Letters of July 1

30 Years of Fighting for Students and Communism
I have just finished a long run as a delegate to the delegate assembly of the NYC teachers union, the United Federation of Teachers. I am retiring, and the way the union works, only the leadership’s friends will be retiree delegates. As a PL member in that assembly, I have never been a friend of the leadership.
Over the years as a delegate, I’ve helped put forward resolutions against the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. I’ve called for support for striking workers; raised resolutions against the killing of Trayvon Martin, (the misleaders considered okay to oppose) and the NYPD’s killing of Ramarley Graham (not okay to attack their our “brothers” in the NYPD at that point) and endorsed PLP May Day marches.
The goals have always been, at the very least, to put class and racism up front, to broaden our “so-called union issues” into broader anti-capitalist and anti-imperialist issues, and win the mass of delegates to see their class interests. The work has often been difficult — the union is controlled by the leadership’s caucus ironically called “Unity” and most members of the assembly are in that caucus and are sworn to vote with the leadership. But we’ve always believed that in the long run, class interest will win workers to see that communist revolution is the answer, not reliance on union misleaders and their politician buddies.
Like many, I’ve often struggled with my own internal anti-communism. Most times, I didn’t openly call for revolution within my speeches. In the last few years, that changed. I began to work with younger comrades, and felt I had to step up my game. And, frankly, my anger at this system began to increase. When we had a resolution last year calling for support for Social Security, I rose to attack the system that keeps us all in poverty, especially as we age, and explained that my anger at that was why I am a communist.
Tonight was my last night. I spent the first half of the meeting wondering why I was there. I texted my husband, “not sure why I’m here, boring, and nothing is happening.” By the time he responded, I had to admit that things were hopping, and I’d been wrong.
A teacher raised a resolution describing the racist conditions that deny team sports for many students, mostly Black and Latin in small schools. He called on the union to make it a mass campaign. The leadership substituted its own resolution — weak and dishonest, implying that if we support the struggle to get sports to Black and Latin students, the city and state would take money from other schools.
The last resolution called for the State Legislature to support rent stabilization, which keeps rents more manageable for working people. I rose to amend the resolution, changing “middle-class working families” to “working-class families.” I then explained that I supported the resolution, but that I hated a system which required that we pay for our basic needs of food, housing and clothing. A system that makes us worry that we can’t fight racism and segregation without losing funding in some schools isn’t one I could support. I explained that I hated this system, and that in my final speech to the assembly, I wanted to make clear that we need a communist revolution.
The amendment passed along with the amended resolution. After the meeting, a delegate told me, “I agree with a lot of what you said and I don’t like capitalism—do you have meetings?” I replied we do, and we exchanged contacts.
Other delegates also thanked me, saying that while they didn’t always agree with a lot that I said but that I always contributed to the assembly. A delegate in the opposition caucus we work in congratulated me, another high-fived me. And, a delegate I’ve known for years, and who doesn’t agree with our politics, told me he voted for the amendment because, if this was my last assembly, that was his gift to me.
I have a feeling that’s why the amendment passed. It was a gift from hundreds of people to a communist they don’t always agree with, but who they respected.
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Bosses to Movie-Goers:Don’t Be Dinosaur Food
I went to see Jurassic World with my family, and one scene stood out in my mind because it illustrated one of the contradictions of capitalism. It’s when they discover that the genetically manipulated dinosaur, Indominus Rex, escaped. The viewer sees the contrast between the hero, Owen Grady, and a member of the security staff. Grady is lean, muscular and alert. The staff member is overweight and slouches as he stuffs himself with junk food. When they leave the control room to inspect the enclosure, the dinosaur attacks. Grady dives under a car while the staff member ineffectually cowers next to a second car, unable to fit under it. Of course, the dinosaur eats him.
This is a classic example of Social Darwinism — the survival of the fittest, with the bosses supposedly being the fittest people in society. But beyond that, it’s an example of blaming the victim; the viewer is led to believe that it’s the staff member’s fault for being overweight.
But obesity is a social disease. In the U.S. for example, the proportion of obese people increased from 13 percent of the population in 1963 to 27.6 percent in 2013. The problem isn’t that the proportion of gluttonous people in society has increased — it’s that capitalists make super-profits by selling junk food.
And here’s the contradiction: to fight the wars that are looming, the capitalists need soldiers who are lean, muscular and alert. Jurassic World does its part in a fitness drive by getting young people to want to be like Owen Grady and like the film’s heroine, Claire Dearing. Whether this will be enough to solve the capitalists’ contradiction is another matter. What’s important for our class is for us to be aware of the many subtle ways that the bosses’ media try to manipulate us into adopting the bosses’ world view.
★ ★ ★ ★
Black Nationalism Rises Amid Anti-Racist Rebellions
In response to non-indictments of police in the Michael Brown and Eric Garner murders — not to mention ever-increasing fascism against Black youth in the U.S. —some have reissued the idea of black capitalism, or “buying black,” to fight back.
This was the idea behind the last Fall’s #BlackoutBlackFriday campaign that sprung up after Brown’s murder, imploring participants to spend their dollars in black-owned businesses, as opposed to giant corporate retailers, on Black Friday. Proponents argue that because Black people’s spending power is $1.1 trillion dollars, buying in “our communities” is the best way to improve black socioeconomic conditions in the U.S.
The suggestion is nothing new. The Black ruling class such as Booker T. Washington and Robert Reed Church (the latter of founded the U.S.’s first Black-owned bank) touted it during the 20th century. But make no mistake, comrades. Black capitalism will do absolutely nothing to stop racist oppression of Black youth and workers. The idea itself is an offshoot of the Talented Tenth theory, the elitist, sexist idea that only male, ruling-class Black intellectuals could repair material conditions for Black workers.
No surprise the term originated among Northern white liberals, many of whom were financially backed by arch-imperialist John D. Rockefeller.
“Buying black” says that Black people in the U.S. can rebuke racist capitalist practices such as redlining and housing covenants by...wait for it...starting their own capitalism. Rather than fighting to destroy this system, black capitalism co-opts it in an attempt to assimilate Black workers into something never meant to include them.
Such practices as “keeping it in the community” will retain a super-exploited underclass working to produce profits for business owners. The only difference here is that all the bosses will share the same skin color as their workers.
We cannot defeat capitalism by creating a more race-based, isolated form of it. Only a communist revolution can and will do that.
★ ★ ★ ★