{"id":1165,"date":"2017-06-23T21:44:02","date_gmt":"2017-06-23T21:44:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/icwpredflag.org\/wp\/wordpress\/?page_id=1165"},"modified":"2017-06-23T23:22:01","modified_gmt":"2017-06-23T23:22:01","slug":"transit-workers-join-icwp","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/icwpredflag.org\/wp\/wordpress\/volume-8-number-7\/transit-workers-join-icwp\/","title":{"rendered":"Transit Workers: Join ICWP!"},"content":{"rendered":"

Organize a Political Strike for Communism!<\/span><\/h4>\n

LOS ANGELES, US, June 18 \u201cOur union contract expires at the end of this month,\u201d said an MTA mechanic at a recent social gathering. \u201cThe bus operators may opt for a strike,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf left up to the union it won\u2019t be much of a strike. They\u2019ll have the usual picket lines with BBQ and beer,\u201d interjected another.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery time we go on strike we lose more than what we gain. Some workers think it is not worth it to go on strike,\u201d said a third.<\/p>\n

These comments started a very long and serious discussion.<\/p>\n

First, we discussed that workers should not accept passively the capitalists\u2019 attacks or whatever they want to dish out in a contract. That would be surrendering without a fight. Everyone agreed that was unacceptable.<\/p>\n

Workers just can\u2019t roll over and play dead. As communists, we all agree that our historical task as a class is to be the grave-diggers of capitalism. This requires a communist revolution. A revolution requires an inspired fighting working class.<\/p>\n

Thus, the next question we addressed was: What should we workers fight for that will make our class conscious of its historical task? What can MTA workers fight for that will inspire millions to join ICWP and fight for communism worldwide?<\/p>\n

\u201cFighting for a \u2018good\u2019 contract won\u2019t do it. Even if we got the best wage increase ever, at the end of the day we will still be wage slaves. We would still be under the despotic boot of the MTA bosses and the US capitalists in general.\u201d Everyone agreed.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need a political strike,\u201d someone suggested, \u201cWe and our class face more than just wage and benefit cuts. We face intensified racism, sexism and xenophobia with the rise of fascist groups like \u2018Act for America\u2019 and the prospect of bigger and more lethal wars, including world war.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat is why it must be a political strike against capitalism and for communism,\u201d someone else suggested.<\/p>\n

We then said that such a strike would reject trade unionism\u2019s bankrupt political strategy. It would organize mass demonstrations of MTA workers to call on other workers, soldiers and youth, nationally and internationally, to join the fight for communism.<\/p>\n

We would therefore put forward revolutionary communist political slogans such as \u201cAbolish wage slavery, fight for communism! Fight for a world without money, exploitation, racism, sexism, nations or borders!\u201d \u201cProduction for need, not Profits!\u201d \u201cFight for communist workers\u2019 power!\u201d<\/p>\n

Such a strike, closing down the US\u2019 second largest city, would have an electrifying effect on the US and the world\u2019s working class. It would make a difference to the tens of millions of our class who are in motion, like those 180 million who went on strike in India or those 30 million in Brazilian.<\/p>\n

These masses are questioning capitalism and looking for radical alternatives. Like many MTA workers, they are also realizing that trade unions\u2019 reformist struggles are dead-end streets which only prolong our enslavement.<\/p>\n

Thousands of MTA operators, mechanics and service attendants led by ICWP\u2019s MTA collectives and the hundreds of MTA Red Flag<\/strong><\/em> readers can energize a new communist-led labor movement that fights directly for communism to destroy capitalism, the root cause of all our problems.<\/p>\n

Can we organize such a movement? Definitely! Not only we can but we must: the times demand nothing less from the most revolutionary and powerful class in history!<\/p>\n

It won\u2019t be easy and it won\u2019t be done overnight. It will require patience and perseverance. We all agreed that winning for our class is how many more readers and distributers of Red Flag<\/strong><\/em> we gain, how many join ICWP and how massively and inspiring we make communism an issue among the masses.<\/p>\n

Organizing for such a strike is mainly the responsibility of the ICWP collective at MTA and about 500 regular MTA Red Flag<\/em><\/strong> readers. Many of these have been readers for years. Some help distribute from one to five Red Flag<\/strong><\/em>s. It is time they take the next step and join ICWP to help build ICWP collectives in all MTA\u2019s divisions.<\/p>\n

These ICWP collectives could massively increase the circulation of Red Flag<\/strong><\/em> by struggling politically with their MTA co-workers. This will create the material and ideological conditions to inspire MTA workers to organize such a political strike.<\/p>\n

History is on our side. Let\u2019s mobilize the masses for communism! Join ICWP!<\/p>\n

Front page of this issue<\/a><\/h4>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Organize a Political Strike for Communism! LOS ANGELES, US, June 18 \u201cOur union contract expires at the end of this month,\u201d said an MTA mechanic at a recent social gathering. \u201cThe bus operators may opt for a strike,\u201d he added. \u201cIf left up to the union it won\u2019t be much of a strike. They\u2019ll have … Continue reading Transit Workers: Join ICWP!<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":18,"parent":1138,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-1165","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/icwpredflag.org\/wp\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1165","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/icwpredflag.org\/wp\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/icwpredflag.org\/wp\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/icwpredflag.org\/wp\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/icwpredflag.org\/wp\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1165"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/icwpredflag.org\/wp\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1165\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1225,"href":"https:\/\/icwpredflag.org\/wp\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1165\/revisions\/1225"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/icwpredflag.org\/wp\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1138"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/icwpredflag.org\/wp\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/icwpredflag.org\/wp\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1165"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}