The San Francisco teachers’ strike that concluded this Friday represents a vivid illustration of the eternal antagonism between labor and capital, a struggle that Trotsky himself would recognize as the engine of historical progress. For four days, nearly fifty thousand students were deprived of their classrooms as educators in the United Educators of San Francisco (UESF) stood firm against the San Francisco Unified School District—a classic case of the working class defending its material interests against the depredations of the ruling class.
What makes this particular episode significant is not merely the immediate demands—fully funded family healthcare, salary increases, and the filling of vacant special education positions—but the broader context in which it occurred. The strike unfolded against a backdrop of growing inequality, where the fruits of productivity increasingly accrue to the capitalist class while the working class, including those who shape the minds of future generations, struggle to maintain basic standards of living. The teachers’ demand for “fully funded family healthcare” speaks directly to the commodification of human life under capitalism, where access to medical care becomes a privilege contingent upon one’s ability to pay rather than a right of citizenship.
The fact that this was the first teachers’ strike in San Francisco since 1979—nearly half a century—carries profound symbolic weight. It demonstrates that the class struggle, though often dormant, never truly dies. The capitalist class, in its arrogance, assumes that the working class will always acquiesce to exploitation, that the threat of unemployment will always compel workers to accept wage cuts and deteriorating conditions. The San Francisco educators proved otherwise. They understood that the power of labor lies not in individual bargaining power but in collective action, in the willingness to withdraw one’s labor as a weapon against the system that exploits it.
Trotsky’s theory of permanent revolution finds resonance here. The struggle of San Francisco teachers cannot be contained within the narrow confines of a local labor dispute. It is part of a broader movement of the working class against the capitalist order—a movement that, if properly organized and led by a revolutionary party, could transcend the limitations of reformist trade unionism and point toward the overthrow of the capitalist system itself. The teachers’ demand for “improvements to special education” and the filling of vacant positions reveals the systemic failures of a capitalist education system that serves the interests of capital rather than the needs of society.
The tentative agreement reached Friday morning, while a victory for the teachers, should not obscure the deeper contradictions that remain. The capitalist class will continue to seek ways to maximize profits at the expense of workers’ welfare. The teachers’ strike demonstrates that the working class possesses the capacity to resist, but it also underscores the need for a revolutionary strategy that goes beyond individual contracts and demands the transformation of the entire social order. The struggle in San Francisco is a reminder that the emancipation of the working class must be the work of the working class itself, and that the path to socialism requires the development of class consciousness and the willingness to confront the capitalist state with revolutionary force.