Politcal Action
DRUM claims to represent the views of 80% of Black autoworkers and 30% of white ones. This publication details DRUM’s electoral history in the Union, noting their first campaign for their candidate Ron March for the position of Trustee. Because their movement was so underestimated, March unexpectedly won the election which led to scheming for a runoff election to ensure March and DRUM’s ideology were not in office. Don Jackson ran for Vice President afterward and despite popular support he faced the same results, losing the election. DRUM paints these elections in a conspiratorial fashion in which the opposition candidates DRUM runs are met by a united racist front which has the funds to block their election. While race is key to DRUM’s mission and ideology, economic exploitation is at the crux of the oppression they were fighting, evident in the everyday thievery of the Union in embezzling money from local chapters DRUM members belonged to.
Hoping to secure their rights formally through the union, DRUM fielded their own candidate named Don Jackson. DRUM complained about the long line of union leaders who did little for Black workers while pocketing their dues as mere UAW lackeys seeking a more comfortable and lucrative position within the plant’s exploitative hierarchy. A target of particular vitriol by DRUM was the Black union leadership which cooperated with management to the detriment of the workers they were supposed to fight for. DRUM makes explicit allusions to the plantation dynamics which stratified domestic and field working enslaved people, the plantation being a common point of reference for the inequalities at the plant at large. It is in this context that Jackson stands out as a figure of integrity to the Black worker community of the plant. Sold as “hard line, ass-kicking, Black-loving, and brilliant”, Jackson is said to be willing to risk his life and his job for candidacy, a very real commitment given the consequences that Black workers faced in standing up to management and the union.
As is now unfortunately commonplace in these publications, DRUM recalled yet another incident of wrongful firing of a Black worker. DRUM purports that it, unlike the UAW (which is disparaging labeled Unite All Whites), will support fired Black workers and encourages them to picket. There are also frequent references to the League of Revolutionary Black Workers which was the umbrella organization that all of Detroit’s Revolutionary Union Movements united under, including a branch at the Eldon Avenue plant (ELRUM) as well as Ford (FRUM) and United Parcel Service workers (UPRUM) subsidiaries. This issue ends with an invitation to a rally to hear Jackson speak on how he will end racism and exploitation of Black workers at the plant. Facing the same conditions as other DRUM leaders like Ron March, Jackson was unsuccessful but represented a call to action which mobilized workers to fight for their grievances to be heard.
In this issue, DRUM laid out its accomplishments including the fostering of Black unity at the plant, ending physical abuse by supervisors, promoting Black pride, making the UAW take Black worker grievances seriously, exposing the hazardous conditions at Dodge Main and other plants, effectively communicating abuses against Black workers to the whole plant, exposing the role of Chrysler in working with Apartheid South Africa, and aiding other RUMs. A “vote for Don Jackson” graphic also highlights DRUM’s attempt to get a candidate with their voice elected.
The next section highlights the problems faced by Black workers at the plant and the action DRUM took to resolve those issues. Problems include racism in the plant and at nearby businesses, harsh working conditions, the UAW ignoring grievances, and police interventions at the plant. The actions taken by DRUM were extensive and include: boycotting racist bars, hosting DRUM rallies, sit-ins, and strikes which cost Chrysler millions of dollars, storming executive board meetings, launching multiple election campaigns, and taking the city of Hamtramck and its police force to court after worker beatings.