Part of War Against Capitalism: Battle Racist Schools

NEWARK, NJ, February 25 — Over 500 students, parents and education workers attended the Newark Board of Education meeting ready to battle Superintendent Cami Anderson, the face of the city’s racist and fascist education reform movement. Her One Newark plan would centralize education, close schools, replace public schools with charter schools, fire teachers, bust the teachers’ union, and under the guise of “school choice,” set up a process that would make it easer to close schools in the future.
While the Superintendent refused to appear, PLP was there with our literature seeking to spread communist consciousness amongst the masses. We distributed over 400 leaflets and CHALLENGES. While waiting for the meeting to begin, many sat in their seats with CHALLENGE spread wide open, reading each article carefully. What follows is the leaflet we distributed. It’s our attempt to join with workers who are fighting to get local control (Board of Education rather than state control) and get rid of the Superintendent while also struggling with them to see that these reforms will not solve the problems of education under capitalism. After reading it, many parents came up to the PL members telling them that they liked the flyer and took extras to give to their friends:

If you talk to most parents, teachers, students and community fighters in Newark, then you’ll hear two popular demands: “Cami Must Go!” and “Bring back local control!” While members of the Progressive Labor Party (PLP) are committed to fight alongside workers and students to get rid of Cami Anderson and state control, we also know that the working class must prepare for the bigger war against capitalism. Schools are the main way the ruling class (the big money — from JP Morgan Chase to the Walton Family to Gates) controls how the working class thinks and behaves. Governor Christie and Cami are just carrying out the plans of these capitalists. Therefore, it will take something much bigger — communist revolution — to create an education system that will prepare future generations to become leaders in a society free of racism, sexism, imperialism and exploitation.
State Control Is Racist
The working class in Newark should be angry about state control. When Christie said he doesn’t care what the community thinks about Anderson, he was only confirming what the ruling class has been thinking for the past 20 years, that the working class, particularly black and immigrant workers, should not have a say in how their children are educated.
Anderson’s One Newark plan shows this racist attitude. Attacking students, parents and education workers in mainly black neighborhoods, she is implementing the centuries-old “divide-and-conquer” tactic. By dividing black workers from their white and immigrant working-class brothers and sisters (particularly in the East Ward), Anderson hopes to get through a large part of her plan. This does not mean other workers are safe. After she gets done with this first phase, the working class will be a lot weaker to fight her future plans, thus making it easier to attack the East Ward and other parts of the city that are “safe” for now.
Schools Get Students Ready
For Imperialist War!
Fascism and racism go hand in hand. One aspect of fascism is discplining the working class into bearing more racist and sexist attacks  from the bosses. As the U.S. ruling class prepares for bigger wars, they will need the money, soldiers, and racist ideologies to win. The main criticism thrown at Anderson is that she is selling public land to private companies so that they can make a profit. Pink Hula Hoop is a company that raises money to buy public schools put on the auction block by the state-appointed school administration. This is one way that charter schools raise money from state sources. Either way, the money comes from working class pockets.
While this is true, it’s not the primary goal, which is to create a cheap education system that trains young students to be obedient workers.
When Anderson says that a school is “failing,” she means it has failed to create a workforce ready to be exploited by their bosses and die for the ruling class in its imperialist wars. That’s what’s meant by “disciplining the working class.” That’s why Anderson promotes schools like TEAM that force students to sit on floors and “earn” their desks. The bosses intend to create the kind of obedient workforce and army they need.
Anderson also has to discipline the current working class. Her attacks on unionized workers have already begun. Cafeteria and custodial workers have felt the wrath of Superintendent Anderson over the past few years. After layoffs and cutbacks, these workers are still under attack. Anderson is now planning on firing at least 700 teachers. The smashing of the unions will create cheap and loyal workers that will help carry out these plans. This is the main goal for the bosses that Christie and Anderson represent.
Their Schools Will Never Serve Us
Even if Newark workers win back local control, these schools won’t work for us. For the past 150 years, schools have always been the bosses’ tool. That’s because the education system is a part of capitalism, the same capitalist system that will always have racist unemployment, police brutality and foreclosures. The same system that engineers the mass murder of workers in the Middle East through their wars creates the conditions for gang violence here in Newark. So why would we think that they would give up their power so easily? Sure there have been times where teachers and students might have had a bigger piece of the pie, but that was only because we fought for them. In the end, the bosses will still control the state — the government, military, cops, education and prison systems.
Smash ‘One Newark’ System —
Fight for One Working Class
We must fight the school closings, mass layoffs and attacks on parents and teachers, but if we’re serious about creating a world based on equality, then the only solution is to fight for communism. PLP is building to do that. Join us as we continue to build the Party to end the attacks in education and plan for the larger war against racism and capitalism. Fight for communism!