We Can't Stop Authoritarianism Without Taking on Wall Street

Today thousands of activists are working hard to protect voting rights, halt undemocratic gerrymandering, and defend women’s and LBGTQ+ rights. But those valiant and critically important efforts are not likely on their own to stop the rise of authoritarianism.

To have any chance of success we also have to address fundamental economic issues that plague the working class and bring them into the fight for democracy. And that requires doing all we can to halt Wall Street’s mass slaughter of jobs.

So why aren’t more progressives bringing mass layoffs into their agendas? One possible reason is that the leaders of major community organizations, as well as the Democratic Party, have become too financially dependent on the super-rich. As the executive director of a 501c3 organization for the past 40 years, I am all too familiar with the perils of raising money from philanthropic foundations. In many cases they avoid working-class issues for fear of upsetting their wealthy donors and board members.

Why vote when your vote can’t save you from economic catastrophe not of your own making?

We should also be wary of the shallow democratic commitments of financial elites. As history has shown us again and again, they find ways to make their peace with authoritarians. Jamie Dimon, president of JP Morgan Chase and supposedly a Democrat, has already made that clear by strategically praising Trump without any mention of Trump’s obvious threats to democracy. The primary goal of financial elites is to make money, not democracy.

What does fighting against mass layoffs have to do with fighting against authoritarianism?

The barons of Wall Street have absolutely no desire to help working people achieve what they need most: job stability. And if democracy can’t deliver something close to that, we are in serious trouble.

Defending democracy becomes a secondary concern to those losing their jobs. It’s not so much that the victims of mass layoffs will flock to authoritarians with great enthusiasm, all though they might if a strong man finds a way to protect their jobs. (When Trump intervened to save jobs at the Carrier Air Conditioning Company in 2017, polling showed it was widely popular.)

The barons of Wall Street have absolutely no desire to help working people achieve what they need most: job stability.

It’s more likely that many working people will not get very worked up about the loss of certain voting rights when they see politicians of both parties do little or nothing to protect their livelihoods. Why vote when your vote can’t save you from economic catastrophe not of your own making?

As my book, Wall Street’s War on Workers (available starting today!!) shows, if there is working-class attraction to the strongman, that attraction is connected to mass layoffs. Contrary to media portrayals, that attraction has very little to do with growing resentment against those who are different.

Two key findings of my book show how the working class can be brought into an anti-authoritarian movement:

1. Mass layoffs are the most salient economic issue facing the working class, and could unite working people of all shades and political inclinations; and
2. The white working class is growing more liberal, not illiberal, on key social issues concerning race, gender, immigration, and LGBTQ+ rights.

Mass layoffs are ubiquitous. We estimate that more than 30 million workers have gone through a mass layoff since 1996 (defined as 50 or more workers let go at one time for at least one month). If we add in family members, more than half of all working people have experienced the harmful effects of mass layoffs.

Mass layoffs are gut-wrenching experiences that can debilitate individuals, families, and communities. If you or a family has gone through one, this requires little explanation. Not only do such layoffs cause financial difficulties, but they negatively affect health and well-being.

For example, research shows that losing your job is the seventh most stressful life event, ranked more stressful than divorce, a sudden and serious impairment of hearing or vision, or the death of a close friend. Little wonder than that the U.S. Department of Labor recognizes that “being laid off from your job is one of the most traumatic events you can experience in life.”

And it’s not just industrial workers who have suffered these traumatic events. Workers in tech companies are also taking the hit. More than 262,000 lost their jobs in 2023, and another 41,700 so far in 2024.

As my book shows, to stop mass layoffs requires ending Wall Street’s ability to conduct leveraged buyouts and stock buybacks, something that neither political party has had the guts to do. These financial maneuvers kill jobs, even during good times, and do nothing to improve the economy.

There’s a very large and powerful movement to be built if we are willing to take on Wall Street. This requires building a multi-ethnic working-class crusade with a focus on curtailing Wall Street’s greed as well as supporting democratic rights.

Because both political parties are so hungry for Wall Street cash (and future lucrative jobs when politicians leave office), the economic terrain is wide open for a political working-class movement that fights against mass layoffs, curtails leveraged buyouts, and ends stock buybacks (which were essentially illegal until 1982).

Aren’t Mass Layoffs Inevitable?

The most difficult challenge, perhaps, will be changing our ingrained sense that mass layoffs are an inevitable feature of a modern economy. Mass layoffs are not inevitable. They are not due to unstoppable forces unleashed by new technologies, globalization, or even AI. Rather, they are the result of actual human-made deregulatory policies enacted during the past four decades, policies which gave Wall Street the green light to destroy jobs at will.

Of course, there are many other important working-class issues, including wages, healthcare, and retirement benefits. But job stability is paramount to every worker. A progressive movement must place job security at the center of its demands, which is precisely what labor unions are doing right now.

But hasn’t the white working class become authoritarian when it comes to key social issues?

No!

Another challenge is moderating our ingrained negative stereotypes about the alleged racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic white working class. In Wall Street’s War on Workers, we review the answers provided by white working-class voters to 23 divisive social issue questions from thousands of voter survey results. Here’s a sample of what we’ve found:

Should gay or lesbian couples be legally permitted to adopt children?

• In 2000, 36.2 percent agreed: In 2020, 76.0 percent agreed.

Do you believe that sexual relations between two adults of the same sex is always wrong.

• In 1996, 59.8 percent agreed: In 2021, 29.3 percent agreed.

Are you in favor of granting legal status to illegal immigrants who have held jobs and paid taxes for at least three years and not been convicted of any felony crimes.

• In 2010, 32.1 percent agreed: In 2020, 61.8 percent agreed.

Do you agree that most Blacks just don’t have the motivation or willpower to pull themselves up out of poverty.

• In 1996 56.8 percent agreed: In 2021, 32.8 percent agreed.

Wait! What about all those white-working class Trump voters?

To be sure, about one-third of the white working class supports illiberal positions. And many of them support Trump. But our research shows there’s very little attitudinal difference between white worker and white professionals on these issues.

The vast majority of working people are united in their desire for stable jobs, fairness, and freedom from all forms of discrimination.

Also, contrary to popular portrayals, it’s not at all clear that the white working-class forms the hard core of the MAGA movement. In our book we show that the members of the Tea Party, for example, were disproportionately upper middle class, not working class. The January 6th insurrectionists who have been arrested are disproportionately white collar and business owners. Republican Party primary voters are wealthier and better educated than the average voter.

Democratic Party pollster, Mike Lux, agrees with our finding that economics, not the culture wars, is what motivates working-class voters:

“Based on the evidence I have seen, these voters wouldn’t care all that much about the cultural difference and the woke thing if they thought Democrats gave more of a damn about the economic challenges they face deeply and daily.”

There’s a very large and powerful movement to be built if we are willing to take on Wall Street. This requires building a multi-ethnic working-class crusade with a focus on curtailing Wall Street’s greed as well as supporting democratic rights.

Our research strongly suggests that there is no reason for a working-class movement to avoid discussions and debates on difficult social issues while tackling mass layoffs. Certainly, there will be disagreements, but our data suggests that the vast majority of working people are united in their desire for stable jobs, fairness, and freedom from all forms of discrimination.

The need for mass education

Wall Street’s War on Workers is part of our contribution to building an educational infrastructure to assist progressive movement building. For that tool to be useful, however, it needs to travel widely.

Please read the book, review it wherever you can, and help get the message out. (All proceeds go to the Labor Institute’s Political Economy for Workers educational projects.)

Thank you for your support and for the good work you are doing to make our world a better place.