This weekend there will be a conference in the Seattle-Portland area titled "Teaching for Social Justice." It is organized by Rethinking Schools, a magazine that is "committed to the vision that public education is central to the creation of a humane, caring, multiracial democracy." This conference usually attracts close to 700 educators from the Pacific Northwest. This is the first year our party will be participating openly in the conference, though individual members have attended in the past. Because of the positive response we received this year to our literature at two teachers' union contract vote meetings, we know that education workers are interested in our ideas. This is an opportunity to talk to people about what education would look like under communism. The workshops are mostly about involving students in lessons on race, gender, culture, and social justice. This is not a bad thing, except th at it is based on the idea that workers can achieve justice and equality under capitalism. And although some workshops discuss capitalism, there is no attempt to explain that the solution is communist education.
Students need to know that as long as the rulers of capitalism have power there will never be equality, justice or opportunity for workers, and their families.
We can't change education unless we change the world first. We have, in the past, won some reforms through mi litant struggles, strikes, occupations, etc. All that has changed because the system is failing. The US is no longer the top economic power, and cannot achieve domination militarily as it did in the past. They now hav e to compete with up-and-coming countries like China, and its allies.
Public education has always been designed to fulfill the needs of the ruling class and its system of production. The schools in the past were designed to produce workers to fill the factories and, through their labor, make profits for the bosses. Now these production jobs have moved overseas or disappear ed forever due to technology. US workers are no longer able to reach the American Dream. Students are realizing that getting into college is very difficult. And even if they are lucky enough to get in and graduate, there may be no jobs for them. So how would education look if t he international worki ng class had power?
Real communism will do away w ith money. There will be no borders, or laws that protect the land ownership of the ruling class, because there will be no ruling class or ownership of land.
There will be no jobs; only work that is useful and me aningf ul to the working class. Work will no lon ger be separat ed into manual and intellectual. The two will blend so that all workers can think and create. Therefore, school s will be different also. Students will learn not in isolated classrooms, but in the places where peopl e actually work. Educators will come from all walks of life, an d not just be university trained. There will be health care for all. Food, transportation, housing, childcare, will be available to all as necessities , not privileges. Racism and sexism will be outlawed.
All this can happen if the system of profit, exploitation, and class oppre ssion is done away with. This can onl y happen if capitalism is destroyed and true communism is realized worldwide. These ideas need to be taught and discussed.
The ICWP has regular study/ discussion groups we call "Pizza and Politics." We invite all educators and students to attend. To find out more, contact us at icwp@anonymousspeech.

Dear Northwest Comrades:

It's great that you've been taking Red Flag to union meetings and are planning to go to the Teaching for Justice Conference. More and more teachers, parents and students are furious about how things are going in the schools— and in the world—and it's my experience that they are open to discussing communist ideas.
I have a couple of suggestions about how to describe what's going on in the schools and the world these days.One is about fighting for reforms. While it's true that in better times militant struggles have forced the bosses to give us some crumbs, the strategy of fighting for reforms has always led us to fighting a losing battle to survive under capitalism, instead of fighting for workers' power. This strategy has also limited our struggles to what we can win for our union, our jobs, our neighborhood, etc., instead of fighting for a communist world for the whole working class. It's also important to explain how public education today is being "reformed" to fulfill the needs of the ruling class. The bosses' "school reform" is a direct response by the ruling class to their decline worldwide and preparation for world war against China. They need to prepare a few people to run their fancy war machines, and more importantly, they must win the masses of youth they will need to fight it to patriotism. Charters, small schools, the testing mania, and tying teacher evaluation to test scores are all ways of getting the schools in line for the bosses' war plans.
I look forward to reading about the conversations you have with teachers about these ideas at the conference, and at your "Pizza and Politics" sessions.
--Veteran Teacher

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