the Voice of
The Communist League of Revolutionary Workers–Internationalist
“The emancipation of the working class will only be achieved by the working class itself.”
— Karl Marx
the Voice of
The Communist League of Revolutionary Workers–Internationalist
“The emancipation of the working class will only be achieved by the working class itself.”
— Karl Marx
Feb 17, 2025
Chicago teachers have been working without a contact for over seven months, and negotiations drag on.
They want well-deserved pay increases and important changes for students and staff to upgrade the quality of education. But Chicago Public Schools (CPS) has stiffened its opposition to these demands, claiming the funds aren’t there, and a showdown may be brewing.
This is only the latest of an ongoing series of attacks on public education in Chicago that has played out over many years—attacks administered by successive Democratic Party mayoral administrations.
The Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) leadership said that with the current mayor, Brandon Johnson, things would be different—that Johnson, a former CTU member, would fulfill his campaign promise to support teachers and students and “transform education” in Chicago.
But since 2018, when Johnson decided to pursue his fortunes as a Democratic Party politician, he has been answering to a handful of multi-billionaires that control city government.
The schools budget is woefully inadequate and includes over 200 million dollars in staffing and services cutbacks. The CPS CEO is determined to address major school budget shortfalls which make school closures likely. Currently under consideration are closures of seven Acero charter schools, which would send 2,000 mostly Latino students home and leave 270 teachers on the street.
In fact, the decades-long decline in schools is part of the general attack the capitalist class has been waging against the working class.
The CTU leadership hopes this mayor will somehow find the money to fix the schools and in a generous gesture give it to them. But getting the money would mean going up against the capitalist class that has taken it. And no mayor has the power to do that, even if he wanted to.
But the working class does have that power. Workers could start to mobilize over the schools. After all, workers are all affected by the education their children get, and the problems facing teachers are similar to the problems facing other workers.
A fight for better schools could open up a broader fight, against not only whoever currently sits in the mayor’s office, but against the capitalist class that really calls the shots. Such a fight might be harder to imagine than helping to get one or another capitalist politician elected—but it’s the only way workers, including teachers, will ever be able to stand up against the attacks.