Students reject school tribute to U.S fascism
In a high school in Boston, a MAGA principal decided to paint a flag mural in celebration of 250 years of genocide, the birth of racism, chattel slavery, and imperialism. In other words, the history of the USA. In reaction to this, communist students in the school organized a response. An email was written to the head of the History Department.
These are my honest thoughts. This mural is a stain on our school community. Nobody asked for it to be made, and it represents the selfish and patriotic desires of a MAGA man. My immigrant peers and I have dealt with ICE’s cruelty. And this mural feels like a slap in the back of the head to us. As resources dwindle and the U.S. loses its grip on the global economy, we’ve come to a point in history where capitalism and its players have become violent in their imperialist ways. Patriotism is reserved for those who choose to remain ignorant of the state of the world and U.S. empire. In the revolutionary words of Che Guevara, “And then many things became very clear...we learned perfectly that the life of a single human being is worth millions of times more than all the property of the richest man on earth.
When the day came to finally unveil the flag-laced monstrosity, many of the students who were supposed to participate in it abstained in protest.
One of the communist students was going to make a speech, but due to not having a mass base, and not wanting to act alone and getting shut down, she mailed this speech to the History Department head as a form of protest.
The event was a very poorly attended affair that opened up a lot of opportunities for class struggle. This generation is exciting to watch! The same lies of U.S. patriotism are not going to be enough for the bosses to get them onto the battlefield. What we do counts, especially in the schools
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Unheard, ripped off at Mamdani visit
This week Mayor Mamdani came to our campus in the Bronx to host a “Rental Rip Off” hearing.
In preparing for this event, student clubs, along with faculty, met and talked about what role we could play. In the preparation, we got to hear about the real housing issues our students are struggling with. We prepared signs, and had some zines about the MTA fare hike. Progressive Labor Party members and friends distributed almost 100 CHALLENGES outside and there was a lot of interest and enthusiasm for the idea that workers need revolution.
After waiting for over two hours, what seemed like an eternity, the almost 200 people present did hear 7 minutes from Mamdani and then another 17 minutes of some questions and answers. However, many workers left feeling ripped off, because it was more of a photo op than anything else. There was little or no time for Bronx residents to speak, despite the vibe in the room being that students and workers wanted to be HEARD!
The struggle for adequate housing is another attack on the working class as the rulers prepare for war. The reality is that capitalism cannot house and feed everyone- that’s why we need a communist society. We must be wherever the working class is and keep reminding ourselves that capitalism will only rip off our class!
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This is how we serve our class
I work in a city office that provides services to low income families. Such help has never fully met the real needs of those who come to our office but federal cutbacks have made it more difficult to provide the help desperately needed. My co-workers and I have discussed this and show our support by going beyond what the rules say we can do.
As workers providing services for those less fortunate than us, like helping to arrange permanent housing, medical care, food, clothing and employment, we provide additional help beyond our job titles. We collect items (like pampers, toys, canned goods and toiletries) to help meet urgent needs. We provide information about food pantries addresses, which ones have long lines and which ones serve cooked food. We let people know that pantries serve a diverse group: seniors, young mothers, men and women of all nationalities (citizens and non-citizens). The folks we see appreciate all we do for them as they try to properly care for their families. During our work hours we are told by our managers not to care or provide additional assistance. We refuse to not acknowledge or aid any individual in need.
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Raise wage and class consciousness
At a meeting with the City Council, I was chosen—based on the trust I’ve earned within the committee I belong to—to testify on why the minimum wage for New York City workers needs to be raised, and this is the testimony I prepared:
Good morning, I have been a member of this community organization for over 20 years. My purpose here is very simple: to amplify the demands of my fellow workers who cannot be here,, because if they stop working, they won’t have enough money to pay even one bill this month—that’s why they can’t afford to stop working— but I am here to testify as to why we need a law that raises the minimum wage to $30 an hour for workers in New York City, where the cost of living is constantly rising.
I recall there was a struggle for a minimum wage of $7-something an hour, and a few years ago, after a long struggle, a law was passed that raised the minimum wage to $15. Now it’s $17, but that’s still not enough to survive on. The working class, especially Black and Brown workers are becoming poorer every day due to the rising cost of living, because as long as we live in a brutal and savage capitalist society where the rich get richer and richer due to their thirst for profit and the poor get poorer and poorer.
That is why I am asking the members of the City Council to pass the bill that raises the minimum wage for New York City workers to $30 an hour by 2030, I know that after that date, if I’m still alive, we’ll be back campaigning for a minimum wage of $40 or more, because even that wage won’t cover the ever-growing basic needs of our working class.
Thank you very much; that concludes my testimony.
I gave this testimony knowing full well that capitalism will never give us what we need, and that capitalism thrives on the exploitation of the working class, and especially the super-exploitation of Black and migrant workers. That is why I continue to build within this organization because every worker I encounter needs to know that only under communism, with the workers in power, can all the needs of the working class be met, because we would not work for a wage, but to meet our own needs and those of others. Only a revolution for the seizure of power by the workers will allow us to live in a better world—without wars, without crises, without borders, and without capitalism, which will dig its own grave through our indestructible power. That is why we must build a massive PLP by working hard within the mass movement to win it.
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