Truest statement of the week II

It is critical for workers to understand and consciously assimilate the lessons of the strike, including the role of the trade unions and the Democratic Party in containing opposition and preventing it from developing into a broader political mobilization of the entire working class.
A key auxiliary role was played by a raft of organizations that function as factions of the Democratic Party. Groups such as the International Socialist Organization (ISO), the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), Socialist Alternative and others present themselves as socialists, but in fact represent privileged upper-middle-class layers in and around the Democratic Party and the union apparatus.
Both the ISO and Jacobin (edited by DSA national committee member Bhaskar Sunkara) joined the political establishment in praising the deal announced this week as a victory. On its Facebook page, Jacobin posted a cover of the chief publication of the West Virginia bourgeoisie, the Charleston Gazette-Mail, which announced, “Teachers win.” Jacobin ran an article praising the deal titled “What the teachers won.”

The International Socialist Organization posted on Facebook that “the West Virginia teachers won their strike.” On Wednesday, they published an article titled “The teachers united couldn’t be defeated.” Their efforts to present the unions’ sellout as a victory are aimed at quelling discontent and saving face for the unions and the Democrats who, working with Republicans, orchestrated the deal. This is consistent with their role from the beginning of the strike.

-- Eric London, "Jacobin, International Socialist Organization claim “victory” in West Virginia teachers sellout" (WSWS).