San Salvador, May Day, 2017: Mobilize the Masses for Communism
EL SALVADOR—In a recent meeting with women and men workers from the maquilas to analyze the communist political situation inside the factories, the following comments emerged:
“At the beginning of the year, we workers who must work for set goals carried out a strike and we didn’t produce until they clarified how the wage increase would function. The repression and threats were harsh and in the end only Party members who work in these production modules continued on strike. But the bosses saw our decision to fight as communists and they gave in.
“We do not think for the moment that this will change the system, but it gives strength and confidence to the men and women workers that in the future we can make a communist revolution, confidence that has been lost in the union leaders and electoral parties who negotiate with the bosses. This battle makes us identify ourselves with the workers at MTA in the US who we have read about in our communist newspaper Red Flag, who have good discussions about the need for a political strike for communism.
“After this modest struggle, some of the workers who are already identified by the supervisors as members of ICWP and who remained together at the work table have been separated—to keep us from planning anything. But we think that with this they have given us more opportunity to come in contact with more workers in other production modules. Our communist struggle is advancing. We have undertaken small struggles, including stopping production in some areas,” said a male communist leader who works in one of these factories.
“The bosses do not comply with what was agreed in the labor contract of the factories, nor will they comply,” said a woman worker, referring to what is happening in these days after the wage increase in the maquila factories. “We are harassed daily by the supervisors, with threats that if we don’t meet the production goal they will close the factory, and that we will be out of work. This makes many fearful but others of us have lost our fear,” said a male worker.
“The exploiters fix things so that they don’t lose their profits. They always find a way to squeeze us workers. We have to organize more women and men workers into the International Communist Workers’ Party (ICWP). We need a strong base fighting for communism. That’s the only way we will free ourselves from wage slavery,” another leading comrade, a woman, said.
“The reform struggles that have been carried out in this country, although some have been very militant, have always ended up calling for the reinstatement of workers who were fired as a result of the struggles,” said a male worker.
These discussions reflect the process of ideological struggle to understand the contradiction that reforms don’t lead to communist revolution, and we are carrying out this struggle in meetings, study groups and the distribution of Red Flag.
Our goal is to sharpen the political struggle and win more workers to read and distribute our newspaper and to join ICWP. We are clear that we are fighting for communism, a system without money, without classes, and that we are going to produce based on what humanity needs. No more exploiting bosses. We have nothing to lose. We have a communist world to win.
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