LOS ANGELES—Recently, a veteran MTA bus driver of 17 years had a minor accident. He did not see a pipe protruding from a truck. As he passed the truck, the pipe scratched his side window. Nothing major—the window didn’t even need replacing.
“Will he be fired?’ the Red Flag distributor asked the MTA bus driver relating this incident.
“He is being charged with the accident. It’s his third. If they all fall within an 18-month period, he will be fired,” replied the MTA bus operator.
“Just for that?!”
“Yes, operators get fired even for less. Most of the accidents are not our fault but management fires as many operators as possible to keep us all scared. It is also good business for them. With what they pay a veteran operator, they can hire two part- timers, who have little or no benefits. Besides, they get to keep MTA’s contributions to the fired operator’s pension. This is no small change. It could amount to a couple hundred thousand dollars or more.”
“And no one protests these firings? Not the union or the workers?”
“Yes, no one protests. Trying to get rid of older operators, management instituted a reign of terror firing operators for one accident or two depending on their severity. They did this arbitrarily.
Operators started demanding to have written rules. So, the three-accident rule got written into the contract about two contracts back. Now, it’s biting them in the butt.”
“Yes, that shows that when we try to reform capitalism, the capitalists just come back with another attack. The capitalists fire us and destroy our lives! We have to get rid of capitalism with a communist revolution,” said our comrade.
“We have been immunized to firings and other disciplinary actions.” said our friend. “Because of MTA’s scare tactics operators with high seniority prefer not to fight these cases and quietly retire in order not lose their pensions and benefits. At present that is the mentality of MTA operators. It will be very difficult to change it.”
“It may be difficult, but we can and have to change it. The change has to be to win workers to fight for communism because it’s the only solution to our problems. If we organize collectives of Red Flag readers and put forward a clear and convincing vision of what a communist world will look like, workers will be inspired to fight for a system where we workers decide what to produce and how, and how to transport people and goods in the safest and healthiest way.”
Communism will be a system where nobody will be fired – no bosses or supervisors harassing us. The masses through their Party collectives will decide everything. We will eliminate the stress from worrying about paying for rent, food, medicine, and having to work long hours. Our needs will be met collectively without money. Buses will be repaired collectively. A scratched windshield could be an opportunity to teach someone how to fix it.
Our strength lies in our unity. Our Party collective is helping workers overcome their fear so that collectively we can face the capitalists’ attacks.
A revolutionary working class is not born—it is made
History has shown that workers can be mobilized for revolution. They conquered their fear and individualism and fought heroically for the interests of the whole working class–inspired and led by their communist parties.
Our class today is no exception. We are crucial for revolution: when mobilized against capitalism, our fighting spirit inspires other sectors of society, especially youth and soldiers, to follow our leadership.
The crucial question is: What leadership will we give? What we fight for and how we fight for it today will determine that leadership. Our strategy should be to mobilize the masses for communism, nothing less.
In the case above, we should mobilize MTA workers to expose the inhumane nature of capitalism, to fight together for a communist system where no worker will be fired. We need to raise revolutionary slogans: “Abolish Wage Slavery!” “Fight for Communist World!” “Production for Human Needs!”
We have a party collective in one division. In Party collectives we can overcome the obstacles that hold us back. Let’s build ICWP collectives in every MTA division and among other industrial workers, soldiers and youth to advance the fight for communism!
Front Page
