LOS ANGELES, USA—A buzzer announces that it’s noon, and the mechanics, service attendants and other maintenance workers go to their lunch breaks, for only half an hour of rest.
Some use it to play basketball, others dominoes, but our group meets to discuss communist ideas. They start arriving one by one, but where is comrade Horace? He said he was coming. Then he arrives and joins the group of six workers. (Self-critically, there are no women workers.)
Almost all present are young workers, and I think, “What a beautiful day it will be when these comrades, instead of wearing mechanics’ uniforms, are wearing the uniform of the Red Guard.”
We begin the meeting by reading the article by MTA mechanics in the last Red Flag. It is precisely Zeke who is mentioned in the article who starts the reading so that others can finish. But as he reads, he gets excited and offers to finish reading it. We all listen carefully.
Then he comments, “It’s true that at first I was insecure. But more and more, I’m realizing that communism is a good solution, because I look around and see problems everywhere. For example the workers in France, the people of Central America (the Caravan) and right here the ruling class has a rope around our necks. For example, to this day I have not been able to provide my family with comfortable housing. Our salary is barely enough to survive.”
Another comrade says, “And you supposedly earn a decent wage. Think of the thousands of workers who work for starvation wages.”
More examples follow. We all had had an experience of poverty to tell. Families who live with other families in order to pay rent, families who live in dilapidated buildings. Sick workers unable to pay for medicines. All of this is part of the many evils of capitalism.
“I’ve lived under these conditions. That’s why I’ve convinced myself that we have to organize the Party (ICWP). I have no doubt that if we don’t lead the struggle, someone else is going to do it. But it won’t be for the communist revolution that all the workers need, but for something else, as happens in France, Honduras, or the teachers here with their marches,” Zeke says.
The comrade leading the meeting explains the importance of the ICWP as a leader of the workers’ struggles and especially of our communist line. He points out why the industrial workers are important in this struggle. Their collective role in production, at the heart of the bosses’ exploitation, is key. When they become communists, they can give key leadership to the masses. He also points out the importance of political work within the bosses’ army. Students and teachers are also important, as are all those of our class who are willing to fight for communism.
Comrade Horace also mentions the multiracial line of the ICWP, our international work and the urgent need for more Party members. He says, “We have no alternative. We have to make this Party a great political force.”
Zeke finishes by saying, “I like this. I want to be a member of the Party so that I can win other workers to the Party. I need to learn more about the political line because there is a lot of misinformation and it is important to be able to explain communist ideas.”
The buzzer sounds again. Everyone grabs a Red Flag and a Mobilize the Masses for Communism pamphlet and returns to their workplace.
Sometimes we underestimate the potential of co-workers when they raise a lot of disagreements, but later we find that they had been thinking about these ideas all along and are much closer to the Party than we think.
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