LOS ANGELES, February 26 — Fifteen thousand teachers and supporters rallied in front of Los Angeles City Hall today to demand smaller class sizes, full staffing in the schools, and salary increases. Class sizes in regular subjects are now around 42 students per class, up to 55 in some specialty subjects.
Many schools have nurses only two days a week, and counselors are asked to take up to 500 students each semester. Working-class Black and Latin parents in segregated schools are unable to supplement the school budget, and students are hit even harder. Extremely segregated schools and decades of racist policies against Black and Latin schools and communities, have resulted in large disparities in education and an excuse for the bosses to continue super-exploiting the Black and Latin working class.
All of this has angered students, parents and teachers. Many are ready to fight back. The teachers’ union is using this righteous anger to “bargain for a better contract” with the school district. As usual, they are attempting to divert our anger away from our true enemies — the ruling class and the racist, exploitative system of capitalism — and focus it on getting a pay raise and possibly a few concessions, such as 39 students per class.
Instead of encouraging workers to strike and directly confront the ruling class, they are going through a long and arduous process set up to erode our power as workers. After bargaining, we are being told that there has to be “mediation,” then “fact-finding,” and only then can we strike. By then, the school year will be over. The union is also calling for boycotts of faculty meetings to vent teacher anger and head off a strike. We are going to channel their anger and organize rallies on campus and build up our revolutionary work in the schools.
A PL’er at the school has been building the party here and has recruited one parent and is respected by her co-workers and students as an anti-racist fighter. CHALLENGE readers at the school don’t yet see communist politics as critical to the struggle. We plan to spend more time talking to them on and off campus about why communism is the solution.
We are going to have weekly gatherings after school called “Fight Back Fridays,” where we socialize and discuss organizing struggles in school. Over time, we want to convert this, or separately establish, a study-action group that discusses CHALLENGE and plans how we can use the reform struggle as a school for communism.