‘That’s how capitalism works — it starves people…’ HS Students, Workers Dissect Profit System at Communist School

CALIFORNIA, January 17 — This last weekend forty students and workers went to central California to a communist school on Political Economy. Five high school students came from one city, traveling six hours there and six hours back just to study with us. We discussed what creates value, how the wage system works, and what creates capitalism’s crises. Here are some things that the high school students had to say about the school:

“My experience was fun. I learned about why certain jobs get a certain amount of money, but I don’t understand why they don’t take money from the rich people. Instead they take it from the people that can barely get by with the money they do have.”

“My experience today was quite interesting. I learned many new things as well. I learned how the system works more in depth, and where the value of certain things comes from. Everything was explained very well, which is a good thing because it gives me a better understanding of what’s going on. I heard many personal stories that involved the system and how they do things to profit off of their employees. Ultimately, the experience was very beneficial towards my understanding of political economy.”

“My experience was amazing. I learned the difference between socialism, capitalism, and communism. It was nice. I don’t understand why the government takes more taxes from us and less from the rich.”

“Something I learned from the cadre school is that the people that work for the fast-food places just throw away the leftovers and sometimes pour bleach on them so that no one can eat it. I was interested to know if it was the bosses’ fault, or if the bosses were just okay with the employees doing that. I learned that the bosses tell the employees that they have to do that because they are selling food, not giving it away. That’s the way capitalism works; it starves people.”

Participants all agreed that the bosses pay the workers a low wage and steal most of the value they produce in order to continue maximizing profit to compete against other bosses. Many linked the exploitation of workers’ labor by the bosses during the housing and dot.com crises to the continued enslavement of workers through tricks and the treachery of below-prime loans and stock market speculations.

Most people at the school agreed that crises will continue under capitalism and that the only alternative is communist revolution that will end both exploitation and money/wages. Only through communism can the working class organize and work for better conditions based on its own needs. This was the third communist school of a series planned on the West Coast, one each month. The next communist school will be in southern California, on democratic centralism.