Formed in April 2016, Silk City Socialists had been the project of several student organizers in William Paterson University, all residing from Paterson or nearby communities in Passaic or Bergen County. Our name pays tribute to both the nickname of Paterson and to the Silk Factory Strike of 1913. It is through this radical tradition that we trace our roots from.
The 1913 strike was organized by IWW (Industrial Workers of The World) across multi-ethnic divisions that separated factory workers (Irish, Italian, German, Jewish, etc.). Focusing on anti-child labor, eight-hour workday and overall better working conditions, workers were able to organize a general strike with thousands of people. Sadly, the strike had failed: silk manufacturers were able to produce goods with new machinery and cheap unorganized labor. However, the strike lives on as a watershed moment in the US' Labor Movement.
Another lesser known moment of resistance came at the turn of 1964 with the Paterson Race Riots. It was a boiling point between the resentful, established White community (located across the city) and increasingly organized Black community (located inside the 4th Ward) in regards to the issue of racial injustice. Already a tumultuous time, the summer of 1964 was a sign of rebellion by the Black community. Specifically the causes were rampant police brutality, crumbling infrastructure exclusively seen in the 4th Ward, and overall a neighborhood that was treated like an occupied territory overseas. The Paterson Riots would come to shape the city of what it is today.
Currently, we see that not much has changed. The city is made up of different diaspora (Black, Arab, Latinx, Asian) like it was more than a century ago. Paterson suffers from rampant social and economic inequality like it did more than 50 years ago. Schools are shut down, people thrown out of their homes, crumbling infrastructure and facilities go unfixed, and the homeless population of this city seems to grow more and more each day.
Yet, another world is possible. We can create a Paterson that fights for the rights of all. It consists of economic empowerment for all, democratizing the workplace, and ultimately fighting for universal access to common resources. It has us running basic community programs like health clinics, food drives, after-school programs that aren't driven for profit and that leave our community members empowered instead of drained. We start to create local assemblies in each neighborhood that's run by community members themselves, instead of having local officials represent us who aren't from our communities nor even live in Paterson.
Come and join our movement today!