FIGHT FOR COMMUNISM!
	International Communist Workers Party
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Los Angeles—“I used to think that in Latin America there was no racism. And I think that is what the majority of people think,” said a worker during a communist study group with garment workers and others. Then he continued saying that only in the Party (ICWP) did he begin to hear about racism. He said that the majority do not see it as a class question but as discrimination between whites and blacks.
Before beginning this discussion we read the editorial about racism and nationalism in the Red Flag (Vol. 5 #22.) We said that there’s no such thing as “race.” It’s an invention of capitalism to divide the working class. We said that these two evils: racism and nationalism are a direct part of capitalism and that the Party will lead the fight against racism, before and after a communist revolution.
A Central American worker said that there’s racism against darker skinned workers there. He promised to write more about this question, which divides the working class.
A worker who was born in Mexico asked, “Is the discrimination against those from Oaxaca, Chiapas and indigenous people racism?”

The answer was yes, it is racism. That the ideology of portraying these workers as inferior, lacking capitalist education, as petty criminals, and the practice of super exploiting these workers in the factories, fields and in the service industries is the same that the bosses use in the US against black and latino workers. It is also used in Europe against workers from Africa and other areas, including Eastern Europe.
Another latino worker said with some frustration that he felt discriminated against by black youth and a black neighbor with whom he has had problems for a while.
Others replied that the bosses have created a society in which we all blame each other. They tell black workers that we latinos come to take away their jobs or benefits. To latinos they say that black workers don’t want to work. The bosses consciously create distrust because they are afraid of the unity of these two super-exploited sections of the working class.
Another worker asked the comrade who felt “discriminated” against, “Who has done more damage in your life, these black workers or the Mexican bosses?”
“The cursed bosses…they exploit us here and there,” the comrade’s wife answered quickly. A few days after the meeting this comrade told us that he had made peace with his neighbor. He said that they both apologized and shook hands. They both had said that this attitude was making them sick and that it had to end.
We concluded that racism is fatal for the working class, and that we must struggle politically with our friends at work. We agreed that everyone should take more Red Flag newspapers and help distribute them massively in the factories to build communist consciousness.

I think communism is in my blood, comrades. I breathe and think communism every second. I do not go to bed without visiting my friends and talking about ICWP. Some of these friends of mine just come to my house and start crying out about their working conditions and how much they are exploited and how racism puts them down. I struggle with them that only communism will free us from all our misery. The workers in South Africa are desperate. They are barely surviving, as wage slavery pushes them to their graves. Two weeks back I wrote an article on Volpes Bedding Company. I honestly didn’t know that two weeks later I would be writing an article on another company with similar exploitation of the working class. Once again I was visited by a lady who is a machine operator, this time at a company called Mohair Spinners in Uitenhage near VW automotive. The lady is also best friends with the lady who works at Volpes Bedding. I showed her what I wrote about Volpes. The lady from Mohair Spinners had been my friend for years before I even met the Volpes lady. She told me about the exploitation and bad conditions they work under. It was no surprise at all to me because I already know how capitalism works and exploits workers. Her comments were almost the same as the comments of the lady from Volpes. The difference is that at Mohair Spinners the bosses separate workers by using racism as their main tool because there are blacks and coloreds (people of mixed “race”) working there. Mohair Spinners did exactly what Johnson Controls did to its permanent workers, replacing them with casual workers. The lady from Volpes said that some willing permanent workers were bought back to be casuals under employment agencies for an amount of R1800 ($549 monthly). She was one of those who accepted the offer. With a huge shock, I asked her why she accepted such an evil offer. She said, ‘’Look at me. At my age; where can I get a job again? I am 50 years old.” The “coloreds” are exploited far less than the black workers. “Coloreds’ working conditions are far better than those of us blacks,’’ is how the lady puts it. But I know there are never “better” working conditions working under a capitalist system: only bad and worse. The reality of capitalism is exploitation at all costs by the bosses. I told her that only ICWP can save you from all these horrors of the capitalists. A Mohair Spinners pamphlet is on its way. As I told her, I am going to write it with the purpose of uniting colored and black workers. Racism is the most effective and dangerous tool to separate workers, and that’s where we must start if we want to mobilise at Mohair Spinners effectively. I will try to get more details and distribute Red Flag as our most powerful weapon to end this brutal capitalism system. My blood is boiling as I write this, but it helps me to mobilize the masses for communism.

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