The San Francisco teachers’ strike that has paralyzed public education across the city for days represents a significant development in the ongoing class struggle—a struggle that, despite the apparent tranquility of capitalist society, continues to simmer beneath the surface, erupting periodically in the form of workers’ resistance. The fact that approximately 6,000 educators, librarians, social workers, and nurses have taken to the picket lines, shutting down all 120 schools and affecting 50,000 students, demonstrates the power of organized labor when it dares to challenge the dictates of capital.
What makes this particular struggle particularly noteworthy is not merely the scale of the walkout, but the explicit demands being made by the teachers’ union. They are not content with the meager concessions that the capitalist class typically offers in exchange for temporary appeasement. Rather, they are fighting for fully funded healthcare, adequate staffing, and the fundamental right to work in conditions that do not compromise their ability to serve the working class. These demands strike at the heart of the capitalist mode of production, which seeks to reduce all human activity to the pursuit of profit, treating teachers not as educators but as interchangeable cogs in an educational machine designed to produce compliant workers for the capitalist system.
The intervention of Mayor Daniel Lurie, inserting himself into the negotiations, reveals the true nature of the state apparatus in a capitalist society. The mayor’s involvement is not a sign of concern for the working class, but rather an attempt to manage a crisis that threatens the profitability of the educational system. The state, as Trotsky so clearly articulated, serves as the executive committee of the bourgeoisie, and its actions are always directed toward preserving the interests of capital, even when it appears to be acting in the public interest.
The strike’s impact on students and families cannot be underestimated. The closure of schools for a fourth day, with no set end date, has created chaos and anxiety among working-class parents who struggle to find childcare in a society that offers no guarantee of support for those who must work to survive. This disruption, while painful in the short term, may serve as a catalyst for broader consciousness among the working class. When students and parents witness the power of collective action, they begin to understand that their fate is not determined by the benevolence of capitalists or the state, but by their own capacity to organize and fight for their interests.
Trotsky would undoubtedly see this strike as a manifestation of the objective conditions that compel the proletariat to assert its collective power. In a world where the contradictions of late-stage capitalism have become increasingly acute, where the gap between the rich and the poor continues to widen, and where the capitalist class resorts to ever more desperate measures to maintain its dominance, workers are forced to choose between submission and resistance. The San Francisco teachers have chosen resistance, and in doing so, they have taken a significant step toward the revolutionary transformation of society.
However, Trotsky would also caution against the limitations of reformist struggles. While the teachers’ demands are just and necessary, they remain within the framework of the capitalist system, seeking to improve conditions within that system rather than to overthrow it. The true revolutionary potential of the strike lies not in the specific demands being made, but in the consciousness it fosters among the working class—the understanding that their struggle is part of a broader international movement to abolish capitalism and establish a socialist society.
The international working class must recognize the significance of this struggle and offer its solidarity. The fight of the San Francisco teachers is not merely a local issue, but a reflection of the global class struggle that transcends national boundaries. When workers in one country take up arms against the capitalist class, they inspire workers in all countries to do the same. The San Francisco strike, therefore, must be seen as a spark that, if properly fanned by revolutionary consciousness, could ignite a broader movement for socialist transformation.
In the final analysis, the San Francisco teachers’ strike represents both a challenge to the capitalist order and an opportunity for the working class to develop the consciousness and organization necessary for revolutionary change. As Trotsky so eloquently argued, the revolution is not a single event, but a process—a process that begins with small acts of resistance and grows into a movement capable of transforming society. The San Francisco teachers have taken an important step in that process, and the international working class must stand with them in this struggle.