On this page: Target Industrial Workers here ♦ UBI or Revolution here ♦
Days after the vote approving the drafting of a new Constitution for Chile, thousands of protestors demanded that those jailed during the October 2019 protests be freed. The state is guilty for the deaths and imprisonment of many Chileans who took to the streets to protest. The only solution to put an end to the murderous capitalist system is mobilizing the masses for communism. Not with laws, but with a communist revolution.
Target Industrial Workers with Communist Ideas – Isolate the Misleaders
It is important that our communist political work is pushed on top of the agenda, so to speak, or is given priority. I am raising this because as an industrial worker and an activist in the trade union movement, I see a potential for work to get as many workers as possible to our communist ideas.
I couldn’t help but notice that these reformist misleaders are the ones who are a hindrance to advancing communist revolution. If communist political work is done directly targeting the workers, and isolating these misleaders, a lot can be achieved. These useless reformists are happy with how things are because they are benefitting immensely at the status quo.
The more communist ideas are spread to co-workers on the job and off the job, as well as our friends and families, the better. Industrial workers are prepared and ready to fight to overthrow this barbaric system but are discouraged from doing so by these misleaders.
Workers have lost their jobs in hundreds of thousands and the bosses continue to retrench workers unabated.
There is a very strange phenomenon of zigzagging, wherein national strikes would be called. And on the eve of the strike action, these misleaders call off the strike because of some perceived truce or parties finding each other at the eleventh hour. This is all done to kill the revolutionary potential existing among the workers and workers are left disjointed.
Indeed, the sooner we concentrate on building organic leaders the better. Viva industrial and healthcare workers! Viva!!!
—Industrial comrade in South Africa
Talkin’ Bout a Revolution
Yesterday, a teachers’ union Social Justice committee was listening to a report about “Universal Basic Income” (UBI). The speaker mentioned that some conservatives support it to pump more money into the economy and also because growing inequality can lead to “social instability.”
This was a continuation of the discussion described in Red Flag (v. 11 #12) a month ago. We wrote then that “UBI is a capitalist attempt to resolve the irreconcilable contradictions of the capitalist system. Before increasingly impoverished and infuriated masses join the communist revolutionary movement to destroy it.”
When the speaker finished, a comrade asked a question. “Is it possible to fight for UBI without falling into the trap of helping maintain the stability of the capitalist system?”
“That takes us back to the fundamentals: compassion and justice,” said another teacher. “Obviously, our society does not work for improving human lives. Profit comes first.” That led him to bring up revolution. He mentioned that “Dr. King gave his ‘I Have a Dream’ speech in 1963. By 1967, his dream had become a nightmare. He began talking about economic justice.”
Suddenly everyone was talking about revolution. “Even if we get UBI, you still need to have a revolution,” said one.
“I don’t want all-out revolution,” replied someone else. “The conservatives worry about the sustainability of capitalism. Faced with radical social revolution, they would opt for fascism.
“I care about the sustainability of the planet,” she continued. “I think about local cooperatives. Large revolutions don’t always end up the way we want.”
Another teacher identified himself as a socialist. He talked about the National Basketball Association. “Don’t laugh,” he warned. “The players have a contract that guarantees them 50% of the revenue. Imagine if factory workers got that!” But, he said, one owner got half while a dozen players shared the other half.
He hurried to add that UBI would provide immediate help to the worst-off among us. As someone who had experienced extreme poverty himself, he felt this was very important. “They can’t wait for revolution.” As for economic sustainability in an era of disappearing jobs, he proposed the fight for a shorter workweek: “30 hours work for 40 hours pay.”
With that, the meeting moved on to its next topic: single-payer health insurance.
Two things are clear: First, that even many teachers who are deeply involved in electoral politics and reforms are, at the same time, thinking about revolution. Some have read Red Flag or have met with us. And second, that the comrade needs to build closer ties with these folks, to be able to have serious discussions about communism with them.
Teacher comrade
Protest of racist police murder, Philadelphia, USA