- Turn Strike Struggles Into Schools for Communism
- General Strikes Erupt from Africa to South America
- IS THE MILITARY TRYING TO ABOLISH SEXISM?
- Methodist Hospital Strike...
OUR UNITY WILL SOON BE TESTED! - Workers Wary of AFL-CIO `Shampaign' for Amnesty
- For a Brief Period The Statue Stood for Liberty--from Slavery
- Rockefeller Forces Plot
Hostile Takeover of LA Bosses - Capitalism: Murder Inc. in Africa
- Can the Army Be All It Can Without Sexism?
- School Election Opens Doors for Left
- Peer Review a Cover for Attacks Against Students, Teachers
- LETTERS
Editorial
Turn Strike Struggles Into Schools for Communism
Workers in several countries are fighting back militantly against increased bosses' attacks. Massive general strikes occurred in Uruguay (June 8) and Argentina (June 9). A two-day general strike is slated for Ecuador June 15-16. In Africa, Nigeria was hit by a general strike protesting the government increase of fuel prices. (For details, see below).
GENERAL STRIKES ARE NOT ENOUGH
As communists we in PLP support these workers' struggles while rejecting the union leaders and opportunists behind them who mislead them and who generally serve different groups of bosses. For example, in Argentina, the union federations are led by members of the Peronista Party (founded by General Perón, a Hitler admirer).. For almost a decade, Argentina was ruled by Peronista President Menem, who relentlessly attacked the working class.Until this system that thrives on the misery of the working class is smashed, workers will continue on the treadmill of constantly fighting the bosses' attacks, while winning very few, if any, of these battles. And the bosses, holding state power, eventually take away even these small victories. Even should these strikes become a mass uprising throwing the current rulers out of office, exchanging one president for another--as has happened twice in Ecuador in the last two years and hundreds of times under capitalism--the essence of the system, a bosses' dictatorship over workers, remains.Revolutionary-minded workers must turn these struggles into schools for communism. This means, among other things:
* Building Class Solidarity. In the U.S., unity in struggle against the bosses has gone mostly downhill ever since Reagan busted the 1981 air controllers strike. All boss-fostered divisions that emerge in strike actions--white against black, Latin and Asian; men against women; citizen against immigrant; young against old; one nationality against another--must be fought. Working-class unity is an essential ingredient without which revolution is impossible.
* Battling scabs and cops. In the course of militant class struggle, workers can learn the class nature of the government (state apparatus). It's not neutral. It's a class weapon of the bosses against the working class. From this can come the understanding--with communist leadership--that the bosses' state dictatorship cannot be changed by "electing the good guys" but must be smashed and replaced by a workers' state: the dictatorship of the proletariat.
* Relating strike demands to the political needs of the working class. Immediate economic struggles often open the door to explain how racism and imperialist war are behind the bosses attacks on the working class. Overcoming boss-inspired racism unites the working class, again an essential ingredient in preparation for revolution. Organizing against the bosses' war plans, especially in the war industries and the military, could rock the rulers back on their heels and reveal just how weak they are without working class support or passivity.
* Building a mass PLP. Finally, and most important, PLP members and friends in every strike and general strike must fight to win strikers to the need to join the Party and build a mass revolutionary workers' communist party . That is the only road to a society where production is based on the needs of the working class. For workers, this is the true victory of any strike or general strike.
These are some of the ways such struggles can become schools for communism.
General Strikes Erupt from Africa to South America
* On June 8 in Uruguay, the PIT-CNT (the union federation) organized a 24-hour general strike coinciding with the 100th day of President Jorge Battle's government, protesting his economic policies. Uruguay's unemployment rate is 12%. The strike opposed huge budget cutbacks, aimed mainly at the workers, and a privatization law which will sell off even "efficient state-owned agencies." The strike was partially successful. Several workers were arrested for stoning 21 scab buses.
* On June 9, the three different trade union federations in Argentina united to call a 24-hour general strike against mass firings of government workers. The strike was 85% effective. Over 100 scab buses were burned. President de la Rúa is in a bind. He's about to visit Wall Street seeking more investments in Argentina, but the imperialist bankers (through the International Monetary Fund) are demanding even greater government cutbacks to force it to pay for its already huge foreign debt.
* "A general strike in Nigeria against increased fuel prices has left banks, schools and hospitals across the country closed," reported BBC news (June 8). The strike began on June 7 after rebellions erupted in several cities protesting the increase. Although Nigeria is a big oil producer, and the world price of oil is at its highest in many years, only Shell Oil, Chevron and local bosses and politicians benefit from this bonanza.
* In Ecuador, "The national teachers' union and public health workers began the week with new protests....The trade union federations have called for a general strike for the end of the week. The Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities (CONAIE) is meeting on June 13 to decide whether to join the call for a people's uprising." (INSIGNIA newspaper, June 12).
A few months ago, similar uprisings led by CONAIE stormed the parliament when the soldiers protecting it opened the doors to the protestors. The politicians inside ran for their lives. CONAIE and dissident military officers briefly established a government. Army generals, guided by the U.S. embassy, dissolved it a few hours later, forced President Mahuad to resign and installed Vice-President Noboa as president. Noboa has continued Mahuad's anti-working class economic policies (including replacing the Sucre with the dollar as the local currency) and now is facing a similar threat. As in Nigeria, oil profits end up in the imperialist/local bosses'/politicians' pockets.
IS THE MILITARY TRYING TO ABOLISH SEXISM?
Charges of sexual harassment brought by the highest-ranking woman in the military, Lt. Gen. Claudia Kennedy, against her former commanding officer, Maj. Gen. Larry G. Smith, have been upheld. Kennedy has stated that in 1996 Smith tried to fondle her after a meeting at her Pentagon office. At the time she did not report it, but when Smith was assigned to handle all complaints of sexual harassment in the military, she said she felt compelled to bring these charges.
Why did Kennedy, who is retiring in June, decide to come forward now? Was it a combination of a guilty conscience for not having said something earlier plus Smith's promotion? Or did she feel that with her retirement she wouldn't have to worry about the effect on her career? Or did others encourage her to come forward to make a political statement? It's still unclear, but some things are very clear.
Kennedy received a lot of support after making the charges. Counter-charges brought against her by a friend of Smith's were dismissed within a few days. This kind of speed is rarely seen in the Pentagon. Secondly, shortly afterwards Kennedy spoke at a public banquet sponsored by several groups closely associated with the military. She urged military women to come forward with complaints of sexual harassment. This event received front-page coverage in the NEW YORK TIMES.
Integrating women into the armed forces has been huge problem for the military which they are desperately trying to solve. Since the Gulf War the military could not function without the women who comprise 30% or so of its forces. Without women volunteers they would probably need a draft, which would create more political problems for them.
The military is also committed to integrating women because it affects the U.S. rulers' strategy of maintaining their position as the dominant capitalist power. This requires preparation for large-scale war and constant deployment of troops worldwide. The ruling class needs liberal politicians to win the population to support war, large and small. Therefore, they must have a military that is large and integrated.
The military can't fully fight the sexism within its ranks without exposing the sexist nature of the society these soldiers are being asked to die to protect. Can they afford to reveal that capitalist culture is saturated with sex and destructive relationships from which the ruling class makes billions while taking young people's minds off rebelling? As young workers become more disillusioned and alienated by capitalism, more sex and decadence are offered to distract them.
Can they expose the fact that capitalism needs the billions of dollars netted by U.S. bosses from paying low wages to woman workers around the world? Yet their own need to protect more of their empire is forcing U.S. bosses to use more women in the military. Promoting more woman to generals, even supporting more women who complain about sexual harassment, won't solve the problem of sexism.
Among enlisted soldiers sexism in the military cuts both ways. On the one hand, sexism is a huge problem for working-class soldiers. Relationships between men and women in the military are strained. All the problems of a sexist society are magnified by the young age of the soldiers, the uneven ratio of men to women and the lack of good role models for healthy relationships. But the main problem is political and inherent in a profit system.
Although sexism is not inherent in our communist movement, it does exist and we are held back by the sexism of capitalism. But the communist movement is not bound by sexism. Not only do we not need it but it also acts as a brake on the unity needed to destroy capitalism. Through political struggle and practice we can overcome sexism to unite soldiers to fight for communism.
While there have been many ups and downs, the communist movement has a positive history of fighting sexism. Women played huge roles, as soldiers and organizers, in both the Soviet and Chinese revolutions. The Cultural Revolution in China explicitly sought to fight sexism in the movement and bring more women into leadership. PLP has made strides in developing women leaders. But this, like the entire struggle for revolution, is a long hard fight--500 years of capitalist ideology won't change easily in any of us.
PLP members in the military are trying to develop healthy communist relations between soldiers, relationships based more on class-consciousness, helping each other and uniting against the brass and the bosses. Over the last few months we've had some positive developments. In one mostly black National Guard unit, a young white woman soldier has earned the respect of her fellow soldiers by taking on the female First Sergeant who was giving favors to soldiers who slept with her. Our comrade fought over many little things, such as which barracks were given to soldiers on drill weekends and favoritism in duty assignments to cronies of the First Sergeant. She has also raised bigger political issues, about the war in Kosovo and racist police killings.
By doing such things and being a principled person, over the last few years she has developed a few soldiers who read CHALLENGE and has built a small base for communist ideas. This is an example of fighting sexism in the military, one that gives us hope for the future.
Methodist Hospital Strike...
OUR UNITY WILL SOON BE TESTED!
GARY, IN, June 14 -- The strike against Northlake and Southlake Methodist hospitals is in its third week. Morale is high for the 650 mostly black women housekeepers, nurses' assistants, food service and maintenance workers in SEIU Local 73.
On June 8, almost 1,000 workers and youth turned out in the blistering heat to march arm in arm with the strikers. Workers were outraged when Gary mayor compared giving a city permit for the six-block march to granting a permit to the Ku Klux Klan!
The large number of marchers and the constant blast of truck and car horns showed the overwhelming support of workers in this area. The usual gaggle of union hacks and politicians addressed the rally, declaring to the heavens, "We're with you all the way!" Some came with checks in hand for the emergency fund, used to prevent the utilities from turning off the strikers' gas and electricity.
A strike leader and 20-year veteran gave a chilling account of what life is like for her and her son on a Methodist paycheck. A letter from a nurse was read to the rally. Nurses are not in the union and are working 12-hour days. She described the unsafe and unsanitary conditions inside, and told how the security guards were trying to intimidate nurses from talking to strikers. She concluded by saying, "We are all with you." Now would be the time to add "union recognition" for the nurses to the list of demands, and pull them out as well. A black woman doctor declared her support for the strike at a rally right in front of the main entrance.
The unity and morale of the strikers is about to be tested. The bosses have brought in professional strikebreakers and a court injunction is not far off. When it comes, the big-shot union leaders and politicians will tell us to obey it. We must be prepared to defy any injunction with even greater mass picketing. This will up the ante. Strikers will face arrests, but that can be turned against the bosses with even more support from steelworkers and other hospital workers in the area.
This strike is an opportunity to learn how to take power. The bosses rule through a class dictatorship: their property, their cops, their courts, and their laws. Racist and sexist super-exploitation, driving wages down and productivity up, are what's fueling the "economic boom" in every industry. Capitalism is a system of wage slavery. Everything is produced for profit.
As long as the bosses hold power we will have endless wars, racism and poverty. Communist revolution will build a world where everything is produced for the needs of the working class. We invite every Methodist striker to join the revolutionary communist PLP and build a movement that can lead our class to power.
Workers Wary of AFL-CIO `Shampaign' for Amnesty
LOS ANGELES, CA, June 10--More than 20,000 immigrant and citizen workers attended a rally sponsored by the AFL-CIO leadership to demand unconditional amnesty for undocumented workers.
The AFL-CIO and Democratic Party, both controlled by the Rockefeller wing of the ruling class, have a long history of racism against immigrant workers. While many workers hope this campaign will bring them relief from the racist Migra (the U.S. immigration department), the Rockefellers have something else in mind. They're pushing amnesty to get workers beholden to them and more likely to fight their imperialist wars. They also want workers tied to the electoral process and to the AFL-CIO traitors.
A limited amnesty may well win over large sectors of the immigrant community. More than 70% are between 18 and 35--army age. One of every five children born in the U.S. are from immigrant families.
At the rally, workers chanted, "Workers' struggles have no borders"; "Up with workers, down with Clinton." A few chanted, "Migra Cochina racista y asesina." [Immigration cops: filthy racists and murderers."] When some leaders chanted, "People, united...," one worker led those around her to chant, Workers, united..." Several workers agreed we must sharpen the struggle against the bosses in the factories and gave her their names and addresses.
Outside, PLP members sold and distributed over 600 CHALLENGES and more than 3,500 communist leaflets. As workers streamed inside, PLP rallied, denouncing Clinton, Gore and the capitalist system, the source of racist exploitation, and "Operation Gatekeeper," which has murdered 1,500 immigrants at the border. We called for revolution to destroy wage slavery and borders so the workers who produce all the wealth will use it for their own needs.
A couple of union leaders tried to turn the crowd against us, saying we were "against the workers" because our leaflet attacked the AFL-CIO leadership. But then a worker took the bullhorn to say many "legal" workers are paid starvation wages; "amnesty will not end exploitation." He asked why the AFL-CIO didn't organize the power of garment and farm workers and all workers in California to strike for unconditional amnesty and decent wages and conditions. He called on workers to organize on the job against racist exploitation. The union leaders slunk away.
"LEADERS BUILD PATRIOTISM AND NATIONALISM
Union honchos began the event with a group playing popular Mexican music. Thousands started chanting, "Mexico, Mexico." But Christina Vasquez, garment union International Vice-President led a group of youth who recently became U.S. citizens in the Pledge of Allegiance to U.S. bosses. Behind them was a sea of U.S. flags. Then union leaders and politicians spewed their love of the U.S. and their "support" of immigrant workers.
Farmworkers' union leader Arturo Rodriguez said workers who are legal residents "are free to improve their lives." AFL-CIO Executive Vice-President Linda Chavez Thompson said that the "clause that punishes employers who employ undocumented workers, made into law in 1986, was a failure. The employers manipulated the system. That's why they're changing their strategy." A video about the Statue of Liberty said it stood for protecting immigrants in the past which should be the case again.
`HUMANITARIAN' WORDS, FASCIST DEEDS
"This is a circus," said a garment worker who brought his family and other workers. Another declared, "I'm going to fight for amnesty, but I'm not going to support a war! They're going to have a serious problem if they want to send us." Although many understood the union leaders are "humanitarian" in word and fascist in deed, the bosses are still fighting to win many thousands to support their plans for war and fascism.
Garment workers, farm workers and janitors came in groups while 4,000 workers were organized by different churches under the Metro Alliance. The field is open for us to work more deeply with them and win many to our revolutionary outlook.
Party members plan to discuss the event with their co-workers, explain the bosses' plans and organize committees in the shops and factories as well as in the churches to oppose the bosses' daily attacks. We'll fight to bring more workers and students to the next mass rally. This work and CHALLENGE are vital in giving workers the alternative to the Democrats and AFL-CIO "leaders." Only CHALLENGE exposes the hypocrisy of these "humanitarians" who need workers as cannon fodder to fight for their empire. Either we win workers to the long-term fight for workers' power or the bosses will win them to fight and kill other workers for the bosses' bloody oil profits.
For a Brief Period The Statue Stood for Liberty--from Slavery
It's called the Statue of Liberty for a reason. It was not presented to the U.S. to celebrate mass immigration. The "give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses..." part was added years later.
The statue was given to the U.S. by a Republican club in France when Republicans were left-wing parties advocating the overthrow of monarchies. It honored the defeat of slavery. In fact the first statue had a broken chain in her hand and was a black woman!
This apparently was too radical for the U.S. government which asked for the modifications we see today. And no black people were allowed on the island for the opening ceremony. The Statue is a clear example how the rulers rewrite history.
Later the same French Republican club struck a medallion honoring John Brown's raid on Harper's Ferry and presented it to his widow.
Rockefeller Forces Plot
Hostile Takeover of LA Bosses
The Rockefeller wing of the U.S. ruling class, which owns Exxon-Mobil, the Chase Bank, many media outlets--led by the NEW YORK TIMES--and controls the Democratic Party, is organizing a many-sided offensive to attack its rivals. For this, these imperialists must win as many workers as possible to their side. Their plan is to drape themselves with a "humanitarian, anti-racist, pro-immigrant, pro-labor" flag.This is why the Rockefeller-directed U.S. Justice Department is punishing Bill Gates' Microsoft, to bring it under the control of the Rockefeller Eastern Establishment. This offensive is also behind the drive for community policing and the fight to take over the schools as well as the launching of mass movements led by the AFL-CIO.
An important part of this offensive is the fight to control Los Angeles, the country's second largest city. The top Eastern bosses are disciplining the LA ruling class and fighting to win over black and Latino workers to support Rockefeller/Exxon war plans for control of Middle East oil. This is the cheapest, most plentiful and accessible oil in the world. Corporations that dominated policy in LA include: McDonnell Douglas, absorbed by Boeing; ARCO, taken over by Exxon rival BP Amoco, (limited somewhat by the Justice Department), and UNOCAL, being attacked by the AFL-CIO for its ties to the Rockefeller enemies ruling in Myanmar (Burma) and Afghanistan.Eli Broad, owner of Sun America, has been a member of LA's ruling elite. He is a friend of Mayor Riordan. It was at his home that a donor connected to the Chinese government arranged to make a large contribution to the Democratic National Committee in an attempt to influence U.S. policy toward China. Both Broad and McDonnell Douglas were willing to do business with China without any limit on technology transfers. This position was strongly opposed by the Eastern rulers, who see China as a long-range strategic enemy and competitor for control of Middle East oil. The Rockefeller Empire depends on control of Middle East oil to limit their competitors' supply of this key resource. The biggest LA-based oil firm, the Hunt brothers' Occidental--a Rockefeller/Exxon enemy--gets much of its crude from Libya, labeled a "rogue" nation by the U.S.. Rockefeller's plan for a likely ground war in Iraq, and need to win the workers to support this bloodbath, do not fit into the LA oil barons' plan. The AFL-CIO is pushing hard in LA to build a cadre of liberals loyal to Rockefeller's plan.
In other arenas, the traditional LA rulers are under attack. Their companies have been taken over or limited. The LAPD has served the LA rulers by enforcing racist terror to guarantee low wages and immediate profits. Now the Eastern Establishment is pushing for community policing which, while continuing to terrorize workers would also try to win workers to support the cops and see the Federal Government as "humanitarian."
The LA rulers have been anti-union, unwilling to use unions to win the workers to support U.S. imperialism. They sought only to terrorize workers and pay the lowest possible wages. They have preferred to hire undocumented immigrants and use the threat of deportation over the heads of thousands of garment and other manufacturing workers rather than legalize them. The Rockefeller plan is to make more workers legal residents and citizens and bring them into organizations controlled by the Democratic Party.
Roy Romer, former chairman of the Democratic National Committee, is being appointed LA schools Superintendent, despite the LA Times' editorializing against this Rockefeller loyalist. The Justice Department push to take control of the LAPD and the AFL-CIO's Amnesty campaign are part of a fight to win workers to see the Rockefeller liberals, the Democratic Party and the unions as their saviors from racist exploitation. Nothing could be further from the truth!
While all bosses are murderous exploiters, the Rockefeller liberals are the most dangerous. They control state power in the U.S. They've killed more workers than Hitler. They are the ones planning ground war in the Middle East soon for oil profits and stand ready to wage World War to save their empire. We can't trust or support any capitalist rulers. Our strength lies in uniting the workers in both the short run and the long run to fight for workers' power through communist revolution.
Capitalism: Murder Inc. in Africa
Some people think that Challenge exaggerates the cruelty of capitalism. In fact, the reality of capitalism is much worse than words in a newpaper can express.
Recently we have reported on wars in Africa (5/31, 6/14 issues). We've shown how deadly imperialism, capitalism and nationalism have been for the exploited African masses of the Congo, Sierra Leone, Ethiopia, Angola, Liberia, etc. But we underestimated how many lives the profit system has destroyed. According to surveys reported in the NEW YORK TIMES, 200,000 deaths were attributable to acts of violence, while the vast majority were due to the war-related collapse of the region's health infrastructure and delivery of its health and nutrition services. In total, 1.7 million have died in the Eastern Congo because of the war.
An example of how the competing nationalist rulers have turned the Eastern Congo into a cemetery is the latest fighting between the armies of Rwanda and Uganda. A week of heavy artillery fire totally destroyed Kisangani, a city of 500,000 in the northeast Congo. Its victims were mainly civilians.
Until recently these two armies were allies in a war against Congo's President Kabila. Uganda trained and armed a Tutsi-led Rwandan force to fight against Rwanda's former government, led by the Hutu ethnic group elite, which had killed hundreds of thousands of Rwandan Tutsis supporters of the Uganda-based exiles. The U.S. army was behind the Uganda-Rwandan Tutsi forces. Uganda's president was trained at Ft. Leavenworth, Kansas, and basically was considered an officer in the U.S. Army.
Meanwhile, the French military had also armed racist Hutu militias of the former Rwandan government which were murdering hundreds of thousands of Tutsis.
After the old pro-French Hutu rulers of Rwanda were defeated, the new rulers and their Ugandan backers invaded the Congo to oust the aging dictator Mobutu, who already had become useless for U.S. imperialism. (The CIA had installed Mobutu in power in the 1960s to side with the U.S. during the Cold War against the Soviet Union.) Mobutu's ouster opened the door for the current President Kabila to take power, aided by the armies of Rwanda and Uganda.
Africa's First Mini World War
But soon after Kabila took over, the rulers of Uganda and Rwanda decided to retain control of the Eastern Congo. Kabila reacted by supporting guerrillas opposed to both armies. Troops from the armies of Namibia, Angola and Zimbabwe are in the Congo defending Kabila against the armies of Uganda and Rwanda, a mini-world war centered in Africa. Meanwhile, these "allies"--Rwanda and Uganda--are waging their own war within a war for the control of the destroyed Kinsagani, center of the diamond-rich northeastern Congo.
These constantly shifting alliances between different nationalist and ethnic forces all turn on control of the Congo's rich mineral wealth. The eastern Congo has some of the world's biggest diamond mines. Billions are at stake for those who control these minerals. That is the name of the game for all capitalists--profits, no matter how many must be murdered to amass them.
Can the Army Be All It Can Without Sexism?
Charges of sexual harassment brought by the highest-ranking woman in the military, Lt. Gen. Claudia Kennedy, against her former commanding officer, Maj. Gen. Larry G. Smith, have been upheld. Kennedy has stated that in 1996 Smith tried to fondle her after a meeting at her Pentagon office. At the time she did not report it, but when Smith was assigned to handle all complaints of sexual harassment in the military, she said she felt compelled to bring these charges.
Why did Kennedy, who is retiring in June, decide to come forward now? Was it a combination of a guilty conscience for not having said something earlier plus Smith's promotion? Or did she feel that with her retirement she wouldn't have to worry about the effect on her career? Or did others encourage her to come forward to make a political statement? It's still unclear, but some things are very clear.
Kennedy received a lot of support after making the charges. Counter-charges brought against her by a friend of Smith's were dismissed within a few days. This kind of speed is rarely seen in the Pentagon. Secondly, shortly afterwards Kennedy spoke at a public banquet sponsored by several groups closely associated with the military. She urged military women to come forward with complaints of sexual harassment. This event received front-page coverage in the NEW YORK TIMES.
Integrating women into the armed forces has been huge problem for the military which they are desperately trying to solve. Since the Gulf War the military could not function without the women who comprise 30% or so of its forces. Without women volunteers they would probably need a draft, which would create more political problems for them.
The military is also committed to integrating women because it affects the U.S. rulers' strategy of maintaining their position as the dominant capitalist power. This requires preparation for large-scale war and constant deployment of troops worldwide. The ruling class needs liberal politicians to win the population to support war, large and small. Therefore, they must have a military that is large and integrated.
The military can't fully fight the sexism within its ranks without exposing the sexist nature of the society these soldiers are being asked to die to protect. Can they afford to reveal that capitalist culture is saturated with sex and destructive relationships from which the ruling class makes billions while taking young people's minds off rebelling? As young workers become more disillusioned and alienated by capitalism, more sex and decadence are offered to distract them.
Can they expose the fact that capitalism needs the billions of dollars netted by U.S. bosses from paying low wages to woman workers around the world? Yet their own need to protect more of their empire is forcing U.S. bosses to use more women in the military. Promoting more woman to generals, even supporting more women who complain about sexual harassment, won't solve the problem of sexism.
Among enlisted soldiers sexism in the military cuts both ways. On the one hand, sexism is a huge problem for working-class soldiers. Relationships between men and women in the military are strained. All the problems of a sexist society are magnified by the young age of the soldiers, the uneven ratio of men to women and the lack of good role models for healthy relationships. But the main problem is political and inherent in a profit system.
Although sexism is not inherent in our communist movement, it does exist and we are held back by the sexism of capitalism. But the communist movement is not bound by sexism. Not only do we not need it but it also acts as a brake on the unity needed to destroy capitalism. Through political struggle and practice we can overcome sexism to unite soldiers to fight for communism.
While there have been many ups and downs, the communist movement has a positive history of fighting sexism. Women played huge roles, as soldiers and organizers, in both the Soviet and Chinese revolutions. The Cultural Revolution in China explicitly sought to fight sexism in the movement and bring more women into leadership. PLP has made strides in developing women leaders. But this, like the entire struggle for revolution, is a long hard fight--500 years of capitalist ideology won't change easily in any of us.
PLP members in the military are trying to develop healthy communist relations between soldiers, relationships based more on class-consciousness, helping each other and uniting against the brass and the bosses. Over the last few months we've had some positive developments. In one mostly black National Guard unit, a young white woman soldier has earned the respect of her fellow soldiers by taking on the female First Sergeant who was giving favors to soldiers who slept with her. Our comrade fought over many little things, such as which barracks were given to soldiers on drill weekends and favoritism in duty assignments to cronies of the First Sergeant. She has also raised bigger political issues, about the war in Kosovo and racist police killings.
By doing such things and being a principled person, over the last few years she has developed a few soldiers who read CHALLENGE and has built a small base for communist ideas. This is an example of fighting sexism in the military, one that gives us hope for the future.
School Election Opens Doors for Left
BROOKLYN, NY -- "You mean you think it's a good thing to be attacked?" asked a co-worker in discussing the union election at a Party member's school. Our member has a history of union activity, having been a delegate for three years and run for overall union rep (chapter leader) twice, as an open communist. In this latest election it really became clear there were two sides: the class collaborationist slate--work with the boss, "we're all in this together"--and the class struggle side.
Although she was reluctant to run for chapter leader because it might take away too much time spent with students, she did agree to run for a delegate position, in alliance with two other teachers who'd been vocal and active in union struggles throughout the school year. One ran for chapter leader, the other for another delegate spot. They made it clear in our campaign literature that they'd each been involved in leading struggles in the school--for students as well as for staff--something the bosses' slate could never claim.Shortly before the election tremendous struggle emerged about our comrade's communist politics. Some teachers waged a real fight against anti-communism--"What does it matter she's a communist, look at all she's done for us"--showing some understanding that anti-communism was being used to stop class struggle in the school. (The next step is to win people to understand how being a communist relates to what we do.)
Meanwhile, the administration, in violation of Federal labor law (what else is new?), was warning people not to vote for her.
The administration's slate stood for working with the bosses. After all, they said, our school is the "beacon of hope" for its community. The incumbent chapter leader says his role is to be the liaison with the principal, instead of leading struggle to force the principal to supply copying and other materials we've needed all year, or to force the principal to meet with the union committee.
Our member received 83 votes out of 156 voters, over 50%. That wasn't enough to be elected since the three candidates on the bosses' slate received over 100 votes.
Many staff members were really upset our member wasn't elected. However, communists don't measure victory in electoral votes. This attack, and the clear alliance of forces create excellent opportunities. While our member hasn't consistently won people to attend Party events, or even to stand up to the bosses with her, this election campaign creates new openings. She's now in a better position to win people to form a caucus to organize in the school. And she's made it clear that the chapter needs to fight to support students in their struggles to pass the exams necessary to graduate.There is real interest in the caucus, but now to make this a real victory, she needs to win people to join the PLP Summer Project. Our Party section here has already planned a teacher study group and a fund-raising party for our fired teacher PLP'ers in Chicago. If our comrade can bring her friends, that's really winning!
Peer Review a Cover for Attacks Against Students, Teachers
"I'm against peer review," an older teacher in Los Angeles told a comrade who was giving her the CHALLENGE with an article on educational reform. "I don't think I'm a very good teacher--I sure don't have the energy I used to--and I don't want them to be able to get rid of me."
"Well, I know I'm a good teacher," replied the comrade, "and I've been written up for fighting for the students and for teaching the truth about the class struggle--but the pretext has been leaving my keys on the desk and being across the hall getting chalk when the tardy bell rang. And when we had a teacher here who was openly sexist and racist and refused to teach, he always got good evaluations. It took the unity of parents, teachers and students to get rid of him. The administration has never gone after teachers like that."
This is a small part of many discussions we've had this week about educational reform and peer review. The PLP teachers' club made a good effort and distributed 75 CHALLENGES to teachers this week, including seven by a friend of the Party who in the past had only gotten out one. All of us have learned a lot in this process.
At an after-school union meeting to discuss the vote on peer review, several activist teachers and CHALLENGE readers told of being pressured for standing up for students and for teaching about the fight against racism. They understood peer review could be an administration weapon against them as well. Another activist said the union should act as a defense attorney, defending all teachers no matter how they teach. A Party teacher disagreed, recounting the fight to fire the teacher who both refused to teach the students and who sexually harassed women students. In discussions following the meeting, most agreed we shouldn't defend teachers don't teach and who have openly racist and sexist behavior.
The older teacher quoted above is actually a dedicated teacher who has good rapport with the students and has defended their right to read CHALLENGE. With few exceptions, teachers in inner city schools care very much about their students and work hard to do a good job. But the problem is deeper and much less obvious. Many unintentionally sell the students short. Many students sell themselves short. Racist underestimation of students is part and parcel of the capitalist system in which we live. To fight with the certainty and commitment that everyone can learn requires a sharp understanding of the racist nature of capitalism.
For example, several of us tutor students to pass the tests required for graduation. It's an important part of showing students we care about them. We sit with a few students at a time and really try to listen to their problems--for example, with specific math operations. It's very important to know exactly the obstacles students face in understanding the operation and to develop enough rapport with the student to overcome feelings of sham. One student told us, for example, he was embarrassed to ask for help with math class because he'd have to admit he didn't understand. Establishing trust, paying very close attention to the specific problem and tutoring a few students at a time are keys in helping students pass these tests.
It's too easy and wrong to place the failure of the educational system at the feet of a few bad teachers. The problem runs throughout the whole profit system. Capitalism has always sold the working class short. The system systematically denies necessary resources to working-class students--especially black and Latino--while it also spreads racist lies, saying, "they can't learn." Parents are justifiably angry. Today, the ruling class needs to win students defend the bosses' profit system. While increasing the skill levels of a few students, it must also tighten controls over the schools and gear them up for industry and war. They use peer review to direct their fire against the teachers, and to control them.
Parents, students and teachers can see through this sham, especially as we raise these issues with them. CHALLENGE and PLP are vital in showing the real problem: schools organized to perpetuate a racist capitalist system--and the solution: organizing parents, teachers and students to fight to learn as we learn to fight for communist revolution. We have a long way to go and a lot to learn and to teach as well. Our discussions in the Party are very helpful.
LETTERS
Writers Wanted
I want to commend CHALLENGE for raising the importance of a communist paper and its distribution. The discussion of the role and the need for a communist newspaper is vital and long overdue. With that I'd like to encourage the discussion to go forward and advance the paper and its use by making some criticisms.
The issue is more than distribution, as important as that is. The issue is making CHALLENGE a mass newspaper in line with the idea of a mass party. To quote the editorial, "CHALLENGE is a mass organizer through which millions of workers can be trained politically to participate in the building of a communist world." But in its last paragraph something very important is left out, "Readers and distributors of CHALLENGE today will be members and leaders of our Party tomorrow." What about writers? How can workers and others politically participate as active, creative and wise leaders if they don't shape those ideas and communicate them in writing? And if they don't, who will? Our class needs all the leaders it can develop and workers, once they have the confidence, want to lead. Not being able to put your thoughts in writing, not being able to fully contribute to the fight for communism, erodes confidence. It makes us "employees", even in a good cause. In the fight for communism it means defeat.
Next, by putting a straw man up and knocking him down the editorial does not advance the discussion. The "very committed and active veteran member of PLP" is quoted as being unsure that increasing the readership of CHALLENGE is most important. Well what is their opinion as to what is? If someone as committed and experienced and active has a different take on the situation, shouldn't we hear the whole argument, or at least its main points? Or does doing communist work over time mean you just get more doubts? It's not my experience. Is this the message we want younger comrades to get?
Finally, the argument that distribution is most important has been made many times in the past, (the distant past), yet the circulation of the paper is at one of its lowest points. Maybe there is more to the problem. I believe that base-building and the integration of CHALLENGE in that process is the direction that growth, in all its aspects, lies. So while I commend the editors for starting the discussion, we've got to get deeper. Let's uncover the problem and its answers. We've got a world to win.
Another Veteran Comrade
Capitalism Strikes Out
With the Mudville Nine (Stockton, CA. team) vs. the San Jose Giants, minor league baseball comes to Lodi twice this year. The game started at 10:30 A.M and I thought it would be a good way to spend the morning.
Why do I like baseball? I remember playing it in the parks or in the streets until it got too dark to see the ball. You appreciate the skill it takes to hit a curve ball, or the surprise of the quickness of your own reflexes, when that bullet line drive actually ended up in your glove. You can remember the camaraderie of the players. If you played sports, the memories make going to see a game enjoyable. But capitalism corrupts and ruins everything it touches.
I went early to see batting practice. What I saw was a battering ram of fascist culture. I noticed all the school buses at the entrance to Zupo field. The stands were filled with junior high kids and a few paying adults. It was a promotional game sponsored by Lodi's biggest employer, General Mills, under the name H.L.A.Y. (Here's Looking At You). There were demonstrations by the Lodi Police K-9 Corps, showing police dogs viciously attacking victims (drug dealers), explaining to the students the dogs are not trained to bite but to take a victim down and keep him there.
If the police dogs are not enough to terrorize you, then General Mills brings in the U.S. Army National Guard. In comes the green army helicopter, landing in the center of Zupo field. Out comes McGruff, the crime dog, waving at the kids from a distance. An Army captain makes a speech about "just saying no" and he and McGruff return to their helicopter.
When the helicopter takes off it does a ground-level sweep from right to left field, facing the unsuspecting fans.
Many students were organized to leave the game after the 4th inning, once they had seen the "important part."
It is vital for our class to read and distribute CHALLENGE. This is where we learn that the highest levels of the U.S.Army (General McCaffery's henchmen) organize the drug shipments from Columbia and other countries to be distributed to our children on the streets. (CHALLENGE, May 31) CHALLENGE exposes the true nature of the police, to terrorize and control workers and especially black and Latin workers.
CHALLENGE allows us to see these subtle demonstrations of fascist terror for what they are. It also can show us a future with communist revolution--a healthy baseball game.
Lodi Red
Communists Must Lead Struggles of Immigrant and Citizen Workers United
I thought the two articles in the June 14 CHALLENGE about the AFL-CIO campaign for amnesty for undocumented workers were very important.
The capitalists are constantly looking for ways to raise profits by increasing the workers' productivity and lowering wages. In the U.S. there's an "economic boom," in part because of a fascist labor policy based on a combination of factors: contracting out, part-time or temporary work at lower wages with no benefits, super-exploitation of undocumented workers, forced labor of Workfare workers and prison slave labor. In many places workers exist in all these categories, side by side.
The resulting "competition" among workers lowers wages and constantly increases productivity, read speed-up. In this time of lower unemployment in the U.S. the bosses and the government fear workers will seek higher wages and the unions will lose control of them.
The unions are fully aware of this. The amnesty campaign, as the CHALLENGE articles pointed out, is aimed primarily at winning the allegiance of immigrant workers to the electoral process in general, and to the Democratic Party and its war plans in particular, especially as the rivalry between the capitalists of different countries intensifies.
The demand for limited amnesty is a bribe and a cover, a defensive measure so that the AFL-CIO leaders will be able to control the workers without having to unite them to really fight on the shop floor, nor to oppose all the elements of U.S. fascist labor policy.
That's where the revolutionary communist PLP comes in. Communists have always tried to lead workers onto the offensive in the class struggle, strategically and tactically. Communists organize and lead daily and long-term struggles in the factories and on the job, uniting all workers--citizen, documented and undocumented, unionized and non-unionized. Communists put teeth into international solidarity, both in word and action.
A communist-led working-class movement against imperialist war must grow directly out of these class struggles. Communists and our base functioning inside the unions and other mass organizations is the best way to expose the true role of the AFL-CIO. Communists can bring the lessons of communist history the workers and make them conscious of how capitalism works and why the international working class needs power.
NYC comrade
They Don't Eat Meat, They Eat Children!
I know this headline sounds cruel, but it really fits certain groups tending to attract people looking to escape the madness of this system and falls into something even worse. After all, Hitler not only called his movement "national socialist," but also preached "healthier living." He was a vegetarian and a supporter of healthy living, except for million of Jews, Gypsies and Soviet people. Anyway, this is about those annoying orange-robed followers of the Hare Krishna sect. Former students of this movement are suing it for $400 million for sexual and emotional abuses.
The suit claims that in the 1970s and '80s more than 1,000 children were affected, some as young as three years old. Their lawyer said it covers "the most unthinkable abuse and maltreatment of little children we have seen." Children were physically abused, scrubbed with steel wool until they bled, untreated for malaria, hepatitis, etc. Younger girls were given as brides to older men who donated to the sect.
Krishna was brought to the U.S. by a swami at the height of the Vietnam war and civil rights movement. For sure, he had the support of the U.S. government. Many turned away from militant anti-war and anti-racist actions to join the sect. Those who tried to escape the fight against capitalism and imperialism ended up providing flesh for this pedophiliac movement.
Krishna buster
Dayton Transit Workers Reject Contract Twice
I read the recent CHALLENGE article about the struggle of MUNI transit workers in San Francisco, and want to relate a struggle by transit workers in Dayton, Ohio.
For the second time in two months, ATU (Amalgamated Transit Union) Local 1385 has rejected a contract recommended by union leaders. The contract not only provided for a miserable wage "hike" of 2.8%, it also called for a FOURTH wage tier. This would allow the bosses to pay "combination" drivers $11.02 an hour instead of the $19 an hour paid to regular drivers.
The union hacks were counting on the older drivers endorsing this sellout at the expense of the younger and newer drivers being paid $8 an hour less. But the senior drivers upset the hacks' applecart with an old-fashioned example of working-class unity, refusing to accept a contract on the backs of their younger brothers and sisters.
Union leaders act the same way from Sand Francisco to Dayton and beyond. They serve the bosses, and line their own pockets, at the expense of the working class.
Red Rider
