower Show, the nation's oldest and largest horticultural event, held annually since 1829. Most people I know think that I'm nuts and after attending the meeting I agree with them. 

 

There was an election taking place and I wanted to be there to stand up for the candidate I favored in a 4 way race. (She didn't win.) The RTC constitution gives the EB the right to replace any elected position, though when we try to replace the dozen delegates (out of the 300 we elected), the UFT says we can't -- you know, because they say we can't. We were told by a former Unity delegate that when they ran the chapter and had vacancies, Tom Murphy just replaced them. They make rules up as they go along.

 

The lack of aggressiveness by the RTC leadership only emboldens bullying by the UFT/Unity leadership. I think it goes beyond that and detect some fear by the ideologues in RA of adding new delegates who might not be pure enough ideologically --- but that's only my guess. One RTC Exec Bd member pointed out that adding a new batch of delegates would invigorate our contingent at the DA which has been shrinking to the point of irrelevancy, perhaps the major failure of the RA hierarchy.

 

There was an opening on the RTC Executive Board due to the resignation recently of Daniel Harkavy due to an illness - cancer that seemed to escalate quickly. We found out on Tuesday that he died on February 20, a real shock to many of us who had enormous respect for Daniel for his sense of humor, smarts, and judicious non-partisan advice. I wanted to touch base with him after he resigned and am kicking myself for failing to do so. Daniel taught chemistry at Brooklyn Tech for 26 years. 

 

At the RTC EB meeting last Tuesday, Arthur Goldstein, who got to know Daniel, paid an impassioned tribute to Daniel and followed that up with this post.

RIP Daniel: Daniel Harkavy passes:  Arthur Goldstein- Mar 06, 2026

I'm not sure how Daniel came to be part of the RTC EB - I didn't know him before. He tried to steer a neutral course during the UFT election follies last year, signing petitions for both ABC and ARISE, and attempted to run with both slates but was made to choose by ARISE. He ran with ABC because he felt ABC had the better chance to win but remained cordial with everyone. 

 

When ABC had a petition signing in Bayside, where Daniel lived, he showed up and met Arthur and was introduced to one of our officer candidates who is also a chemistry teacher who graduated from Brooklyn Tech a year before Daniel began teaching there. He was thrilled to meet her. 

 

For someone I barely knew, his passing was especially upsetting because when he posted he was in the hospital I intended to touch base with him as a fellow cancer patient who went through some tough days over the 6 months of chemo. To have been stricken with a deadly cancer at such a relatively young age - he was 63 but count the time leading up to it - is so sad and makes me feel relatively lucky at having reached 81 recently and still be fairly mobile and active. 

 

I barely knew him but will miss him.

 

Daniel was open and respected for openly saying that if he felt ARISE had the better chance he would have run with them. The ABC crew respected him for that view and we felt that if he would have been allowed to run on the ARISE too, he would have gotten 46% of the vote, the highest total of any non-Unity person in history. 

 

I advocated running hundreds of people on both slates and might have actually sneaked a few people in. At some point the people who made that decision for ARISE need to be held accountable. Actually, the entire leadership of ARISE.

 

As to the election for his replacement, as I said, my favored candidate who also ran with the ABC slate did not win and lost to someone who had no connection to the movement we built among retirees over the past 5 years. A very nice guy, by the way. But a message was sent by the New Action/Retiree Advocate dominated RTC EB and the result is not a positive development for a united front in the 2027 RTC chapter election. Details next time.

 

 =======

 

The Texas Primaries

I'm a political nerd and follow both mainstream and alt media.

 

On the broader political front,  I get some of the best political analysis at breaking points, an alt media outpost that includes the left and the right, with the great reporter Ryan Grim and Krystal Ball representing the left. But it's always good to see what the right is thinking, though this is not MAGA right. 

 

I've been getting about 10 messages a day from Talarico -- I want to send him some money, but then I will get 20 messages a day. 

 

Wednesday's discussion of the Talarico/Crockett primary was fascinating and for a deep dive I urge you to check it out: https://youtu.be/5ttTwSR60L0?si=ms2W31EGQwDyprjb 

 

Not knowing enough beforehand, I did not have a dog in the race, other than the sense that Talarico had a better chance to win than Crockett, whose performance-based political acts has never resonated with me. Some view her as squad-oriented but and someone said to me she was like AOC. Far from AOC or the squad, she is more cultural than economic left. And in fact it turns out according to the analysys below that Talarico made the better economic left case.

 

Mainstream media painted the race as the left (Crockett) vs the center (Talarico) and therefore a lesson for Dems to stay to the center. This analysis actually paints Talarico as a sort of left because he ran an anti-corporate Bernie type campaign, albeit with some religious twists while Crocket despite her performativeness actually avoided the wealthy vs the rest of us and was more of a Dem cultural

 

   

 

Republicans already spent more than $71 million to try to push Cornyn over the finish line, according to AdImpact, a media tracking firm. But all that money got him to only 42% in the primary against Paxton, who has been impeached, indicted, and rocked by multiple cheating scandals. 

• The New Yorker: In the Texas Primaries, a Good Night for James Talarico, and a Bad One for John Cornyn  

Cornyn, still the establishment conservative, raised roughly sixty-nine million dollars; Paxton just four million. In the final stages of the primary, the incumbent, still trailing in the polls, released a spot for the ages, which opened, “It’s voting time, so let’s cut through the bullshit. Crooked Ken Paxton cheated on his wife. She’s divorcing him on Biblical grounds.” Paxton’s camp deployed the candidate’s daughter in a last-minute response ad, and called Cornyn “a desperate shell of a man clinging to power.” But, on Tuesday night, neither candidate managed to get fifty per cent of the vote, which means they’ll face off again in a runoff, in May. In theory, Republican voters might have been ready to throw out the last vestiges of the pre-Trump party. But not for Ken Paxton. At least not yet.

Crockett’s challenge to Talarico had less to do with ideological difference than with style—a somewhat repetitive January debate between the two candidates kept returning not to policy but to the question of whether it was better to establish common ground with some conservatives in the hope of winning their votes (Talarico’s position) or simply to rally your side by making clear what you opposed (Crockett’s). Crockett seemed to see enemies everywhere, and closed her campaign lashing out at certain political consultants and reporters. The congresswoman’s team expelled Elaine Godfrey, who’d published a critical profile of the candidate in The Atlantic, from an event for being a “top-notch hater.” The resulting back-and-forth on social media, between the campaign and its liberal critics, consumed much of the race’s final days. 

Who's Winning the Iran War? A surprising view differs from mainstream media from the left and the right.

 

The left view - Ryan X Tim Dillon: https://youtu.be/3lTk2SOHeVM?si=TR1ZbwOmoACNLiI5

The right view from Saagar and Tucker on Iran winning - Saagar X Tucker: https://youtu.be/Dl78cDjOIRM?si=CTGDRVtSzXWTJYSJ

 

 

Cults: Unity Caucus Channels Republicans as UFT Delegate Assembly Echoes Trump State of the Union,TRS Election Adds Another Purged Unity Defector

Saturday, Feb. 28, 2026

Watching the Republicans leap up for joy at every Trump lie and bit of misinformation at the SOTU brought echoes of recent UFT Delegate Assemblies where we see a similar reaction from (fake) jocularity from the Unity Caucus cheering committee. The longest SOTU and most boring speech in history reminded me of some of Mulgrew's long-winded reports at the DA.

There was no better example than the Feb. DA where the main item was the endorsement for TRS of Unity candidate Tom Brown as one Unityite after another rose to give praise - and oh the cheers when the vote was taken to endorse him. Oppo people, like the Dems at the SOTU sat on their hands. There just weren't many of them and even for those who were there, there was no coordination. More and more oppo people are just not bothering to attend -- a boycott of sorts, like the Dems who stayed away from the SOTU. 

The only group that had a strategy - sort of - was ABC people, but I was lukewarm to not opposing Tom Brown on the grounds he was one of 3 Unity shills who would do whatever Mulgrew tells him to do. The argument for David Kazansky is that he would now be an independent voice - and yes, for 9 years he was a union leadership voice - publicly - but I suspect behind the scenes he was willing to ask questions about the fees we were paying, the role of private equity and investment strategy.

MORE on the whole has never felt the DA was an important venue. And the vaunted 300 Retiree Advocate delegates that replaced the Unity 300 in the June 2024 supposedly game-changing election which has not changed the game very much have been disappearing from the DA in droves, thus negating the impact of that election. MORE claims 100 DA. members but few show up, so the Unity staff and loyalist CLs dominate the room. Remember ARISE? No signs anywhere that they are alive since the embarassing 14% vote in the 2025 UFT election.

Even I, an over 50-year DA attendee, even when I wasn't a delegate, no longer see it worth it to hand out leaflets. I like to attend for social reasons to schmooze and  hang out with my pals.

The real changes in the UFT are happening underneath the covers and I am glad to be part of the various fragments of people connected to ABC. 

Mulgrew helps build the new opposition in the UFT

 

What the hell is happening at the UFT that 2 former pension reps are challenging the Unity candidate for TRS rep? 

 

Former UFT special rep Frank Panebianco is joining former 9-year Teacher Retirement System rep David Kazansky, pushed out of the job by Mulgrew two years ago and fired last June, in the race for TRS rep against Unity loyalist Tom Brown. Panebianco was among those staffers fired by Mulgrew. 

 

Is he a plant by Unity to divide the oppo vote? The guess is he is not but genuinely pissed off at the leadership. Is Unity cheering his candidacy against David? I'm thinking not as he is popular and  may well draw votes from Unity and turn this into a 3-person race. And of course David is popular in Untiy and will also draw votes. In a secret ballot, no matter the pressure from the leadership, there will be defections. Unity may punish district reps who don't turn out the vote -- we get a post-election report on the vote breakdown for every school. The key for Kazansky is to build a strong network of schools that will vote for him - right now there are 6 weeks to get 1000 signatures for each candidate. He has a shot at winning no matter what, but even if Brown wins the network built in the campaign can be used in the future. 

 

That two long-term Unity pension experts have challenged Unity candidate Tom Brown is indicative of the same kind of cracks we have been seeing in Uniy over the past few years. The massive retiree and para oppo wins in the 2024 chapter elections were clear indicators - the removal of Amy Arundell from Queens started a trend and her ability to bring some serious elements of Unity along with her in last year's union election has created a potential new oppo block in ABC outside the usual caucus suspects. 

 

Despite the firings by Mulgrew last June, while scaring some of Unity back into the fold, has still left some people seething. (One well-known school-based Unity recently declared privately "I'm done with them." Are they ready to be openly part of an oppo group like ABC? That may take some time and also depends on how capable ABC looks over the next few years. And don't forget that Unity 54% vote in the election. It takes some time for people who have been in a cult to wean themselves off. 

 

This look good for Unity - short term on the surface - but many of these people have actually learned some organizing skills, albeit in the rigid confines of Unity. But once freed, the creativity flows and excitement at the freedom grows. It is up to the legacy oppos to figure out how to join forces if they want to defeat Unity. There is a soft strucrure in place within the ABC coalition by the alliances built in last year's election and ties that bind continue to be built. 

 

Learn more about David at WeTrustDavid.org 

 

The Mulgrew reign of terror may work to keep staffers in fear and in line but the firing of well-liked and competent people also sends a message and degrades the structure from underneath. The firing of District 30 rep Ashley Rzonca has riled chapter leaders and rank and file in the district and is creating a cloud of resentment that will ultimately morph into open opposition. I never knew Ashley until she was fired last June and have come to see her abilities in various strategy sessions. 

 

Then there is Pissgate where a photo of Amy was placed in a men's room urinal at the Delegate Assembly and the culprit wasn't found despite months of investigation by an outside lawyer and despite cameras. 

 

There is a lot of residual fear and loathing of Mulgrew and his administration throughout the ranks. LeRoy Barr's retirement and the flippant way he announced it at the January DA that surprised Mulgrew won't help as he was able to keep many of the troops in line. Will LeRoy loyalists begin to jump ship too? He is still in charge of Unity Caucus so he will be a factor. Some say the simple solution for Unity is to replace Mulgrew and some see the Mike Sill rise as a solution. BTW- Mike was once a protege of Amy Arundell who was his boss. 

 

The woim toins.

 

Do you want to build your caucus or do you want to win an election? That was a question asked of leaders of the RA caucus and unfortunately it looks like caucus first. The same with NAC and MORE -- they will gladly take 14% of the vote forever as long as they can control their caucus. At a recent meeting one non-UFT person told me "it's all about control - having power in a small fishbowl." 

 

If the legacy caucuses wake up and join a movement like ABC, Unity would be in trouble.

 

 

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/talk-out-of-school/id1490313171?i=1000751049681 

 

David Kazansky speaks about the responsibility of the TRS Trustees.

https://wbai.org/archive/program/episode/?id=63921

A substantive, no-spin conversation about retirement security for NYC educators and retirees. 

 

Former three-term TRS Trustee David Kazansky.was interviewed by Daniel Alicea on WBAI in part 1 of a 2 part interview on Sunday. 

 

• David’s storied career as an educator, unionist and trustee

• What really happens inside the TRS boardroom

• Private equity and pension transparency

• Fiduciary duty and divestment

• Tier 6 and what reform would actually take

• The upcoming TRS trustee election — and what’s at stake

Part 2 also drops here next week and will be aired the next time Daniel hosts Talk Out of School.

Let’s stay informed.

— Dan Alicea

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Learn more about David at WeTrustDavid.org

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Growing Authoritarianism at the UFT as Unity continues to take Lying shots at ABC

The more restrictive people in power get in an attempt to tamp down critics, the more likely their crackdowns spike greater opposition and more critics.

How do you distinguish between fascism and authoritarianism? And how do you fight fascism when you yourselves are authoritarians? 

Authoritarianism allows limited freedoms but maintains strict control over political processes. 

A Unity initiative to make chapter leaders sit down and shut up was voted down. This was remarkable—the exception that proves the rule. It would have mandated top-down messaging from UFT at all levels. -- Arthur Goldstein Notes on the Nov. DA 

Unity leaflet attacks DSA claiming they are infiltrating the UFT with MORE as an instrument but also attacking Marianne Pizzitola. Then months later they endorse the DSA candidate for mayor. 

Saturday, Dec. 6, 2025 

The line between fascist and authoritarian rule can be fuzzy, but there is a difference. 

 

I'm not referring here to the Trump MAGA crowd, which clearly leans fascist. I don't like to call people fascists and prefer the label of "fascistic-type behavior" but the MAGA crowd is clearly beyond wanna-be fascists. 

Is authoritarianism and fascism the same thing? 

I Googled the question:

Authoritarianism is a general form of governance defined by the centralization of power and limited political freedoms. (A check for both Unity and other Caucuses in the UFT)

Fascism is a specific, far-right, and highly ideological form of authoritarianism that includes elements such as extreme nationalism and often racism. All fascist regimes are authoritarian, but not all authoritarian regimes are fascist. 

Authoritarianism is a form of government where power is concentrated in a single leader or small group, and there is little to no accountability to the public. It suppresses political freedoms, limits individual rights, and often uses control, fear, or violence to maintain power, with citizens expected to show blind submission to authority. (Check)

The theme here is UFT/Unity Caucus and authoritarianism. 

When people engage in authoritarian-like behavior it's OK to call then authoritarians, and that is an appropriate label for the UFT leadership, as I will offer examples below.

I would not term the behavior of our UFT/Unity Caucus leadership fascistic - that is pure hyperbole. But "increasingly authoritarian" is more apt. 

 

The prime directive of authoritarian led organizations is to maintain power - often at all costs and that fits the Unity machine perfectly.

 

Think of these characteristics of authoritarianism and compare them to the UFT/Unity crowd.

Has the UFT/Unity leadership shown indications of this behavior? Let me count the ways. Call them authoritarians. Just don't call them fascists.

Key characteristics of authoritarianism (as related to the UFT/Unity leadership):

Concentrated power:

A single person or a small group holds most of the power, with little to no accountability to the people.  

The UFT has had four presidents over 60 years. Just think of that. The faces may change, but the political machine remains the same. Thus, when people attack Mulgrew as the problem, I point out the problem is Unity - when Mulgrew goes, only the face of the machine will change. While the leadership often seems incompetent, they have proven very competent at keeping control, managing the membership and holding on to power, though recently they have been lucking out due to the lack of an effective opposition, a situation going back decades. 

 

Right now we see that even inside the Unity machine, whereas there may have been some sense of people being consulted in the past, we now have 3 Men in the room: Mulgrew, Barr, Sill - and at times a woman: Mary Vaccaro. But the ABC campaign with many Unity defectors indicated some cracks in the machine for the first time. One of their complaints was that there was a sense of being consulted in the Randi years - though not all that much but she knew how to play the game -- but now even the officers in Ad Com are ignored - other than the gang of 3+1. Below that level, there is some unrest and recent aggression has been aimed at tamping it down. A sinking ship may be kept afloat with vigorous pumping but ultimately that is a losing battle.

Suppressed freedoms:

Individual rights, such as freedom of speech and the press, are limited or denied to prevent opposition and maintain control. 

 

Limited political opposition:

Opposition parties are often discouraged, prohibited, or have their legitimacy attacked.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Look at the control of the DA. Barr must approve all leaflets put on the table at the DA, after cancelling the 25 year old history of having a table for non-official materials, granted by Randi Weingarten in 1998. We had a battle with a UFT employee guarding the table during DA to make sure no scurrilous lit goes on, violating decades of policy. That is her assignment at the DA. She and LeRoy claim Covid as an excuse. Jeez. I called them out on this policy at the November DA. 

 

Unity Attempts to Bennett Fischerize chapter leaders

A Nov. DA Unity backed reso, defeated, called for limits on free speech of chapter leaders and their freedom to communicate with their members, following the example of the suppression of RTC Chair Bennett Fischer's ability to communicate with RTC members. Many of us have urged Bennett to make a big deal of this censorship and in fact send in his report and if Mulgrew censors it make a big deal of it, but instead he is circumspect in those reports. The RTC leadership seems worried that Mulgrew will turn off their electricity if they push back too hard. The RTC leadership has already turned off any vestige of militant resistance. I get lectured all the time that UFT leadership are not enemies and we must stick together to fight fascism. Hard to fight fascism when you have to work with authoritarians who want to suppress democracy. Some in RTC argue that Unity is not an enemy but fellow UFT members and we have to work with them in a bipartisanship way. That's how the Democratic Party has operated while Republicans smash them to bits. 

 

Arthur in a recent post addresses the November DA and that ugly Unity reso.

Unity Fails to Erode Democracy (or Control Class Size): Then, they try to blame ABC for their shortcomings.

You won't find a Unity leaflet or social media post that doesn't try to slime ABC, demonstrating where they see the real threat to them. 

 

Every Unity leaflet and social media post attacks ABC and makes false claims ABC opposes increasing para pay or decreasing class size, false claims of course. They brand critical comments over the inept methods they use as an attack on the union. Recently they held a demo at the city council over the para reso - 3 staffers showed up and they considered that a success. Jeez.

Control and fear:

They may use various methods like corruption, misinformation, propaganda, or violence to ensure compliance and discourage dissent.  

How about the June massacre firings and more that came in September?

See every Unity leaflet and social media post attack ABC and make false claims they oppose increasing para pay or decreasing class size. Have you checked their propaganda machine where everything they do is wonderful? -- Trump uses their bragging playbook.

Undemocratic practices:

Authoritarian systems often ignore or subvert democratic processes, sometimes even while holding elections.

 

Yes Virginia, there was some playing around during the elections but not enough to make them lose --- they were confident of winning due to the two oppositions running against them but if the day comes when and if there is one strong opposition, watch for the dirty tricks. The 54% they got is a big threat to them and they need ARISE to stay alive to make sure ABC doesn't win.

 

Remember electronic voting? They formed a committee to study it that has started meeting with ABC and ARISE reps - naturally the committee is packed with Unity. Do you want to wager on Polymarket whether the committee will vote for electronic voting at future elections? 

Emphasis on obedience: Members

 are expected to show obedience to authority, sometimes referred to as "blind submission".  

                                                                                                   

The 54% Unity got in the election plus the losses in the RTC and para chapter are warning signs. They are lucky so far due to the divisions in the opposition, and I will get into these divisions in upcoming posts. 

 

But expect further crackdowns on democracy, which often has the opposite effect of spurring open and hidden opposition. (Think of the fall of the Soviet block, which lasted 70 years as Unity control of the UFT approaches that number.)

Is a cornered party as dangerous as a cornered rat? We should be sober: the political winds are blowing hard against the "ruling party". (Your favorite group in power)______ are staring at a meltdown... defections mount and internal chaos spreads throughout leadership. ... Tom Hartmann   

Gee, ya think?  

 

District 30 Cls Revolt

The big firings were meant to send a message to the Unity rank and file. From what I'm hearing, there is fear - but also resentment. The firing of D. 30 rep Ashley Rzonca who was loyal to Unity but fired for perceived friendship with Amy Arundell, is having repercussions. A batch D. 30 CL are refusing to attend district rep meetings and are meeting on their own at the same time. The union went whining to the Dist Supt about these alt meetings in the schools. Perfect behavior of a cornered party. Go ask the boss to help you beat down a revolt.

 

So far internal chaos has not spread and they have weathered the threat to the Delegate Assembly they were facing from the 300 delegates from retirees plus the 100 MORE delegates. We've seen a withering away of the retiree delegate impact, due to the incompetence of the Retiree Advocate/RTC leadership, as we will see in upcoming posts and the work Arthur has been doing to expose them. And the MORE 100 have had zero impact and have not shown much interest in the DA. And so far the ABC crowd has gotten off to a slow start this year and also has not organized at the DA. Some on all sides are talking about giving up at organizing at the DA. I think the DA for at least through next year has potential if all the delegates from RA, MORE and ABC managed to put something together. Go bet on Polymarket if you think that is possible. 

 

I'd sooner bet on a meteor like the one that wiped out the dinosaurs.

But change might come from another direction outside the caucus structure.

 

District 30 Cls Revolt

The big firings were meant to send a message to the Unity rank and file. From what I'm hearing, there is fear - but also resentment. The firing of D. 30 rep Ashley Rzonca who was loyal to Unity but fired for perceived friendship with Amy Arundell, is having repercussions. A batch D. 30 CL are refusing to attend district rep meetings and are meeting on their own at the same time. The union went whining to the Dist Supt about these alt meetings in the schools. Perfect behavior of a cornered party. Go ask the boss to help you beat down a revolt.

 

Unity's best chance of maintaining power is the divisions in the opposition. I think ABC has the most potential but don't expect the legacy caucus driven groups to join the party as the same principle of oligarchy driven organizations operates with them as it does with Unity: 

 

The prime directive of authoritarian led organizations is to maintain power - often at all costs.

 

Retiree Advocate has become the power in the Retiree Chapter - at least until the next election in May 2027 and has been losing its way, which Arthur has been chronicling.                                                                                                                                       

Beware of old boss becoming the new boss - the dangers of a loyal opposition seeking alliances with authoritarians in power.