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BOEING CONTRACT: No to Extortion!
MILLIONS MOBILIZING IN BRAZIL Leaflet
SOUTH AFRICA MINERS' STRIKE Pamphlet
MOBILIZE THE MASSES FOR COMMUNISM Pamphlet
MASS MURDER IN BANGLADESH
RED FLAG Article Series
Communist Dialectics
IN THIS ISSUE OF RED FLAG:
Imperialism and Class Struggle in Africa
Genetically Modified Food Will Not Solve Hunger
Lessons of Greyhound Strike: Part III
Iran, Syria, and the Imperialist "Peace"
Michoacán Community Self-Defense Groups
Cambodia Garment Strike
Engels' Contributions to Dialectics
Communist and Capitalist Culture
Japan Re-armament Reflects Growing US-China Tensions
Letters to RED FLAG
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South Africa:

Striking Miners Need to Build ICWP

Feb. 4 — Thousands of striking platinum miners in South Africa, armed with clubs and attempting to stop strikebreakers, confronted police shooting rubber bullets and water cannons as the strike spread to include metalworkers at the mines.
The mine and metalworker strikes, which are demanding steep wage hikes, are costing South African capitalists an estimated $40 million per day. According to government officials, "there is more compliance by the unions in making sure that they strike and march peacefully." Workers don't need these or any unions – we need to build a communist party, ICWP, that will lead an uncompromising fight against the capitalist system.
South African mine and metal workers, like many others around the world, are being hit hard by the global capitalist crisis. This crisis is driving down the price of platinum and therefore the workers' standard of living. Our urgent need is not higher wages, but abolition of the wage system. Red Flag readers must raise communist political slogans in the midst of this and every struggle.

This is What a Free Press Looks Like!

When Boeing workers rejected a proposed contract extension in December, the Seattle Times ran daily front-page articles for two months describing every possible location where the company could send production of the new 777X jet. From the size of the headlines you would think World War III had broken out.
They wrote editorials and published "expert" commentary demanding we be "practical" and bow to the "inevitable." If we didn't, we were to blame for company's pursuit of ever-cheaper labor in other states.
The national media did their part. The Associated Press (AP) news service tried to build a demonstration demanding a new vote in December. It flopped.
This unbridled assault opened the eyes of many people, even those who don't work at Boeing. "I can't believe what the TV and newspapers are saying about you guys," complained a friend who cuts a comrade's hair.
Believe it! This is what capitalism's free press is all about. Our answer must be to expand the communist alternative.

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Key To Party Growth:

Learning To Win our Co-Workers

SEATTLE, WA— "Four months ago I saw Red Flag in the shop," began a recent Boeing hire. "I thought communism, revolution: I don't want to read this."
"The reason I'm here today [at an International Communist Workers' Party (ICWP) potluck and meeting] is because of what happened at work over the last two months."
Eight other aerospace workers joined him at a Boeing comrade's house for a couple of social events/meetings in a little over a month. Everyone is now reading Red Flag; some are distributing it to family members and co-workers. The bosses' crisis of overproduction has revealed the naked, exploitive truth about capitalism. Workers are looking at communism who would have not done so before.
Nonetheless, many doubt they can convince their fellow workers of the value of a communist strategy. It's holding them back from joining the ICWP.
"The men and women I work with are scared by the word communism," he continued. "They don't even know what communism is. They only heard how bad it is."
A high school teacher volunteered that he thought workers and students were more open to communism now than they were a generation ago. He cited a number of instances where workers and students are rejecting the bosses' anticommunist propaganda.
Some folks who passed out over a thousand party leaflets and Red Flags at Boeing gates agreed. They remarked how much more positive factory workers were about communist literature. A guest from Los Angeles reported how groups of industrial workers were now joining: metal workers from South Africa, garment workers from El Salvador, mechanics from LA transit.
Our friend considered these comments. "But it won't be easy," he concluded. "Red Flag will have to carefully explain what communism really is."
Lots of people in attendance echoed his concerns.
"I understand where he is coming from," said a community college student. "I distribute twenty papers at my school every issue. All sorts of people start discussing the articles. I don't feel I have the knowledge to answer their questions."
We decided to set up a reading/study group to discuss one article in the paper every issue. All the Boeing workers wanted to attend. The high school teacher said he'd help out. A longshore worker volunteered to have it at his house. "I see this is centered around Boeing workers, but I need this too," said the community college student. Of course, we invited her as well. Then we passed the hat.
Together we'll build the confidence we need to mobilize the masses for communism. In the process, we'll build a mass party centered in the factories and the armed forces.