The chaos surrounding Clinton's presidency is a reflection of the "New World Order's" demise and the free-fall of U.S. imperialism. Sharp in-fighting divides various sections of the big bosses. Other than the New Money nazis behind the Paula Jones scandal, we can't identify all of the forces and the specific issues involved. But the situation is out of control. Groups within the Eastern Establishment who initially tried to discipline Clinton, can't put the genie back in the bottle. The constant sordid revelations about Clinton are not helping U.S. imperialism surmount its crisis. What started out as a conscious political act has taken on a life of its own.
Along with the disarray among U.S. rulers is the growing strength of international imperialist opposition to their war plans. Russian president Yeltsin threatened World War III as a consequence of Clinton's plans to bomb on Iraq. Backed by the Russians and French, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan brokered a temporary peace deal that U.S. rulers had to swallow. The Russians have re-emerged as Rockefeller's key rival for Middle Eastern oil wealth. The French, Chinese, Italians, and others also have billions in oil deals with Iraq that will come online the minute U.S.-sanctions end. Clinton's ability to enforce these sanctions erodes every day.
Adulterous presidents are nothing new. Actually they started with George Washington himself, and more recently, include FDR, Ike, Kennedy and the notorious skirt-chaser, Lyndon Johnson. JFK was far worse than Clinton in this department, turning the White House into his own private bordello, and yet the bosses have elevated him to sainthood.
The "Zippergate" follies originally looked like an attempt by the big bosses to force Clinton to bomb Iraq. But the scandal hasn't exactly enhanced their ability to mobilize for war. He sent aircraft carriers to the Persian Gulf and beat the war drums for massive bombing attacks. Every faction of the U.S. ruling class applauded him for his planned genocide. Then they began thinking better of it. One group argued about how much to bomb. Another called for building an Iraqi version of the fascist Nicaraguan "contras" to overthrow Saddam Hussein. Another demanded Saddam's assassination. Still another complained that bombing would accomplish nothing and that "the next president will have to summon the political will" to invade the Middle East. Even with Clinton ready to do their bidding, they couldn't get their act together.
What are the bosses likely to do to try to reverse the steady decline of the U.S. presidency? They may opt for a more traditionally fascist "strong-man" approach. The New York Times hinted at this possibility in a January 25th editorial worrying about "the state of the presidency." The Times warned that the presidency needs drastic strengthening: "There is no substitute for the stabilizing weight of effective Presidential leadership. Without it, Washington wobbles..." U.S. rulers are in a life and death struggle to recover their eroding empire, and must discipline their own ranks to prepare for world war. The fight over campaign financing is an attempt by the rulers to tighten their control over the political process.
While Clinton & Co. blinked at Yeltsin's saber-rattling, war is inevitable. Our class must prepare for it by building a mass PLP among workers and soldiers, to turn the guns around for communist revolution. We must not fall for the illusion that the imperialists are "too weak" to do anything and will just walk away from the Middle East. This is just as dangerous as the illusion that they're "too strong" for anyone to challenge them.
The shambles of the Clinton White House, and the current chaos of U.S. foreign policy should fill us with revolutionary optimism. Capitalism has nothing to offer but sleaze, racist brutality, fascism and war. By vigorously building our Party in the shops, military, schools, and communities, we can turn the bosses' crisis into a revolutionary tidal wave for communism. The road ahead will be long and hard, and its end is not yet in sight. Mass May Day marches, and a growing PLP, are irreversible steps in the right direction.
We must see the McKinney verdict as part of a deadly plan by U.S. bosses to win the hearts and minds of working class black Gis, who form the backbone of the imperialist infantry even more than in Vietnam, where 40 percent of all frontline casualties were black and latin soldiers. Since Vietnam, the military has come to rely more than ever on black NCOs. In the next war, black NCOs will be used to lead black troops and will be ground up alongside them. As the Big Oil bosses prepare for this land war in the Middle East, they have a big problem, because the majority of soldiers have no desire to die for oil profits. While the capitalists bicker among themselves over how best to exploit workers, they are also trying to prepare all of us, soldiers and civilians, to accept huge casualties. Understand this trend will keep us from getting blindsided by events within the military.
The bosses have also made a big deal about recruiting women to commit genocide and die for U.S. imperialism. To accomplish this, they face the impossible task of reversing a long tradition of gross male supremacist attitudes typical of all imperialist military machines. The McKinney case shows they can't have their cake and eat it too-- at least not this time around. Their main need is for an unending stream of black working class young men as cannon fodder. The McKinney verdict shows that they will go to great lengths to avoid jeopardize this, even if they have to alienate women within the military and try to make amends later.
Women make up 30 percent of the current imperialist military. Without them, the rulers would need a draft right now. The McKinney verdict is a sure sign that the draft's restoration is coming sooner than many people think.
To hasten the day, the military is beefing up its recruitment of black youth. There are now permanent military recruiters in many high schools, for example, in all high schools of one nearly all-black county in Louisiana.. This is a straw in the wind. The military is also targeting traditionally all-black colleges.
The Rockefellers'need to put guns in the hands of racism's victims points only to capitalism's strategic weakness. The U.S. army is not a reliable military for the oil bosses. The vast majority of soldiers have no desire to kill or die for imperialism. But that sentiment must be organized into a communist movement to turn the guns around for communist revolution, or else it will be for naught. The working class has a long tradition of making revolution out of world war. Soldiers, sailors, friends, and family: build the PLP in the military, come with your mates to May Day; build the PLP; fight for communism.
Building the revolutionary communist Progressive Labor Party to lead the international working class to seize power is our immediate and urgent task. May Day is a measure of our efforts. It provides a taste of communism and the potential power of the working class and its communist Party.
We experience workers and youth of all "races" united--dedicated to destroy racism and the capitalist myth of race. We experience workers and youth of all "nations" united--dedicated to smash all borders and create one world. We experience workers and youth flexing our muscles--committed to turn imperialist war into revolution for communism. We experience workers and youth in class struggle--envisioning a world without exploitation and the wage system. Communism is worth fighting for! That's why workers and youth join the PLP on May Day. Our confidence in the working class and the Party grows. We are gripped by revolutionary optimism.
But, a mass red May Day doesn't fall from the sky. It requires plans and hard work. It is a time to reap what we've sown since last May Day and seriously evaluate our strengths and weaknesses. It is a time to think big while paying great attention to daily goals, details, and obstacles.
If all goes well you'll have a great cake. Of course, there may be unexpected problems. You didn't have enough eggs. The oven temperature was unreliable. The phone rang just when you were supposed to remove the cake from the oven. So you make adjustments. But still there will be a cake.
So goes organizing May Day. A good recipe is an approach that makes politics primary. In all we do we explain the nature of the period we're in as one of war and fascism and how it affects us. We recognize the potential for the working class to seize and act on communist ideas and to prepare for revolution. This political understanding motivates our members and friends to organize for May Day There are large variations in their political consciousness and commitment A good recipe provides an overall plan and specific instructions. What are our goals for May Day: to mobilize large numbers of people to march and to join the Progressive Labor Party in the period of organizing and on May Day itself. In our Upper Manhattan/Bronx PLP section we have organized and continue to organize meetings, dinners and study groups to motivate our members and friends. We have set ourselves the goal of mobilizing 1,000 workers and students to march on May Day, recruiting and consolidating 60 new members in this period and on May Day and increasing the hand-to-hand distribution of Challenge by 200. We are building the collective "we can-- we will" attitude and turning up the heat of struggle in the clubs to reach our goals, details and obstacles.
Next week: The ingredients and preparations for a mass May Day
KKK and the Cicero Dogfight...
Members and friends of PLP did not stay home. In the bitter cold, we rallied in Cicero, bringing our world view to workers and youth, and organizing for a mass May Day. The response was overwhelmingly positive to our line that only communism will end racist terror. We sold 225 Challenges, distributed 1,000 leaflets and collected names and addresses while a symphony of honking car horns signaled approval.
Maltese is a holdover from the time when Cicero was a segregated suburb with high paying factory jobs. Western Electric, Sunbeam, and GE all had factories there. Local politicians used the slogan "Keep Cicero White" to keep themselves in power. Racist mobs were organized to keep black and latin families from moving in. But the decline of U.S. imperialism, and the international crisis of capitalism hit Cicero hard. GE moved work to Mexico, Sunbeam closed, and the old Western Electric plant is now a strip mall. In its wake, capitalism left low paying jobs, drugs, gangs, and racist police terror. Cicero is now 60% latin and these local "old time wardheeler" politicians can no longer deceive workers.
The fight for control of Cicero is an example of the rise of fascism, reflecting a system in crisis, headed for war. The nature of the world today is bosses fighting workers, at the same time bosses fight bosses. The Democrats represent the main wing of the U.S. ruling class. As bad as the Klan is, the racist crimes of the Democrats dwarf those of the Klan. The Klan didn't replace welfare with slave labor\Workfare, and put another 100,000 racist cops on the streets. The Klan isn't carrying out fascist immigration raids and mass deportations, or planning Desert Slaughter II in the Middle East for Rockefeller's oil profits. This is blood on the hands of the "liberals." They may be against the Klan, but they're fascists just the same, desperately trying to win workers to fight for them against their political enemies.
Cicero mirrors the fight among bosses around the world. U.S. bosses are fighting Iraq, France, Russia and China, for control of Mideast oil. This will lead to World War III. A mass communist movement can turn fascist war into communist revolution. All the potential fighters against the Klan should organize all the people we know to march under the red flags of communism on May Day and join PLP.
This is the union's response to privatization in the transit industry. Rather than continue the struggle against privatization, the union has decided to compete with the private contractors. This means lowering the starting salary for new drivers to $11 per hour with no increase for three years, reducing vacations, cutting the number of paid holidays and limiting health insurance.
The NSA means the union will collaborate with Metro management to help it expand at the expense of the private contractors. Union growth will reap more union dues. But the racist nature of NSA's provisions will create new divisions in--and weaken--the union, lowering wages and conditions for new, mostly black workers while promising mostly white skilled workers more job security (in theory). However, it will also lead to the scaling down of wages for the higher-paid drivers.
The union leadership's strong push for the NSA convinced several workers that building for May Day is the only way to advance the workers' interests. As one worker put it, "I am giving up on this union. The bosses have taken it over, but I will be there on May Day."
The union's campaign over the last 18 months against privatization has met with little success. The leadership was confronted with a choice: NSA, or PLP's analysis--that the privatization drive is a particular aspect of a more general crisis of capitalism, leading us toward war and fascism. The only effective response to these attacks is preparing the working class organizationally and politically for communist revolution to destroy the capitalist profit system, the root cause of the problem. But, true to their capitalist ideals, the union fakers chose the road of class collaboration and fascism.
This attack together with the on-going threat of war in Iraq, has given the Party the opportunity to boldly put forth its revolutionary line. The Party's effectiveness will be measured by the turnout on May Day.
"This could change if there were no rotten borders, " said Jose, who also feels the tension.
Javier looked at him and laughed, as if to say, "Sure, in your dreams."
"Look, by organizing workers to stand up to the Migra, by building the Party in the face of these fascist attacks, by showing workers that fascism is a result of capitalist exploitation, and that it can be destroyed--that's how we can fight for a future without borders or exploitation."
Another sharp discussion that has taken place in the factory is the rumor that a worker who was fired was responsible for calling the Migra to come to the factory. But that's not true. We know of at least three other factories where the INS has come and done preliminary inspection and where there are threats of a raid. It looks like a plan by the bosses to attack garment workers with racist terror in a more mass way. The County of Los Angeles will cut more than 700,000 workers from welfare this year. It is possible that these workers will be forced to work in the garment industry. Capitalism in crisis tries to pit worker against worker to attack all workers harder.
Deportations, police terror, rising fascism, and imperialist war don't depend on the decision of one worker or racist boss, but on the competition and thirst for profits of the whole capitalist ruling class. The capitalist crisis of overproduction is the cause of these attacks on the workers. That's why the solution has to be to destroy the bosses and their profit system.
Some workers have responded well to the plans of action inside the factory in the case of an immigration raid and to the plan of going to their churches and community organizations to call on others to come to the factory and help organize a militant response to this raid. Young workers who participate in a committee in their church decided to go support the workers of the Kalzan factory, bringing them food and moral support. Others have gone to a community organization which is organizing a meeting with these and other workers about the threatened raids.
The Party has put out a communist leaflet that explains the capitalist crisis and its preparations for war as the cause of these fascist attacks. PLP youth had a rally outside the factory. Many workers bought Challenge and took May Day stickers. We are calling on the workers to join PLP and especially build the March on May Day as the sharpest, best response to these threatened immigration raids. A March in the garment center of workers and students from around the West Coast for communist revolution will be a sharp response to the bosses' fascist terror. Even though we feel like we're in a corner, about to be bombarded by the bosses, we are planning to unite more and more workers to fight to end their fascist terror and fight for a world without borders, or exploitation--a communist world.
The resolution put forward a class line--" a war with Iraq over the bosses oil will kill members of our class on both sides." It ended by calling on the union to oppose war with Iraq and to join and organize protests against the war. However, after a lot of heated debate, the resolution was defeated. For the first time, the question of revolution was debated on the floor. Many delegates opposed the war, they agreed with our analysis about class, but they don't agree with revolution as the answer. Until recently we had no friends from our local schools joining us at the DA, but as we fight to correct this error, we have more opportunity for political discussion with our base. This was the first time this comrade had presented herself as a communist on the floor of the DA and called for revolution. Therefore the contradictions among the delegates were sharpened.
Later, when the resolution was up for discussion, the union leadership attacked it because "it was one thing to oppose Vietnam, but another to oppose this war." This position is one we're hearing from co-workers in our schools, too. But this memory is incorrect--lots of workers supported the U.S. bosses' war in Vietnam; the struggle between pro- and anti-war forces was often sharp and violent. This leadership lie, however, caused some people to support the resolution--they said that although they hadn't agreed to support it before, now they certainly would.
These modest efforts were the results of struggle within the Party and with our friends. Where once we were spat upon outside the DA, now we distribute 20-30 Challenges and hundreds of flyers. Our political line within the DA has sharpened--from reform, contract-related issues to a much more class-conscious, revolutionary position. However, this has been mostly in our leaflets. We need to be bolder on the floor itself. We must struggle with our co-workers to understand that if we support--or remain passive about--the bosses' attacks on other members of our class (nationally or internationally), we will be seen by them to be as guilty as those who did not fight the Nazi slaughter.
The searching of young women's backpacks and purses and the patting down of young men is common here. We have more security guards on campus than teachers' assistants. At lunch, city cops join the school cops on campus. They are all armed. Who are they here to protect? Not us. The cops serve the rich and harass the poor. It's their job, and the same is true for security at school.
Students may say, "That's illegal!" Sorry--the California State Supreme Court said on January 20th, that security can search you any time they please. We live in a society that changes laws whenever it's convenient for the bosses--laws that favor fascism in our schools and our neighborhoods!
At every city school, the school police will be allowed to have shotguns, endangering not just the person they're aiming at but also bystanders. So why do they have them? To protect us? No! It's to keep us scared of rebelling, speaking up and protesting. This fascism in the school is part the bosses preparing us to fight their next war for profits. They want us to obey their fascist orders and not rebel--in school and in their army.
But rebelling is exactly what we need to do, fight fascism every step of the way! Students are already refusing to be searched, and student members of PLP are taking the lead in organizing more students to refuse. We are also circulating a petition against the school police having shotguns. We plan to take this petition to the Student Council and the School Based Management Council.
Students are standing up to the administration, and building a force that will march on May Day. We will fight against the fascist school police and build a mass communist movement to fight against the whole system, oppose fascism and imperialist war and defeat it with communist revolution. We will fight against the fascist school police and build a mass communist movement that can fight against the whole system. A mass May Day march is a crucial first step toward these goals.
The ex-president of El Salvador and the current president of the ARENA party, Alfredo Cristiani has openly declared that Francisco Flores was not nominated by the ARENA party; that he was a self proclaimed candidate. This initial reaction of Cristiani, who has ambitions of again becoming president shows the differences developing inside ARENA, between Old Money, of which he is a representative, and the New Money group headed by Francisco Flores. Flores tries to separate himself from the traditional form of the ultra-nationalist ARENA party and create the illusion of being a liberal and intellectual who cares about the workers. No worker can or should believe this.
The undeniable tendencies which exist inside ARENA are both designed to support fascist free enterprise (capitalist exploitation) with its repression against the working class, including the threat of firings and death squads. But what the two groups don't agree about is which group of bosses will benefit most, or which group will lead in carrying out the fascist initiative.
As workers we have to ask ourselves: whichever of the two initiatives wins, who really wins? Is it the interests of the banks (Old Money) that are supported by the IMF, World Bank and the money handlers, or the interests of a group of the industrial sector (New Money) that are supported by Japanese bosses and the bosses of the European Union? The "hard liners" like Minister of the Interior Mario Acosta, who in an interview on television held up a copy of Challenge, and said that this proves that the communists have not yet been exterminated, or the "successful businessmen" like Bobby Murray Meza, the multimillionaire owner of the only beer factory in the country? Or the "young intellectuals" whose main spokesman is Francisco Flores, philosopher, sociologist, and economist who graduated from universities in England and the U.S. These two fascists are ready to defend New Money interests to the death.
There's enough evidence of the divisions in this party based on the existing fights among its groups in power--New Money vs. Old Money--that we can predict that they are approaching a war among themselves to see which group will superexploit and massacre the working class.
The working class must not fall into the trap of supporting any group of these fascists. On the contrary, we should take advantage of this opportunity to expose all the rotten elements of the capitalist system and to build a mass Progressive Labor Party that organizes for a real communist revolution to eliminate all bosses and exploitation. Workers with communist ideas and practices, through their mass communist Party, will lead society to satisfy the needs of the working class, not to benefit one section or another of the bosses.
Next article will analyze the role of the FMLN in this fight among the bosses.
President. Zedillo has revoked the autonomy and indigenous rights that his government privately signed with the EZLN (Zapatistas) in San Andres. Now he blames foreigners for leading the armed uprising in Chiapas, pushing nationalism to justify the government's military intervention. Zedillo decided to expel the French priest Frances Michel Chanteau, from Mexico for accusing the government of massacring the indigenous workers in Acteal. The European Union responded by sending 200 more observers to Chiapas. Now that the conflict has become international, the military option has become more complicated for the government. The contradictions between the pro-U.S. and pro-European factions of the bosses are sharpening. The Mexican army presence in Chiapas is increasing.
The European Union and one section of the Mexican bosses are interested in continuing the Zapatista uprising to force the governing elite to re-negotiate NAFTA so that the products made in Mexico, from European capital, that come into North America don't have to pay taxes. This group also wants access to the privatizations that are in process: railroad, electricity, petrochemicals, and airports, among others. On March 9th, European businesses announced more investments in Mexico and the beginning of fast track negotiations for a trade agreement between Mexico and the European Union.
Justo Mulor, the Vatican Ambassador to Mexico, went to Chiapas accompanied by Alfonso Romo, a powerful Monterrey businessman, to propose huge investments and "help" resolve the problems in the region. The church shows its true role, using its political-religious influence to perpetuate capitalist exploitation, in this case for the European imperialists.
The racist war in Chiapas is a fight among capitalists, paid for by the workers, for markets, in uranium, oil, the transportation corridor and commercial treaties. The discrimination, racism, oppression and exploitation that the farmworkers suffer will not end until all these capitalists are destroyed, along with their religions. The oppressed workers of Chiapas don't need the Agreements of San Andres, nor religion, nor more investments by more capitalists and imperialists. They need communism.
The price of oil continues declining. Forty percent of the public budget comes from the sale of oil. The technocrats in the government have decided to cut essential services even more, like education, health and jobs. At the same time they have spent more than $45 billion to save the banks. They have spent another $3 billion to rescue the Confia Bank from bankruptcy. The impoverishment of the workers continues to expand and deepen. The bankruptcy of small and medium-sized businesses also continues. The Mexican Advisory Commission to Businessmen, the most powerful group of bosses in the country, is worried that the Chiapas uprising will be extended to the industrial centers. The declarations of its President Eugenio Clarion show this worry.
Eugenio Clarion attacks the PAN for being worse than the PRI. He advises the PRI and the PRD to move closer to the political center with a program of market economy that includes social content rhetoric, to forget about the goal of a welfare state, and follow the example of the socialist parties in Europe. Sharing his fear, the Business Coordinating Advisory Committee invited Felipe Gonzalez to give conferences about the European socialist program. This boss's vision fits in with the ascension of the PRD's reform candidate for governor of Mexico City, which is being carried out completely in accordance with the bosses' interests. They are significantly reducing the mobilization of the exploited, guaranteeing investment in real estate, transport and tourism, making Mexico City more attractive for the capitalists. For the workers they have more taxes, increases in transportation costs, and more promises of improvement. This is fascism with the boot and a sick smile.
The illusion of a "more humane" capitalism that these sections of the bosses propose will not resolve the problems of the workers. It's meant to put us to sleep. It will sharpen the fight for power against the exporting section that bases its success on devaluing the currency and lowering wages. Its imperialist allies in the U.S. Federal Reserve, the World Bank and the IMF want the payments on the debt and on their speculative investments. It will increase fascism for the Mexican workers.
We workers must not support any bosses' party or group, whether they are European, North American, Asian, Mexican, or any combination of them. They are all criminals and exploiters, sworn enemies of the working class. Communism is the only solution possible to liberate the workers. The bosses are preparing for war--from Chiapas to the Middle East. The PLP is organizing to turn their war into a workers' revolution for communism. It's not the moment for the final leap, but it is certainly the time for the urgent building of a mass communist Party to prepare the workers to turn the bosses' war into communist revolution. Join us today!
I recently attended a march sponsored by the Kensington Welfare Rights Union (KWRU). This organization is active in impoverished North Philadelphia and frequently protests welfare reform legislation. Many welfare recipients and students participate in its activities.
KWRU has ties to the 1199C hospital workers union, which has co-sponsored many of its protests. The leader of KWRU has spoken at hospital union rallies, such as the recent one protesting the cutbacks in the Allegheny hospital system. KWRU's message is focused on the need for legislation which will provide "jobs with decent pay." This message ties into the union message for "jobs with justice." A press release from the organization, printed in the Inquirer, stated: "Welfare recipients are told to `get a job'...in a job market that isn't going to put food on the table or clothing on the kids. Is this community prepared for the growing numbers that will be poor and homeless because the minimum wage just wasn't enough?"
KWRU builds the illusion that poverty can be reformed through the system. Protesters shouted "Poverty Means Fight Back" during the march. This type of protest is exactly what a section of the ruling class in Philadelphia wants to hear. They know that increasing poverty in North Philadelphia will lead to social unrest, and they want that unrest to be within the constraints of the system. At the march, the KWRU leader spoke to a cop as if he were a friend, as he cruised in his car on the side of the march to make sure things were kept in line.
Yet, these rulers also know that the contradiction between welfare reform and the crisis of overproduction, which necessitates the loss of jobs, welfare cutbacks, and severe poverty conditions in major cities, will force the need for war. American flags were handed out during the KWRU march and large flags were placed on a truck in front of the marchers. A friend of mine liked the American flags because he believed they symbolized the "American values" which were being denied to those in poverty. I argued that they serve to win workers to war and fascism.
Red in Philly
Dear Challenge:
As a teacher, I raised the KKK rally in Cicero in my classes last week. A lot of students had a lot to say, and many were thinking seriously about going. Our club ordered a bus to leave right from school.
I started feeling confused about how to build for the anti-Klan rally in a communist way. Should I mainly encourage students to go and confront and attack the Klan? And argue against pacifism and passivity? Or should I mainly explain the Party's line on why the KKK is only the tip of the iceberg, why fascism is growing, and why only communist revolution can smash it?
Our PLP club meeting on the Tuesday before the rally discussed how some Democratic Party leaders and organizations were using the anti-Klan rally to win workers and youth to their own brand of fascism. And how, as communists, we had to tell people about what was behind splits in the ruling class, like those surfacing in Cicero.
That sharpened the contradiction in my mind. Now I thought, do we want students to come fight the Klan, or does it matter more that they hear our analysis of the splits? Then it clicked. Wrong question! I was assuming that putting forward a fuller communist analysis would discourage students from coming with us. That explaining less would make them want to come more. The confusion in my mind came directly from right opportunist ideas--not believing that communist ideas can be mass ideas.
Wednesday, I started putting forward that everyone should come to Cicero with the PLP both to fight the Klan and to warn everyone else there to "watch their backs," to expose the fascism of the Democratic Party and especially its war preparations. I'm sure I could have been sharper, but many of the students found this even more interesting than the previous days' discussions. Not everyone agreed, but nobody seemed discouraged, either.
So it's on to May Day, with a lot more struggles in between--and a better understanding of why the fight against right opportunism is the key to building the fight for communism.
Chicago Comrade
I am a student at a college where there are only two other comrades and a few friends of PL. Given our club's small size, being active in student mass organizations is necessary for our growth and survival. The organization I belong to is NJPIRG, a national environmental campus group which sponsors such activities as voter registration to elect conservation-minded politicians, and support for "Water-Watch" and mass clean ups of local rivers.
The Chapter I am in is campaigning against hunger and homelessness, and we volunteer at soup kitchens. I have found that the people active in this campaign--like those in many other mass organizations--are discontent with some aspects of capitalism, sincerely want to take some action to "remedy" such problems, and are willing to work with others to accomplish this. Once they become involved, some become frustrated at the bureaucracy of the organization's structure (e.g., meetings run only by officers), as well as the continuing pressure to fund raise (each member in my chapter must raise $100 for the "national campaign"). Many students join out of individualism--just to pad their résumé or to obtain other people's admiration.
While working in a soup kitchen, I began to talk with other volunteers about how distressing it is to witness homelessness firsthand. As we talked, it became obvious to everyone that although we were feeding them, we were not alleviating most of their problems. I said that volunteering has many limitations, as this system cannot provide jobs, health care, psychiatric treatment or even child care for these people. All our noble efforts to solve one problem (hunger) are ineffectual in this larger political context.
I saw just what the true function of such liberal reform organizations is. Such organizations siphon off the outrage of many people about capitalism's abuses, moving their outrage into limited "safe" reform activities. People work on a particular issue, like homelessness, without ever being given the analytical tools to link them to the horrors of the entire capitalist system.
The job of mass liberal reform organizations is to convince people that while certain aspects of the system need a little "fixing," capitalism is sound and just. Providing the homeless with a free bowl of soup without a revolutionary analysis really constitutes nothing more than a kinder, gentler way of killing them off. Does this mean that PLP should not be involved in mass organizational work? Should we attack the people involved in this work? I think the answer to both these questions is "No."
Our task should be to transform these soup kitchens into Party clubs and communist organizations that fight the bosses' brutal murder of all workers, by providing a revolutionary communist analysis coupled with militant action to destroy capitalism and its murderous, bloodsucking henchmen forever.
Red College Student
I am a freshman at Rutgers University and my experiences have shown me that our Party is the only revolutionary communist organization that understands how to lead the fight for the freedom of the working class.
I attended a rally against the upcoming war in Iraq which was led by the ISO (International Socialist Organization). The main message of the rally was "U.S. Out of Iraq." To call for this gives the impression that war is "wrong." PLP knows that exploitation, starvation, unemployment, and all the other sick elements of society are horrible and deadly for our class, but they are necessary and crucial for capitalism to survive. Therefore, proposing as a solution "No War," if you are a revolutionary organization, means that you operate under the illusion that capitalism is not treating workers "fairly," and that we need to fight to make it serve the needs of the workers. Not only does this undermine the concept of revolution, but it is wrong and impossible. These groups like the ISO don't want revolution, they simply want to make a "kinder, gentler" capitalism.
What has my PLP club done that distinguishes us from them? Firstly, not enough. A comrade and I went to this rally, and I even invited several people with the intention of allowing them to see the difference between PLP's line and theirs. But, instead of discussing with my friends how our Party believes not "War is wrong," but "Turn the bosses war for profits in communist revolution," I assumed that somehow through osmosis they would understand the difference between the two. And while the next issue of Challenge that I gave to friends explained our position on the war, I didn't follow it up with discussions. The biggest mistake our club could make would be to rely on the actions of fake revolutionary groups as events to bring our base to. Instead, we must be more aggressive in mass organizations and in struggling with our base and meeting a wide range of people who are not won to any particular ideology already. We are then in a much better position to win people directly to open communist politics.
We are in the process of learning how to use both the classroom and mass organizations, as ways to build our Party. In my Spanish class in particular, I have been more bold about raising communist ideas and building a base.
Whenever an oral presentation is given, or we read a story, I find some way to bring out our politics. I'm earning the reputation for being the fighter in class. For example, when someone gave a presentation on the Clinton/Lewinsky scandal, I spoke and generated a discussion. The issues were: a) why is this scandal being brought out with Clinton, when it is known that all presidents cheated on their wives; b) how does this scandal's focus keep people's minds off the more important issues like war in the Middle East. These questions led to, "What is this war really being fought over?," and "Who are the victims? Is it just Iraqi mothers and children, or is it the entire working class?"
This letter is long enough. In another I will talk about the specifics of basebuilding for the Party at Rutgers.
Comrade at Rutgers
An inadvertent error was made in editing the article about noxious fumes at P.S. 127 (Queens, NY) in the February 18th issue of Challenge. The original copy made several references to students and the school "staff," not just to students and "teachers," as appeared in the final article.
For those who are not familiar with the "caste" system in public schools this may seem insignificant. Administrators are the bosses within each school (the highest "caste"). Teachers are next. Paraprofessionals, aides, cafeteria workers, etc. are in lower "castes," in status and in pay. However, these "lower caste" workers are essential in the daily functioning of the schools. We as communists are equally concerned about the health of students and all workers in the schools. This is why the word "staff" or "school workers" should have been used.
An example of the "caste system" in action is how conflicts between teachers and paraprofessionals are resolved. The teacher is assumed to be the "boss" and whatever s/he says prevails. Often elementary school "paras" are expected to be maids (do all the cleaning in the classroom, run errands for the teacher, etc.). However, they are supposed to be educationally assisting the students. Even the union representatives for paraprofessionals are considered "second" to the teachers' union representatives.
As part of the process of building communist relations with co-workers, those of us working in schools need to consciously relate to all the workers as equals and to strive to overcome the existing "caste" divisions.
P.S. 127 Staff Member
The bosses cover this up by giving the appearance that the distinctions are based on level of schooling--teachers complete more years of the bosses' college than other school workers. We should certainly struggle to expose these divisions for what they are, and organize to unite all school workers to fight in the interests of our class against capitalism. The struggle would give us many opportunities to raise questions about the use of the bosses' schools as tools to promote capitalist ideology and blur our understanding of class society. These opportunities can be used as we build for a mass May Day that unites all workers under the leadership of its Party.
At a recent meeting I attended, some people expressed cynicism about the willingness of workers and students to act against war and fascism. My experience shows that students, workers, and intellectuals will act against coming war and are open to PLP's line if we give them the opportunity.
I live and teach in a very conservative part of the United States. I receive Challenge and have given a few to friends over the years. Last October as war first threatened I did a little more, reprinting the Challenge editorial explaining the war and giving it to a few other people. I wrote a letter to the school paper and attempted to get some of those who had expressed anti-war sentiments to sign it. Little seemed to come of this. The campus paper didn't print the letter, and then the holidays came.
But in this latest round of saber rattling, my efforts to be a little more bold bore fruit. A student told a professor he wanted to do something against the war and was given my name. We got together with a few others to have coffee, debated the meaning of the conflict with Iraq, and after a second meeting had a plan to send a new letter to the school paper. We also planned to use the letter to advertise a showing of the film, The Panama Deception, and to hold a "peace walk."
All of this happened. Ten people signed the letter, and some of my former students called me to talk about the issues; 40 people came to the film, and most stayed for an hour-long discussion of Iraq; the peace walk took place even though the Annan deal had already been cut. While only seven people attended the peace walk, 500 flyers were distributed, and the group began planning for an informational forum to be co-sponsored by other student groups.
More importantly, I have tried to use these activities to increase the circulation of Challenge and to fight against the pacifism many of us still have. This took a great deal of internal struggle, since I had just met many of these students and their reasons for opposing war were quite varied. I have given a paper to most of the people who assisted in planning the initial activities, and a number of them are interested in discussing PL's ideas. I now need to make sure these discussions take place. A friend who has been reading Challenge for a while has pushed me to do more, including to take her to May Day. Though we are quite far away and will be in the midst of finals, we will fly to LA for May Day and are trying to find a way to bring a few other people, even as we work to see that the forum takes place.
From Texas
While out for exercise, I ran into a friend of mine, a musician, walking her dog. I asked how things were going, and she said she was feeling negative and a little desperate. Assuming a big part of that feeling had to be the fault of capitalism, I said, "Well, at least we have the demonstration at Ohio State for inspiration." She looked blank, "You know," I said, "where they yelled down Albright, Cohen, and that other nazi pushing the war in Iraq." She said she hadn't heard about it.
I continued on my walk, and when I got back to where she was she called out. "I think my politics have been `pesticized.' " I assumed she was referring to destruction of the environment--which I'm also concerned with. I said, "There's no protecting the environment from capitalists. The only way to save our beautiful world from their greed is by destroying their whole class." She looked dubious, and we parted there. But it gave me an opening for further discussion.
Even many liberals these days are looking for real answers to what the rich and their government are doing. I have to be better prepared to put forward the PLP line in the future. I doubt I can win someone like my friend over to PLP soon, but I believe she can become a friend and supporter.
Comrade From The Frozen Tundra
In the late 1920's, Daimler-Benz was on the brink of collapse. With the advent of the worldwide capitalist depression in 1929, it began mass layoffs. By 1932, half its workforce had been dumped on the streets. No wonder it welcomed and helped finance the Nazi takeover in 1933. By 1936 it had enjoyed three years of uninterrupted expansion. The military demands of Nazi Germany found a home at Daimler-Benz; by 1939, 65% of its production was in armaments for the war machine.
As Germany conquered country after country, Daimler-Benz moved in as well, taking over factories in France and Poland. Faced with the need for ever-increasing output, it found "the ideal solution: the ruthless exploitation of Polish and Jewish" slave laborers.
In July 1942, after having seized the engine parts factory in Rzeszow, Poland, Daimler-Benz bosses met in Krakow with officers of the Nazi SS to discuss deployment of Jewish slave labor. In a formal request, these bosses told the SS, "Given the lack of suitable skilled labor, please supply us with about 400 Jews."
Then they went to neighboring towns to witness the SS round-up of 5,000 Jews. From this group of workers, Daimler-Benz managers procured 600 for the Rzeszow plant. These Jewish workers were put up in barracks surrounded by barbed wire, forced to sleep on 2-tiered plank-beds, with 100 men occupying space for 30; they were undernourished and brutalized.
Eventually, the SS notified Daimler-Benz that the Jews were to be deported to death-camps. This didn't trouble these bosses one iota, but they said, "Not until we are in a position to take newly-trained [Polish] workers into the factory."
According to Neil Gregor, author of Daimler-Benz in the Third Reich the "slide into extreme inhumanity can have a beginning that, at the time, reeks of the ordinary." This is a mirror of fascism--U.S. style.
U.S. bosses, facing their own economic crisis after having slaughtered three million Vietnamese by 1973, proceeded to grind down workers here, cutting their real wages 20% in the next two decades. Using racism and anti-working class ideology, they were able to throw millions of workers out of jobs and onto welfare, a disproportionate number of which were black and latin. From there its cops and Mafia lieutenants combined to spread (and profit from) drugs throughout the ghettoes. U.S. bosses have jailed over a million and a half workers, again a disproportionate number being black and latin.
Then they had the Clinton Administration introduce slave labor Workfare on a national scale and greatly expand the use of prison labor under contract to private corporations. It reached Nazi slave labor heights by producing El Salvador's license plates more cheaply in U.S. prisons than in El Salvador! The head of the Ohio prison system invited Nike to set up shop there, guaranteeing that its prisoners could manufacture Nike sneakers more cheaply in Southeast Asia!
Finally, U.S. imperialist bosses mounted invasion after invasion--from Grenada to Panama to Somalia to the Persian Gulf--all of which were designed to enforce U.S. profits and control over tens of millions of workers and over the most vital resource of modern industrial society--oil. And they have been able to conduct these wars using U.S. workers as soldiers and as the producers of the weapons needed for these wars, without too much resistance.
After World War II, many German workers said they "didn't know" that Jews and captured workers were being transported to death camps; and many German soldiers who carried out Hitler's extermination policies said they were "only following orders." U.S. workers and others refused to believe these rationalizations. If we do not win millions of U.S. workers to oppose the murderous Rockefeller bosses' racist slave labor programs and their mass slaughters abroad, what will the victims of these holocausts say to workers here who profess that "we didn't realize what was happening?"
Without the support, or at least passive acceptance, by U.S. workers of racist frame-ups, prison labor, slave labor workfare, armaments production and imperialist oil wars, U.S. rulers would be finished. We must win tens of millions of workers to unite with workers of all colors, worldwide, to oppose the butchers of Wall Street, to refuse to produce their weapons of war and to turn the guns around to smash the imperialist warmakers. These are the true class interests of the working class. In this process, millions can be won to join and build a communist movement, led by the Progressive Labor Party, to destroy fascist capitalism with communist revolution.
At the two picket lines at the SFGH entrance, a number of people have asked: "If the Clinical Lab workers are temporary, don't the supervisors have the right to fire the workers for no reason?" The answer is "Yes, they do have those rights." Let's look at those rights and see what they mean for us:
Their right to dismiss workers means they can run Clinical Labs like a plantation, based on fear. Miguel and three others were fired with no reasons given, and no problems with job performances. Jackie was fired three weeks short of her probation period because she wouldn't do extra work before her shift started, which they wanted because she came to work early to avoid rush hour. They use fear as a weapon. One worker who lives out of town works three-hours-on, three-hours-off, and three-hours-on again. Another worker works days, but is told to sandwich nights in also when the lab needs her. Alan Greenspan says he can leave Federal interest rates low in spite of "high" employment because surveys show the number of workers afraid of losing their jobs is high and increasing, so they won't demand more. In Nazi Germany, the rulers forced real wages down 13% in the midst of a business boom. In the U.S. the rulers have forced down real wages 20% over the last 20 years, including "boom" times.
Their right to make profit means they can threaten to contract-out Clinical Labs, and then slash the budget, and run Clinical Labs with temporary and probationary workers. This means: "you will never get a real job, with living pay and medical care. You will always be in a temporary revolving-door job, scrambling from one temp job to another."
The bosses' right to organize work means workers are relegated to mind-numbing jobs, a pair of hands--not a brain. The only reason there are Clinical Lab workers at all is because they haven't figured out a robot that can draw blood or take blood tubes from the robotic cart and stuff them into an analyzer.
Their right to steal our labor means that even though we do all the work and make all the goods, we still don't have adequate food, housing, education, and medical care. One in three health workers has no medical coverage. Over 100,000 people die yearly in the U.S. from lack of health insurance, 11 per hour. 30 million have inadequate nutrition. But 1% own more than the rest of us put together.
As long as we believe the bosses should have these rights, our lives are doomed to insecurity, poverty, and insignificance. Communist revolution is taking those rights away from the bosses, and eliminating the bosses as a class.