Hurricane Irma: Capitalist Disaster
The capitalist approach to disaster is illustrated perfectly by the fate of the French West Indies (in French, “Les Antilles”).
Parts of the Antilles were in Irma’s direct path. Most of the buildings were blown away and there was no more power or running water. Half the population already lived in poverty.
But on St Martin, the largest community, some buildings were solid enough (and high enough) to weather the storm. One was the prison, which suffered only damage to one panel in the outer wall. Another was the hillside mansion of Johnny Hallyday, the French Elvis.
So it’s possible to build hurricane-proof buildings. Why weren’t there enough to shelter the whole population? That’s what we’ll do under communism. We won’t measure actions by money. We’ll think in terms of human needs and human effort.
The number-one consideration will always be protecting the masses from death and suffering. That means ‘hardening’ enough structures to shelter everyone and to protect infrastructure like power, water and sewage.
In the Antilles, the French bosses thought in terms of money. They calculated that it was cheaper to allow substandard construction and accept the risk of having to rebuild. They make the same calculation about floods, earthquakes, fires, landslides and so on.
Rescuing people and restoring services was not the bosses’ priority. Their priority was protecting their private property and assuring ‘order’, i.e. bosses’ rule.
After the hurricane, people rummaged through the ruins of supermarkets searching for something to eat. Officials called them “looters” and asked for more cops. They were especially alarmed because some “looters” had guns. They probably feared a repeat of the month-long uprising in French Guyana earlier this year.
The French government sent in hundreds of cops and soldiers. There were 3000 cops and military in tiny St Martin (pop 36,000). They set up checkpoints, organized patrols, and even brought in armored personnel carriers.
The supermarkets that remained standing were soon back in business. Armed cops made sure no one got something to eat without coming up with some money. This while volunteers in Guadeloupe were collecting food to distribute free in St Martin and St Bartholemy.
The bosses’ state is primarily a machine to repress workers, not to help them.
—Two Angry Comrades
Yemen: Our Weapon Is International Workers’ Unity
Warmest revolutionary greetings to you comrades from the hell on earth created not by gods, but by bloodthirsty, or should we say oil thirsty, vultures who have descended on one of the poorest countries in the world, Yemen.
We are in the midst of mass hunger, homelessness, and disease in Yemen as the oil interests from Iran and Saudi Arabia, China, Russia, and the US fight to control the most vital commodity to keep the capitalist system going: oil.
We are daily and indiscriminately bombarded with phosphorous bombs in Yemen by the Saudi drones and fighter jets. Hospitals, highways, water purification plants, pharmaceutical factories are totally destroyed.
New diseases are created in the midst of this frenzy. New-born children are lucky if they can survive more than six weeks. Contaminated water and the lack of clean water, food and housing is creating havoc and anger.
I received your newspaper Red Flag from a comrade in Afghanistan who is no stranger to mass terror and unending wars. While I was reading your newspaper, I must say, it is the only beacon of hope. My English is not very good. But what I mean is that in your newspaper I read stories of common people, their suffering, and then I also found the solution.
We cannot live in this capitalist world, but the bosses offer many alternatives to fool the workers. They offer religion; they offer democracy. They want the suffering masses to think like them. They want to control our thinking, which is worse than an atom bomb.
But we have the weapon. Our weapon is the unity of the international working class to fight all of them and stop for nothing until they are all decimated. We want to create a society without anyone of them. We have no option. I hope to learn more about your party and communicate with comrades from your organization.
—A Reader in Yemen
Young Comrades Lead
Our youth collective met for the first time this school year. There were two returning young comrades, a young woman who had come to party activities with an older sister in the past, and two newly involved students.
We went through Red Flag cover-to-cover reading the headlines and looking at the pictures. Then, the two young comrades talked about what we do in the International Communist Workers’ Party (ICWP).
“In last year’s May Day March, we carried communist signs and banners throughout the whole march. It was turned up,” said the first one.
The other student added, “In the ICWP, we go to meetings, we have study groups, and we go to protests and rallies where we distribute our Red Flag newspaper. We also distribute the paper to friends and family. In other words, we learn as much as we can and spread the word about communism.”
Then we read and discussed the article in Red Flag about the experiences of the young comrades during the Bolshevik Revolution in 1917. We realized that these young comrades were around the same age as the few of us that got together and organized this meeting. The young people are the future. We have to pass down the fight for communism in the same way that the fight for communism was passed from 1917 to the next generation up until now in 2017. We shall continue to fight and educate as many students as possible now and after us on the importance of communism.
“In this meeting I was introduced to the ICWP. I was told about the marches, the protest and the study groups,” wrote a 16-year-old participant. “I read that there were young people that led strikes and were part of the Bolshevik Party. I never knew people my age or around my age would be so concerned about what’s going on around us. I think the youth of today as the ‘future people’ should also fight for what we think is right.”
Other students wrote:
“I learned that it doesn’t matter the age, we should all be leaders. It shows how strong, brave, and world-beaters the youth can be.”
“We should all fight for what is right and what we deserve. All people should be equal, nobody should be left out because of a skin color or the way anybody looks.”
“People may think young people, especially our generation, can’t change the world. We can change the world and make it a better place.”
We ended with plans to meet every week. Each student took additional Red Flag newspapers; the five students took 12 papers. We’ll give them to our friends and families and talk to them about the need for a communist world. We know that in these conversations, answering people’s questions and disagreements, we’ll learn a lot. In the next meeting we’ll go deeper into our experiences talking to people about communism.
—Los Angeles high school collective
Our Mistake: Don’t Blame Any Worker for Capitalist Unemployment
There is a problem with the picture of a mass protest on p. 1 of the last Red Flag. A sign that is partly hidden seems to read, “Roses are red, [illegible] is enjoyable. [Don’t] blame Dreamers because you are [une]mployable.”
Certainly Dreamers and other immigrants are not responsible for unemployment. But it’s an attack on jobless workers to call them “unemployable.” Capitalism is responsible for unemployment. The bosses need a large pool of jobless workers to lower wages for those with jobs. They need this threat to try to avoid strikes, rebellions, and especially revolution.
Capitalists usually prefer to hire those who can do the most work the fastest, to maximize profits. And they are no longer willing to provide “on-the-job training.” Those of our class sisters and brothers who have physical limitations, transportation problems, demanding family situations, or limited training are considered “unemployable” by the capitalists.
In communism, nobody will be “unemployable.” We will organize work so that everyone can contribute. We will solve problems collectively so that all can contribute as much as they are willing and able. Continuing education and training will be part of everyone’s workday.
In the meantime we should be more careful about what images we print, especially those featured without comment.
—Red Flag Editorial Collective
Comrade writes from Qatar: No Money and No Fear
I have not sent you any letters, but I need to say that I am thinking about you all. Things in Qatar are horrible but people want the solution that you and Red Flag always tell me. We live with 36 people in a very very small room. The owner and boss took our passports. Imagine how 36 people can live in a small room. People are very angry at this system of profit.
I speak with people who are my brothers, who come here and live with me in this very small room. These brothers are from Syria, Iraq, Lebanon, Jordan and Turkey. We don’t speak the same language. But we cook, clean, and talk with our hands and feet. We understand each other; we feel happy and mad about capitalism that brings us here for money.
I and many people here don’t need money. We need a place where we help each other, where no bosses tell us we have to work for money.
Thank you for your communication. I and many other people understand that communism is not only good for us, but is the unique solution. We can finish with these very bad bosses. It is easy. We will do it—you and we will do it. We need no boss. Never.
I work, like many here, for 18 hours, live in a room with many, but I send no money to my family. The boss takes it all. I am with you. We need to finish capitalism. So we must help each other. The Qatar bosses are very bad, the Saudi’s also. We don’t need any bosses. You always tell me that the working class will build a communist society with no money. I want to fight for this. I have no money and no fear.
What are they afraid of?
It was to be an “open mic” to speak out about Charlottesville. But that morning the government had announced its latest attack on immigrant (DACA) youth. So we talked about that too.
There wasn’t much publicity. One teacher emailed a flyer to faculty and staff to “spread the word.” The instructional technology guy set up a sound system. A teacher brought butcher paper, markers, cut-out hearts and some oranges. Another teacher brought her class “to see how a protest is organized.” A few student government leaders came. About 40 took part in all.
So why did ten sheriff’s deputies and cadets stand around for almost an hour, taking pictures and trying to intimidate people? Why did a supervisor bawl out an organizer? Why an angry call from administration claiming that amplified sound was “illegal” in the so-called “free speech” area?
Because working-class people (students and teachers) were organizing against racism. And agents of the capitalist class were not in control.
Because it’s not just Trump and some Nazis and KKK. This college itself is part of a system of schooling that tracks young people into their “place” in this system of capitalist exploitation. And that capitalist system is racist to its very roots.
Some students did seem afraid. They hung around the outskirts, listening and trying not to be seen. But ten people took the mic to speak. Some urged “love, not hate.” One declared that the material basis of racism is capitalism and that we need to end it by fighting for a world without money or borders. There will be more events, organizers pledged.
All participants and many bystanders took and read copies of a leaflet that reprinted the Red Flag article on Charlottesville.
That’s really what school administrators fear. They used Charlottesville to push the lie that “education” is the answer to racism. They would rather see black and latino/a students as “victims” of a racist system than as fighters who will overthrow it. Do you want to overthrow racist capitalism? Do you like this paper that you are reading? Do you want to learn more about communism? Then tell the person who gave it to you or email us at icwp@anonymousspeech.com to join or form a study-action group.
—Campus Red in Los Angeles (USA)
The Communist Fight Against Sexism
Our club meeting this weekend included a rich discussion of the importance of the communist fight against sexism. A new comrade gave sharp examples of the way that women often bear the brunt of the bosses’ racist attacks on the working class. He added that women have also played a key role in the fight against capitalism and imperialism.
Another comrade had written the following statement, which we found very helpful:
When I think of sexism, I think of systematic oppression of women and the denial of their rights by patriarchal, capitalist societies.
When I think of sexism, I think of the lower pay that women receive in jobs where there is no set pay scale for all workers or where women are steered into the lowest paying occupations.
When I think of sexism, I think of cultural stereotyping of women as sex objects, and the objectification of women in clothes designed by fashion houses or mass marketers.
So, when I think of sexism I think of capitalism and imperialism.
I do not want the capitalist and imperialist system to continue. I want a communist revolution and the eradication of all social relations based on capitalism.
Sexism is one of those structural oppressions of capitalism/imperialism.
We need a strong movement of women and men to fight and win the struggle against sexism.
We committed ourselves to building that movement and writing more about it for Red Flag.
—Bay Area Comrades
Denouncing the Marikana massacre in South Africa, 2012
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