On April 24th, a garment factory collapsed in Dhaka, Bangladesh, burying alive 3,000 workers (mainly women) under 9,000 tons of concrete. Workers from surrounding factories rushed to the site of the tragedy and organized heroic rescue operations (see box). In spite of their tireless efforts, over 2,400 were gravely injured, more than 900 bodies had been recovered as of May 8, and hundreds are still missing.
Workers reacted furiously to this mass murder. In factory after factory they downed their tools and poured into the streets, sparking a massive strike wave. They burned at least two sweatshops and demanded no less than the execution of the bosses.
On May Day, tens of thousands of garment workers, their families and supporters marched through the streets with raised fists, chanting "Hang the Killers! Hang the Factory Owners!" Masses of other workers marched throughout the country. Thousands more garment workers and other industrial workers marched in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, in solidarity with Bangladeshi workers and against the slave labor conditions they also face.
Capitalism-imperialism is the most destructive force in human history. At this stage of its historical development it is only capable of drowning the world in blood, death and destruction, on an unprecedented scale. Only the masses of workers, soldiers and youth, mobilized for communism, can put an end to capitalism's centuries of horrors.
The brave selfless actions of Bangladeshi workers in the face of this capitalist disaster show that the working class can be motivated to fight directly for a communist world. They exemplify the communist social relationships that our class desperately needs to achieve our maximum potential as creative productive human beings, instead of suffering as disposable beasts of burden for profit-hungry capitalists.
Their heroism shows the potential for masses of workers to give revolutionary communist leadership to many more. It shows the need and potential to build a mass revolutionary International Communist Workers' Party. It inspires us to intensify our efforts to make the vision of communism more of reality for the masses of workers.
ICWP issued a leaflet calling on the workers of the world to avenge the murder of Bangladeshi garment workers by organizing to destroy capitalism and its deadly wage slavery with communist revolution. This leaflet was translated into Bengali and distributed in Bangladesh. A Portuguese translation was handed out in two Brazilian cities. Workers took the leaflet eagerly in India, Qatar, Colombia, Saudi Arabia, and the US, and an Urdu version is being prepared for Pakistan.This is an important step toward building the mass communist consciousness that our class needs.
Capitalism-Imperialism: Deadly for All Workers
"Look good, pay less" is the motto of the giant British market Primark that sells clothes made in sweatshops in Bangladesh, China, Indonesia and Thailand. The global giant Wal-Mart displays its slogan, "Save money, live better" in every store.
US and European imperialists drive down wages and conditions in Asia so they can sell lower-priced clothes to workers in the US and Europe who have less purchasing power due to the capitalist crisis. They want to try to pacify these workers with cheap clothes.
"All I want to do is buy a shirt, not endorse mass murder, but capitalism won't let me!" a comrade told May Day marchers in Oakland to open up conversations about Red Flag.
Bangladeshi garment workers average less than $1.50 for a 12-hour day in Nazi-like factories where they are driven to work faster and faster while doors and windows are shut tight, there are no bathroom breaks, and ventilation is almost nonexistent in sweltering heat.
The April 24 disaster was no accident; over 900 workers paid the ultimate price of the bosses' real motto: "pay less, save money." Garment bosses added three more floors to an already unsafe building to maximize profits by squeezing thousands of workers to produce millions of garments. .An earthquake in LA could produce a disaster just as deadly.
Capitalism and its inevitable wars make the world unsafe for every worker and especially for those it targets with sexism and racism to maximize profit. Eighty-five percent of the 3.5 million garment workers in Bangladesh are women. The bosses rake in billions of dollars from their superexploited labor and care nothing for their lives.
After the building collapse, the capitalist bosses who account for every piece of each of millions of garments were unable and unwilling to organize any credible rescue operations. Instead they unleashed police terror on the workers and their families. Only workers saved workers. Only our class can save the masses from deadly capitalism-imperialism.
Workers in Bangladesh and around the world are crying out for a society without wage slavery. We need to help them see that capitalism must be replaced by a communist society where there are no bosses who profit from our labor. We can and will build a society where we will produce garments and everything else not for money but for need.
Meanwhile, the Bangladeshi masses are helping us to see that communism is possible, when we fight for it.

In remote areas surrounding Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh, young women in almost every village borrow money for a bus ride to Dhaka seeking jobs in garment factories that will pay them $38 a month. In one such village, on April 24, Ishaq (not his real name), heard that a huge building in Dhaka had collapsed.
Ishaq's sister-in-law worked there. Ishaq, 32, had severe arthritis from working in another garment sweatshop. He grabbed the first bus to the site of the collapsed factory, hoping to save his sister-inlaw.
When Ishaq arrived, his heart sank. He saw massive mounds of twisted steel and tons of concrete slabs. Thousands of workers were buried underneath. Their agonizing screams led him to spend every minute for the next three days and nights rescuing the trapped workers. And he was not alone. Masses of workers and university students organized rescue teams that saved over 1500 workers with little help from the fire department.
Working tirelessly days and nights, these brave rescue teams lacked sophisticated equipment but quickly devised rescue techniques and learned basic urgent medical care. They didn't do it for money but out of selflessness and commitment to the wellbeing of fellow workers.
This should fill us all with hope. It shows the potential of the working class to run the world according to the workers' needs. It shows that masses of workers already share aspects of communism.
A society based on collectivity, without money, can and will be organized to replace capitalism's wage slavery, greed, mass murders and wars for profit. But to build such society, masses of workers need to mobilize for communism in the International Communist Workers' Party so we can bury capitalism forever.