FIGHT FOR COMMUNISM!
	International Communist Workers Party
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LOS ANGELES--“Good morning! How are you, Juan? How was the May Day March? Did the union mobilize a lot of workers?” asked the Red Flag comrade.
 “No! The union did not organize people. The union leaders are traitors,” answered the janitor. 
“I agree,” said the comrade. “They want to bury the revolutionary spirit of May Day. Next year it falls on Sunday and we will organize a communist May Day. We would like hundreds of janitors to march with us under the red flags of communism. We would like you to help.”
 “Next year we will be fighting for a new contract.”
“Great! We could distribute thousands of our newspapers during your demonstrations and invite the workers to march with us.”
“June 15 is celebrated in the US as Justice for Janitors Day. We’ll start our campaign for a new contract with a mass march on that day.”
“That’s a good opportunity to start writing more in Red Flag about your struggle. Why don’t we meet to write an article?”
 “That would be good; it can be at my house. I want the new janitors to know the history of our struggles.”

This is what this worker wants the janitors to know:
Justice for Janitors Day was born in Los Angeles on June 15, 1990 when the police savagely attacked a peaceful demonstration, torturing and seriously injuring several workers, and causing several pregnant workers to have miscarriages. At least two workers died afterwards from their injuries.
It seems that this year the union will celebrate it on June 18th, not the 15th. Possibly that’s because they want to bury the memory of the workers who sacrificed so much to build the union. This wasn’t easy due to the betrayal that the same union leaders had carried out against the workers.
In 1983, janitors made $7 an hour with medical insurance for the whole family. By 1986 the union representatives had helped cut the wages to $4.25 an hour without any medical insurance. They came to the buildings saying that the bosses couldn’t pay more.
They did this to keep members who would continue to pay dues because the companies were getting rid of the union and hiring non-union workers for this wage.
In spite of this, a group of janitors, mainly from Mexico and Central America, saw the unionization of the industry as the solution to their problems. They began the arduous task of convincing workers to join the struggle for unionization.
After the police attack of June 15 on some 400 strikers, they won their first contract and about 6000 new janitors joined the union. Today they have about 22,000 members in the Los Angeles area and 225,000 in 30 cities in the US and Canada.
 “But in the process we created a monster,” lamented the janitor. “We activists who were responsible for organizing the people wanted a voice and vote in the union decisions. We participated in the union elections and won all the positions, except the presidency. The international union leadership intervened and put the union in receivership, preventing us from taking our positions. They imposed a new president and his lackeys. Things have gone from bad to worse. Today we pay the union to defend the company,” concluded the janitor angrily.

This is what we communists want the janitors and all workers to know:
The union struggle is a dead-end street for the working class. It can never end exploitation. Only communist revolution can do that.
Trade unionism only administers the terms of our exploitation; it doesn’t eliminate it. Eliminating it requires ending wage slavery, ending our need to sell our labor power to the capitalists to survive.
For that we need to destroy capitalism, money and the market: nothing will be bought or sold. Our labor power will never again be a commodity that the capitalists buy as cheaply as possible and exploit to the maximum.
In a communist society we won’t need unions. There won’t be wages or benefits to negotiate. We will all contribute according to our commitment and capabilities and receive according to our needs, without sexism, racism or national borders to divide us.
Our goal is a communist world.  Not only is it possible but we must and can achieve it. We make history, but not necessarily for ourselves. June 15, 1990 made history. But the benefits went to the capitalists and their union “leaders.” 
These “leaders” now receive dues from 225,000 janitors which provide them fabulous salaries and luxurious life styles. The capitalists benefit from trade unionism that supports their electoral system, diverts us workers from communist revolution and traps us in reformism which keeps us enslaved.
The only way to make history for our class is by fighting for communism. We call on the janitors, and all workers, to join the International Communist Workers’ Party and the struggle to mobilize the masses for communism! 

SEATTLE--Thousands of angry teachers across the state of Washington have been participating in staggered “walkouts,” rallies and marches this month. They are targeting the state legislature, which has failed to provide as many dollars to public schools as the state constitution requires. Plus, the legislature in Washington State determines public employees’ salaries, and they have not given teachers a cost of living increase in over 6 years. Voters overwhelmingly passed initiatives demanding teacher raises and money to lower class size. (Washington ranks 45th out of 50 in pupil-teacher ratio.).Yet the state refuses to carry out the law. This is real democracy in action!!
The bosses and their flunkies in the government will never be able to provide working class children with the education they need. Under capitalism, schools are like prisons where the children of the working class are sentenced to 12 years of mind-numbing propaganda and test taking.
When the working class takes power we will establish a different way of teaching/learning, using the ideas of communism. Children will not be segregated from the greater society. They will learn by participating, experimenting, and asking many questions! Everyone will be responsible for the education of the next generation. Most likely, there will be dedicated skilled teachers who will be responsible for many parts of the child’s education. But they will be partnered with many others who have expertise in specific areas.
Also, students will not be separated into social groups according to their age or abilities. They will be encouraged to help others in the collective succeed, rather than strive for individual glory. Since communism will not have wages, or money at all, and everyone will receive what they need, the goal of education will not be the illusion of making a huge salary and buying an expensive car or home. People will train to provide services and useful production for the needs of the masses, not for the profits of the banks and corporations.
Finally, education/learning will be a lifetime pursuit. Not like capitalism, where you are given a specific amount of time to “learn,” then you have to pass a test. If you fail, you are discarded and punished.
It’s time for us to realize that capitalism has no answers for us. It is like a bad apple, rotten to the core. It cannot be saved. It has to be thrown away.  We have to free ourselves from the negativity of reformism.
When we share the ideas of communism with other workers, we all move forward.  They ask us “What will education be like under communism?” Some of us are reading The Road to Life by Anton Makarenko.  The stories in this book show how useful work can become the key educational tool. They are inspiring.
There are other examples. Readers should share their ideas and experiences in Red Flag. This is a very important area and many people are interested!

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