Maquila Workers Discuss Communist Class Consciousness here ♦ Letter: Against Capitalist Layoffs, Communist Workers’ Revolution! here ♦
Maquila Workers Discuss Communist Class Consciousness
EL SALVADOR, September 29—”We have already received Red Flag. Now comes the most important thing: collective discussion of the articles,” a young comrade commented.
“I’m in,” added an ICWP teacher.
To this end, a videoconference was organized about an article in Red Flag. It was attended by maquila workers, health and education workers, and informal workers. This was the first videoconference organized by workers in El Salvador to discuss communist philosophy. Very enthusiastic comrades made time on their only day of rest and punctually attended.
They read and discussed the article: “Class Consciousness: One of Our Greatest Weapons.” In it, Boeing workers talk about the exploitation of workers, the rivalry between empires, the increase in repressive actions worldwide by capitalists, and a historical review of workers’ struggles in the face of injustices. It closes with a very sharp and pointed approach to class consciousness.
Each comrade read paragraphs of the article and then commented. The end of the reading marked the beginning of the general discussion.
“To talk about class consciousness is to talk about why we fight, why we are exploited and to realize what class we belong to,” said a health worker. “It is to understand why the massacre in Gaza, the expulsion of immigrants in the United States, the attack on pensioners in Argentina and the repression in El Salvador are happening.”
“These discussions motivate and strengthen us,” said P, a maquila worker. “Since we started in the ICWP many comrades come up to us and tell us that they already know that the International Communist Workers’ Party exists inside the factory, but they want to know: What is the party? What is communism? Why do they fight?
“Sometimes we feel that we are going very slowly and it seems that the comrades do not understand communist ideas,” P continued.
A former combatant during the revolutionary process in El Salvador added: “It is a misconception to believe that the working class is not ready for communism. In the past, during the Russian Revolution and in China, even during the civil war in El Salvador, the masses embraced communist ideas. They joined the armed struggle, in addition to putting communist philosophy into practice.”
“The process is: practice, theory, practice.”
Another colleague from the factory, O, joined the discussion. “We need this to be massive, that the workers of not one but all the maquilas (factories) know communism and rise up against capitalism.”
The article discussed the genocide in Gaza, Boeing workers’ interest in learning about past experiences (strikes), the refusal of US Navy reservists to build cages for Haitian immigrants, and the massacres in Ukraine and Sudan
A comrade Red Flag reader mentioned: “We are seeing the attacks of capitalism here. In the schools of El Salvador, a dress and conduct code is being demanded to mold children into a mode of thought based on military doctrine. With the whole system of penances and punishments, this is creating conflict in families. It is an example of how they use education to manipulate us and make us believe that they are not the enemy.”
It is important to understand that the development of each member of the party is not the same. That there are qualitative and quantitative changes. That internal struggle (the internal contradictions, as an education worker put it) is the most difficult to wage. Collective discussion strengthens our communist work. We must unlearn capitalist ideas and concepts about the functioning of society and the economy. And throw ourselves into practice and the study of theory to develop communist class consciousness.
Understanding that we are the working class, that we are exploited and learning how capitalism exploits and divides us, will mark a before and after in ICWP’s struggle directly for communism. Class consciousness is what drives us to build common objectives. It obliges us to carry out concrete actions (political struggle and armed struggle).
Thanks to the work of the ICWP collectives in El Salvador, this discussion was able to be carried out from beginning to end. It will correct difficulties along the way, helping to improve future experience and the fruits of the work.
Class consciousness is the weapon that will free us from our chains.
Letter: Against Capitalist Layoffs, Communist Workers’ Revolution!
“For all capitalists, workers are disposable, replaceable, and never indispensable,” said J in a meeting of the garment workers’ collective in El Salvador. “I gave ten years of my life to my exploitative work, with miserable wages, only to be fired one day without warning. Many others are just like me.”
“We live in a system that prioritizes profits over people. In capitalism, workers are often seen as trash, not as human beings with lives, families, and dignity. They play with our minds to make us feel like we need the bosses. Quite the opposite, they need us. We, the working class, produce the wealth that fills their pockets,” added A.
When a company lays off hundreds or thousands of employees to “cut costs” or “increase efficiency,” what it is really doing is sacrificing the livelihoods of many for the benefit of a few, the “ruling class.”
Mass layoffs are neither mistakes nor “capitalist necessities.” They are simply a clear image of a rotten system that thrives on our exploitation. Capitalism is sustained by the sweat of the working class. When profits fall short of the goals required to satisfy the rotten capitalists, we are the ones who pay the price with unemployment, hunger, and misery.
“Every worker laid off is proof that in this system, life has no value, only profits. The capitalists talk about ‘restructuring’ and ‘efficiency,’ but what they really seek is to maximize their fortunes. They rob us of the fruits of our labor and then discard us as if we were useless tools,” added D.
We must open our eyes, make our voices heard, and fight to build a new communist society based on the well-being of all workers and no longer based on bosses’ profits.
At the end of our discussion, we concluded to continue it as well as the distribution of Red Flag. We are making it clear that the working class must understand that the dialectical materialism taught by our party, the International Communist Workers’ Party (ICWP), shows us the way to defeat the crumbs that the capitalist bosses give us workers. This will put an end to the rotten profit system of the capitalist ruling class.
It is necessary to fulfill our objective of bringing the ICWP’s political line to more comrades for the construction of a mass party that will fight for all workers. For a communist system that meets the needs of all. Let us unite and fight for the working class. Let us fight for our communist revolution. Communism is our solution.
—Comrades in El Salvador