WORKERS WORLD PARTY CONFERENCE
'To flip the script, we must fight racism'
Excerpts from a talk by John Parker
In an interview on Jan. 5, 1879, with the Chicago
Tribune on the question "What has the socialist movement done
so far?" Karl Marx said:
"Two things. Socialists have shown the general universal
struggle between capital and labor--the cosmopolitan character,
in one word--and consequently tried to bring about an
understanding between the workmen in the different countries,
which became more necessary as the capitalists became more
cosmopolitan in hiring labor, pitting foreign against native
labor not only in America, but in England, France and Germany.
International relations sprang up at once between the working
men in different countries, showing that achieving Socialism
was not merely a local, but an international problem, to be
solved by the international action of workmen."
Marx was saying that capitalism creates a similar
exploitation among workers internationally. Socialists can use
this to show the common enemy workers can unite against. Also,
he was saying that the ruling class uses division among workers
to weaken the class.
Racism is the primary tool used to divide our class--using
people's different national identities as a basis for
repression from the cops, economic oppression, denial of jobs
and basic services. The realities of the oppressed
nationalities are far different from the general working
class.
Many Black and Latino youth today live in an environment of
police-inspired warfare, poverty and jails.
The nationally oppressed workers in this country have,
therefore, very different needs and priorities for survival. A
typical Black youth in the U.S. might say to a non-conscious
white worker: "Listen, that cop may present an image of just a
tough guy to you, but he's an executioner to me. Stopping
police brutality is a matter of life and death to me and my
community."
Still, as long as a small minority, the ruling class,
controls all the capital and means of production, and thereby
determines the amount of cops in your neighborhood, the amount
of jobs available, the amount of food and housing that's
affordable, the wars that we die in, and as long as their
profit increases as our misery increases, all of us
workers--but to a greater degree Blacks, Latinos, and low-paid
immigrant workers--will remain oppressed.
And although heroic and important struggles initiated by
Black people in this country for civil rights won great
reforms, today they are being taken away on a daily basis by
Republicans and Democrats alike.
The only way out is to flip the script. We must take control
away from that small minority of loafers who do nothing but get
rich off of our sweat. We workers create their wealth, all they
do is spend it. But when working people control the capital and
means of production, we'll use the immense productive abilities
to build housing and not prisons, free education, free health
care and all the basic necessities of life.
When you take out the incentive for profits and replace it
with the incentive for human needs, then a better world is
truly in birth.
So Marx was right. Socialism is the answer and working class
international solidarity is how we build our army for socialist
revolution. But how do you build that unity when the divisions
are so deep with racism?
Lenin picked up where Marx left off on the question of how
to build unity among oppressed nations. Lenin led a nation of
over a hundred different nationalities, in the same
country.
Lenin would have said to that Black youth I mentioned
earlier: "Yes, you're absolutely right. And not only will our
party support your demands against the police, we support the
right of African Americans as an oppressed nationality to
self-determination. We support whatever form of struggle
African Americans decide, including your right to armed
self-defense against the cops."
In regards to building unity towards socialism, all
oppressed nationalities have the right to self-determination to
decide their own government, culture and language. Or the right
to decide whether they choose the path of assimilation,
integration or segregation.
It means that when immigrant workers, some of the most
oppressed workers, demand amnesty for all undocumented workers
or an end to Immigration and Naturalization Service raids and
deportations, or demand fair wages, we have to show real
support.
We can also save the life of a soldier, Mumia Abu-Jamal, our
working class hero who shines a spotlight exposing police
brutality, the injustice of the U.S. justice system and shows
the class character of the state. If we save Mumia Abu-Jamal it
will not only do all that, it will provide testimony to the
power and effectiveness of working class unity.
Many on the left lost their way. But thanks to the
leadership of this party we are steady and focused on nothing
less than socialist revolution. And an important step in
furthering that cause is realizing that we, the membership of
Workers World Party, are an irreplaceable component in the
saving of Mumia's life. Communists must play a leadership role
against all manifestations of racism. So, let's go to work.
This article is copyright under a Creative Commons License.
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