Developing New Communist Leaders here ♦ From Guerilla to Organizing for Communism here ♦ Factory Workers Create Communist Relations here ♦
ICWP International Conference: Developing New Communist Leaders
EL SALVADOR— “I fought in the country’s armed movement in the 1980s to open a gap to seek equality through the Salvadoran communist party, but it disappointed and betrayed us. A capitalist communist party that lost the vision of communism. We have to talk to our children and grandchildren to explain to them the reason for our struggle and to see the real change to communism through the party that is being built today, ICWP,” said a farmworker comrade ex-guerrilla of the FMLN, during the Conference.
Finally, after so much waiting to be able to be all together, we held the International Conference of our ICWP party which we had been waiting for so long with the emotion that each one of the participants carried.
More than seventy comrades and friends attended via Zoom and in person. New comrades from eastern Canada, Texas, and the UK joined new and veteran comrades from South Africa, the US West Coast, and El Salvador. It has been a crucial and important moment for communism and our working class around the world. We had the opportunity to strengthen the masses, which is our direct objective. We unified ourselves for the struggle for communism.
For two years we had not had a conference like this one, due to the global health problems that we all face, the COVID 19 pandemic. Many of our comrades were affected. But despite all these problems we continue to struggle, to advance in industrial work, facing the obstacles to being able to conduct our cell meetings.
We designed new methods and adapted to a new stage because it brought us together in a virtual way. Thanks to all this, we were able to maintain our communist struggle and our line, to continue to organize with commitment and responsibility, as we demonstrated in our International Conference.
The conference showed important points such as the leadership of women within the party. There was communist ideological struggle against racism, xenophobia, and sexism. We discussed the key role played by our Red Flag newspaper. The International reports and the report of the work in the maquilas focused, with analysis and evaluation, on building the collectives and creating new communist leaders.
A comrade worker commented, “We are class brothers and sisters, one family. We are one class, and one Party.”
An 11-year-old who participated in the conference, the daughter of a comrade, commented, “I did not understand. I didn’t know what communism was because on television or in schools they tell us very different things. And when I listen to all of you, I like that we are part of the party in search of a common good; that we have a voice in equality and equity. I am happy to be part of this.”
Stories, experiences, and ideas were shared that united us as a communist family.
It was a key moment for growth, where everyone united under the same line of our Party. The world’s working class felt a human warmth and international support to move forward for our struggle.
It has been an experience of personal and collective growth and at the same time it strengthened the foundation that only the communist revolution can put an end to capitalist oppression and fascism.
Long Live Communism!
El Salvador Comrade: From the Guerrilla to Factory Organizing for Communism
EL SALVADOR – For 20 years I have been working in the free trade zone, better known as the maquilas. Here in this International Communist Conference, we are comrades who have different jobs, but we are fighting for the same goal.
My uncles were FMLN guerrilla fighters. I was about six years old when one of my uncles had already fallen in combat. I don’t remember him. But I remember my other uncle. I asked him, “Why do you go around carrying a rifle?”
He said, “Do you see all this land? It is all owned by only one person. He doesn’t need it. We are fighting so that all of this belongs to everyone who works on it.”
So I told him, “I want to go with you.”
He just started laughing again and told me, “Eat a lot so you can handle the rifle.”
I ate a lot and every time he visited, I asked him, “Can I handle the rifle?”
And he always told me, “ You need a little bit more.”
Time passed until the “peace” agreements were signed, with which he did not agree, because they were the ones who fought, and they had no voice or vote. Their dream of a change ran out.
In 2014 a fellow worker invited me to have coffee. He took the opportunity to tell me about the existence of the Party. He said there were more members inside and outside the maquilas and also outside the country. That it was an international party, of many workers fighting for a communist world.
That was where I first met our Red Flag newspaper. He explained to me that in this newspaper you find many experiences of men and women workers in other countries with the same problems.
I wanted to know more. I participated with my family for the first time in a party meeting, which was led by a cell of young people. I liked it very much. I kept meeting and receiving Red Flag.
Then May Day came. I decided to go for the first time to march for communism. The surprise that I was not expecting was when I saw a group of farmworkers waiting for us to join the march with them. I said this is the road that I had lost and that I finally found again.
From that day on I decided to work for the working class in the ICWP.
How do we women do political work in the party? It’s not easy because we have work at home and in the factory, but we always find time to organize more co-workers for the party.
In the party I have learned that women and men can do political work. That is, we do it by recruiting more members for the communist struggle, taking responsibility for the collectives.
Likewise, at home I have understood that the responsibilities must be shared.
A few months ago, we visited other maquilas. We took our Red Flag newspaper. We have followed up with a couple that we hoped to have here now, but it is not easy. They haven’t closed the door to us, but I think there is a little fear of what they don’t know. But we are not going to give up.
We are talking with another co-worker. We already talked to him about the Party, and he told us that he wants to know more.
I also use the same technique that they used with me. I invite a co-worker to have coffee to talk to them about communist ideas. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t, but perseverance is what works to overcome the obstacles.
Factory Workers Create Communist Relations and Fight to Attend Communist Conference
EL SALVADOR— “We already have a commitment to the Party to attend the international communist conference and we are not going to fail. The Party and the Red Flag were with us in the moments of greatest crisis due to the Covid-19 pandemic,” said worker M.
This was in response to the factory bosses who said, “You must sign up to produce this order (Work during the holiday season).” This started a sharp political struggle between the workers and the boss.
“Because we do have to produce their profits, even on vacation, and they even deny us permission to go to a medical appointment,” answered a worker leader of ICWP.
A group of workers, men and women, signed up to work for fear of employer reprisals, such as layoffs. But another group remained firm in participating in the conference.
The central focus of work in the industrial area has begun to evolve as the International Communist Workers’ Party, through organizational practice, is aiming to mobilize the working class to fight directly for communism.
When we talk about fighting to abolish money, to end sexism, racism, xenophobia, and class differences and to work based on meeting our needs, these issues have interested our class. Many have shown interest and asked what they need to do to join the Party. And now they are in the Party.
The role of the Party within the factories is to create communist relations. This includes strengthening friendships among co-workers with the goal of recruiting more workers. It includes having coffee, sharing small details on birthdays, and solidarity in difficult moments as we did in the strongest moment of the health crisis, among others.
These struggles have made it possible to create and maintain a communist base and to show that the future will be communist relations of production, for the benefit of all humanity. In the new society we will not have bosses, and we will be able to produce what we need most urgently. That can only be realized under communism since we will not be producing for profit.
Obstacles we face
*The sexism created by the capitalist system that makes it difficult for women to participate in politics. In addition to sexism by the bosses and co-workers, there were examples of workers who did not attend the conference because their spouses objected to their attending.
*Anti-indigenous racism against farmworkers and city workers
* The nationalism that seeks to divide us by borders.
* Changing the workers’ schedules, strategies of the bosses
* The pandemic that hampered the Party’s organic processes such as extended meetings and study groups.
In the face of these difficulties
*We use social networks to communicate and distribute Red Flag.
*We give attention to the women comrades who can give leadership in the organization.
* Strategies like strengthening relations between men and women workers, which have made it possible to add more workers from other factories
* Meetings that include the family groups of the men and women co-workers; also going to tourist places increased participation in the Party.
* The study of dialectics in study groups, which helps us understand that changes are possible.
* Discussion cells that help keep party members active
* Distribution of our Red Flag newspaper as an effective tool to inform and organize
The relatively mass participation, mainly of women, in the conference provided a secure foundation to build new collectives and leaders of the working class.
We have a Communist World to win!