Important Criticism of the last issue here ⊠End Imperialist Wars with Communist Revolution here ⊠Stop Gaza Genocide here ⊠Hurricane-A Capitalist Disaster here ⊠Letter About Barbie here âŠ
Important Criticism of Last Issue
Our collective in Delhi, India discussed the articles in Vol. 14 #14. In India, we print a shorter version of Red Flag, which is usually the first three pages. We thought the letter on page three, by a Los Angeles teacher, needed an editorial comment.
The author of the letter had an opportunity to explain the ruling class propaganda of âboth sides are to blameâ and âIsrael was only respondingâ. The author never once said there was a genocide happening in Gaza.
You can only explain genocide if you understand history. The writer could have explained the historical emergence of colonialism, Zionism, ultra racism in the Israeli ruling class. This has resulted in mass expulsions, brutal wars after wars for domination, deliberate attacks on the civilian populations in Gaza and the West Bank, that have been going on for a long time.
Instead, the authorâs assertion of building unity between Israeli and Palestinian workers is not going to convince many people. It is mechanical, ahistorical. In India, we are bombarded with anti-Muslim/anti-Dalit hate propaganda by the fascist BJP. We make a breakthrough in recruitment by ideologically struggling with the masses by looking deeper at the colonial history that created the social class of Hindu and Muslim.
âDelhi collective in the struggle
Red Flag responds: Thank you. We agree that the letter was mechanical and ahistorical. It should not have been on page three, and we should have commented on it critically.
End Imperialist Wars, Fight for a Communist Revolution.
âI feel completely frustrated and helpless about the indiscriminate attacks on humanity, hostage taking, forced displacement, bombings, a complete genocide. Is this war worth it?â commented J.
âAn artificial state founded by British imperialists with the excuse of early 20th century Zionism, to defend British and US imperialist interests in the Middle East is leading to the bloodiest genocide of the 21st century,â J concluded.
âNo, none of this has to do with the Jewish people, none of it has to do with the Muslim faithful. They are just people stripped of their dignity, of their lives, so that a few politicians can hold power for a while longer,â said R.
The problem is Zionism, which is a racist ultra-nationalist ideology that defends the superiority of Jews over Arabs. Israelâs defense minister demonstrated this when he spoke of Palestinians as animals. This is the policy promoted by Netanyahuâs fascist government. This ultra-right-winger even blamed the Nazi genocide not on Hitler, but on the Arabs!
It is a crucial time to fight and mobilize the masses for a communist system, to reverse the genocide in Gaza.
âWhat difference would it make to this war if we made a communist revolution?â J asked.
The difference is great. That is an imperialist war. Our struggle is for freedom, to materialize our ideals of a common good. To live collectively without wage slavery, without exploitation, sexism or racism, a life without borders, to defeat and end capitalism.
We need a red army to mobilize the masses where young communist soldiers and the working class give leadership for a communist society.
We must spread the ideas of real communism among our working-class brothers and sisters around the world to stop the plans of the imperialist bosses.
Join and be part of our party. It is urgent to build a mass ICWP. Help us strengthen the revolutionary movement we need. Read and distribute Red Flag.
âComrade in El Salvador
Stop Gaza Genocide!
PASADENA (USA), November 13 â âStop Gaza genocide! Cease-fire now!â Hundreds of adults and children gather weekly outside the office of Rep. Judy Chu. Marching across a busy street, they disrupt traffic. Their chants fill the air.
This grass-roots action is growing rapidly.  And the political struggle sharpens. âJudy Chu, you canât hide â stop supporting genocide,â youths chanted. A leader of Jewish Voice for Peace rushed to shut them up: âYou canât say that, youâll push her away.â Typical of how liberals try to cage protests within capitalist politics! Another marcher, a union organizer, intervened: âYou canât tell the young people what to say!â
Meanwhile a Muslim friend told a comrade, âI donât like âfrom the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.ââ She sees that a Hamas-controlled Palestinian state would likely resemble todayâs Iran âand drive out Jewish people.
Comrades and Red Flag readers are raising communist ideas in these protests, reconnecting with old friends, and making new ones. Our party collective will get stronger.
Hurricanes: Not Natural Disasters, But Capitalist Disasters
The death toll, misery, and precariousness left by Hurricane Otis in Acapulco, Coyuca de BenĂtez, and the entire coast of Guerrero are caused by the capitalist system.
The government did not take measures to prevent the damage to people and their property. It has been said that it ignored warnings that the tropical storm would become a highly dangerous hurricane.
Poverty and rudimentary or improvised housing caused the hurricane to affect the working class the most.
The wealth from the areaâs tourist industry remains in the hands of the capitalists. Few workers have sufficient income to buy or build resistant houses.
These ânatural disastersâ fit perfectly into the rulersâ plans. The population doesnât blame them for the natural phenomena, and they are not burdened with the responsibility of reconstruction. So any help is accepted as a benefit, and the politicians see their influence strengthened.
Additionally, they can enrich themselves with the management of supplies. Either they directly divert the official budget, or they make arrangements with suppliers.
President LĂłpez Obrador said that he met with the Mexican bishops to coordinate the aid before going to San Francisco (USA) to participate in the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Forum (APEC).
The Zambrano family owns the Cemex corporation. It also has a cement production plant in Israel, helping to build the walls separating Gaza and the West Bank from Israel. It has announced that âits labor unionâ will take a caravan of trucks with materials for reconstruction. This is âpart of an inter-institutional effortâ in conjunction with private initiative and other social organizations.
The working class, as always, was the first to respond to help those in need. Workers brought food and medicine and helped search for the injured under the rubble. Only the working class saves the working class!
Capitalism is the problem. The solution is to end it, to abolish all buying and selling. First, the buying and selling of labor power. Then we would not need money. Production would be to satisfy present and future human needs. To achieve that we need to mobilize the masses for communism.
âComrade in Mexico
Where âBarbieâ Gets It Wrong:Â Childcare, Consumerism, and Body Image
I liked that the movie review of Barbie invited us into conversation about capitalist gender roles and communist alternatives.
The review describes how a giant Barbie doll disrupts girlsâ play with baby dolls and pretend-housework. The movieâs point was that âBarbie ushered in a new world of possibilities for women beyond the limits of motherhood and domesticity.â
I think we should be much more critical of that.
For starters, over one third of US women already worked outside the home in 1959, when Barbie debuted. Fifty percent of Black women did.
Childrenâs play (in many societies) prepares them for adult work. Taking care of babies is important, useful work. So is housework. The problem isnât that girlsâ play prepares them for this. Itâs that boysâ play doesnât.
Dolls designed for boys (âaction figuresâ) prepare them to fight without questioning why. At worst, âcowboys and Indiansâ invite them to reenact genocide.
Itâs a problem if girls get only dolls and kitchen sets to play with. They need construction toys, art supplies, sports equipment, and much more. But what ânew possibilitiesâ did Barbie represent? Mainly consumerism, as the review notes, especially for clothing. âLetâs go shopping,â said Talking Barbie.   Shopping became the new âwomenâs work.â
Barbie overwhelmed little girls with a distorted image of a grown woman. If Barbie were life-sized, she would be 5’9″ tall with a 39″ bust, an 18″ waist, 33″ hips, and size 3 shoes. An actual woman that height would probably wear at least a size 9 shoe.
Barbieâs feet are deformed to permanently wear high heels. Her hands are tiny. How could she do real work? All the âcareerâ and âathleteâ Barbies are just the same bizarre teen model dressed in Halloween costumes.
Barbie supposedly weighs 110 lbs. A healthy woman that height would weigh at least 145 lbs. Is it coincidental that anorexia spiked in the 1960s as Barbieâs popularity soared? Thatâs when images of the âidealâ female body changed from full-figured (like Marilyn Monroe) to skeletal (like Twiggy).
Studies of hunter-gatherer societies show that children make dolls and learn, through play, to nurture younger children. They also make and use other objects in play and to accomplish actual tasks. Most are full-sized or miniature versions of adult tools. They are learning useful skills for adult roles. In play, they also learn their peer culture.
Children in communist society will probably play more like hunter-gatherer children than like kids in late-stage capitalism. Work will again become the center of culture. Children, like everyone else, will do whatever useful work they can. âChild laborâ will be valued, not exploited. And yes, that will often include boys as well as girls helping with younger children.
âComrade in Los Angeles (USA
Read Our Pamphlet:
The Communist Fight Against Sexism