Boeing :Unleash the Power of the Working Class here ♦ Young Boeing Red Flag Reader Wants More on Palestine here ♦
Boeing Workers Key: Unleash the Power of the Working Class
UPDATE Friday, September 13— Thirty-three thousand Boeing Machinists are on strike after 94% voting down the proposed contract. Some strikers report earning less than workers at fast-food restaurants. All are outraged at Boeing management and many are disgusted with their union officials. Thousands are welcoming ICWP comrades and taking communist literature. More next issue!
SEATTLE (USA), September 9 – “Trade union leaders purposely separate economic concerns from mobilizing to end the horror of imperialism.” A comrade was talking with a worker about the upcoming Boeing strike vote. Union officials are urging the rank and file to accept Boeing’s contract proposal.
But we can’t live that way anymore.
The labor market has forced Boeing to hire a younger, more diverse workforce. It is not the only industrial company that has hired workers dead set against increasing genocide and imperialist carnage.
The Gaza genocide is a reminder that the goals of the new workforce and the interests of the Democratic party are not the same. “Labor leaders lose sight of the difference,” admitted a former official of the Communication Workers of America.
Workers have received dozens of daily updates on negotiations. Not one condemns the Gaza genocide or broader international imperialism.
On the other hand, hundreds of Boeing workers have enthusiastically read Red Flag.
“This is good,” said P, who always takes the paper when he sees comrades distributing it. “Boeing workers in this plant need to know about similar struggles around the world.” He took extra papers to give to his co-workers and made sure we had his contact information.
P wants to end Boeing’s imperialist war production. Over the decades, individual workers have refused to make weapons that promote imperialist war. P wants to go further. We talked about building a Boeing Red Flag reading group that could develop into an ICWP (International Communist Workers’ Party) collective.
He was not the only one who wanted to end the Gaza genocide and the march to World War III.
In March, 500 demonstrators protested in downtown Seattle against Boeing imperialist war production. ICWP comrades talked with at least a hundred of them.
These discussions highlighted previous political rebellions of Boeing workers. For example, ICWP comrades and friends had stopped production to hotly debate the separation of families at the US-Mexican border. It proved that Boeing blue-collar workers will step up to mobilize against capitalist atrocities.
A Boeing retiree ended most discussions by inviting protesters to help build more rebellions. What would these rebellions look like in today’s climate? Will they aim to end capitalism or settle for reformist concessions?
The battle for imperialist hegemony works its way into the plants and every other aspect of society. It spreads all over the world, threatening the international working class.
Trade union economics is no match for escalating imperialist rivalry. Billions of the wealth we workers have created has been spent on weapons and wars in a furious attempt to maintain US domination. Hundreds of thousands have lost their lives. Millions have hit the streets to demonstrate against genocide and capitalism/imperialism.
The material basis of capitalist production is exploitation, profits, and competition. A new contract doesn’t destroy the chains of exploitation. It only defines the shape of those chains. As the imperialist rivalry heightens, the shape looks more and more like war on the international working class.
The alternative is communism, where production will focus on the needs of the international working class. There will be no capitalists to profit from our labor. The weapons we produce will defend our communist future.
Our fight goes beyond just the factory. We must break the chains that tie us to the capitalists to unleash the power of the international working class. This means smashing capitalism worldwide with communist armed revolution. Join ICWP to wage this battle for yourself and your children and their children and workers worldwide.
Young Boeing Worker Likes Red Flag, Wants More on Palestine
We recently went to the Boeing plant in Renton to distribute Red Flag. A young worker took the paper and hurried to cross the street before the light changed. A minute later he was back. He thanked us for what we were doing, but then asked, “Where is an article from Palestine?”
He was angry that Boeing was manufacturing weapons being used for genocide in Gaza and that the US was funding it. We apologized that there was no article specifically from Palestine but showed him several articles that referenced Gaza.
We said that we agreed completely with him. We pointed out the website where he could find more articles, plus the Gaza pamphlet. He gladly gave us his contact information and told us that he would definitely visit the website. Then he had to run back inside the gate to report for work on time.
When we got home a comrade sent him a link to the Gaza pamphlet in English and Arabic.
Our recent contact with a younger and more diverse workforce at Boeing is very encouraging. Making the connection between industrial workers and soldiers is key. And we will be emphasizing this when we leaflet the Boeing contract vote on September 12.
—Seattle (USA) collective
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