Planning a healthcare rally last year, someone asked: “Why don’t we invite legislators to speak?”

This comes up nearly every time we plan a public event. I respond: “They can hold a press conference and put out a statement whenever they want. They have staff that can do it for them. We need our people’s voices and faces to be the focus.” 

There is always pushback to this. There is a deep-rooted sense among many that politicians are the important voices in making change. 

Our position is rooted in our principles. In my organizing network — which includes the Poor People’s Campaign, Nonviolent Medicaid Army and National Union of the Homeless — we are politically independent. This is different from being nonpartisan or not political.

The struggles of the poor to secure our basic human rights like housing, healthcare and food are economic and political struggles. Economic because they involve material needs and involve the production and distribution of resources. Political because they concern power. Who has the power to determine whether our human rights are met? Who controls the production and distribution of the resources necessary to fulfill those rights? 

In the United States and much of the world, the people are governed by a dictatorship of the rich. Despite democratic mechanisms, the ruling class dominates and wields power to advance its interests, regardless of political party. 

This is not to say that all political parties are identical. The ruling class has divisions and interests that are sometimes in conflict. Some of these divisions may be preferable to others for the poor and working class. 

But, ultimately, the poor are used as bargaining chips to shore up the power of one ruling faction or another. Our interests are not represented. 

Political independence for the poor means we will not be led and controlled by those who do not have any interest in meeting our basic human needs. We seek to build a movement of the poor, led by the poor, rather than led by the rich. 

Misleadership is often made clear surrounding questions of war. In 1918, in a speech opposing World War I that led to his conviction for sedition, Eugene Debs said: “The master class has always declared the wars; the subject class has always fought the battles. The master class has had all to gain and nothing to lose, while the subject class has had nothing to gain and all to lose — especially their lives.”   

To build a politically independent movement of the poor, we identify and develop leaders from among the ranks of the poor. We engage in political education and leadership development to grow leaders who can wield strategies and tactics. Since the poor have the least interest in the present order of things, and the most to gain from fundamental change, politically independent leadership of the poor will avoid the risk of the movement being taken over by others. 

We confront many challenges. Deeply ingrained ruling-class propaganda teaches that the poor are helpless. That we cannot even care for ourselves, let alone organize a movement to end poverty. The idea that the voices of politicians should be primary grows from this propaganda as well. These lies minimize the agency and leadership of the poor and must be confronted at every level. 

There are other manipulations. Foundations and philanthropy may appear noble on the surface. However, through funding mechanisms, they will control organizations and movements. They use funding to direct what policies are acceptable to work on. These can include laudable goals. For instance, initiatives to relieve medical debt, or expand paid sick leave, are positive developments for many poor people. In the struggle to secure a universal right to healthcare, however, they fall woefully short. 

The ruling class counts on these diversionary tactics to disorganize the poor and prevent movements for change from growing. Temptations to pursue funding are great, but a politically independent movement must be wary. We must fund and support our work from the poor ourselves.   

When the rich are organizing the poor, cynicism grows. Many of us know (or learn quickly through experience) when we are being manipulated. In contrast, a politically independent movement will build community and trust. Recognizing that we cannot count on those who profit from the denial of our rights, we forge solidarity because our lives depend on it.