SEATTLE -- The bosses' press has hidden the extent of the Brazilian rebellion. Aerospace workers from Embraer, the third-largest commercial aircraft manufacturer in the word, joined the millions "takin it to the streets." ICWP and friends brought these facts to the shop floor, provoking debates among workers about how--or if- -this affects Boeing workers. "I've heard Brazil is like the U.S. in the fifties," said one Machinist. He thought that rapid industrialization was somehow causing the discontent.
The cause, however, is the inevitable crisis of capitalist overproduction which has made life intolerable for Brazilian workers, as it has for workers all over the world.
Millions are rebelling because they refuse to live in the old way under capitalism. The economic crisis has brought revolution and the need for communist production to the fore.

Unions Promote More Exploitative Capitalist Production
Embraer workers, like hundreds of thousand of other Brazilian workers, defied their union leadership and wildcatted to join mass demonstrations. In some cases, workers led battles against the cops and national military. Most Brazilian unions are tied to the ruling Workers' Party, much as the Boeing union (IAM) is tied to the Democratic Party. This didn't stop rank-and-filers from joining the demonstrators in chanting "Democracy Isn't Working." Millions are rejecting all the capitalist parties.
The IAM officials bet on alliances with Washington's Democratic governor to bribe Boeing to produce in this state. They tell us to increase productivity because they are loyal servants of the capitalists.
A headline in the latest IAM Aero Mechanic praises "productivity gain[s]." It could just as easily have been on the front page of the company rag, Frontiers.
This lead article bragged that the production time of a Ram Air Duct was cut from fifty hours to one hour. Ironically, there was an article about laid-off workers right below. Obviously, if you can produce more with less, a capitalist company is going to lay workers off.
Another IAM member asked where Boeing got the additional $billion to invest in low-wage South Carolina production. They got it from the union/company productivity drive. The last thing we need is to help the company increase our rate of exploitation so they can use the extra profits to attack us.
We have a lot to learn from the Brazilian workers. They have taken their fight against Embraer bosses to the political bulwark of capitalism: State Power. They have broken the laws that chain class struggle to economic demands. We need political strikes against the foundations of capitalism, not partnerships with our exploiters. Expanding our networks of Red Flag readers and distributors will create the political climate for such political strikes and wildcats.

Construction Workers Unearth Capitalism's Blood-Soaked Foundation
An African-American Boeing worker refused to attend Boeing's Black History event because the company portrays the fight against racism as a non-violent movement restricted to the U.S. He knows that the fight against slavery was a violent struggle throughout the hemisphere. The wealth created to begin "new world" capitalism was stolen from these slaves. The foundation of today's wage exploitation is blood-soaked. He appreciated that our Party explained how Brazil was founded originally on the chattel slavery of black slaves and now makes super-profits for the bosses from racist wage slavery. He added that racism in South Carolina was a major contributing factor to their low-wage, non-union workforce.
"Did you know that construction workers unearthed a key embarkation point for Brazilian slaves when they were building one of those soccer stadiums people are protesting about?" he asked.
Then we began to imagine how the masses mobilized for communism would use this archeological site.
We could move the stadium, naming it to represent the fight against racism and slavery. We'd restore this embarkation point so all could see how capitalism got its start. Every sports activity and political rally could retell new generations the story of capitalism's bloody beginning. This complex of stadiums and restored slave embarkation buildings could be also used to remind us why we fight to eliminate production for sale and profit. Production for profits is the foundation of capitalism. Everything changes when you smash that foundation, replacing it with production for the needs of our class.
Now there's something worth reading about and striking for!