Only the Workers Can Save the Workers here ā¦ Prisoners on the Frontline here ā¦ Racist Mass Incarceration here ā¦
Los Angeles Firestorm: Only the Workers Can Save the Workers
LOS ANGELES COUNTY (USA), January 9ā āPeople kept walking up to the Pasadena Job Center and saying, āThis is a personal donation, I just wanted to help,āā reported a volunteer.
āI saw how people are willing to donate their time and energy to help folks they donāt even know,ā she observed.
Three major fires and a host of smaller ones have driven over 100,000 from their homes in the last two days. The flames have destroyed thousands of structures. The major fires are still 0% contained.
Leftist āmutual aidā groups quickly sprang into action. As soon as authorities announced locations for evacuation centers, volunteers started showing up with supplies. They divided into teams to organize distribution.
But when the Red Cross arrived, it shooed away the volunteers who hadnāt registered on their website. The ruling class is terrified of the idea of the masses organizing ourselves! āIf I say my opinions on red cross, it would be lengthy,ā posted a friend.
Capitalism is an Unnatural Disaster
This is not a ānatural disaster.āĀ It is a capitalist disaster. The capitalist drive to maximize profits using fossil fuels created the present climate crisis.
January used to be the height of the rainy season. But Los Angeles has gotten only 0.16 inches of rain in the last eight months. Last winterās rain produced lush growth that dried out in the hot summer and now fuels the blazes.
The dry āSanta Anaā winds that sweep down from the high desert used to blow at over 40 mph. Now they are hurricane-force, gusting to over 70 mph and as high as 134 mph coming down the canyons.
And what do capitalist politicians do? The LA Mayor and City Council cut the firefighting budget firefighting by $23 million last year. They gave the police an extra $126 million for raises! Now there arenāt enough firefighters or equipment or even water.
The federal government is offering FEMA aid, for whatever thatās worth. Weāve seen with Hurricane Katrina and other disasters how much of that money gets skimmed off rather than helping the workers who need it most. And that money is nothing compared to the $billions that the US rulers spend to help fascist rulers in Israel and Ukraine bomb and burn for the sake of super-profits.
The governor called out the California National Guard but for what? āTo stop looters.āĀ Same as the police. Why didnāt they call out the Guard to clear away dangerous brush months ago? Itās capitalism that loots the value workers produce.
As someone posted about the police in a social media chat, ātheir role has always been to serve and protect property and the wealthy.ā
So it was immigrant workers at the Pasadena Jobs Center who organized and trained over a hundred volunteers to cut and clear away fallen trees and branches. Other adults and their children organized a flood of donations of food, water, clothes, and other necessities.
ICWP Communists in the Struggle
Comrades of the International Communist Workersā Party have visited an evacuation center in a working-class neighborhood to distribute literature, make donations, and talk with people. Others are participating with friends in grass-roots relief work and sharing Red Flag with them. Some have offered their homes to those evacuated or burned out. Others produced and distributed a communist leaflet about the fires to MTA transit workers along with Red Flag. Some of us know many people who lost their homes.
The slogan āonly the people can save the peopleā is popular from Quito to Los Angeles. But who are āthe peopleā? Letās be clear that this is a class struggle. The working class must lead the masses to save ourselves from the disastrous rule of the capitalist class.
We need āmutual aidā to save each other from the worst that capitalism throws at us. We also need to save ourselves from capitalism itself. To organize a communist revolution against capitalism. To build a communist society based on āmutual aid,ā not markets. To win a world organized āfrom all according to ability and commitment, to all according to need.ā
That means building the International Communist Workersā Party. Please join and contribute your ideas, your energy, and your skills.
Prisoners on the Frontlines of California Firestorm
LOS ANGELES, January 12ā āMy cousin was in fire camp back in 2009 when he was 18 and incarcerated. Do you think the masses are aware that California has been using prison labor to fight fires?ā one comrade asked another. They were distributing leaflets at a grocery store and talking to workers about the current firestorm.
āI donāt think the vast majority of the masses are aware of this exploitation,ā she replied.
Flames are engulfing southern California at historic levels. They have destroyed over twelve thousand structures and threatened the lives of hundreds of thousands.
This firestorm has exposed our mass vulnerability to capitalismās climate-induced disasters. It has also exposed the racist exploitation of many workers battling these blazes. The majority on the frontlines are inmates participating in the Department of Correctionsā fire camp program. Nearly one thousand inmates are on the frontlines.
The inmates who volunteer risk their lives for wages ranging from just $0.16 to $0.74 an hour. That amounts to only $US 5.80 a day(R110.2, 498.8Rupee). Prison inmates fighting wildfires are four times more likely than professional firefighters to sustain injuries. Yet they are treated as a cheap labor force rather than as valued individuals deserving acknowledgment for their bravery.
Moreover, upon completing their sentences, they face significant barriers to employment despite their experience. They have been trained by firefighters in skills requiring immense courage, discipline, and teamwork. But these rarely translate into career opportunities because of their status as convicted felons.
What capitalist hypocrisy! The US prepares to swear in a convicted felon as President of the United States. So why canāt a former inmate become a firefighter?
Capitalism Has Failed ā We Need Communism
This exploitation underscores the systemic failures of a capitalist State that values profits over people. It leaves both vulnerable communities and the incarcerated to bear the brunt of preventable crisis.
These fires could have been prevented or minimized had resources and labor power been allocated to brush clearance, power line maintenance, and other measures months ago.
Yet, our capitalist infrastructure prioritizes profit over prevention. It ensures that the labor force is deployed reactively rather than proactively. Instead of investing in sustainable solutions, we are left grappling with avoidable disasters year after year.
A communist world will be guided by principles of equity and communal well-being. Labor will be allocated not just to fight fires but to prevent them. Those who commit antisocial acts would contribute to society in ways that teach meaningful skills and foster rehabilitation. Instead, Capitalism perpetuates cycles of exploitation.
Workers everywhere are waking upĀ to the reality that WE are all we have. Letās fight for a society that values human life and abolishes profit. One that invests in prevention, rehabilitation, and collective well-being. We can build a better worldāone where we care for one another and ensure no one is left behind.
From the ashes of this failing system, let us rise together and create a communist society rooted in struggle and solidarity.
Racist Mass Incarceration: A Feature of Declining US Capitalism
In 1972, the US rulers locked up fewer than 300,000 in its prisons and jails. Now there are almost two million, down from a peak of 2.3 million in 2008. The US has the highest number in the world.
One fourth of those prisoners are Latinx. Black and white prisoners each make up about 30% of the prisoners. Thatās in a country where Latinx people are 19% of the population, Black people are 14%, and whites are 59%. Native American and Alaskan Native people are locked up at rates almost as high as Black workers.
And only one in a million prisoners are rich. The prisons, like everything else in capitalism, leads with racism to attack the entire working class.
The growth spurt started in the 1970s, with the decline of US power worldwide after the US imperialistsā defeat in Vietnam and the OPEC oil embargo. It sped up in the 1980s and 1990s. Factories started shutting down throughout the US. Mass unemployment devastated working-class communities. The ruling class remembered the Black-led rebellions of workers, soldiers, and sailors in the 1960s. It embarked on a āhammer and the rockā strategy.
That meant pushing crack cocaine into the cities and a āwar on drugsā which concentrated on arresting its users. Aggressively policing zeroed in on Black and Latinx inner cities by racist big-city police forces. Corrupt racist police framed Black and Latinx youth. Non-violent offenders were imprisoned. āThree Strikesā laws meant longer prison sentences, massive prison construction projects, and a tremendous expansion of prison labor.
California alone built twenty new prisons, now seriously overcrowded. Increasing numbers of Black and Latinx men and boys, especially, are trapped in the prison system. One way out is to join a fire-fighting squad.