I was raised in a liberal, pro-labor family. I got curious about socialism from music and from history in school, and I started hanging around with people who considered themselves “anti-capitalist” in the local punk music scene when I was a teenager.
I became more interested in socialism by witnessing the tail end of Occupy and the first wave of Black Lives Matter. I started trying to get more serious about politics and attempted to educate myself from mostly online sources, but it was a totally scattershot approach. The first time I came across a socialist organization was May Day 2015, and I joined that month. One of the main things that convinced me to join Socialist Alternative (SA) was that they had a member named Kshama Sawant who was elected to city council in Seattle. Despite the Democratic Party majority on the city council which opposed our initiatives, we were able to mobilize workers and win things like the first $15 minimum wage in the US with a single socialist city councillor, independent of the Democrats and Republicans.
Part of what had motivated me to join had been the clear position in favor of working class political independence, the call to build a workers’ party, and the analysis that there was no way forward through the Democratic Party. However, shortly after I joined, most of SA began to support Democratic Party candidates. After opposing the turn to the Democratic Party, I myself and others departed SA and formed the Independent Socialist Group (ISG).
In ISG we frequently discuss how logistics has become increasingly important to capitalism and workers in the logistics industry can play a key role in building union power. When I saw a railroad job open up in my hometown in 2019, I decided to apply for it. Since then, I’ve been able to participate in the highly publicized contract battle which wrapped up in 2022 with Biden making any strike action illegal by enforcing the contract we voted down on us. I’ve been able to get active in two different rail unions so far, and join Railroad Workers United, now getting to serve as part of the International Steering Committee. Getting involved in ISG and learning about Marxist ideas provides me with the analysis I need to fight for a socialist world.
Independent Socialist Group 