Conversations about Capitalist Education, Red Flag, Peru

Communist Collectivity, Not Capitalist Certificates here ♦ Who Writes Red Flag? Transit Workers Want to Know here ♦ Peruvian Masses Continue Fighting against Repression and Racism here ♦

Communist Collectivity, Not Capitalist Certificates

LOS ANGELES (USA), February 11— “Schools in capitalism serve capitalist interests,” declared an article in the last issue of Red Flag.

Two comrades shared this article with close to thirty Red Flag readers involved in community colleges.  Several offered comments based on experiences fighting racist policy changes.

 “Through unions and professional organizations,” the article said, faculty “meet with politicians and bureaucrats. The big shots brush them off.”

“It is a good article and a pretty accurate assessment of unions,” said one activist.

“I would like to see the emphasis on degrees and certificates to serve the capitalist class while deemphasizing actual education and critical thinking to challenge the status quo,” he continued.

The other friend said the same: “Make a connection to the degrees/certificates that are being pushed and what jobs folks are supposed to get.

“In addition to flooding the work force without any real education, I can see how degrees/certificates may be worthless. Even when one is employed as a teacher of some sort, there will be no real way to pass on their ‘education’ to the community.

“People of color will never make the strides necessary to close education gaps or income gaps,” he concluded.

And under capitalism, they won’t, no matter how good a job teachers do in their classrooms.

These Red Flag readers are right. We haven’t said enough about the degrees and programs the capitalists push.

“California’s community colleges are the largest provider of workforce training in the world,” boasts the State Chancellor’s Office website. Colleges scramble to create new programs in response to a changing labor market.

Before Covid, tourism boomed and certificates in “hospitality” were hot.  Once, hotels trained desk clerks and banquet servers on the job.  “Workforce training” meant that the job-seeker and taxpayers would pay for that training instead.  Today, hotel jobs are scarce. The certificates are worth less than ever.

Los Angeles MTA advertises for bus operators. Los Angeles Valley College has a two-week program to prepare you for a job starting at $23.22/hour. In LA, that’s little more than a “living wage” for a single worker without children.

A shortage of childcare workers prevents employers from hiring women for open jobs.  West Los Angeles College creates a program for Spanish-speaking adults to get childcare certificates while taking non-credit English as a Second Language.  Expect to start at the poverty-level minimum wage, with little room for advancement.

Unsurprisingly, the certificates pushed hardest are in areas of labor shortages.  From the point of view of an unemployed student, why not get certified for such a job?  Wouldn’t communists prepare more workers to fill the greatest needs, too?

Yes, but.

In communism, the “greatest needs” will be those of the masses, not determined (as today) by what’s profitable or necessary for the imperialists’ wars.

Nobody’s labor will be exploited for profit. Nobody will live better or worse than anyone else, no matter what work they do. Ending the wage system will destroy the foundations of racism, sexism, and all discrimination.

Communism won’t use “degrees” or “certificates” to determine who can work. Most learning will be “on the job.” Everyone will be able to try something new, working closely with more experienced comrades. Most will do many kinds of work over a year or a lifetime.

Communism prizes critical thinking to imagine, fight for, and create a completely different system.   Communism relies on the masses to help make all important decisions.  Everyone will pass on their knowledge to the next generation.

And that starts now, with Red Flag and the International Communist Workers’ Party.

Who Writes Red Flag? Transit Workers Want to Know

“I always like reading about the Boeing workers,” said a bus operator in Los Angeles as he took his copy of Red Flag. “How do you get that information?”

I told him that some ICWP members in Seattle work (or used to work) at Boeing, and they have many friends who do, too.

“Are you part of MTA?” asked another driver who took the paper.

“No,” I explained, “we are part of the International Communist Workers’ Party, which has collectives in different places around the world. MTA management hates us and won’t let us on the property. We have members who work at MTA, like you do.”

“Who writes your stories?” another wondered. 

“If they are about places where we have a Party collective, like Los Angeles or India or South Africa or El Salvador, then the stories are usually written by the people involved.  If they are about other places, like Peru, then comrades write stories based on information from the mass media, friends, or the internet.”

“I’m from Peru!” the worker replied.

“Then we need you to read the article in this issue and tell us if we got it right.”

“I will tell you next time,” he promised.  Then he told me a little about the role of the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa) in Peru. He described plans to build a Chinese-funded railroad to transport Peruvian natural resources across Brazil to the Atlantic.

We don’t print the names of letter-writers, and Red Flag articles are unsigned. This is partly for the obvious security reasons. More profoundly, we want to avoid a “cult of personality” that could elevate some writers as “experts.”

Almost all articles are created collectively. One or a few people write a first draft and circulate it for comments.  The editorial collective discusses drafts and often suggests revisions.  Someone copy-edits the final version. Sometimes we make more changes while translating and proofreading.

We can always use more help with this!

As I was about to leave, a worker told me, “The workers here are very conservative.”

“Some are, some aren’t,” I replied.

He started describing his many older family members who were Communist Party activists. But he didn’t take the paper this time.

Over forty MTA workers did take copies of Red Flag that day. Some took extras to share. We hope they talk to each other about it! Wherever you are, if Red Flag is distributed at your school or workplace, look out for who else is takes it.  Ask your friends or associates if they got one.  Start conversations about something in Red Flag that interests you.

Steps like these can start to change the political environment.  And if you want to have a more in-depth conversation, please contact us.  We’ll set up an informal meeting to answer your questions more fully.

—Comrade in Los Angeles (USA)

Peruvian Masses Continue Fighting against Repression and Racism

The masses, tired and fed up with the situation that exists under a capitalist system, continue to fight and rebel through protests and strikes. It is a desperate cry and clamor of a working class that wants an end to the racism, sexism, exploitation, and anxiety that this annihilating government gives them.

We were analyzing the strikes in Peru among friends. H told me, “They are reformist strikes that hardly achieve well-being or change for the working class or for the Indigenous peoples. The only thing they seek is to change one group of bosses for others who are liberals.”

We completely agree with this. We know that we will not achieve anything in this way. Regardless of who rules, capitalism will be the same. Therefore, what we need is a communist society overthrowing all the chains of the capitalist wage system and working for the common good.

Chinese Imperialist Investments in Peru

Peru, previously dominated completely by the US imperialists, is now disputed by China. This change is the basis of the fight between local bosses and imperialists.

Chinese companies have consolidated their presence in the mining sector. The Asian giant has injected more than US$16 billion in capital into mining development in Peru since 2009, when both countries signed a free trade agreement. The portfolio of projects to be developed, led by Chinese companies, exceeds US$10 billion.

According to the Peruvian Ministry of Energy and Mines, Chinese-owned companies invested US$577 million in exploration, maintenance, equipment and infrastructure between January and November 2022. These include Las Bambas, Chinalco, Shougang Hierro, Minera Shouxin, and Jinzhao Mining

The focus of Chinese companies is, for now, on copper and iron ore projects. In addition to exploiting deposits, they have been developing port infrastructure works to generate greater economies of scale.

All this as imperialist capitalists who are only moved by their own interests in obtaining enormous profits.

The mega port of Chancay, strategic only for trade with Asia, that China is building in Peru, generates exploitation and destruction of communities.

A communist society will save the situation, not only in Peru, but in the entire world. We know perfectly well that it is fair and necessary. We are at a point where system change is the solution.

Only with communist revolution will we be able to destroy the entire state apparatus, this entire repressive system, since this entire system is at the service of the moneyed imperialist classes, whether from the US or China.

We must reverse and break these chains of slavery. Only the working-class masses can achieve this by mobilizing ourselves in struggle so that our communist revolution can be heard and sounded, that all power be for the working class and our International Communist Workers’ Party. That’s what we need.

Comrade in El Salvador

Read our Pamphlet:

Communist Education for a Classless Society: here

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