Prisoners on the Frontlines of California Firestorms here ♦ Racist Mass Incarceration here ♦ Ukraine to LA: Prisoners Fighting for the Rich here ♦
Prisoners on the Frontlines of California Firestorms
LOS ANGELES, January 12— “My 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?” one comrade asked another. They were distributing leaflets at a grocery store and talking to workers about the current firestorm.
“I don’t think the vast majority of the masses are aware of this exploitation,” 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 capitalism’s climate-induced disasters. It has also exposed the racist exploitation of many workers battling these blazes. Many on the frontlines—nearly one thousand — are inmates participating in the Department of Corrections’ fire camp program.
The inmates who volunteer risk their lives for wages ranging from just $0.16 to $0.74 an hour. They may make as little as $10 a day. 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 often don’t translate into career opportunities because of their status as convicted felons.
What capitalist hypocrisy! The US swears in a convicted felon as President of the United States. So why can’t a former inmate become a firefighter?
Capitalism Has Failed – 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. When the fast-moving Hughes fire erupted, LA Sheriffs delayed for hours before starting to evacuate thousands of prisoners imprisoned nearby ,
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, the 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 up to the reality that WE are all we have. Let’s 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 world—one 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 their 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%. That’s 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 prison growth spurt started in the 1970s. US power was declining worldwide after the US imperialists’ 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 “hammer and the rock” strategy.
The “rock” was crack cocaine, pushed into the cities. The “hammer” was a “war on drugs” which concentrated on arresting its users. Aggressively racist big-city police forces zeroed in on Black and Latinx inner cities. Corrupt racist police framed Black and Latinx youth. Non-violent offenders were imprisoned. “Three Strikes” laws meant longer prison sentences, massive prison construction, and a tremendous expansion of prison labor.
California alone built twenty new prisons during this period. They are 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.
After the Civil War, the white abolitionist Owen Brown, son of John Brown, moved to Pasadena and then Altadena. Many there celebrated him as the last surviving participant in the Harper’s Ferry raid. He remained active in his own ways, including hiring Chinese laborers to protest the racist Chinese Exclusion Act. Masses attended his funeral. His Altadena grave drew a steady stream of pilgrims, down to the present.
Ukraine to LA: Capitalists Use Prisoners to Fight for the Rich
Thanks for the excellent reporting on the Los Angeles fires.
I am a Ukrainian refugee in England. I came here via Poland after the war. Initially, many people welcomed us. But after the government subsidy ran out, I had to find a house to rent and find a job. With my limited English, I started to see how England was built as a racist institution.
England has the highest prison population in Western Europe. While minority groups comprise 14% of the population, they include more than a quarter of the prisoners. I have seen the rulers of both parties use fascist tactics to suppress the minorities. And I am from Kyiv, a person who has seen firsthand the brutality of fascist police and mobs.
It should come as no surprise that Prime Minister Starmer and Zelensky have signed a 100-year security guarantee for Ukraine! It is a sick joke. While the UK is attacking the healthcare workers, creating unlivable conditions for the working class and minorities, they want to defend Ukraine!
Ukraine, on the other hand, is using prisoners to fill up its army. And that is why I am writing to you: when I saw that in Los Angeles, they are using prisoners to fight the fires for astonishingly low wages.
Both in Ukraine and LA, they are using prisoners to fight for the wealthiest people. Zelensky has luxurious villas in Italy and other European cities. And he is sending the working class to fight for the super-rich.
I am beginning to see the value of the Red Flag. It fights to destroy the wealthy capitalists. In Ukraine, I was brainwashed into thinking that communism ruined Ukraine. It was capitalism that ruined the lives of the masses.
I want to salute your efforts in LA. I am in solidarity. The goal that you are espousing of communism is admirable. Please keep sending Red Flag. I always show it to many immigrants who live in my area.
—Reader in the UK
Read our pamphlet:
To End Racism, Mobilize the Masses for Communism