LETTERS of March 30

Working 7 Days A Week, 12 Hours A Day Fighting the Politics of Profits and Pacifism

Capitalists are the worst plague for humanity. They impose their dictatorship on those that are the must humble and needy. Every day exploitation gets stronger, but yet many feel it is normal and are content with having a job, no matter how miserable.

The company where I work is a bootlegged construction company. Just like the rest of the capitalist system, it violates all of the bourgeois legislation; it doesn´t pay social security, benefits, nor settlements and the salary is miserable. But despite this super exploitation, there are so many unemployed, workers are always knocking on its doors asking for jobs.

They make us stay up all night, 7 days a week, with a 12-hour shift. On Saturdays we work 24 hours until we finish our shift. Many workers accept this with resignation and without protesting, allowing the foreman to continue to push us. This shows us once more that as long as we continue to allow the politics of maximum profit and pacifism, we workers are condemned to just be beasts of burden.

Since ideas of change don´t fall from the sky and we lack revolutionary organization here, I´m speaking to some of my coworkers. I´ve introduced them to CHALLENGE. Three of them are reading it, and one has had a very positive response to our communist politics. I have to do the job very carefully because the lack of class consciousness makes many of the workers consider us as a “problem” or their “enemy.” If the boss finds out about our organizing, we will get fired quickly. This racist capitalist system divides us. It makes us compete with our own class brothers and sisters for lousy jobs, while our existence and that of our family’s is more miserable every day.

This is why with patience, perseverance and persistence the PLP develops its revolutionary work without failing the workers on the farms or the cities, whether students or soldiers from different parts of the world. With all of us united under our communist line we will destroy capitalism, the bosses

GIANT Supermarket, Giant Profits, Giant Fight-back Needed

I just returned from a rally at my local supermarket, Giant, in Washington D.C., that was organized by the Teamsters and our local Jobs with Justice chapter.  Hundreds of workers from Teamsters, food, and government unions rallied with supporters against another union-busting attack. 

Giant owners plan to move their warehouse workers to C&S, a company that busts unions and reduces pay to $10 an hour while their top boss steals $88 million a year off their backs.  C&S already fired 1,600 workers in New Jersey and aims to move them all to a non-union shop in Pennsylvania.  Teamsters from NJ and NY traveled to join us and urge us to fight back.

As one speaker said, “they use our work to get rich.”  He’s right!  Capitalists steal the wealth we create and then accuse us of being greedy for wanting a living to support our families!  When I shared CHALLENGE with a retired Teamster, he told me he wasn’t a socialist but thought everyone should be allowed to work for a decent pay.  Another veteran activist said it’s time to abolish capitalism, the system where a small minority of people own everything, pay us nothing, lie to the public about our issues, and divide us with racism to keep us weak. 

Workers eagerly took a leaflet written by Metro bus drivers about building a revolutionary movement to unify workers everywhere to seize power and build a communist society.

The rally showed the strength of a united working class as black, white, young and old spoke out about sticking together against the bosses.  If Metro and Teamster workers strike, they could shut this area down.  AND if workers everywhere seized power and destroyed capitalism, we could construct a new society based on collective needs and equality.

Public health worker

Fight Israeli Apartheid, Repression

Shiekh Jarrah is a neighborhood in East Jerusalem, Palestine. The Israeli settlers, backed by the racist Israeli courts and police and funded by the U.S. real-estate tycoon Irving Moscowitz, are robbing the local Palestinians of their homes in all of Eastern Jerusalem. The local residents of the neighborhood, with the help of Jewish activists, demonstrate there every Friday at 3PM. I call all workers around the world to support this struggle against ultra-racist evictions, by solidarity letters sent though CHALLENGE or, if possible, by coming to the demonstrations.

A Worker from Tel-Aviv

Fascist Israeli Cops Maul Villagers, Protestors

On March 4, 2011, I took part in the weekly demonstration in Sheikh Jarrah in East Jerusalem. The Israeli authorities, acting in the interests of the racist settlers and the U.S. bosses who back them, have recently evicted a number of Palestinian families from their homes, and gave the houses to wealthy settlers.

This week, when we arrived at the Sheikh Jarrah Garden, over a hundred black-clad cops in ski masks were already waiting for us. Nasser, one of the locals, said that it is possible that someone notified the authorities about the demonstration.

As long as we stayed in the garden, everything went fine. But then we, the demonstrators — both Jewish and Palestinian — came to one of the recently evicted houses. I went with a local Palestinian woman and with a kid who carried a bullhorn and shouted our slogans on the stairs at the entrance to the house. The door was open and the three of us entered the house, shouting the slogans. At some point, a photographer had joined us.

Then, the photographer shouted, “The cops are coming! The cops are coming”, and I immediately exited the building. Another demonstrator, who stood at the back of the demonstration, told me that she heard a cop telling the other cops to enter the house.

Suddenly, I saw the cops violently push the local Palestinian woman who was with us. When I tried to catch her so that she wouldn’t fall, I was hit by one of the policemen and my glasses fell and got twisted. My cellphone also fell and I asked the cops to let me get it, and they refused; after a long argument, I got my glasses back.

I saw the name badges of two of the officers who gave orders to use violence: Habashush and Cohen. One of the three demonstrators who were arrested tried to escape the violence, and was attacked from behind by the cops.

A Housekeeping Worker from Tel-Aviv

Worker-Student Alliance at NY College

Chants of “What do we want? Our Jobs Back!  When do we want them? Now!” echoed in the quad as faculty and students joined terminated cafeteria workers in a militant rally.

When organizers from Unite-Here Local 100 contacted the Bronx Community College (BCC) chapter of the Professional Staff Congress (PSC) we gave them our wholehearted support.  Cafeteria workers and their reps spoke at our chapter meeting and at a forum sponsored by the Political Science Club (see page 3). 

The nine black and Latino workers had been told that February 25th would be their last day of work since the contract with CulinArt Inc. was ending.  The BCC administration told the workers that they could submit their resumés for consideration by a new vendor that would be taking over.  The VP of Finance refused to reveal which company was coming in, claiming that the deal was not finalized.

At the rally, campus security hassled us about using our bullhorn.  But they were surprised when the demonstrators militantly started marching right up to the Administration Building.

Chanel 12 News arrived but was barred from campus by security.  So we took the rally outside where it could be videoed.  The crowd swelled. Four students were among the speakers.  They connected the events at BCC to workers’ struggles in Egypt and Wisconsin. 

One comrade distributed copies of CHALLENGE to students.  The Party has always taught us at that we must fight against any attack against workers.  Whether it is nine layoffs or nine thousand layoffs. Because of racism, the rate of unemployment in the Bronx has always been high. 

Right now, the cafeteria is closed but we are busy preparing for the next round of the struggle.  If the new vendor does not hire the former cafeteria workers and recognize their union we will boycott the cafeteria and the BCC Administration will be faced with larger demonstrations than they ever imagined.  

A Comrade