On this page: Anti-racist youth protest Breonna Taylor murder here ♦ Anti-racist workers at Boeing here ♦
September 23 —Antiracist youth confronted cops in Louisville (USA) after a grand jury refused to indict three cops who murdered Breonna Taylor in March. Only one cop was indicted—for “wanton endangerment” of the neighbors. Mass protests will continue in Louisville and other cities. Help bring Red Flag to them wherever possible!
Urgent! Communist Organizers Needed to End Racist Bosses’ Window-Dressing
SEATTLE (US), September 21—Aerospace workers are deeply affected by the mass, anti-racist uprising in the streets. They hotly debate the meaning of the pitched battles between anti-racists and the forces of fascism. Now is the time to deepen and widen our fight for communist solutions, with the goal of recruiting new members to the International Communist Workers’ Party.
Boeing has a long, racist history involving everything from hiring to disproportionate numbers of Black and Latinx workers in the lowest paying jobs to racist threats on the job. Our comrades’ jobs have been threatened when they organized multi-racial, anti-racist struggles on the job.
Even in South Carolina, Boeing has not hired many Black workers. But racist divisions and super-exploitation have resulted in wages about two-thirds lower for all in the South Carolina plants. Racist super-exploitation becomes even more necessary as multiple crises drive Boeing’s balance sheet deeper into the red.
Boeing CEO Runs for Cover
The anti-racist uprising has forced Boeing CEO Calhoun to seek cover. In a memo to all employees, he promised to hire 20% more Black workers. One-fifth of a small number is still a small number. It’s window-dressing.
Adding insult to injury, the company refused to say how many Black workers it currently employs, or what they do, or to give a timetable for the new target. They won’t begin reporting on the racial breakdown until late next year, even though they have those numbers now.
As the company continues to lay off tens of thousands, the percentage of Black and Latinx workers will shrink. The personnel department consciously avoided recruiting in ZIP codes where a large number of Black and Latinx workers live. Only recently have a few people of color made it to the shop floor. Now they are losing their jobs.
By next year the number will be significantly smaller. Twenty percent more Black hires may not even bring the number up to the percentage before the layoffs started.
This is par for the course. Reform under capitalism doesn’t end the disease of racism. Actually, it prolongs it. And the atrocities become even more horrendous on the job and throughout society.
Only communism can abolish this disease. In capitalism, the extra profits from racist super-exploitation are essential. In communism there will be no profits. Instead, we’ll produce for our collective needs.
Communism will succeed based on a united working class fighting for our communist society. The racist, sexist and nationalist divisions the capitalists have nurtured will be defeated by communist masses.
Bosses’ “Racial Equity Task Force” Is No Solution
As the workers discussed how insincere this 20% pledge was, the company added another sop. The board of directors will create an internal racial equity task force.
This is not the first time Boeing has used this ploy. In 1999, Jesse Jackson sold out Black and Latinx workers by accepting a $10 million dollar bribe for his Rainbow/PUSH NGO. The company covered up the betrayal by establishing a similar task force. These internal task forces are about as effective as the offices of police accountability.
The dynamic in the streets is already mirrored in the plants. Fascist sympathizers and our communist base fight it out for the hearts and minds of these key industrial workers.
Our Struggle Extends Beyond the Factory
The fight against racism, sexism and nationalism extends way beyond the plant. The unwanted hysterectomies performed at the Georgia immigration detention center hit a nerve. A recently laid-off worker made a point of letting everyone know “the hate and disdain I feel about why the government feels it can do this to other human beings.”
Factory workers can and should be mobilized around all attacks on our class. This makes it even more clear that mobilizing the masses for communism is the only way forward.
Our priority must be to develop and recruit communist organizers. Our collective and friends are showing this article to their friends. We will follow up with the new issue of Red Flag.
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