BROOKLYN, AUGUST 15 — Downstate Hospital workers held a rally on August 8 to fight proposed layoffs and to keep the hospital open. This week, nearly 400 workers received pink slips. 

The threatened closing and layoffs affect all workers but are particularly racist and sexist. Downstate serves mainly poor black and Latino workers, most whom are Caribbean immigrants. The workers are mainly black, Latino and immigrant women. Capitalism is built on, and breeds, racism and sexism. These divisions cannot be eliminated without destroying the root cause. 

The civil rights movement of the sixties forced the state to hire more nonwhite workers and to provide more services. Now, in a racist election year reversal, politicians — from President Barack Obama to Vice President Joe Biden to Presidential candidate Mitt Romney to Vice President nominee Paul Ryan to NY Governor Andrew Cuomo — are falling over each other to cut budgets by attacking workers for capitalism’s problems. They will never be honest about how bosses steal the wealth all workers create.

Government spending goes for their massive imperialist war machine and to finance capital via interest on government bonds. Communists of Progressive Labor Party do tell workers the truth: through mass action, rallies, discussions, and the international workers’ paper, CHALLENGE.

PLP fights against racist and sexist budget cuts, unemployment, and healthcare cuts. Several thousand jobs and the medical care of some 440,000 patients will be lost each year. With so much at stake, some workers would expect the union leaders to fight back. 

The unions UUP, CSEA and PEF called this rally for show. No electric sound system was provided for the speakers. The union misleaders had no plan to stop the cuts and closing; their job is to placate us. Several clergy and politicians spoke but brought NO congregants or constituents to stop this theft of jobs and patient care.

This is the biggest life-and-death issue in New York City, yet the community has no idea Cuomo plans to close Downstate. The politicians, union leaders, and all the government lackeys serve capitalism. Their interest is to protect profit and therefore, any unity with them spells a trap and death for workers.  

After the rally, workers remarked, “we should have gone in the street, maybe then media would cover the impending closure.” Workers showed anger over the undercover state police presence (see box) by asking the cops “why are you taking our pictures” and then the cops pointed out rank-and-file militants to the hospital bosses. 

These are signs that workers want to do more; these are young workers who know serious working-class struggle is more than letter-writing and lunch-hour rallies. They are thinking about having a job action or a strike. When they mention job actions in union meetings the leadership goes crazy, saying, “No, because we are bound by the New York State Taylor law.” The union leaders build demonstrations for angry workers to let off steam.

PLP fights, not for scraps, but for revolution. We will destroy these union bosses, politicians and the profit system worldwide. When involved in the daily struggles, we can effectively expose how capitalism divides us along racist, sexist, and nationalist lines in order to make maximum profits and remain in power. As we fight for international workers’ unity, we learn to use our power to build a communist revolution.

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Union Causes Arrest of Retiree Activist

Following a July 25 demonstration, a long-time former Local 1199 union member and shop steward was arrested by Downstate Hospital security. Only after he was in handcuffs did he learn there was a warrant for his arrest.

In the weeks before his arrest, this recent retiree had been involved in activities to fight against layoffs and closing of Downstate. He had attended a meeting of 1199 at the affiliated Long Island College Hospital (LICH), which was called to discuss LICH layoffs.

An 1199 organizer blamed Downstate workers for LICH layoffs. This retiree rose to challenge this anti-worker divisive tactic. He called for solidarity to fight all layoffs and closings.

The organizer’s response was to kick the retiree out of the meeting and call hospital security. Although he left the meeting and hospital without contact with LICH security, the union organizer’s call had resulted in LICH pressing charges of criminal trespass.

We see how the unions and the state serve to subdue workers’ fight-backs.

On March 16, 2000, Patrick Dorismond and a friend were hailing a cab in Manhattan when undercover Detective Anthony Vasquez — not identifying himself as a cop — asked  Dorismond if he had any drugs to sell. Indignant, Patrick told him “No!” in no uncertain terms. Patrick was angered by the insistent “dealer.” When Patrick tried to wave him off, the cop punched him. Patrick defended himself and immediately was shot by another cop and lay on the street in pool of blood, gasping for air. He died soon after.

The next weekend a large, militant demonstration occurred at Patrick’s workplace, attended by many rank-and-file community groups. The protesters tore down barricades and the police were told not to “escort” the marchers. While politicians and misleaders called for a federal investigation, the protesters’ mood was clearly different. People were very receptive to Progressive Labor Party literature and CHALLENGE. Some speakers championed the need to close down Wall Street and the city’s business districts.

The Masses Are Heroes

Then on March 25, some PLP members marched with the funeral procession that eventually numbered over 7,000 people. As this sea of angry workers saw Patrick Derision’s casket being passed into the church, a roar of rage filled the air. One thousand cops barricaded the area, trying to contain these workers. Our bullhorn created an open mike that became the voice of many protesters.

The masses surged forward and tore the barricades down. The cops retreated. The crowd was emboldened. Drums pounded, workers screamed with anger. Our PLP banner “Destroy Police Terror with Communist Revolution” remained at the front and people continued to speak for nearly two hours outside the funeral service.

When it ended, again the workers surged forward, amid chants to march to the 67th precinct. The cops had no intention of allowing such a mass of angry workers near their station.

When one group broke through a barricade, a genuine street battle ensued. Bottles and batteries rained down on the cops who swung wildly into the crowd with clubs and pepper spray. But the youth didn’t back down and led the way, hurling everything they could find at the cops, then retreating quickly for half a block. The cops found only empty streets. Then the youth would launch another round and the events would be repeated.

Cops on horseback galloped down the street, further enraging the workers. They leapt into the streets, flipping barricades and crisscrossing them so that an entire block became an obstacle course for the horses. Buying time this way, the workers raced to the next intersection and blended once again into the crowd.

That night Flatbush remained under heavy police presence. Meanwhile, any empty squad car had its windows smashed and tires slashed.

Our Party, having organized in Flatbush for many years, particularly among high school students and young workers, created lots of opportunities at the rally. Many participated with us throughout the day.

Now we must bring the issue of police terror to our jobs and schools. With consistent activity in mass organizations and solidifying deep ties with as many workers and youth as possible, a modest group can have a mass effect.

In July, the names of Manuel Diaz and Joel Acevedo were added to those of Kenneth Chamberlain Sr., Ramarley Graham, Shantel Davis, Rasheed Simms, Anastasio Hernandez Rojas, Sergio Guereca, Carlos La Madrid, Derek Lopez, Raul Rosas and countless others who have been murdered by the police. In the immediate aftermath of the Manuel Diaz murder, residents of the Anaheim, CA, neighborhood where he was shot took to the streets to confront the police over the unjustified killing. Police dispersed the crowd with tear gas, rubber bullets and a rampaging police dog that tried to attack an infant (Democracy Now, 7/24/12).  

The murders and the police response have led many to wonder whether the police have declared war on black and Latino communities. In fact, for forty years now the police have officially declared war on the entire working class. Following the urban uprisings of the late 1960s, the ruling class looked for better ways to control working-class anger. Because black, Latino and immigrant workers are the most exploited under capitalism, the bosses fear their anger and use racist ideas and outright racist attacks to keep populations passive. Since the sixties, the police have become increasingly militarized.

Marines Train SWAT Teams

The police began to train with Special Forces units back from Vietnam in techniques to put down insurgent movements. The LAPD, ever the “innovators,” responded to labor unrest by creating the first SWAT teams, trained at Camp Pendleton Marine base in military techniques of civilian repression. Indeed, their first deployment was in operations attacking striking farm workers in Delano, CA, in 1969.

Since then, a mix of increased federal funding and confiscation laws passed in the 1980s has led to the proliferation of paramilitary SWAT teams across the country, armed to the teeth with the latest military weaponry. Few understand the extent to which these units were armed directly by the military. Between 1995 and 1997 the Defense Department gave out, free of cost, 6,400 bayonets, 3,800 M-16s, 2,185 M-14s, 73 M-79 grenade launchers, and 112 Armored Personnel Carriers. The number of these paramilitary units has increased to over 1,200 today in diverse communities from New York City to the University of Central Florida. 

This new strategy of counter-insurgency that developed in U.S. policing after the 1960s was called “weed and seed” amongst police forces but is known better by its military jargon “Clear-Hold-Build.” The idea was to single out “trouble spots” (working-class neighborhoods) and flood them with SWAT-team raids in an overwhelming show of force: “shock and awe,” which includes the stop-and-frisk of hundreds of thousands of mainly black and Latino youth.

 Community Policing: The ‘Friendly’ Cops

Then while police terror was still high a program of community infiltration would begin. Known as “community policing,” officers walk neighborhood streets and infiltrate schools, churches and youth programs under the guise of police-community partnerships. Schools install metal detectors and allow police to roam their halls, making the student body conform to the fascist invasion of personal space. Churches bring police into community partnerships that provide a cover for police abuse. Various youth programs encourage kids to see the police as their allies in a struggle against their own community. 

Under community policing, the police are able to gather intelligence on target communities that is stored in digital information warehouses. In LA, police carry a list of 65 “suspicious activities” that, when witnessed, are filed in a report that is catalogued at a Joint Fusion Center (a digital database that can be accessed by police, FBI, and Dept. of Homeland Security). It is important to note that in these intelligence operations no crime is being committed, yet surveillance is legalized. As participants in the “war on terror,” police and intelligence agencies openly spy on citizens in ways that would have been kept secret a generation ago.

Police use this intelligence gathering to then disrupt activities of those who might pose a threat to the capitalist order. Their strategy is classic counter-insurgency. Shock the system with a massive show of force, then infiltrate the community dissolving the social bonds that tie people together. Once the population is isolated by terrorism and induced paranoia, they can be dominated. They become more susceptible to the attacks on their wages, schools, health, and environment that allow the capitalists to live large on the backs of the working class. 

New Strategy A Killing Machine

The result of the adoption of a counter-insurgency strategy by police has been a steady increase in the number of police murders, which average 373 people killed per year (though the lack of statistics makes this a low estimate). The use of deadly force by police increased 34% during the 1990s. During the year 2001 there were over 40,000 deployments of SWAT teams against communities, and since 2001 there has been a 25% rise in the number of police brutality cases filed (which again grossly underestimates the actual numbers). Since 9/11 and the creation of the Homeland Security department, police and military forces have only increased their collaboration. The police have been so successful in their war that Marines received training from the LA SWAT team in urban warfare before deploying to Afghanistan in 2010. 

The police violence that has claimed the lives of so many people in the U.S. is endemic to the system of capitalism that sees workers as a commodity to be dominated and exploited. The violence on the streets of New York and LA is also visited on the people in Kabul, Baghdad, and elsewhere. Imperialism breeds fascism at home and in turn fascism at home spawns violence in the imperial periphery. When capitalism is in crisis, as it is today, the capitalists’ only solution is to squeeze the working class. This means that police violence is hardly the work of “a few bad apples.” Rather it is the natural response of a repressive system that demands total obedience from the working class.J

(For more information on police tactics see the work of Christian Parenti and Kristian Williams.)

A group of workers associated with several community organizations conducted militant protests in front of two car washes, property of two different owners. The group chanted “Car Washers United Will Never Be Defeated” and “Workers United Will Never Be Defeated,” as well as many other militant slogans. We showed our solidarity with these mostly immigrant workers, some undocumented, who’ve had “enough” and have decided to form a trade union to fight for their rights and to be heard. These workers are fighting for a higher minimum wage and better working conditions.

Justice and Workers’ Rights

Just the mention of these two ideas got the owners of the car washes to retaliate against the workers, reducing their working hours and harassing them to force them to quit their jobs. The main issue here is the soon-approaching union elections.

One of the owners is called Gary, but workers call him “Claws” (which in Spanish rhymes with Gary). In spite of all his efforts, this abusive exploiter couldn’t break our consciousness and unity. His attacks only motivated us to chant louder in the last protests, which we hope are only the beginning.

At the Long Beach Car Wash, one of the workers, who at the time was drying a car, took the lead and raising a fist begun chanting our slogans in front of “Claws.” His arrogant expression and attitude when he didn’t meet the workers’ demands on time, showed his hatred towards those whose prompt, daily work, makes him richer.

This shows once again, that workers’ struggle against the bosses, whose only purpose is to increase their profits through thievery, exploitation and abuses of the working class, must grow. We have to win these workers to deepen the struggle, because the fight for simple demands under capitalism cannot solve our problems. Only communism can put an end to this scourge. This is why we must win the working class to fight for a revolution.