FIGHT FOR COMMUNISM!
International Communist Workers Party
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FIGHT FOR COMMUNISM! |
International Communist Workers Party | |
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“The Revolution Will Not Be Televised.”
The famous 1970 poem argued that no part of the state - the politicians, the generals, the news or entertainment media - would help us because “the revolution will put (us) in the driver’s seat.”
It’s an argument that bears repeating. On Tuesday, March 31, over 600 teachers, aides, parents and students rallied and marched in Oakland. They demanded an increase in school funding for teachers, special ed. and wrap-around services.
The demonstration was part of an ongoing mobilization which has seen Oakland students walk out in protest against police brutality and organize against charter schools, and has seen almost half the teachers in the school district ‘work to rule’ as a way of pressuring the contract negotiations.
The movement (classroomstruggle.org) has developed a vision that is inspiring but flawed. It reflects the anger that is growing among working class families but it also expresses the reformism that still grips a significant portion of our class. Red Flag teachers joined the demonstration determined to meet this deadly reformism head on. “Government is an instrument of class rule,” our education flyer pointed out,
“In capitalist society, all schools serve the interests of the capitalist class.”
“There’ll never be a revolution in this country,” a colleague who is very committed to his students told me. “We don’t need communists. We’re going to win the elections and take over the school board,” he insisted.
“That’s exactly why we do need communists,” I replied. “We need to battle this illusion that the government can be bent to our will. It’s Red Flag communists who bring a crystal clear analysis that all branches of government serve the needs of the capitalists against the aspirations of workers. One day, winning a revolution will be on the agenda. Today, bringing a clear understanding of the class nature of the struggle and building a communist party of a new type (ICWP) is the vital issue.”
My colleague wasn’t won over but he took a Red Flag and our interaction has moved to a new level.
Others were more open. We got out about 50 Red Flags. A friend who teaches High School History welcomed the idea of having a communist come to her classes. Perhaps we can start by reading and discussing “The Revolution will not be televised.” Then we can look at the Red Flag flyer on education before rewriting the poem to meet our challenges: “The revolution will not be televised” can become “The education we need will not be subsidized...” And class room struggle will take on a revolutionary communist flavor
--Bay Area Comrade
In Communism, Nothing Will Be For Sale
El Salvador—“Water cannot be free. If I make an investment, bottling, installing pipes, the water cannot be free.” These were the words of a representative of ARENA (electoral party) on the subject of water.
Diverse social organizations have tried to get the “Water Act” approved that, according to these organizations, “will ensure the fundamental right to water.” This law has not been approved and the process of privatization of water is not being stopped by the reformist struggle.
Services for the working class are of poor quality. The service of water supply is intermittent, varying from 16 hours a day in some areas, to less than 4 hours a day or even once every four days in others. In some parts of the country the community services of water are private and with extremely high rates.
Water is a natural resource that the bosses have given a price. Whether public (controlled by the capitalist state) or private (controlled by a boss), the bosses profit from these natural resources.
The services that the State offers today in the government of the FMLN (electric power, health, education) continue in the same conditions as in the time of the previous governments.
Whenever they have privatized services, the politicians in service of the boss who has an interest in this resource, use the bad service to bring “an investment to improve” the service. The only ones who can manage and distribute the resources correctly are the working class. Without the need of government institutions or private property, with the leadership of ICWP; this is the way we will administer what the earth provides us in Communism.
The capitalists make profit at the expense of our lives and of the resources that we need to live. It’s not enough for them to send us to wars, or to exploit us in their factories. We must put an end to all private property. ICWP must lead the masses of workers to mobilize ourselves for communism and administer society in a way that goes hand in hand with our ecosystem and meeting our needs.
It will not be the State, or the capitalists, or the struggle for reforms that will assure us the resources for a healthy and dignified life. It will be the fight for Communism.
--Comrade in El Salvador
Water and Shale Gas
MEXICO—The initiative of the General Water Law, approved on March 4, 2015 by the United Commissions of Drinking Water and Water Resources, will limit the use of water to 50 liters (10 gallons) a day per person, criminalize scientific research and intensify environmental conflicts.
77% of the population of Mexico is concentrated in the north and center of the country but only 31% of renewable water is found there. The south and southeast areas, where 23% of the population is found, has 69% of the renewable water.
In Mexico, the surface covered by water includes 3.8 million hectares (9.5 million acres) of which 2.9 million hectares (7.3 million acres) are saltwater and the rest is fresh water.
In 2010, the US International Energy Agency (AIE) estimated the hydrocarbon reserves at 680 million cubic feet in widely distributed areas of Mexico.
Water is an indispensable resource for the extraction of natural gas by fracking. This involves techniques of hydraulic injection that demand enormous volumes of water. From 9 to 29 million liters (about 2 to 6 million gallons) are required for the fracking (fracture) of a single well.
Petroleos Mexicanos (PEMEX Oil Company) began exploratory work for shale gas-oil in 2010 and identified 5 geological provinces with the potential to produce hydrocarbons:.
On the recent visit of the President of Mexico to England, the governor of Chihuahua commented that England is interested in investing in the extraction of shale gas in the state, since there are 500 kilometers (310 miles) rich in hydrocarbons.
The major risk factor is the insecurity of the area, in areas where the Gulf and Zeta cartels are fighting for control, which makes the militarization of the area and the country indispensable. Cases like that of the students of Ayotzinapa, the port of Lázaro Cárdenas, drug trafficking, etc, are not isolated. They all have something in common, the rivalry between the bosses to control the natural resources for profits.
In the interimperialist struggle and preparation for World War III, the capitalists are not interested in spending for life itself. They convert natural resources into generators of profits.
“Then will we die for lack of water?” asked a relative while this article was being written. I answered that not only from lack of water, but from poverty, from genetically modified food, contamination from mining, repression, from wars, etc. and she made a sad face. She knows about the Party and therefore knows very well what the solution is to get rid of this system.
In Communism, workers will mobilize to develop safe energy, water, food and water collectively for the benefit of workers everywhere. Workers of the world, let’s unite to destroy the capitalist bosses, who do not rest from sinking us into poverty and who live off our work. Let’s destroy capitalism, join ICWP!
--Comrade in Mexico
How Will Communism Prevent and Manage Anti-Social Behavior?
An article in Red Flag (v. 6 #3) showed clearly and helpfully that there are few differences among capitalism’s slavery, prison labor, and wage slavery. All are tools to maximize the profits squeezed out of workers.
I’m not convinced, though, that communist society will want to send those who commit seriously anti-social actions to “isolated places” to live with each other. And it’s not helpful to say vaguely (as the article did) that if they leave “we might have to deal with them more severely.” With no jails or prisons, does that mean killing them? Or what?
Let’s try harder to learn from history. Red Flag has begun to tell the story of Makarenko’s colony for anti-social youth in the young Soviet Union. They lived and worked together, but not in isolation. Makarenko and other communists worked hard to help them develop new collective values. More should be written about this.
Another Red Flag article described how the model Chinese village of Tachai treated neighboring villagers who tried to steal corn from the fields during a regional famine. The communist leader of Dazhai sent the culprits home with full stomachs, extra food, and a political lecture.
Books like William Hinton’s Fanshen and Shenfan describe in vivid detail the kinds of problems that arose in the first two decades of communist rule in China. These included rape and other physical assaults, thefts of personal and public property, counter-revolutionary organizing, and abuse of power.
Hinton and others also describe how communist village leaders and city cadre tried to handle these problems. Their strategy was mainly mass mobilization of villagers to confront the wrong-doers. Those considered unreliable in the long term were made to work in the village under close supervision. They were not sent away to an “isolated place” with others like them.
Only a few of the hardest cases were sent away at all. They went to regional centers where they worked and studied under supervision. Rarely were they locked up.
The Chinese Communist Party’s fight to build socialist (rather than communist) society limited its ability to solve social problems. In particular, it failed to mobilize masses for communism or recruit them massively into the Party.
We are historical materialists. We need to build on the best of our history and think about how to do better at preventing and, when necessary, handling anti-social behavior. How do we handle it in the Party now? How should we handle it in the future?
Some of our comrades have personal experiences with revolutionary “liberated zones” in El Salvador and elsewhere. They should write more about these, too.
A comrade
“There’s no place like home”
Recently, some ICWP members and friends were having a discussion after dinner when a neighbor asked, “Why are we seeing so many more homeless people than we used to?”
Someone else commented on the surprising number of empty houses in the neighborhood. Another remarked that lately it’s impossible to do your grocery shopping without two or three people approaching you asking for money.
We talked a little about the crisis of capitalism and how workers’ needs will never be met as long as it exists. Only communism can do that. In a communist society we will produce what workers need and provide services like health care, education, transportation, and entertainment, all without money, banks, mortgages, landlords or realtors!
Another comrade referred to a Red Flag article describing how the Chinese communists dealt with issues like this. Friends read it right then.
The story dealt with some hungry people who stole food from a commune. The party leader refused to punish them. Instead, he fed them!
That’s the way we will deal with the homeless. First, we will make sure they have a roof over their heads.
“That’s what I want to hear!” said a friend, tired of all the capitalist bullshit excuses. “We solve the problem!”
Maybe the bosses can sell us a house, but it will never truly be a home because they can take it away from us tomorrow if we lose our job or become ill or disabled. Think of the victims of Katrina, whose homes were destroyed or badly damaged, and then stolen away from them by the banks and the politicians.
Then think about joining the ICWP to mobilize the masses worldwide to fight for communism. Then we will really be home!
--Comrades from Seattle
Capitalism = Brutal Poverty for the Masses
As comrades of ICWP know, including some in the working class, we live in an era of capitalism. I experience this brutal system every day of my life. Poverty is getting worse and worse every day.
A few days back, I visited a family who are friends of mine. I went there mainly to sell my sander tool machine because the husband of the house is a handyman. He needs the sander machine more than I do, and I needed money urgently to buy food. The last time I saw the wife was last year in December.
When I got there the husband was out, so I just stayed to catch up with the wife about life in general, about how things have been going. Out of the conversation the wife asked me for 20 rands to buy food for supper. I answered back, ‘’Mama, I am broke. The reason I am here is to sell your husband this sander machine so I can buy myself food to survive just a couple of days.
“And I understand it’s very near your payday, the 25th of the month, and that’s why you are broke,” I said.
She immediately replied, ‘’Nooooo, I was retrenched [laid off] last year, in the second week of December, so I have been unemployed ever since. And bear in mind that I have a kid who goes to school and we hardly eat meat these days.
“I can’t remember the last time we had meat in this house. And my husband hardly gets a job these days for his handyman skills because people don’t have money, even those who are employed. People in our days do handyman jobs themselves.”
This lady’s story is not new. The situation is the same or even worse everywhere, because it’s too much of the same story everywhere I go. And I just had enough of it. I was just angry. I just felt like, “let me just attack this brutal capitalism in a way that will end this suffering, this lacking of food.”
I just know that ICWP is the only solution. I need to be more disciplined and recruit more workers to the party.
—An angry comrade in South Africa