Use Red Flag to Organize for Communism

More Opportunities Now to Bring Communism to Students here ♦ Organize workers and Soldiers for Communist Revolution to End Genocide here ♦ We’re Optimistic About the Working Class here ♦

More Opportunities Now to Bring Communism to Students

As I walked into the university classroom the day after the US elections, a classmate asked me, “What do you think?” She was referring to the election results.

“Welcome to fascism,” I replied. Most classmates were not surprised. Some mentioned that it was the result of rejecting a woman. Others, that it was a rejection of the Biden administration. When someone said that it represented an increase in the level of racism in the US, everyone nodded.

The professor arrived and started class.

During the break the professor left. I took Red Flag out of my bag and began handing it out to my classmates. “You already know that I am a communist,” I mentioned.

In a class session weeks ago we started to study Marxist theory. Alexis, a classmate who has been receiving the newspaper since last semester, said to me out loud in class and with the professor present, “Oh, you are going to like this.” Turning to the other students, she added, “He is a communist.”

Well, that day after the elections, while handing out Red Flag, I admitted to them, “Now with Trump’s victory I told myself that I have to be more courageous in sharing my ideas.” While the students looked through the paper, I added, “I belong to the International Communist Workers’ Party.” I mentioned that we are present in Tel Aviv and Gaza, among other places. I could see that everyone was really interested.

Alexis suddenly said, “You should offer it to the professor.”

“You think so?” I replied.

“Yes, you saw that when I mentioned that you were a communist, he didn’t show any displeasure or anything.”

When the professor came back, all the students were looking through the paper.

As he sat down, I said, “Look, I want to share this paper with you. Alexis encouraged me to do so.” I repeated what I had told the students, but this time I added, “We are a party of a new type. We do not call ourselves Maoists, Trotskyists, or Stalinists. However, we recognize the mistakes as well as the great advances of past revolutions.”

He looked at the front page and opened the paper and asked, “Do you contribute to the paper?”

“Yes, from time to time,” I replied. “This time I contributed to the article about the elections.”

He nodded approvingly and said, “That’s good. But now we have to continue with the class.”

I must have more confidence and more courage. Fascist ideas and practices are only opposed by communist ideas and practices. Communist work is done step by step, and experiences are accumulated to create more opportunities.

These opportunities exist at workplaces, barracks, in neighborhoods, and among our families as well as in schools.

I will continue sharing Red Flag with my classmates. And before the semester ends, I will make sure to get all their contact information. Not only so they continue receiving the newspaper, but also to involve them in party activities and be able to recruit them.

—Red Student

Strategy to End Genocide: Organize Workers and Soldiers for Communist Revolution

“Many of us are out here every week because we want to be ‘on the right side of history,’” I said to a new participant at a local rally for Palestine. She had already taken a copy of Red Flag.

“We want to be in community rather than home alone. We want others to see us and know that they are not alone. But none of this is a strategy for ending genocide.”

“What could?” she asked.

“Let’s start by understanding that capitalism and imperialism are the root cause of the occupation and genocide in Palestine,” I suggested. She readily agreed.

“Then the solution is ending capitalism and building an entirely different society. We chant ‘the only solution: intifada, revolution.’ That’s true here, not just in Palestine. But it needs to be revolution for communism. Working to meet everyone’s needs— no wages, markets, or profits.”

Watching her reaction, I continued. “That means armed struggle. Industrial workers and soldiers are key.”

“I’ve heard people talk about workers,” she said, “but not about soldiers.”

“The muscle behind imperialism is its military,” I said. “But who are the soldiers and sailors? Not the children of the rich! They mostly come from the working class. Often from its most oppressed sectors. They join because they don’t see better options, not out of patriotism. An estimated 25% of US soldiers are food-insecure while they serve.”

I could see that she was interested and went on. “A big part of our strategy is organizing inside the military to get soldiers and sailors to fight for their own working-class interest, not for imperialism. To fight for communist revolution, taking their weapons and military training with them.”

“What about the Israeli military?” she wanted to know. “After the indoctrination they get all their lives?”

“I think that’s harder,” I answered. “But we are already hearing about soldiers coming back from Gaza with PTSD and no way to get treatment. We hear about veterans from some units requesting, in groups, not to be reassigned to combat. Groups like Combatants for Peace are growing. None of this is revolutionary organizing, of course, but we think the potential is there. Comrades in Tel Aviv are talking to soldiers.”

“My partner would like to talk to you, too,” she offered. Then the crowd started chanting, ending our conversation. But she took my contact information.

This is the third or fourth such conversation that I’ve had at several local protests in the last few weeks. There will be more. I see my main task now as solidifying relationships with some of these “street-corner friends” over coffee or a shared meal. Then I’ll learn more about what they think. And whether some are open to joining the ICWP.

—Comrade in California (USA)

For more about organizing inside the military, read our pamphlet:

Soldiers, Sailors and Marines: Crucial for Communist WorkersRevolution here

We’re Not Optimistic about Capitalism—But We’re Optimistic about the Working Class

“Things are getting better at Metro,” said a bus operator, reaching for a Red Flag. “Schedules are back to normal after the pandemic, and people seem to be calming down. You should write about that.”

“Some things are getting better, but others are not,” I replied.  “Most working-class people are finding it harder to make ends meet. Prices go up, but not wages. Wars are spreading.”

“Things have got to get better,” the bus operator insisted.

“We need for them to get better, but that doesn’t mean they will get better, as long as the rich people control everything,” I said. “There are threats of mass deportations.  Federal budget cuts could hit public transportation as well as education and other things. How much federal funding does MTA get?”

Neither of us knew.  It turns out that the US Department of Transportation just awarded LA Metro almost $900 million.  That’s about 10% of Metro’s annual budget.

The worker, born in the US, remembered the exploitation and mass deportations his Mexican-born parents faced in Los Angeles in the 1970s.  Life is easier for him now than it was when he was growing up.  He has been at Metro long enough to get a schedule he likes.  But he would like a mechanic’s job, and there is no pathway for him to get that.

We talked about other things – like industrial training programs at community colleges that funnel graduates directly to the employers.  I said that the capitalist crisis and growing wars were going to affect workers like him.

Bottom line is that this worker is interested in what we have to say. But he doesn’t see a problem that could require a communist solution.

I have been distributing Red Flag at this workplace for longer, it seems, than most of the workers have been there. Over fifty workers usually take copies (some more than one).  Some are younger and newer to the job. Some are long-time readers.

Comrades and other readers who regularly see co-workers or classmates are in the best position to convince them, over time, to join the struggle for communism.  Same with friends and family.

Our communist analysis is based on past and present material reality.  We will convince some sooner, some (like this bus operator) probably later – with patient, comradely, and sharp struggle.

—Comrade in Los Angeles (USA)

Front page of this issue