Combat Racist, Sexist CSU Shutdown

CHICAGO, March 17—Illinois politicians are failing working-class college youth. Unable to agree on how to deal with the budget impasse, the bosses are furthering the attack on the working class by shutting down Chicago State University (CSU). This racist, sexist assault on the mainly Black and women students has been met with fightback and some communist leadership by Progressive Labor Party.
While all of Illinois’s public schools are struggling financially, CSU in particular is in the most precarious situation since it relies on the state for one-third of its budget.
CSU’s impending doom is already visible: at a February 27 press conference, CSU officials announced that all 900 of its employees face possible layoffs at the end of the semester. Three days earlier, the University had cancelled spring break in order to end the semester a week early.
CSU’s closing will pose dire consequences for its working-class students. It is the state’s only majority Black student public university. In addition, 70 percent of the students are women. CSU graduates more Black students than any other Illinois public college or university. It also sends more Black graduates to medical schools than all other Illinois public colleges or universities combined. Shutting down CSU would force many Black and Latin students into the low-wage job market or into the “economic draft” leading to military service.
Students and Workers Fight Back; Bosses Mislead
Some students and faculty are fighting this racist and sexist attack. On January 28, about 25 fighters marched onto the nearby I-94 interstate highway, briefly shutting it down, as well as two other expressways feeding into it. Then, on February 8, more than 50 CSU students and faculty rallied at the State of Illinois building and marched through downtown Chicago to protest CSU’s possible closing. We need more of this, as it exposes the working class’s refusal to take the losses of this capitalist-caused budget crisis.
Unfortunately, most students and faculty in the current struggle are won to the CSU administration’s line of protesting only within legal limits. The administration has brought to campus Jesse Jackson, members of the Illinois legislative Black Caucus, and other obedient servants of capitalism. Bernie Sanders used CSU’s convocation center for one of his rallies.
The message of these liberal politicians is to register to vote and rely on politicians to solve our problems for us. They defend capitalism and are misleading a new generation of workers to know their place in this racist, sexist system. This was evident when one student leader at the February 8 rally said: “We’re not asking for reform. We’re not asking for revolution. We’re asking for them to do their basic duty. Sign the darn budget.”
Leading with Communist Politics
But revolution for communism is exactly what is needed to fulfill the needs of CSU’s working-class students. The basic duty of politicians and government stooges is to defend capitalism’s profit needs. The proposed CSU shutdown reveals the universities as part of the ruling-class machine. Well aware of this fact, PLP members and friends have joined the protests, brought CHALLENGE into the classroom and have expanded our campus study groups. We’re struggling with students and faculty to understand that a revolution for a communist society is the only answer.
Under communism, a college education would be free, students and teachers would work collectively in planning the curriculum and racist and sexist divisions will be prohibited. Communist education would train students to critically evaluate and build their new society. There will be no more divisions between manual and mental labor.
In building for May Day — a worldwide communist holiday — our slogan at CSU is, “Don’t Vote, Organize for Communist Revolution.” Following liberal politicians and union leaders has already led to fascism in the U.S. Under their direction, the working class has been subjected to racism, sexism, wars, poverty, police terror and mass incarceration. Organizing for communist revolution means joining PLP to build a world free of these budget-slashing politicians, racist cops and their profit-hungry bosses. Another world is possible!