SEATTLE (US), Nov. 11—Last Saturday, the ICWP hosted a potluck in the midst of our campaign to smash racist xenophobia. The food was delicious. The debate about our communist response invigorating. The plans to bring our revolutionary message to high school and community college students more widespread than usual.
Teachers, retired staff, school volunteers, active and retired Boeing workers and other friends and families passionately grappled with how to respond to the caravan heading north. Meanwhile, the kids had a great time in the kitchen.
One exchange was particularly revealing.
“Let me play the Devil’s advocate,” began one friend. “I admit that I am cynical. I don’t have confidence that workers in the Midwest can be won anytime soon. So, what do you think about incremental change that can get us to communism eventually?” He meant reform and electing reformers.
A comrade spoke against cynicism. She talked about the outpouring of help for the caravan from Mexican workers. Another described the communist-inspired fight against racist xenophobia and the “little Hitlers” in the Boeing factory. He explained how the battle to put communism upfront these past months and years had prepared groups of workers for this fight.
“This reminds me of South Africa back in the day,” added a friend who was born there. “At one time, people were passive. You saw someone dead on the sidewalk and you crossed over to the other side and went about your business. Then workers started to fight back, first in small numbers then larger numbers. That really changed things. That’s what’s happening here.”
Finally, a retired Boeing worker summed up the argument for a bold communist response.
“There is no need to be cynical, except if you are talking about politicians. People have tried electing Obama and others. It hasn’t worked, so naturally they are looking around for alternatives. They’ve tried all sorts of reforms and look at where we are now.
“I was born in Mississippi in the deep South (US). They still had some sharecropping [tenant farming] back then. I had to watch out for white people. When the farm work dried up, I had to move to Michigan. Eventually, I got a job at Boeing. Today I’m sitting in the house of a white man and woman discussing how to end racism [in all its forms] with communism. This is progress!”
The potluck took the words of this long-time Boeing worker to heart. We made plans to collectively write a communist leaflet that would appeal to high school and community college students and immigrant workers. In the next two weeks, we will distribute the leaflet and Red Flag at three high schools and a community college.
The idea is to use this literature to spark discussions in the classrooms, among sports teams and at social gatherings outside. To get this done, we must rely on students and teachers who are new to this political work. They represent the kind of communist “incremental change” that can have lasting results.
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