Another ROL (Revolutionary Organization of Labor)

Another ROL.pdf

Title

Another ROL (Revolutionary Organization of Labor)

Creator

Jacob Schlitt

Description

"Many groups and organizations have spoken out in favor of the public workers of Wisconsin when Gov. Scott Walker announced his plan that substantially cuts the benefits and eliminates nearly all collective bargaining rights for state workers."

Date

2011-08-18

Format

application/pdf

Type

text

Language

en

Identifier

Another_ROL

Text

ANOTHER ROL (Revolutionary Organization of Labor)

Many groups and organizations have spoken out in favor of the public workers of Wisconsin when Gov. Scott Walker announced his plan that substantially cuts the benefits and eliminates nearly all collective bargaining rights for state workers.

At one of the demonstrations supporting the Wisconsin public employees, at the Boston State House, I was handed a leaflet that stated, “Capitalists always try to maximize profits, and unions are an obstacle to this end…The “union busters” new divide and conquer “big lie” is to blame state budget shortfalls on unionized government workers: that public sector workers (our teachers, sanitation workers and public health workers etc.) are “fat cats” at taxpayers’ expense...” It concluded, “The Revolutionary Organization of Labor, USA, supports the just struggle of the Wisconsin workers. No more cutbacks or concessions! Make the rich pay!”

I don’t disagree, but what caught my eye was the name of the organization: the Revolutionary Organization of Labor.” There was something familiar about that name. At first, I couldn’t put my finger on it. Then I realized: it is not the name, but the initials: ROL. Do members of the Revolutionary Organization of Labor call themselves ROL? Will they be confused with our ROL? Can we prevent them from using ROL, since we called ourselves ROL first? Perhaps we can call ourselves ROL #1, and they can be ROL #2. There may be a group called the Royal Order of Lemmings, or Russian Opera Lovers. If there are, they can be ROL #3 and ROL #4.

Time out. I just Googled ROL and found 21 other ROLs. The Revolutionary Organization of Labor was not among them. There were Rule of Law, Rock of Love, Rotate Left, Rise of Legends, Review of Literature, Retired Officers Luncheon, etc. The closest to us was a band called Rock Out Loud. The source for this information was the Free Online Dictionary (FOD) and it asked readers to submit a new definition. I submitted Reading Out Loud. Hopefully, we will be the 22nd listing. I did not give them the Revolutionary Organization of Labor. If they want to be listed in FOD, let them submit their name themselves.

8-18-11

Original Format

application/msword

Citation

Jacob Schlitt, “Another ROL (Revolutionary Organization of Labor),” Autobiographical stories & other writing by Jacob Schlitt, accessed March 28, 2024, https://tsirlson.omeka.net/items/show/127.