Red Flag Newspaper
International Communist Workers Party
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Red Flag NewspaperInternational Communist Workers Party |
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LOS ANGELES, Feb. 25—Over 2000 janitors marched through the streets of downtown LA to denounce the building owners and contractors who are fighting to cut their wages and benefits in the upcoming contract. This is the start of their campaign for a new contract. Five hundred janitors eagerly took Red Flag and a communist leaflet calling on them to March on May Day with ICWP to Mobilize for Communism, not for Futile Reforms. Many thanked us for coming. Portions of the leaflet follow:
May Day, May 1st, is a communist holiday. Also, on this May 1st, the Los Angeles janitors’ contract will be expiring. On this May Day, the International Communist Workers’ Party (ICWP) will march holding high the red flag of communist revolution. We call on the janitors and all workers, soldiers and youth to march with us for a communist world without money, wage slavery, racism, sexism, borders or imperialist wars.
Communism: Production For Human Needs, Not for Profits
Only this can guarantee that no human being is better or worse off than another. We will collectively contribute to society according to our commitment, and receive according to our needs.
There won’t be any unemployment. We will always have creative useful work. Everyone’s contribution, no matter how little, will be welcomed and appreciated. There won’t be any privileges for anyone.
Eliminating money, nothing will be bought or sold. Housing, food, health care, education, transportation, etc. will be provided at no cost.
Education will be a lifelong endeavor. No exams, titles or diplomas. They only divide students and professionals from the working class. Everyone, especially the leaders, will do mental and manual work. No one will be the servant or the boss of others.
We will encourage everyone to learn many skills. We will all do janitorial and agricultural work and also work in other fields like medicine, engineering, science, etc. Free from capitalism’s curse of “work or starve,” we will be able to flourish and maximize our potential as creative, caring human beings
Is this a realistic, achievable dream?
YES! We can make this a reality if we all join the International Communist Workers’ Party and help mobilize the masses for communism. The Russian and Chinese revolutions show that we can defeat the capitalists. Those revolutions failed because they fought for socialism, state capitalism, not communism. We won’t make that mistake again!
But, building such a world won’t be easy. It will require a great deal of struggle and sacrifice before, during and after the revolution. Is communism worth it?
YES! It is the only thing worth fighting for. Anything else is futile. The following example from the LA Janitors’ struggle proves this irrefutably:
In 1983, janitors in Los Angeles earned over $7 dollars an hour with full health benefits. That was the equivalent of $17 dollars an hour in 2016 dollars.
After more than 25 years of struggle, starting with a strike in 1990, janitors in Los Angeles now earn: $15/hour in area 1, $13 in area 2, and $9.75 in area 3. They earn less than they did 33 years ago!
Furthermore, their work load has increased drastically. In some cases it has almost doubled to 95,000 square feet per worker per 8-hour shift.
Presently, BOMA (Building Owners’ and Managers) pays the contractors, which hire the janitors, $85 per worker in area 1, $70 in area 2, and $45 in area 3.
BOMA wants to pay all areas $45 per worker. It will drastically reduce wages and benefits in areas 1&2. BOMA strategy is to have the janitors fighting to defend previous “gains,” hoping they will happy settle for whatever crumbs they throw at them.
The janitors are not the only ones. From Greece to Argentina to South Africa to the USA workers are seeing all their hard-won “gains” being taken away.
Let’s not put our energy and creativity into reforming a system that can’t be reformed to meet our needs. Let’s fight for communism. Join ICWP and help mobilize the masses for Communism. March with us on this May Day and help advance the struggle for a communist world. Read and distribute Red Flag!
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EL SALVADOR—On February 22, hundreds of maquila workers in the free trade zone of Olocuilta took to the streets to burn tires and block the streets in protest against the thieving boss. But in essence it was a protest against the government and capitalist exploitation.
About 300 people worked in this garment sweatshop. The fact that they took to the streets is an admirable action and practice. These strikes or political actions should be used by the workers to call for building a communist society without bosses or exploitation.
The bosses of the maquila left the country without paying the workers’ wages and pensions. This is an old practice of capitalists who own the maquilas. In El Salvador, and many parts of the world, it is not new that a boss steals the workers’ wages and abandons the maquila. When they have to pay more taxes or the company simply does not generate the profits they expected, they leave the country without paying.
The workers’ response to every blow of the bosses should be the struggle for communism. Payment of wages or pensions should not be our battle flag, but instead one more way to show that capitalism does not work for the working class. Our flag must be the struggle for a communist society where money and classes do not exist, and where we all work collectively.
The uprising of these workers shows us the need to create contacts between the comrades organized in ICWP in other maquila factories and our class brothers and sisters in different industrial areas. Constant communication would allow us to join in the fight and bring Red Flag these workers.
The Biggest Robbery is In the Factories
“This company went around passing out flyers so that we would work with them. They said they would give all the benefits; and now they left,” said another maquila worker.
As of today, the ministry of labor has confiscated the machinery and hopes to sell it to distribute the money to the workers. This does not solve anything. They are trying to solve a momentary problem without touching the roots of exploitation.
Neither the FMLN government nor the unions accuse capitalism of being the responsible party for the biggest robbery that is produced inside the factories. This is where all the bosses steal the workers’ labor power through the production of commodities. The bosses take the profits, leaving the workers in poverty.
In communism, there won’t be bosses or exploitation. We workers (the whole society) will have complete control of the means of production. We will collectively plan production based on the needs of humanity.
Our lives will not depend on the thieving bosses but on a society composed of our class brothers and sisters. There will not be long hours of work. We will learn multiple skills, and we can help in different areas. Work will not be related to individual subsistence. The factories and other places also will be centers of learning for the new generations. Technology will advance in a way that will facilitate our work and that is in harmony with the environment.
We have a task as ICWP members and that is to create communist networks among the working class through Red Flag. The struggles must be fought by everyone. Solidarity is a fundamental aspect of the struggle for communism. This will only be possible if we have full confidence that Communism is the only solution.
Garment Workers in Olocuilta, El Salvador block highway to
denounce capitalist robbery
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