Mobilize for Communism to Rebuild the World We Need
September 6 – From Mumbai (India) to Houston (USA), capitalism-imperialism is making hurricanes, monsoons, and other storms into deadly disasters for the working class. The working class is forced to save ourselves. We are breaking through all the racist divisions the capitalists create and nurture.
Many workers showed selflessness and commitment in rescuing their class brothers and sisters. This spirit can and must be used to mobilize for communist revolution to end these disasters.
Only the masses mobilized for communism can build a world where everything serves our own needs. Only then can we live in the dwellings and with the infrastructure and services that will guarantee our safety and survival. We will organize in sustainable ways to reverse or slow the global warming caused by capitalism. We’ll find better ways to preserve and enhance our natural environment.
So, in the present and future disasters sure to come, we need to continue the work of mobilizing masses for communism as we organize and help in rescue efforts.
Capitalism’s Deadly Climate Change
Floods and mudslides in Africa recently killed over 500 people in Sierra Leone. Floods displaced over 100,000 in Nigeria. Global warming – the result of industrialization for maximum profits – caused torrential rains. Deforestation – also for profit – and lack of infrastructure intensified the disaster.
Hurricane Harvey caused flooding throughout southeast Texas, especially in Houston, the 4th-largest US city. Houston’s poor drainage systems added to the disaster, which left at least 50 dead and hundreds of thousands homeless.
Global climate change warmed the waters of the Gulf of Mexico and raised sea levels. This increased Harvey’s power and longevity. Hurricane Irma is even stronger.
When the storms hit, workers immediately came in their small boats to rescue flood victims. Rescuers came from Texas, Louisiana and Mexico. Black, white, latino, asian, US-born and immigrant, Muslim and non-Muslim workers saved their class brothers and sisters.
Meanwhile, severe monsoon rains have flooded India, Nepal and Bangladesh, killing over 2000 people. Millions urgently need life-saving support.
“These floods are mostly man-made,” said an Indian scientist. “They are not natural disasters.” The men (and women) who made them were the capitalists with their relentless drive for profits.
In Capitalist Crises, It’s Workers Who Come Through
Amidst such calamities, the state temporarily loses its grip on the working class. In Mumbai, masses came together citywide when flooding paralyzed transportation. Many sheltered strangers in their homes and shared the little food they had.
One worker reported emotionally, “Nobody asked if the person was Hindu, Muslim or Dalit, everybody was welcome everywhere.” This is in a city where the fascist bosses have spilled blood and money to separate the working class along religious lines.
This tremendous class solidarity shows that in a crisis, masses will act for our class brothers and sisters. They will not wait for orders or money (see letter page).
When the masses fight for communist power, this solidarity will be multiplied many times over. Communism will quickly destroy the material basis of the poisonous racism, sexism and individualism that capitalism has put in our way.
In the midst of crises, our Party members and all Red Flag readers should mobilize our friends, co-workers, soldiers, and National Guard members to help rescue fellow workers and spread communism through actions, discussions and Red Flag. Those selflessly helping others need to see that the only society that consistently gives life to those values is a communist world. Our wellbeing can only be assured collectively by abolishing the capitalist system and building communism.
Communist Power Will Reshape Our Conditions of Life
Mega-cities like Houston, Mexico City, Tokyo, Mumbai, and Shanghai have grown up to serve the capitalists’ drive for profits. They center around ports, raw materials, and production centers where low-paid workers must live to work. Sharpening international rivalry among imperialists and other capitalists forces more workers to flock to urban areas.
Southeast Asian wetlands, floodplains, forests and mangroves once provided natural barriers against flooding. Many such areas have been destroyed to build the slums and shantytowns that house newly urban wage slaves. That leaves large areas – and the workers who live there – defenseless against monsoon rains and vulnerable to deadly waterborne diseases. The same has happened in the US.
In communism, an International Communist Workers’ Party, open to the masses, will lead broad discussions to decide collectively and scientifically where and how to build safe housing and production centers. The masses will mobilize immediately to respond to crises, without money worries. Communism will abolish money and exchange. Instead, we’ll build and produce what’s needed (homes, food, clothing, and much more) and share it according to need.
Most in Texas, like workers in India, Nepal and Nigeria, had no flood insurance. They can’t count on the national government to bail them out.
The US capitalists and their counterparts elsewhere will do their best to rescue what the capitalists need at the expense of workers’ homes and health. The global crisis of capitalism limits the capitalists’ efforts to rebuild.
It will be black and latino/a workers in Texas and Dalit and Muslim workers in Southeast Asia who will be most viciously attacked.
Capitalism itself is a disaster. Sometimes it unfolds in slow-motion, sometimes quickly. Our response must always be to dedicate our energy and resources to spreading Red Flag, recruiting massively to ICWP, and building the fight for communism all over the world.
The working class saves the working class in Houston
Oops
The article about Charlottesville in the last issue of Red Flag should have said, “This is a pivotal moment.” It mistakenly said, “this is a pivotal movement.” We apologize for the error.
