WWP leaders speak in Los Angeles

The current crisis facing the working class is like none other, Workers World Editor Deirdre Griswold told a forum at the office of Workers World Party here on Feb. 18. Citing figures showing that the recovery of profits since the crash of 2008 has meant no recovery for the working class, Griswold, a WWP Secretariat member, explained that long-term unemployment has become a permanent feature of high-tech capitalism’s growth around the world.

Teresa Gutierrez, a national leader of WWP and Secretariat member, reported on the party’s work in solidarity with oppressed workers, especially immigrants.

The two talks illustrated how the capitalist crisis, by imposing immense burdens on hundreds of millions of workers, has also laid the basis for greater class unity. However, the crisis has come down especially hard on those already most oppressed. Whether people are struggling against foreclosures and evictions, layoffs, low wages, deportation, wars of intervention, environmental pollution or attacks on basic social services like public education and health care, the common enemy of the 99% is the super-wealthy 1%. This is the signature slogan of the Occupy movement, which has inspired many new activists and sparked a renewed interest in socialism and Marxism.

Gutierrez showed concretely how Workers World Party carries out principled solidarity with oppressed workers. A co-coordinator and steering committee member of the May 1st Coalition for Worker and Immigrant Rights in New York, she related how the coalition is organizing for a united demonstration this year that encompasses immigrant groups, labor unions and the Occupy movement.

Very thoughtful questions and discussion followed the reports. Long-time members of the Communist Party USA and Southern California Immigration Coalition contributed their views in the exchange of ideas. All were in agreement by the end of the night that only a powerful, united, independent movement of the oppressed, workers and immigrant movements would be capable of making any progress toward overturning capitalism.

Earlier in the day at a class for members and candidate members of WWP, Griswold, a founding member of the party, reviewed its origins in the context of the world communist movement and the struggle against imperialism and neocolonialism. She traced the party’s political perspective and struggle orientation, beginning with the early writings of Karl Marx and Frederick Engels to the victory of the Bolshevik Revolution. She stressed that the new conditions workers and oppressed around the world face today are pushing forward the struggle to tear down capitalism and build a better world, free of exploitation and repression.