Only Communism Can End Everyday Slaughter for Profits
WASHINGTON STATE (USA), August 14—Capitalism killed farmworker Honesto Silva Ibarra, a 28-year-old married father of three. Communism would never allow the conditions that led to his death.
Silva complained of debilitating headaches for three days as he picked blueberries near the Canadian border in Sumas, WA (USA). Forest fires from British Columbia, Canada covered the area with smoke as the temperature neared 100 for more than a week. The “contratados”—guest workers brought to the USA under the H-2A visa program— slaved from sunup to sundown in the broiling fields.
Silva complained to the bosses, but was told to go back to work. They threated to charge him with “abandonment of work,” which would result in his deportation.
Eventually, he couldn’t take it anymore. He asked to go home to Mexico. But CSI Visa Processing, which recruited the 600-worker crew of which he was a part, lied about his visa. It had already expired when he tried to board the plane. He was sent to a nearby clinic, nearly incapacitated.
They rushed him to Harborview Hospital in Seattle. He died shortly thereafter.
Alerted by comrades at Boeing, dozens of machinists in the Seattle area, about three hours south, placed the blame squarely on a system that puts profits above all else. The Sarbanand farm where this atrocity occurred is a subsidiary of Munger farms from Delano, CA, the biggest blueberry operation in the world. It exploits thousands of guest workers in partnershipwith CSI Visa, making millions.
“You drop dead, they just replace you,” said a Boeing worker. He was thinking about the death of a Boeing machinist just the week before.
“You’re just a number to exploit!”
Silva’s death was the final straw for the farm workers. More than 70 contratados went on strike. They too experienced headaches. Some workers fainted in the fields.
No wonder, with no shade, warm drinking water, dirty bathrooms in the fields and smoke that made it hard to breathe!
Alfredo Urbano Martinez, 20, from Michoacan, said he worked from 6 AM until 7 or 8 PM. He had just been diagnosed with a bacterial infection in his feet. The clinic told him he was minutes away from getting his toes amputated.
Communist Collective Work Means Nobody Will Be Worked to Death
A half dozen Boeing workers joined aboutthirty other workers and their families at the ICWP summer barbecue last Sunday. Friends from Boeing who were born in Laos, Vietnam, China, and the US joined others born in East Africa, South Africa, Mexico and cities throughout the US. The hot question was: What to do
about this attack?
We know communist society would never allow conditions like this to exist. If we had an emergency and had to pick blueberries in the heat and smoke, many of these aerospace workers and others would volunteer to help, so nobody would have to work 12-14 hour days. We could empty the factories and mobilize the youth. That may very well be the way we deal with all harvests.
“But the threat of deportation was management’s ace in the hole,” commented
another Boeing worker. Simple answer: communism will smash borders and nations, welcoming all workers everywhere.
Communist Healthcare Designed for Masses, Not Profits
So far, the authorities won’t say what ailment finally killed Silva. There are rumors of complications from diabetes. CSI’s website blames meningitis. Communist healthcare will be designed to prevent death from conditions like
these. Shortly after the Chinese revolution, there was virtually no healthcare in the vast countryside where many millions lived and grew food. There was an opening to develop communist healthcare.
A million “barefoot” doctors rushed in.Work brigades chose one or two workers from their ranks for a three-year medical training program. Popularly referred
to as barefoot doctors, these candidates would get formal medicaltraining for six months during the winter and return to their workbrigades during the growing and harvest seasons.
Initially, they were trained tospot and diagnose common ailments and perform preventive medicine. They also held mass meetings to train all workers in family planning and sanitation. Soon they were teaching the more traditional doctors what the farmworkers (peasants) really needed in the form of medical care.
As socialism was consolidated, this mass experiment with communist healthcare was squashed. But the lessons learned are invaluable.The striking workers demanded more accessible medical care that serves their needs. The communist
barefoot-doctor program points the way. Butto get there we need communist revolution.
When the farmworkers struck, the company immediately fired them. They are camping out ina small backyard in Sumas. Donations have flowed in from all over western Washington.
We ended our discussion by planning to visit these farmworkers. We will take our communist vision (and this article!) to the fight near the border along with the material support of workers from the Seattle area.
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