Militancy in Frankfort

On March 12th, members of Democratic Socialists of Metro Cincinnati & Northern Kentucky traveled an hour and a half to Frankfort to join public employees rallying in defense of public pensions. Over three thousand people, rallying against the administration’s attacks on state employees, held signs & led chants against governor Matt Bevin & legislators supporting the bill, while workers time & again repeated the slogan of the protests, “A Pension is a Promise.”

Multiple speakers rallied the crowd to keep up the fight against proposed pension cuts. While the usual calls to go to the ballot box were heard, more radical talk of a walkout kept surfacing, particularly from teachers from Eastern Kentucky. Speaker Mickey McCoy evoked this possibility, telling the crowd: “If we talk the talk, we gotta be ready to walk the walk.”

The demonstration as a whole was nothing short of awe-inspiring. Emboldened workers stormed the Commonwealth’s capitol building on a chilly weekday afternoon, proving themselves a force to be reckoned with as the Kentucky legislature debates the future of their livelihoods. DSA member Molly, who was in attendance at Frankfort, reported: “Standing in solidarity with these budding revolutionaries, I was overwhelmed by not only the comrades I had arrived with, but with the comradery being created among these once strangers hell bent upon securing a future for themselves and all those committed to work they so passionately do. Standing in solidarity with teachers fighting for their own security, we strengthen our own solidarity as a DSA chapter. When we stand with others, our own bonds are strengthened, making our power one that can be unstoppable.”