Lessons from the #MarchtoSpringfield

Last month, I had the privilege of participating in an historic 200-mile march from Chicago to Springfield. This 16-day direct action began on May 15 and concluded with a powerful day of action in the state capitol on May 30. It was organized by Fair Economy Illinois.

The March to Springfield for a People and Planet First Budget was timed to coincide with the end of Illinois’ legislative session. Illinois is about to enter its third year without a budget. Public universities are on the brink of collapse; they are laying off staff and faculty rapidly as they try to stay afloat. Human services agencies are shutting down programs and closing their doors permanently. Public schools will not open in the fall without state funding. The crisis is real and imminent and it is being felt most directly by students and the most vulnerable members of our society. Everyone is affected, if not directly, then indirectly.

Launching Pad, Wilmington, IL

Our march was not just about our legislators passing any budget, we marched for a People and Planet First Budget – one that raises $23.5 billion in new revenue by closing corporate tax loopholes, enacting a graduated income tax, and taxing financial transactions (aka a LaSalle Street Tax). Our budget would invest this new revenue in public schools, transition to renewable energy, rebuild our infrastructure, establish universal health care, provide free tuition at public universities, and fully fund our human services. We would create hundreds of thousands of high quality jobs in the process.

Constitution Trail outside of Bloomington, IL

We had 12 people who marched the entire way from Chicago to Springfield, ranging in age from 18 (a current U of I student) – 91 (a World War II vet). Dozens of others joined for stretches of the march or came down to march a day with us. Hundreds worked behind the scenes to make the march a success, from the planning process to the countless hands who made lunches and dinners for the marchers. 

Here is what I learned from the march:

• We know people heard our message because they honked when they saw us on the road (my theory was that anyone who honked knew what we were up to, and we got a lot of honks!), strangers paid for our lunches, stopped on highways to hand us cash, sought us out at our ending locations because they had heard us on the radio, and called their local media themselves because they were so excited we were coming through town.
• Each person we met shared how they were affected by the budget crisis. We met a mother whose twins have had their braces on for a year and a half too long b/c dentists aren’t being reimbursed by state employees’ health insurance on time, a woman whose son is incarcerated and has dwindling resources available to him in prison, people who can't access mental health care, a student whose local school would only stay open one day without state funding.
• The march generated significant media coverage about our budget solutions. Despite the current crisis we are in, there is not enough popular sentiment and pressure to make legislators raise taxes on the wealthy and big corporations. The March to Springfield helped us advance our worldview about the solutions we know we need for our communities (taxing the wealthy and investing the money in our communities) which helps us change the terrain we’re fighting on. Check out the 60+ articles reporting on our vision for an Illinois that puts people and the planet first, ahead of corporate profits.
• Moving at the pace of walking allows you to be in a space and interact with people in a unique way. We were able to stop and talk with individuals, engage in dialogue, hear stories, challenge misconceptions, build bonds. When we drive to Springfield, we take I-55 and never stop in any of these small towns along the way. Physical movement is so often forgotten as we design actions, but this time it was the defining element of this long-term action. Marching the 200 miles also gave us significant credibility in terms of our seriousness about our budget proposal.
• Going from town to town, hearing people stories, asking what they wanted, and sharing that we can have all those things if we make legislators tax the rich felt like the biggest threat to the elite establishment of anything I’ve done in organizing thus far. Showing up and taking over the lobby of Ken Griffin’s (Illinois’ richest resident and top donor to Gov. Rauner) office for an hour in the Loop doesn’t feel quite as threatening.
• Organizing this action gave me new perspective with which to critique our past action tactics. Direct actions do many wonderful things in organizing in terms of energizing leaders, creating opportunities for people to take risks, giving people a taste of collective power, breaking us out of our daily hegemonic routines, attracting media attention, and putting pressure on our decision makers. Our past actions did not have the staying power that a long term direct action does in terms of keeping our story alive in the news or generating stories outside of the Chicago media market. Nor did they help us build relationships outside of our traditional geographic locations. Nor have they, in the budget fight at least, gotten us closer to the negotiating table. This isn’t to say that I wish we had not done those actions; I am glad we did them for the benefits I initially listed. But now I feel motivated to think more creatively about direct actions, how to make them last longer, how to use them to reach new constituencies, and how to generate significant media coverage directly from our wordview.
• I did have the impression that direct actions, as they were codified in the Alinsky style of organizing, would have a much greater impact in Atlanta, IL, for example, than we’ve seen them have recently in Chicago. I imagine 10-15 people showing up at the state representative’s office in any of these small towns would be a major story and would put a good amount of pressure on that legislator. I want to figure out how we can deepen our relationships and train and support people we met on the route to organize and engage them on our legislative campaigns and worldview.

Support Vehicle

This march was a challenge and a risk. We had never organized a sustained direct action before. We had never ventured so far from our traditional ‘turf.’ The risk yielded high rewards. We proved the Chicago vs. Downstate divide wrong. The listening sessions, and interactions we had along the route, showed us that we all want the same things – universal healthcare, affordable housing, fully funded public education, free universities, renewable energy, good jobs, and a fully funded social safety net.a

I left feeling deeply grateful and inspired. I was inspired by the marchers’ commitment to win an Illinois budget that puts people and the planet first such that they put their bodies on the line – both through the physical duress of a 200-mile march and risking their safety marching on the highway shoulders. These marchers marched without complaint, rain or shine. (And we had a lot of cold, rainy days.) I was inspired by the people we met who opened their churches and homes to us, who cooked for us, who stopped to talk and engage with us. I was inspired as I watched people’s hardened outer shells soften after good dialogue with our marchers about the role of government in our lives. It is time to reflect, but I’m excited to see what lessons continue to emerge and what we organize next. 

You can learn more about the march at marchtospringfield.org or https://www.facebook.com/marchtospringfield/ or searching #marchtospringfield.