Letters of November 28

Sandy’s Real Story:
Workers Helping Workers

In Brooklyn, Occupy Wall Street members have now created Occupy Sandy. Two churches have become drop-off locations for supplies and gathering points for volunteers. I reported there Saturday, November 10, with my car.

Volunteers piled in and we followed a truck loaded with supplies to a distribution location in Staten Island, which was amazing. It was a small restaurant that had survived the storm. The owners had re-opened as soon as they could, using generators. They planned to keep cooking and feeding people for free until their food ran out. After two weeks, it’s still running! Supplies and volunteers pour in every day.

As we walked through the devastated area, the sight of all the volunteers was inspiring. Equally so were the local workers who had set up grills and were cooking and distributing food door- to-door. This is a mainly white, working-class neighborhood. These were not fancy beachfront homes. They were modest ones, many that were originally just summer cottages. The destruction is massive.

On the other hand, we never saw a single government agency there to provide relief, nor a Red Cross. Sanitation workers were there with massive equipment clearing debris, and as well as one National Guard team with a truck. Otherwise the only government presence was cops, both NYPD and Military Police.

As it got closer to dusk, the few trucks left and the cop presence increased. The message couldn’t be clearer: there will be no relief except that which comes from the working class itself. This is an enormous challenge to the Party and we must work much harder to meet it.

Our class brothers and sisters deserve no less.

Inspired Comrade

Politics Raises Friendship
to the Highest Level

Sometimes we underestimate the importance of the whole range of our friendships, or at least I do. I tend to separate them into personal/social or political camps and then fail to see how they may intersect.

I spent several weeks in Haiti last summer. Part of the time I stayed with some close personal friends from my hometown who own a house in Haiti. I consider them loose supporters of PLP, maybe really just supporters of my work. While at their house, I met a number of their close friends. We talked about a wide range of things, but not my politics.

I returned to Haiti last week and was invited to meet with a group of union teachers from the same town where I spent last summer. I called one of my new acquaintances in that town. He happens to be an industrial worker and member of a union allied with the teachers, and invited him to attend the meeting.

Lo and behold, not only did he come in response to my last-minute invitation, but also he brought a retired union teacher.

They participated and heard not only the anger and militancy of the teachers and messages of international solidarity (which was noted to be in the great tradition of left movements worldwide) but also the solidarity of local communist students.

I made sure both friends had a copy of DÉFI, the local edition of CHALLENGE. On the ride back to the capital that night, we made plans to follow up: me with my friends at home and our comrades with the workers in this town.

When we dip our toes into the water, and put forward our Party’s line — fight against the ruling class and all of its rotten ideas, and lead struggles in the interest of workers everywhere — our social friends can turn into our political friends.

I don’t know where these particular friendships will lead, but I am certain we are on the right track.

MLS

Storm Losses Were Not ‘Natural’

I am retired from teaching now, but my Degree is Environmental Health Science. For the past 25 years, climatologists have argued NYC was overdue for a storm and storm surge of the magnitude of Sandy.

Global warming only increases the likelihood storms like this will occur more frequently and with greater intensity.

Yet after 25 years of conferences, studies and recommendations for pro-active government responses, Republicans and Democrats alike have done virtually nothing.

Prima Facie evidence: the new South Ferry Station — basically at sea level — where salt water poured in until it was lapping up to the top steps like the entrance to Davey Jones locker. It should have been built to a level that resists such floods. Nor should the Mayor who wraps himself in the mantle of an environmentalist be spared.

Storms are natural disasters but the tragic losses of the past week, in lives and property, are man-made. Like the leaders of a developing country wallowing in indifference and indecision, the political leaders in our industrial and financial capitalist state wasted 25 years doing nothing in response to warnings and solutions provided by engineers, scientists and activists.

It’s time for the press to stop giving hero awards to politicians like the Mayor and Governor and celebrate first responders and the teacher volunteers, nurses and others who manned the evacuation centers.

On a personal note, my partner put in over 70 hours as a nurse this week at Wadleigh high school. The working class came through in this crisis; they deserve better leadership and more power to handle the next crisis.

“Philosophers have hitherto only interpreted the world in various ways; the point is to change it.” Karl Marx 1847.

Retired Comrade 

Most Valuable Player?

Individualism is promoted under capitalism. The capitalists like to point out one key person even if it’s within a team effort. For example, the Most Valuable Play (MVP) award for the 2012 World Series was given to the San Francisco Giant’s catcher because he hit three home runs in the first game and batted .500 for the series Yet he didn’t score or drive in a run in the last three games of the four-game series.

But the pitching staff (10 players) gave up only one run (plus two worthless runs) in game 1, no runs in games 2 and 3 and three runs in game 4. You’re practically guaranteed to win three or four games when you allow an average of less than one meaningful run per game.

All 10 of the pitchers participated in this performance, but the MVP is designed for one person, not a group effort. The MVP (and other similar awards) reinforces a capitalist outlook that the individual is more important than the group.

In a communist society, sports would be based on cooperation first and competition second and the contribution of all participants would be enjoyed by their teammates and other interested people.

Everyone would participate in sports for the exercise and camaraderie. Even today, when former professional athletes are asked what they miss about the game, they often say it’s the camaraderie of the locker room.That will be the foundation of the society we fight for: camaraderie among all workers-athletes.

A communist fan