Mother’s Battle for School Library: An Education in Class struggle

CHICAGO — This September marks the third anniversary of the 49-day sit-in to hold onto La Casita. For years there had been an on-going struggle between Whittier Elementary School parents and the Chicago Public Schools Board of Education (CPS) to have a library.
The struggle came to a head when, by accident, some members of Whittier’s Local School Council (LSC) found a work order to demolish La Casita. A sit-in began on September 15.  On its second day, police cordoned off the entire block, trapping mothers and supporters inside and keeping the rest of us out. The police threatened to arrest and even deport the moms if they didn’t vacate La Casita.  There was no food or water inside.
The sit-in would have ended there had it not been for a Progressive Labor Party member, a mother as well, who shouted that the moms inside LA CASITA were fighting for all of us, and that they needed support.  She called for everyone to follow her and they did!   The multitude of parents and kids marched under the yellow police tape.  They jumped over the front fence and headed straight to La Casita.  We all held our ground and the police were forced to end their threats of jail and deportation. Working-class solidarity made its presence known in the city of Chicago!
 Since then, there were a few meetings with CPS and the existing parent group, La Casita Parent Youth Center.  The parents’ pleas for the renovation of La Casita fell on deaf ears, and there ended communication with CPS.  Three leadership bodies came and left. The few parents remaining were left to fend for themselves.  The PLP mom stayed with La Casita’s parents all this time.
But CPS had the power to shut down La Casita anytime, and so they did, this August 16. Parents and neighbors responded with anger, and there were three arrests that night.  The PLP mom organized supporters to form a chain around the paddy wagon holding the arrested, chanting, “Let them go!” But we had to step aside or be run down.  The following day, a few supporters were able to get inside the grounds to form a human chain to keep the bulldozers at bay.  Some were moms but they were pulled out and finally seven more supporters were arrested.   La Casita was demolished. CPS and Chicago’s politicians won out that weekend.
There are lots of divisions among workers here.   Some neighbors, Whittier School parents included, wanted to be rid of La Casita because it was an “eyesore.”  But the fact is that all the poor working-class areas in Chicago are “eyesores” to the city politicians and the banks they serve.
There are many lessons to be learned from that Saturday morning, particularly the question of state power under capitalism.  Who do the cops defend?   And what is the role of the courts? (This will be exposed more clearly September 9, when 10 of the arrested go to court.)
For Progressive Labor Party, the crucial element is that ten parents get CHALLENGE. While some communist politics surfaced at the weekly La Casita meetings, and some parents have come to May Day and other PLP events, they have yet to join a PL study group. What has been lacking is a collective plan to win these parents and many more to joining the Party and becoming communists.
Breaking traditional sexist roles is one key obstacle.  The parents’ trust in liberal politicians’ promises is another one. The mothers and fathers are struggling to make ends meet. Many lack documents and fear reprisals from La Migra, the immigration polices.  Now, more than ever, our Party must win these friends to join PLP and fight for communism, an undertaking worth every breath we take.