ALGIERS, January 15 — A massive wildcat general strike of nearly 20,000 auto, steel, port and public health workers is in its twelth day and is spreading across Algeria, amid repeated pitched battles with thousands of cops and security forces. Workers are not only striking against their companies but also directly against the government, defying its ban on public rallies and demonstrations, stemming from a “state of emergency” declared in the early 1990s.

Strikers are demanding a wage hike, and in a political challenge to the government, changes in the minimum wage and tax laws. They’re also denouncing the sweetheart deal signed by their union misleaders which raises the retirement age from 50 to 60 for workers doing difficult and dangerous work, some of whom began working at age 17.

One worker declared, “For years they’ve been promising us significant wage increases. Algeria is raking in hundreds of billions of dollars in oil profits but the citizen still has to contend with indescribable poverty.”

In condemning the union sellouts, one worker told the press: “I began to have doubts when all the parties said they were satisfied with the meeting of the UGTA [the union], the government and the bosses. Three speakers, each of whom is defending his interests, cannot all be equally satisfied unless it is on the backs of the workers.”

Strikers Battle Cops

On January 3, 5,000 SNVI auto workers wildcatted near Rouiba, to be joined within 24 hours by workers in Hussain-Dey near Algiers, in Annaba to the east and in Tiaret in the southwest, as well as by thousands in the industrial zone east of here. The cops blocked marchers there by massing all-country vehicles, troop transport vans, tear gas grenades, water cannon and sanitation trucks to occupy strategic intersections in the zone. One worker said it was ironic since it is the workers who had produced all these vehicles.

Workers from Anabib, Mobsco, Hydroamenagement and Enad also walked. All told, 11,000 had struck.

Marching workers have been attempting to force their way through police roadblocks. On January 6, 2,000 workers heading from their factory gates to Rouiba were stopped by police, who injured three workers. The next day, 5,000 marched on Rouiba, when two more were injured in clashes with thousands of riot police. The latter are trying to prevent different groups of factory strikers from joining together in these demonstrations.

On the same day, workers tried to force their way through roadblocks leading to the Mobsco factory on the main roads in the industrial zone. Then when hundreds of gendarmes armed with wooden clubs resembling pickaxe handles rained down blows on the front ranks, barring the route. The workers chanted slogans exposing the government and the union confederation and its chief sellout, Sidi Said.

When the union misleaders tried to pacify the angry workers, they began throwing stones at the cops’ roadblocks.

“We work under difficult conditions and we can’t even manage to feed our children,” declared one worker. “The oil money is shared by the [government] and their zealous servants, while the worker is condemned to live a hell on earth.”

Another said, “Despite the repression, we aren’t going to stop demonstrating if the authorities do not announce concrete measures to improve our purchasing power.”

Steel Goes Out; Port Paralyzed

On January 12, 7,200 workers at Arcelor-Mittal, the giant multi-national outfit, began an “unlimited strike” to prevent the company from closing its El-Hidjar plant near Annaba and force it to renovate to keep it open. The next morning, the steelworks, the depots and warehouses, and port installations were totally paralyzed. Two days later a massive march of steelworkers went from company offices to the guard post at the steelworks.

This uprising of basic industrial workers in Algeria is a model for all industrial workers to follow. But the bosses still hold state power and will use this apparatus, helped by their lieutenants “leading” the unions, to attempt to either crush or divert these militant workers from their just demands. What is needed is communist leadership to head the workers’ movement in the direction of revolution, to destroy the bosses’ state power and establish workers’ power, the only answer to the continuing hell created by capitalism. :12` ; o d `c :"Cambria","serif";mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria;mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";mso-ansi-language:EN-US; mso-fareast-language:EN-US;mso-bidi-language:AR-SA'>(Continued next issue; stay tuned)

PARIS, January 9 — About 6,000 people marched here today in the cold and snow demanding “across-the-board ‘legalization’ and the abolition of the ministry of shame,” that is, the Ministry of Immigration and National Identity. Simultaneously, there were calls for greater unity among the organizations defending undocumented workers, 6,000 of whom have been on strike since October 12.

The march included 14 undocumented-worker collectives from the Paris region, plus the CSP 59 collective from Lille in northern France. The latter group chanted, “We have marched from Lille to Paris to remind Mr. Sarkozy [France’s president] that it’s because of the IMF [International Monetary Fund] and the multi-nationals that we left our countries.” (The chant rhymes in French.) Other chants were: “I’m here, I’m staying, I won’t leave!” and, “We are in danger, we aren’t dangerous!”

Massed anti-riot police stopped the marchers from reaching the French presidential palace.

“We’ve been trying to achieve unity around the rue Baudelique [see below], but it hasn’t been easy to organize,” said Djibril Diany, a spokesman for the CSP 75 collective. “Since [the 1996 occupation of the church of] Saint Bernard, the undocumented workers’ movement has not been unified. But unity is very important so that we can be strong and solid against the government.”

The “rue Baudelique” is a complex of empty buildings in Paris which has been occupied since last July by thousands of undocumented workers led by the CSP 75. They’ve renamed the complex the “Ministry of Legalization of All Undocumented Workers.” Roland Diagne, a CSP 59 spokesman, said: “Today, Paris is the center of the struggle, which has taken on two forms: the strikes of undocumented workers and the Ministry of Legalization. These two forms overlap and they have to come together. We need the broadest possible united front of resistance to the government.”

Continuing its attacks on the undocumented workers’ movement, the French government has gone to court to force the village of Billière (population 25) in southwestern France to blot out a fresco, “The wall of the deportees,” that’s painted on their community center. It’s dedicated to the memory of deported undocumented workers and their children. In 2009, France deported 29,000 undocumented immigrants.

Today’s demonstration proclaimed an aim to protest “laws that create undocumented workers.” It’s clear, however, that demonstrations and strikes cannot end such laws, because capitalism needs the super-profits it makes by super-exploiting undocumented workers. Only communist revolution, which will smash all borders and the capitalists who create them, will emancipate these and all workers. cks.D `_ =MsoNormal>“We work under difficult conditions and we can’t even manage to feed our children,” declared one worker. “The oil money is shared by the [government] and their zealous servants, while the worker is condemned to live a hell on earth.”

Another said, “Despite the repression, we aren’t going to stop demonstrating if the authorities do not announce concrete measures to improve our purchasing power.”

Steel Goes Out; Port Paralyzed

On January 12, 7,200 workers at Arcelor-Mittal, the giant multi-national outfit, began an “unlimited strike” to prevent the company from closing its El-Hidjar plant near Annaba and force it to renovate to keep it open. The next morning, the steelworks, the depots and warehouses, and port installations were totally paralyzed. Two days later a massive march of steelworkers went from company offices to the guard post at the steelworks.

This uprising of basic industrial workers in Algeria is a model for all industrial workers to follow. But the bosses still hold state power and will use this apparatus, helped by their lieutenants “leading” the unions, to attempt to either crush or divert these militant workers from their just demands. What is needed is communist leadership to head the workers’ movement in the direction of revolution, to destroy the bosses’ state power and establish workers’ power, the only answer to the continuing hell created by capitalism. :12` ; o d `c :"Cambria","serif";mso-fareast-font-family: Cambria;mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";mso-ansi-language:EN-US; mso-fareast-language:EN-US;mso-bidi-language:AR-SA'>(Continued next issue; stay tuned)

James Cameron’s new movie Avatar is on its way to becoming the highest-grossing movie of all time. In many ways, the content of the movie is secondary. In a capitalist society it is perfectly acceptable for someone to spend $500 million making a movie that will bring in many billions of dollars, while billions of workers suffer every day. The content of the movie is important, however. The movie clearly takes place in an advanced imperialist society. A precious natural resource called unobtanium has been discovered on Pandora where the Na’vi live and the U.S. Marines attack the Na’vi for the profit of a U.S. company. Replace the Na’vi with Iraqi and Afghan workers and unobtanium with oil and the movie would be about contemporary U.S. imperialism.

Avatar has many aspects that PLP members and friends can use to further the discussion: The film depicts soldiers who turn the guns around and fight against their commanders. Importantly, however, this is not a mass, military-wide movement. Only two soldiers rebel and they make no effort to recruit other soldiers to their principled fight.  One of these two soldiers is a powerful Latina character and there is an anti-sexist message. The main female Na’vi character is a warrior who fights side-by-side with her male partner.

Toward the climax of the movie the army attacks the natives with their full force, an attack that is provoked by the unification of multiple Na’vi tribes. On screen and in real life, the unity of workers is what scares the bosses more than anything. The movie also demonstrates the futility of pacifism. The military is relentless and brutal and only by actively fighting back do the Na’vi have any hope for victory.

The movie is draped in a mysticism that gives the movie an overall pro-religious feel. There is a “Great Spirit” that connects all of the living things on Pandora. In the end, the inhabitants of Pandora rely on this Spirit to overcome the imperialist army. In other words, it is religion, not the collective might of the Na’vi that make the difference. Religion, however, is a pacifying not a liberating force for the working class. Only a militant working class, organized around communist dialectical principles, can guarantee it’s own freedom. 

CALIFORNIA — The fight against racist budget cuts is heating up in schools and colleges.  Students are growing angrier and more committed to standing up to police attacks. They are open to see that its not just bad management. Capitalism and its inevitable imperialist wars are to blame. Many are questioning a system that cuts education, health care and jobs for wider imperialist war and bailing out banks.

Union leaders and some students are trying to divert mass anger into an electoral campaign to reform the California budget process.  The liberal Vasconcellos project draws student activists to ally with “legislative, business and community leaders.”  In contrast, PLP’ers in mass organizations are building a worker-student-soldier alliance for class struggle and revolution:  “Strike against a system that can’t meet our needs and has to be destroyed!”

The call for mass action on Thursday, March 4, is spreading across the U.S.  “Save education!”  But only the Progressive Labor Party is asking the critical questions: Not only education “for whom?” but also education “for what?”

Education Conforms to
Bosses’ Needs

Public education in California has shifted rapidly to meet the bosses’ changing military and economic needs.  In the 1930s, teachers were sent to Civilian Conservation Corps camps to organize evening high schools.  Adult education grew to include 10% of California adults, providing a safety valve in an era of mass unemployment.  

During World War II, nearly a million California workers were trained for jobs in war industry.  In the 1950s, K-12 education was reorganized with a vocational- technical emphasis to serve the bosses’ need for workers with new skills.  During the economic slump of the early 1990s, K-12 shifted to college-prep, leaving “career-technical education” mainly to the community colleges.  

We are now seeing another seismic shift as the bosses prepare for World War III.  Today, as U.S. imperialism is in decline, the bosses are pushing education for the next war. But this system of mis-education, even if well-funded, can never serve the needs of the working class. 

‘Master Plan’ For Education Serves The Capitalist Masters

The California Master Plan for Higher Education (1960) responded directly to sharpening inter-imperialist rivalry between the United States and the Soviet Union after Sputnik (the first satellite, launched into space by the Soviet Union in 1957).  The “first-tier” University of California was expanded mainly for war research.  For example, atom-bomb scientist Herbert York was called from Livermore Laboratory into President Eisenhower’s new Science Advisory Committee in 1957, and then to the Pentagon.  Three years later he became the first chancellor of the new UC-Irvine campus, building it up with new federal funds from NASA and DARPA (Defense
Advanced Research Projects Agency).

The California State University system became “tier two,” training teachers and social workers as well as cops and others whom the bosses are fighting to win to keep the rapidly-expanding working-class in California under their control.  However, angry students in the California State University (CSU) system now facing huge cuts are fighting back. More are eager to talk about the link between the cuts, imperialist war, capitalism and communist revolution.

The “third-tier” junior colleges “guaranteed” access to higher education for everyone in what was then a 90% white population, promoting the cold-war ideology of capitalist “freedom” and “opportunity.”  New colleges (including LA Southwest and West LA Colleges) opened after the Watts rebellion, with increasing numbers of black and Latino workers filling jobs in California’s growing economy. Yet the system remained racist to the core.  “It was a sorting system for human capital management in an open society,” according to CSU Northridge provost Harold Hellenbrand. The current racist cuts are heavily affecting the schools that the majority of black and Latino students attend.

Imperialism And Ideology in
Higher Education

Today’s budget crisis — an aspect of the general crisis of capitalism — allows the capitalist class to reshape education to meet its needs as it prepares for intensified global competition and, increasingly, wider war.   Colleges starved for funds are rushing to qualify for new federal funds that are specifically directed toward workforce development. Most students will increasingly be pushed into job-training programs tailored for the employers, including some in defense aerospace. PLP has the opportunity to reach out to students in these programs with the revolutionary fight to end racist exploitation.

We shouldn’t be nostalgic for “liberal arts” programs, which serve mainly to push the bosses’ ideology. Education under capitalism teaches some useful skills and a lot of illusions! Working-class
students are made to feel that if they don’t succeed they have only themselves to blame, while the system is stacked against them. Many struggle valiantly to maintain full-time status (needed to qualify for financial aid) while working 30, 40, or more hours a week to support themselves and often their families. But more students are joining with PLP to fight against these attacks, and to join the lifelong struggle to get rid of the system based on racism, exploitation and war.

As we fight the current round of devastating budget cuts our job isn’t to “restore the luster” of capitalist education (LA Times, 12/28/09) but to fight for communist revolution that will, for the first time, let us create the educational system we need.