Letters of August 1

PLP Women Lead, Party Grows in South Asia

To add to recent discussions on cultural obstacles to overcoming sexism and recruiting women to PLP in areas where women are severely oppressed, it’s encouraging to learn about how working-class women were recruited in one South Asian country.

It happened during a so-called natural disaster, made worse by capitalist greed. Thousands of people became homeless, including some members of the Party.  For almost two years they lived in tents during the freezing winters that followed. Reconstruction money that poured into the area from the government, overseas organizations and individual donors, was being diverted into the pockets of national and local officials. It was also gobbled up by NGO’s with expensive operating costs.  

Little was going to the victims until the Party organized a fight demanding funds to rebuild homes. It was a strenuous struggle, lasting several months, carried out in difficult living conditions. But eventually the community’s militant actions resulted in a distribution of building materials and financial aid for reconstruction.  

During the months of demonstrations and confrontation with the authorities, the Party built ties within the community and recruited new members. In one family females and males joined. This was not an easy task in a society where unrelated men and women cannot mix freely, although less rigidly imposed for bourgeois, educated women. The reason for the success in recruiting women can be found in the anti-sexist politics of the leaders and their commitment to making women equal partners in the struggle.

A female comrade, helped the women — housewives and low-paid workers who’d lived lives conforming to custom — to overcome their fears of stepping outside traditional female roles and become activists.

Most important was educating male members about the role sexism plays under capitalism in maintaining ruling class domination of both men and women and the importance of the full inclusion of women in building a communist society. 

One of the women recruited in the struggle went on to organize other working-class women in a fight against the local utilities company when a rise in the cost of electricity added hardship to their lives.

Out of these struggles two Party clubs were formed, run by women, surreptitiously attended by men. Today there are more clubs where men and women both take part. 

What happened in this region underscores how culture is a capitalist concept that serves to reinforce the class system with women at the bottom of the heap. Their unpaid labor in the home and super exploitation in the lowest-paying jobs outside maintain the profits of the ruling class. When the stereotypes are challenged by communist ideas of equality, women break away from customary behavior and play an essential role in building an egalitarian society.

There are other examples from this part of the world; after the Russian revolution, thousands of women in the Muslim states gathered in the streets to throw off their burkas, the symbol of their repression. In nearby Afghanistan, women were a significant force during the growth of a Marxist movement and government in the 70’s and 80’s.

Worldwide, sexism hinders the growth of a powerful working-class movement. PLP recognizes that the fight against sexism is inseparable from the fight against capitalism and makes it primary along with racism in building the Party. 

Anti-sexist fighter

‘One Day Longer, One day Stronger!’ — Rally vs. Hospital Layoffs

At the June 28 rally at Downstate Hospital to stop layoffs, CHALLENGE interviewed a rally speaker. 

Q. There were hundreds of workers and community rallying. Is this enough to stop the layoffs?

A. Possibly not this time, but we have made an impact.  We showed there is a working class-force to be considered and that new leaders are stepping forward.  Each of the 500 participants has hundreds of friends that will become involved.  An impromptu chant was picked up loudly and enthusiastically that showed hope for the future, that we will last and grow, “One Day Longer, One Day Stronger.”  This is an important beginning.

Q. What lessons have you learned from this?

A. An important lesson is that ordinary determined workers with a vision can organize against the layoffs and Downstate’s closing; We needed to do something besides writing letters to the governor.  We needed to show solidarity between all the unions and job categories and to express our anger over this racist attack.  Many different workers organized for this: nursing assistants, community people, unit clerks, doctors, housekeepers, students, clerical staff, computer programmers, clinical assistants, nurses and absolutely no sellout politicians. 

Imagine the result if any one of the unions and their parent organizations (like CSEA [Civil Service Eployees Association] with its 200,000) had thrown themselves wholeheartedly behind us.  We could have had not 500 but 50,000. Then we could encircle the hospital and grow until layoffs are stopped and the governor finds the money our community needs.  

Q. Governor Cuomo says there is no money; how do you respond?

A. Many speakers exposed this lie.  Cuomo has plenty of money for his banker and investor friends. When he talks of budget deficit this only applies to workers’ salaries.  Cuomo has intentionally cut Medicaid to Brooklyn hospitals and he reimburses double the amount to Manhattan Hospitals. Cuomo has done nothing to stop Federal aid cuts, aid that now goes to make war, to build drones and missiles.  

Cuomo has supplied millions and billions to private contractors and bankers, (see NY Times exposé “Committee to Save NY”).  These bankers and investors like Stephen Berger and Stanley Brezenoff and JP Morgan’s Jamie Dimon write state health policy to benefit their class and remove our jobs and vital services.  Two years ago the State attached a private hospital, Victory Memorial, (bankrupted through the usual corruption) to Downstate.  Budget problems for Downstate then accelerated, partly because a 10-year $100-million lease for Victory was signed with bank fees plus interest that will probably mean over $200 million for a nearly empty structure.

Q. There were 400 CHALLENGEs distributed at the rally, Were there any other media reports on the event?

A. No other media, even though a press advisory was sent to all the press.  This lack of media coverage of fight-back seems to be part of their plan to keep us workers in the dark about events important to us.  That is why so few in the community know that this vital hospital which serves 75,000 ER visits a year may close. Having CHALLENGE report on our actions helps our struggle.

CHALLENGE: The working class thanks you for your efforts showing workers will take action against injustice and that around the world workers are understanding that a system that can’t provide health care must be destroyed, and we can rebuild a world that serves all workers: a communist world.

Red Hospital Worker 

Profiling: Capitalist Tool

At the Harlem anti-racist march (CHALLENGE, 7/4) I was asked for an inteview at 110th street. The following is a general description of the discussion between the interviewer (I) and myself, a CHALLENGE seller (CS):

I: Your sign says, “If You See That Capitalist Kills, Say Something!” What is its meaning and why are you marching?

CS: I’m here to support our children who are being terrorized, dehumanized and murdered because the capitalist bosses know that their racist profit system has no future for our youth and are trying to force them into being cannon fodder for their imperialist wars. These bosses still fear the national anti-racist rebellions of the 1960s in dozens of cities and neighborhoods like Harlem. In Los Angeles alone there was one billion dollars of property damages and ended only after two army divisions were recalled from Vietnam.

I: Were you ever racially profiled?

CS: Yes, as a youth (white) in the 1950s I demonstrated for Civil Rights legislation like anti-lynch and anti-poll tax laws (on black voters) and was threatened with arrest many times for being in cars with black people or even staying with them at hotels which hosted Civil Rights conventions.

I: So you’ve been against racism for a long time?

CS: Yes, I recall with disgust my Catholic priest describing to our class that the Jewish boys from the synagogue across the street were part of a religion that murdered “our lord” which led to violence. I remember a boss who threatened my factory job because I was disgracing the white “race” by letting black and Latino people outwork me. I remember a landlord threatening to rent to black people if we refused a rent increase. The capitalist bosses use racism, sexism and religion all over the world to divide workers and to steal trillions in profits from the wage differentials. I was called a “dirty communist” and threatened with lifetime blacklisting [job ban] for trying to organize a union in a sweatshop with unsafe conditions. I didn’t even know what a communist was then but I quickly learned that any worker who threatened bosses’ profits was profiled as a communist, so I guess I was a communist.

I: Are you a communist now?

CS: Yes, and this CHALLLENGE newspaper fights to destroy capitalism and racism and describes how our Progressive Labor Party is organizing a revolutionary movement for a communist system that abolishes wages, money and profits and works collectively to build a worker-run society.

A Comrade