Letters of May 20

Communism, Not Black Capitalism
At the invitation of a young Black resident friendly to PLP,  members and friends of PLP from Chicago and Indiana traveled to Ferguson on April 18. We were a multi-racial group of  women and men — white, Latin, and Black workers. We arrived at a Community Center for Ferguson youth, formerly a school. The Ferguson workers were a multi-racial group, including white workers. Workers are still angry over the outrageous institutional racism that led to the death of Mike Brown at the hands of racist cop Darren Wilson. At the Center, Party members got into a discussion with a Black entrepreneur advocating the worn-out idea of  “Black capitalism” as the key to Black workers’ freedom. This guy exposed himself to be an agent of the ruling class.
We were invited by our Ferguson host to attend a demonstration in nearby Jennings at the police station. Jennings Police Department was the former employer of killer cop Wilson. It has a reputation for racist terror. Several hours before we arrived, another young Black worker named Thaddeus had been killed by police in Jennings under dubious circumstances. The demonstration was for Thaddeus.
Our protest was multi-racial with many white workers from the local St. Louis metro area participating, including church members. There were Black and white motorists honking their horns in solidarity. We got out 95 CHALLENGES, plus Party leaflets publicizing our communist politics. We got on the bullhorn and  called for communist revolution and armed struggle to abolish racist capitalism and its hired thugs, the cops. The Jennings cops, led by a Black sergeant, were so upset by the sight of multi-racial workers and communists openly calling for revolution, that they came out of their station five times to harass us. The last time they emerged was as the PL members were getting ready to leave. A Black woman protestor told us, “look! There’s a lot of pigs all coming out the station doors! They are up to something!”
The Party stayed to support our fellow workers. If the cops’ plan was to intimidate us, it failed! No protestor backed down and left! Our friends stayed in front of police station all night. PLP will be making more trips to Missouri this summer!
★ ★ ★ ★
May Day Celebration
PLP members in a Midwestern city had a May Day dinner for members of the Unitarian Church celebrating the workers’ international holiday on April 25. Our gathering was multiracial. We had good food and lots of discussions before our program began. We had three main speakers, including PL comrade recently in Ferguson who gave a report on PLP organizing there.
The second report was on “Communist Organizing in the Age of President Obama,” and the final report was on the all-out fight for a communist revolution to establish an anti-racist, egalitarian and classless society. We opened up the floor for open discussion of the reports. Some agreed with us, others didn’t. Special  mention was made that capitalism not only is destroying the international working class from Ferguson to the Middle East, but also destroying the environment with climate change.
Either we get rid of capitalism, or capitalism will ultimately get rid of us all. CHALLENGES and leaflets were distributed. We concluded with the singing of the Internationale. We will keep fighting to win the international working class to see the necessity of communist revolution as the way forward out of the hell of capitalist imperialism!
★ ★ ★ ★
Workers Gear Up for Strike, Union Leaders for Sellout
“We are facing real challenges. There is a world economy.” That’s how UAW President Dennis Williams tried to temper workers’ anger and expectations as he addressed the two-day Special Bargaining Convention (SBC) here in Detroit, Michigan. More than 2,000 delegates took part in the gathering before negotiations start on the Ford, GM and Chrysler contracts
At the UAW convention last June, delegates voted for a dues increase that would go entirely into the strike fund. International leaders warned that the 2015 talks were going to be a war, and with 60 percent of our membership now in Right-to-Work states, we could expect a big campaign by the Right-to-Work movement to get workers to quit the union when these contracts expire. But this was not a War Council.
Detroit Mayor Duggan laid out his plan to clear the area around Detroit City Airport for a 12-year tax-free zone to build 10 new factories. This is after tens of thousands of Black families have been evicted or foreclosed on for owing back taxes!
UAW Financial Secretary/Treasurer Gary Casteel said, “The sun is shining as we enter the 2015 contract talks,” referring to the billions in profits made by the auto bosses since the Obama-UAW-Wall St. bailout in 2009. That bailout cut starting wages in half, eliminated pensions for new hires, and created a second tier of health care. The bailout also exempted GM from billions in damages from the companies past defective cars.
Each International VP reported on how great things are going. The Ford report took center stage. The Chicago Ford Assembly plant now has over 2,300 workers, an increase of 60 percent since the 2009 economic collapse. Two-thirds of these workers are at entry level wages, making under $15/hr. with a cap of $19/hr. First-tier workers make about $28/hr. Work is coming back to U.S. Ford factories due to high productivity and cheap wages throughout the U.S. .
Unlike GM and Chrysler, Ford did not declare bankruptcy in 2009, and will likely be the target company in the 2015 negotiations. Ford has gone from 36,000 workers in 2011 to 54,000 today, surpassing GM. Seventeen thousand Ford workers are second tier. Huge profits allowed Ford to invest over $8 billion in plant improvements since 2011, to create even higher productivity from a growing low-wage workforce. And this doesn’t include the parts-supplier plants, also on two-tier, a 70 percent of assembly plant wages.
Many of the delegates are angry and the loudest cheers came at any mention of a strike. Senior workers haven’t had a wage increase in almost 10 years, and young workers are tired of making half-pay. One young worker said, “90% of the workers in my plant are second-tier. Our plant just got a new contract, and new hires get no pensions. We are exposed to dangerous chemicals [which she rattled off] and health and safety violations. We all need equal pay and healthcare.”
The spirit of Ferguson was also in Cobo Hall. One delegate said, “My local and our Sister locals marched against the failures of Grand Juries to indict the killers of Mike Brown in Ferguson and Eric Garner in NYC. The fight against racism on and off the job must be at the heart of who we are.” Delegates cheered. Earlier that morning, the local news released video tape of a racist beating of Floyd Dent, a Black Ford worker with 37-years seniority, by the Inkster police (a Ferguson-style suburb of Detroit).
We work in the unions to fight for the political leadership of the workers, to break them away from the dead-end treadmill of reformism and the Democratic Party. We have been at it for a long time in the UAW, and even though progress is slow, the workers continue to encourage us.
★ ★ ★ ★