Communist Solidarity with Striking workers here ♦ Maquila Strike here ♦ Resolving Internal Contradictions here ♦ Bread and Communism here ♦ Soviet bakery here ♦
Communist Solidarity with Striking Sweatshop Workers
EL SALVADOR, March 2— “There is the machinery, the cloth, the raw material, but why is there no production?” a comrade asked. “The workers are needed,” he continued. “It is evident that without our labor, the boss does not make the profits.” The comrade was addressing several workers during the work stoppage carried out in the factory.
This strike was carried out to demand the payment of year-end compensation to the workers from last year. The boss stalled for time, claiming that he did not have the money to settle the debt with the workers. He offered them 60%, stealing part of the compensation, which is 70%, in addition to what he steals from them daily.
Some company unions supported the bosses’ request. Their leaders made a dirty deal with the bosses, turning their backs on the working class.
This infuriated the workers. They gathered in front of the bosses’ offices, stopping part of the production.
ICWP comrades who work in this factory communicated with other comrades, informing them that there was a work stoppage at the request of a union. Immediately a flyer was produced with a message of solidarity and a call to organize in the ICWP and fight directly for Communism.
The flyer emphasized that the ICWP is not fighting for reforms. It is massifying the communist political line among the working class, to end the exploitation and misery of capitalism, which is a dead end.
While a group traveled to the capital, another comrade printed the flyer. It was also shared online with the comrades inside. We arrived just as the workers were leaving. We distributed three hundred flyers which were received with joyful expressions. “Thank you, comrade, we are in the struggle,” said a worker as he took the leaflet.
This really scared the bosses, who, as always, called their police dogs to protect them.
Other party comrades shared encouraging messages with the workers on social media. “Don’t be fooled or intimidated by fake boss-allied union leaders, police, or employers,” wrote a health worker.
“This is an opportunity to do political organizing work in this concentration,” declared a comrade.
And this is what members of the International Communist Workers’ Party did. They were in this action to explain to the women and men workers that we must fight to the death to change the capitalist system. We need communist revolution.
El Salvador Maquila Strike: Workers Won’t Sit Idly By
El Salvador. March 2, this day we, enraged maquila workers, have demanded our rights as workers before the employers, carrying out a work stoppage. What led us to stand up and not stand idly by was that all of us have many needs and responsibilities that force us to leave our children in the care of people we know (or don’t). We pay for water, electricity, food, and many other basic and essential needs.
The employers are denying us our compensation. This is a clear example of the exploitation to which we are subjected. The boss wanted us to accept 60% of our monthly compensation at the end of the year when in previous years he gave 70%. And this is not enough to support our home and our children.
With our fellow workers we were on a work stoppage from 7 am to 4 pm fighting to get what we could. We demanded 100% of our compensation from the boss. We met with representatives from the labor ministry to reach an agreement.
We hope that with all our struggle they will realize that the working class is no longer there to sit idly by. And that whatever comes, we will continue fighting.
We are very grateful that our International Communist Workers’ Party stood in solidarity with our workers’ struggle. And they brought flyers outside the factory to mobilize the masses to continue fighting for our cause.
My dear comrades, I invite you not to remain silent. We should join forces so as not to be exploited and oppressed.
—Comrade maquila worker
Resolving Internal Contradictions to Advance the Party’s Work
EL SALVADOR, March 1—Several young women and men attended the international conference here in December. We believe this is important for the development of new leaders, for they are key to Party life now and in the future.
One young man in particular, S, who had attended previous meetings and conferences as a young student, now participated as a worker.
I think that made him feel more responsible. When a comrade asked him if he wanted to speak, he said, “I still don’t want to talk, I want to listen and understand better.” But he did write a letter for Red Flag at the conference.
This made him pay close attention when the edition with his letter came out. He constantly asked party comrades, “Has the newspaper arrived yet?”
The comrade who had invited him to the conference replied, “Yes, I’ll give it to you later.”
But what was really happening was that she was putting off giving it to him. She was a little afraid to give it to him, because she believed that because of his youthful impetuousness he might not take the necessary precautions and could be fired from the company.
“I didn’t want to feel responsible for his dismissal,” said the comrade worker.
The comrade presented this problem at a collective meeting. We talked about it and a comrade said, “We must overcome this contradiction. We must talk to S about how we do the organizational work and Red Flag distribution.”
“We are all afraid of losing our jobs, but that should not paralyze us,” replied another comrade. “Young people like him are needed in the fight for communism.”
“I understand the comrade’s fear, but the practical work of speaking daily with more men and women workers will help us to have more confidence in our class,” said another.
The experiences of each one of us should serve as a guide in this fight. How did we get to ICWP? How do we recruit someone else? Contradictions do not limit political work. They are overcome by discussing them collectively. We must learn to trust others.
“I admire the comrade because she brought this point to the collective. This provided the opportunity to know the opinions of the rest of the group. That gave me more confidence in how to address this point with the young worker,” said another comrade.
This has helped us a lot in understanding that the internal contradictions must be discussed. Ignoring them limits the growth of the party. Ending the contradiction is called resolving it. These are big steps that will lead us to resolve the main contradiction in our work.
This situation that the comrade raised helped to better understand the communist philosophy, because we find cases like this when we do practical work.
“I consider it important that the comrade raised the point in the collective, it shows that our communist practice is at a higher level,” said another comrade.
From this discussion came the plan to integrate it into a collective that strengthens the collective experience of organizing the struggle for Communism.
Bread and Communism for the Masses
“Greetings, everyone! It’s the first time I’m in this kind of meeting. I came at the invitation of a friend who is here too. I don’t work in the factory, I work in a bakery,” said a young worker.
“How many workers work there?” Celia asked.
“We are many,” he replied. “There are many branches here and there are also bakeries in another country.”
“Well, it’s a factory that produces bread, and a pretty big one,” Celia said again.
“However, not everyone in the area can buy the bread that is produced there. It’s a bit expensive,” said Carmen. “The bread produced is sold for profit, through the exploitation of the workers. Each capitalist seeks to earn more money, pay less, and make the workers work for higher production goals, and generally without overtime pay or by paying a pittance for it.
“In communism,” Carmen continued, “the production of bread will be to satisfy the collective need to feed the people of the community, producing what is going to be needed. The International Communist Workers’ Party fights for that,” she concluded.
“I had never thought of it that way,” said Santiago. “I was asked to be here to learn about aspects of how life could be for the workers.”
In this bread factory there is an opportunity to distribute the Red Flag newspaper and organize more workers. This young man considered passing it on to co-workers.
The worker who invited this young man had attended the recent international conference with his family for the first time. The work of recruiting others to the communist struggle is an every-day task. It is our only chance to change our lives, changing the capitalist system, fighting for the Communist system.
Things will not change in this rotten system. It is time to get out of it by mobilizing the masses for Communism.
This enlarged meeting encouraged us a lot, because young women and men workers from other factories attended. Organizational work is expanding, and Red Flag is reaching more workers.
—Comrade in El Salvador.
On August 26, 1921, organized workers took over the Bruree Bakery and Mills in Ireland. They raised a red flag and a banner proclaiming “Bruree Soviet Workers Mills. We Make Bread Not Profits.” This was only one of a number of Workers’ Soviets organized in Ireland during the Irish War of Independence and throughout Europe inspired by the Russian Revolution.
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