NO!  I am not talking about that MORON Blago!  Or who knew what when and where.  All that is insane babbling by the media and conserv pundits…it is NO value as news,,,only to mental midgets that relish scandal.

The lessons learned here are those tyaught by the workers of Republic Wnidow and Doors.

The action taken by the Republic workers was an immense step forward, the first independent action of a section of the working class in the US in response to the unfolding economic crisis. The workers acted with courage and determination, insisting that they would not leave the factory until they received the benefits to which they were legally entitled.

The struggle of these workers quickly became a symbol across the country—and indeed around the world—of deepening anger and resistance to mass layoffs and a government policy that has handed out trillions of dollars to banks and financial institutions while ordinary workers continue to lose their jobs by the hundreds of thousands. Their action evoked broad support from all across the country.

The workers marched out of the factory Wednesday night declaring victory in their struggle. Each worker will receive about $6,000—including eight week’s severance pay, accrued vacation time and two months health care coverage.

While from the standpoint of the workers’ immediate demands it was a victory, it was a bittersweet one. The workers at Republic will still lose their jobs under conditions where no decent jobs are to be found. In two months they will have no health care. The American and world economy is entering the worst economic slump since the Great Depression, and the workers at Republic will join millions across the country who will face this crisis with no job security and no safety net.

The occupation at Republic surprised and frightened the American corporate and political elite, which is well aware of rising popular anger over the naked class character of their multi-trillion-dollar bailout of Wall Street. In occupying their factory, moreover, the workers were making an implicit challenge to the basis of capitalist rule—the private ownership of the means of production. The ruling class has become accustomed to forcing through its demands without serious challenge. The very fact that workers have to occupy a factory in order to win benefits to which they are legally entitled is an indication of the state of class relations in the United States.

The initiative of a few hundred workers at a relatively small factory in Chicago threatened to spark something much larger. The quick settlement—coming after the workers received the verbal support of several Democratic Party politicians, including President-elect Barack Obama—reflected an attempt to get ahead of any broader struggle, to contain it before it got out of hand.

The resolve of the workers at Republic stands in stark contrast to the bankruptcy of the United Auto Workers union, which has agreed to a new round of massive concessions at the Big Three auto companies without even the pretense of resistance.

In their action, the Republic workers have demonstrated that the absence of more open forms of working class resistance is not due to a lack of determination among the workers. For nearly three decades the unions have ruthlessly suppressed any independent struggle of the working class. When such struggles have broken out, the union leadership has systematically isolated and betrayed them.

The struggle at Republic is an initial sign of an upsurge in the class struggle around the world, a struggle that arises inexorably from the contradictions and crisis of the capitalist system itself. It has tapped into militant traditions of the American working class that go back decades, including the great sit-down strikes of the 1930s.

In short, other workers could take a page from this sit-in, the workers do have the power, but will they use it?