TWICE a year the longshoremen's hall is transformed into a polling place. Candidates line up outside the main entrance and hand out campaign literature. As longshoremen walk into the hall, they pass through a gauntlet of people who have elective office on their minds. The atmosphere is festive; the building buzzes with excitement. When candidates pass out election material, they say, “do the right thing when you get in the voting booth, brother.”

“I've gotcha,” is the usual response.

When longshoremen speak of politics, they mean more than political participation. They are also referring to people who hold union office. “Political” is the name they use for longshoremen who pursue elected office. Thus, alongside politics in the participatory sense, Local 10 members practice a more traditional, opportunistic sort of politics. A group of longshoremen with “track records,” who run for office on “programs,” represent and serve union constituencies. These people are known as “politicos.” Their routine activities are called “being political.”

The longshoremen's consciousness of the cynical side of politics is another weapon in the battle to maintain control over their union, as well as to resist management's authority. When used properly, cynicism can be a restraint on antidemocratic tendencies and managerial talk about sharing a common enterprise. Because Local 10 members are able to see through participatory images, they are less likely to be fooled by self-serving politicians and managers using the ideology of participation either to undercut the process of democracy or the contest for workplace control.