Organize a Political Strike for Communism!
LOS ANGELES, US, June 18 “Our union contract expires at the end of this month,” said an MTA mechanic at a recent social gathering. “The bus operators may opt for a strike,” he added.
“If left up to the union it won’t be much of a strike. They’ll have the usual picket lines with BBQ and beer,” interjected another.
“Every time we go on strike we lose more than what we gain. Some workers think it is not worth it to go on strike,” said a third.
These comments started a very long and serious discussion.
First, we discussed that workers should not accept passively the capitalists’ attacks or whatever they want to dish out in a contract. That would be surrendering without a fight. Everyone agreed that was unacceptable.
Workers just can’t roll over and play dead. As communists, we all agree that our historical task as a class is to be the grave-diggers of capitalism. This requires a communist revolution. A revolution requires an inspired fighting working class.
Thus, the next question we addressed was: What should we workers fight for that will make our class conscious of its historical task? What can MTA workers fight for that will inspire millions to join ICWP and fight for communism worldwide?
“Fighting for a ‘good’ contract won’t do it. Even if we got the best wage increase ever, at the end of the day we will still be wage slaves. We would still be under the despotic boot of the MTA bosses and the US capitalists in general.” Everyone agreed.
“We need a political strike,” someone suggested, “We and our class face more than just wage and benefit cuts. We face intensified racism, sexism and xenophobia with the rise of fascist groups like ‘Act for America’ and the prospect of bigger and more lethal wars, including world war.
“That is why it must be a political strike against capitalism and for communism,” someone else suggested.
We then said that such a strike would reject trade unionism’s bankrupt political strategy. It would organize mass demonstrations of MTA workers to call on other workers, soldiers and youth, nationally and internationally, to join the fight for communism.
We would therefore put forward revolutionary communist political slogans such as “Abolish wage slavery, fight for communism! Fight for a world without money, exploitation, racism, sexism, nations or borders!” “Production for need, not Profits!” “Fight for communist workers’ power!”
Such a strike, closing down the US’ second largest city, would have an electrifying effect on the US and the world’s working class. It would make a difference to the tens of millions of our class who are in motion, like those 180 million who went on strike in India or those 30 million in Brazilian.
These masses are questioning capitalism and looking for radical alternatives. Like many MTA workers, they are also realizing that trade unions’ reformist struggles are dead-end streets which only prolong our enslavement.
Thousands of MTA operators, mechanics and service attendants led by ICWP’s MTA collectives and the hundreds of MTA Red Flag readers can energize a new communist-led labor movement that fights directly for communism to destroy capitalism, the root cause of all our problems.
Can we organize such a movement? Definitely! Not only we can but we must: the times demand nothing less from the most revolutionary and powerful class in history!
It won’t be easy and it won’t be done overnight. It will require patience and perseverance. We all agreed that winning for our class is how many more readers and distributers of Red Flag we gain, how many join ICWP and how massively and inspiring we make communism an issue among the masses.
Organizing for such a strike is mainly the responsibility of the ICWP collective at MTA and about 500 regular MTA Red Flag readers. Many of these have been readers for years. Some help distribute from one to five Red Flags. It is time they take the next step and join ICWP to help build ICWP collectives in all MTA’s divisions.
These ICWP collectives could massively increase the circulation of Red Flag by struggling politically with their MTA co-workers. This will create the material and ideological conditions to inspire MTA workers to organize such a political strike.
History is on our side. Let’s mobilize the masses for communism! Join ICWP!
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