FIGHT FOR COMMUNISM!
	International Communist Workers Party
To Contact ICWP, send an email to: icwp@anonymousspeech.com            Tweet

LOS ANGELES--“I got suspended for two days without pay for being late,” commented an MTA operator to a Red Flag distributor.
“How long have you been working for the company?” inquired our comrade.
“12 years,” she answered and spoke about her reasons for being late.
Our comrade was sympathetic but unfortunately did not use this incident to try to show how a communist society would deal with the questions of punctuality and discipline.
This article is an attempt to try to correct this error. Its purpose is also to show the need for communists to use every attack against the working class – no matter how little – to expose capitalism for the vicious murdering system it is, and to put forward our vision of a communist world run by the working class.
Like everything in a class society punctuality and discipline bear a class stamp. Under capitalism, punctuality’s main purpose is to guarantee the timely and uninterrupted flow of the bosses’ profits.  Discipline is to force workers to toe the bosses’ line, terrorize them into passivity, and discourage them from organizing or rebelling against their capitalist slave masters.
Why do MTA workers need to be punctual? An MTA operator once correctly commented to a Red Flag distributor, “My job is to take workers from their home to the plantation and back! We are all just wage slaves.”
MTA operators transport some 1.2 million riders daily. Some of them are youth taken to school to be trained and disciplined to be punctual and obedient future wage slaves and patriotic soldiers to fight and die for capitalism. The majority, however, are wage slaves going to factories or workplaces to produce profits for their capitalist masters.
Tens of thousands of them toil for low wages as janitors, garment, hotel or fast food workers. They produce tens of billions of dollars in profits a year for their slave masters.
MTA is their only means of transportation. This is why MTA workers must be punctual and those buses must keep on rolling. MTA’s and those wage slaves must be punctual or they will be admonished, suspended or fired for being late.
In communism, workers will be punctual based on their commitment and dedication to the working class. However, we would not plan situations where the absence or tardiness of one or even several workers would deprive someone of their vital needs or endanger their lives.
In situations where workers’ presence and labor is crucially needed no matter by how few or how many, punctuality will not be the responsibility of only one worker but of as many collectives as needed.
This will guarantee that no matter how many workers can’t be there on time there will always be enough workers to take care of whatever is needed – regardless of how many workers, resources and time it takes. 
Communist social and production relations will create human beings whose main concern will be how best to serve the needs of other human beings, individually and collectively. Only then can the Christian concept of “Love thy neighbor as thyself” be fully implemented. 
Communist discipline is based on love of the working class. Capitalist discipline is based on the bosses’ love of money and their need to maximize profits. They rely on bribes and terror to discipline their wage slaves.
“If an MTA operator is late three more times in a period of 6 months after the first suspension, he or she can be terminated,” commented another veteran MTA operator.
One of the capitalists’ main weapons to terrorize us into obedience is to deny us the means of survival for us and our families. Communism will never do that!
Our collectivity and cooperation will guarantee that no one’s tardiness or absence will impact someone’s vital needs negatively. There will always be someone available to take their place.
No one will be fired in a communist society. We will struggle comradely and collectively with all workers to strengthen their commitment and love for our class. If for some reason someone is incompatible with a specific work, there will always be other creative useful work for them.
Only communism can do this. All Red Flag readers and distributors need to join ICWP to make this communist humane world a reality

Next Article