the Voice of
The Communist League of Revolutionary Workers–Internationalist
“The emancipation of the working class will only be achieved by the working class itself.”
— Karl Marx
the Voice of
The Communist League of Revolutionary Workers–Internationalist
“The emancipation of the working class will only be achieved by the working class itself.”
— Karl Marx
Apr 20, 2020
Protests erupted in ten states, April 16—supposedly spontaneously—calling for an end to the stay-at-home orders. Trump greeted them with a Tweet-storm: “LIBERATE MICHIGAN,” “LIBERATE VIRGINIA,” “LIBERATE WISCONSIN.”
The demonstrations were hardly spontaneous, paid for and organized as they were by the right-wing of the Republican Party, including multi-billionaires like the DeVos family of Michigan.
But they certainly were directed to working people, those of us stuck at home, without a job—in most cases, without an income. Twenty-two million of us had struggled for hours, even days to get through to state unemployment computers just to register. How many million more weren’t able to connect? Almost half of us didn’t have $400 put aside to deal with a sudden emergency—before this very big emergency suddenly hit.
Yes, we were feeling a little stir-crazy, the hundred million or so of us who have kids home from school, cut off from teachers and all the facilities schools provide, including breakfast and lunch. The hundred million of us or more scouring stores to find something as basic as toilet paper, not to mention hand sanitizer, 70% alcohol and bleach.
Trump, facing an election, was attempting to divert attention away from his part in the enormous criminal responsibility for this public health disaster. Nothing was done to prepare for the spread of the virus, even after medical scientists warned it would strike with catastrophic consequences. Instead of directing resources to prepare, Trump pretended there was no problem, one month, two months, even stretching into the third month before he admitted anything. Then he claimed his administration was on top of it, that it would have 27 million tests by the end of March. In fact, as of April 15, only 3.5 million could be carried out. Many more than 27 million are needed, but the federal government, given responsibility to stockpile such supplies, still doesn’t have them.
So yes, Trump has shown himself to be responsible for the catastrophe. He is the reason public health can do nothing now to protect people, except shut down everything.
But Trump is not the only one responsible. Democratic administrations also cut back spending on public health. Nor is Trump the only one serving himself with these protests. Hiding behind Trump’s call to “open it up,” are big industrialists, big finance, big bankers, mega-real-estate developers, all of whom have been rolling in a money stream coming from the government. Suddenly, their glorious money stream was being cut off. So was their chance to make a profit off of our labor.
They are the ones ready to endanger OUR health, OUR lives, so THEIR money stream can resume. They benefitted yesterday from public money that should have gone to public health. Today, they want to send us back to work, knowing there still are no preparations for doing it safely.
Public health scientists made clear what is necessary so the lock-down can be eased:
1) At least two weeks in which the real number of new cases goes steadily down.
2) Enough testing to know what the real number is and who really is infected.
3) Enough people trained in public health to find all the contacts of people whose tests show they have the virus.
4) Enough facilities so people with the virus can be quarantined safely, so they don’t spread it to their families, close neighbors and workmates, which is how it spreads today.
5) Enough hospital facilities to treat all those seriously impacted by the virus.
6) Enough protective equipment so that all those working, not only on the front lines, but in all the jobs that might open up, have some assurance of coming home each day without being infected.
Not one of those six requirements has been met today. Not one is close to being met.
That’s why demonstrations are being organized today, to convince us—despite everything medical science says—that we want to go back to work.
No, what working people want is, first of all, to be guaranteed a regular, decent income, no matter what is happening, whether at work or not. What we want, when we go back to work are safe and sanitary conditions. What we want, those of us who are essential, is to work right now under sanitary conditions.
What we need is to LIBERATE ourselves from this capitalist society that pushes for profit at the expense of everything else.
Apr 20, 2020
As the Coronavirus began spreading rapidly in Illinois in March, prisoners, guards, their families, protestors, the public defender’s office, and even the sheriff raised the alarm that Cook County Jail could become a center of contagion. Yet judges barred any kind of mass release, and insisted that no one could be let out without an individual hearing.
By April, it was too late. On April 8, the New York Times reported that Cook County Jail was the single biggest hotspot for COVID-19 in the entire country. By April 12, more than 300 inmates at the jail had tested positive for the disease and three had died. Public health officials believe infection is so widespread that releasing more prisoners at this point would itself contribute to spreading the disease. So the 4,500 prisoners still in the jail are left to stew in an infected mess.
The prisoners aren’t the only victims of this decision: more than 200 correctional officers and 35 other jail workers have tested positive. On April 10, nurses protested outside the jail, pointing out that infected jail workers go home every night, spreading the disease to the rest of the community.
The workers at the jail are especially vulnerable because they have been denied the resources that would make their jobs safer. According to David Evans III, chief union steward for correctional officers: “Frequent hand washing tools are not available for officers throughout the compound, nor is hand sanitizer, which is sporadically available or provided in such small amounts that officers must ration it even for themselves in some areas.”
By leaving prisoners to catch the disease and guards to work unprotected, county officials and judges have shown once again that they consider a whole section of Chicago’s population disposable.
Apr 20, 2020
The Smithfield Foods pork-processing plant in Sioux Falls, South Dakota became the latest Coronavirus hotspot. News of employees testing positive only came to light after the daughter of two Smithfield workers informed the media. The plant remained open until April 15, employees working a foot apart. At least 644 Smithfield workers have now tested positive.
Many workers at Smithfield are immigrants and refugees from Africa and Latin America. They average $14 to $16 an hour, so most have to work to pay their bills. Smithfield said its plants were “essential” to force workers to keep coming to work. The plant closure and others in the meat-packing industry certainly could result in future meat shortages.
Yet Smithfield and other companies did little to prevent workers from becoming infected and kept quiet about workers’ exposure. What happened to Smithfield workers is not limited to the meatpacking industry, yet very little information has been made public about occupational exposure as a major cause of the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic. In typical capitalist fashion, profits come before people.
Apr 20, 2020
Two weeks before Maryland’s governor Hogan insisted on a spending freeze, Baltimore City officials had already cut back dangerously on essential services. On March 23 the city halted street and alley cleaning, rat abatement, bulk trash pickup, pothole repair, abandoned vehicle pickup, and harbor cleanup.
In January, new mayor Jack Young had proudly announced his program to “eliminate grime.” But in March, he suddenly declared these services threaten “the safety of the public and of our employees.” This makes no sense. Pulling trash out of alleys makes them more safe, not less. Providing essential workers with necessary equipment is what is safe. But a week later city wastewater workers still weren’t getting masks or hand sanitizer. They had to walk off the job before they were given them.
The neighborhoods most affected by the service cuts are also working class neighborhoods more exposed to COVID-19. Cutting back these services can only make the effects of the pandemic worse.
Whether it’s Baltimore’s Democratic mayor or Maryland’s Republican governor, both parties will sacrifice working class people to preserve the budget for subsidies to benefit their corporate allies.
Apr 20, 2020
A dense cloud of dust enveloped Chicago’s Little Village neighborhood Saturday, April 11th, making it difficult to breathe. The cloud came from the demolition of a smoke stack from the Crawford electrical plant, which has been shuttered for eight years.
The demolition contractor agreed in advance to hose everything down, to minimize the dust. That obviously didn’t happen. Little Village is a dense working class Mexican community. As with many working class neighborhoods, people that live in Little Village have higher rates of asthma, making them more susceptible to the effects of the Coronavirus—and the dust from this cloud.
One thing is clear: to the people that run this society, working class lives are disposable.
Apr 20, 2020
Inmates at the Wayne County Jail in Hamtramck, a suburb surrounded by Detroit, managed to release two videos on the internet in which they complained of dangerous conditions there. They said prisoners weren’t being properly tested for COVID-19, had not received masks and had to use their own clothing and towels for protection. The videos were released April 9th and 10th.
The Wayne County Sheriff’s Office attempted to whitewash the problem, releasing a statement on April 11 assuring the public that everything was under control.
Yet on April 7, Charlie LeDuff, a well-known local investigative reporter published the story of Michael Meshinski, a Wayne Count inmate who had been released while being severely ill. One deputy was quoted saying Meshinski “was shitting himself. He was doubled over. He had a fever. I mean he was really, really sick.” He wasn’t taken to a hospital, but instead was given his street clothes and a bus pass.
Meshinski got on the wrong bus, likely exposing other people, and eventually had to call a cab to get home. Four days later, his girlfriend found him dead, bleeding from his eyes.
His girlfriend, Sherrill Williams, said, “He called me on the phone from inside and told me he was so sick he was scared. I told him to go to the common area and start coughing on everybody. Then they’ll notice you. And that’s what he did.” That’s what it took for an inmate to get any attention at all, yet he apparently wasn’t tested and received no medical treatment.
Meshinski was a Dearborn Truck plant worker serving a six-month sentence for drunk driving. He was on work release, possibly exposing others on a daily basis while being housed at a facility where now at least 167 employees have tested positive for the virus. No one knows how many inmates—most still haven’t been tested.
As LeDuff rightly pointed out, Meshinski, an autoworker with a chronic drinking problem, wound up serving what amounted to a death sentence.
Apr 20, 2020
A United Airlines flight was cancelled on April 3 after the cabin crew refused to work because of COVID-19 safety issues. One hundred thirty-five passengers had disembarked a Holland-America cruise ship and were scheduled to board the flight from San Francisco to Sydney, Australia. Four of the cruise ship’s original passengers had died of the virus and 250 others reported flu-like symptoms.The crew was quick to assess the danger, and took action to protect themselves.
A similar event occurred on March 1 when an American Airlines crew refused to fly from New York’s JFK to Milan due to the rapid spread of coronavirus in Northern Italy.
Airlines are refusing to even provide PPE necessary to protect airline workers. These workers refused to become cannon fodder in their company’s feverish war to crush the competition and juice its bottom line.
Apr 20, 2020
Until nine years ago, the state of California had a large stockpile of emergency medical equipment, including 2,400 ventilators, 50 million N95 respirator masks, and kits to set up 21,000 patient beds. California also had three fully-equipped, 200-bed mobile hospitals, to be deployed in areas hit by natural disasters and pandemics.
Those are exactly the things that health care workers say California has severe shortages of in the fight against the coronavirus pandemic. But in 2011, politicians who ran the state government dismantled the state’s emergency medical stockpile and mobile hospital programs. Then-governor Jerry Brown said, quite cynically, that he was getting rid of the programs because “a potential influenza epidemic”, which he said the programs were set up for five years before, had not occurred. One Assemblyman even suggested the state should sell its “unneeded” medical equipment on eBay!
Instead, state officials said, the state gave most of the equipment, including hundreds of ventilators (critical for the treatment of coronavirus patients) to local hospitals. Hospitals then resold many of the ventilators, some out of state, to avoid maintenance costs, according to dealers who buy and sell used medical equipment. The state did not pay to replace the 50 million N95 masks when they expired.
Avoiding maintenance costs—that was also the reason given by politicians for axing California’s emergency medical stockpile and mobile hospitals. The state was spending $5.8 million per year to maintain these two programs—which is less than one hundredth of one percent of the state’s 129- BILLION-dollar budget that year!
Apr 20, 2020
The COVID-19 virus is infecting Black Americans and causing their deaths at an enormously high rate, out of all proportion to the total population figures. In states like Michigan and Ohio, where black people make up around 14 or 15% of the state populations, over 30% of those infected are black. Death rates are even higher. Over 40% of those that die are black, in both states. These numbers represent only a part of the real number of infections and deaths among black people as there are no consistent reporting methods nationwide. But we see similar infection levels and numbers of deaths out of all proportion to population figures in states across the U.S. In Louisiana, 70% of COVID-19 deaths are black deaths. Blacks make up only 32% of the population.
While right-leaning authorities and newscasters are blaming black people for their own high illness and death rates, Trump’s Surgeon General is quietly doing the same. He is asking black people to drop “unhealthy habits” like smoking and drinking and drugs, as if catching the virus and dying were a problem of individual habits. All manner of explanations are being put forward—all but a real accounting for the legacy of racism that has paved the way for this killing field.
But the only two preventative measures put forward by the government have been “social distancing” and masks (long after the epidemic had spread). And by their own admission, the masks only protect others from the virus (partially) while social distancing works only for those who don’t work or live in close proximity to others, as many workers do.
Their stated intent was to keep hospitals from being overrun—hospitals that were unprepared, understaffed and undersupplied. Their stated purpose was to slow the surge of the virus, not to stop it.
There was no intervention in daily work life or habits to stop the spread of the virus. Finally, only mandating businesses to halt certain operations. But what about all the work that continued—the socially necessary work of feeding the population, or providing transportation or trucking services? What about the healthcare workers?
The black population, in its majority, is working class. Systemic discrimination in hiring has resulted in black workers being predominately employed in high density work; they are disproportionately employed in the service sector and the public sector, with resulting high levels of public exposure. Few have private offices or work from home—most work side by side in offices, in restaurants, on production lines, in hospitals to name a few. It is human contact that spreads the virus.
Institutional discrimination in housing, a history that includes decades of outright laws banning ownership of homes (like in Detroit) and redlining to exclude and devalue black ownership, left many in higher density areas. Economic discrimination, lower wages and benefits, have left next generations unable to leave and living under the same roof.
Finally, in cities like Detroit, a rotten public transportation system is often the only means of transportation.
Why did so many black people have to die and in large proportion? Why are they still dying in high numbers daily?
Hypertension, diabetes, high cholesterol, coronary artery disease, dementia and arterial fibrillation—these are conditions that put persons in a high-risk category. And no population suffers in more disproportionately high levels from these conditions than the black population in this country.
Unsafe, difficult, repetitive, dirty, work in factories, stressful work in the public sector, homes in less safe, less desirable neighborhoods, lower paid, less benefit-paying work and finally, being less able to afford health care would be enough. But what about closed or severely cut back hospitals? How about no regular care, little maternal care? What about a life expectancy rate of 62 instead of in the 80s?
The history of institutional racism in health care is well documented. Of course, other groups of workers suffer from these same problems, but not in equal numbers.
During these past two months, experts have documented inequalities in treatment of COVID-19 black patients. The possibility of being taken off a ventilator to give it to a white patient was a regular fear. Worse care in over-run city hospitals.
So no, “we are not all in this together”, a favorite slogan of the bosses’ spokespersons.
The black population is being disproportionately sickened and killed, not by the virus, but by the virus aided by the damage done by decades of racism.
Authorities avoid responsibility by saying “after it’s all over, we will understand better….”
Bull! They understand it now, and it’s their system that sustained it.
This system, which they chose to keep in place, will bury us all.
All workers are being sucked into the whirlwind of healthcare and economic collapse. None of us are coming out of this war whole and happy.
The working class has the power to slap the capitalists back; to join its ranks and fight not to be pulled backward, not to lose what little we may have. But to do what it needs to unite around its sections whenever and wherever it is attacked. And that means refusing to accept the lies about the virus that are blaming the victims while making us all victims.
Apr 20, 2020
Translated and excerpted from Combat Ouvrier (Workers’ Combat), the newspaper of the revolutionary workers’ group active in the French Caribbean islands of Guadeloupe and Martinique.
Coronavirus can be fatal for everyone. But it’s particularly dangerous for people with chronic illnesses. Martinique and Guadeloupe have many people like this.
Chronic illnesses are called “co-morbidities” because they increase the risk of dying from the virus. They are much more frequent on the islands than in France. This is the result of the islands being underdeveloped. It’s a heritage of the colonial situation, which is not fully overturned.
For example, different kinds of cancer are very frequent on the islands. The level of prostate cancer is the highest in the world. Pollution of the soil and groundwater by the insecticide chlordecone (Kepone) made the situation worse. Ninety-five percent of the population were exposed. The wealthy white owners of the big banana plantations used this poison widely to increase profits, threatening the health of the population, especially the farm workers.
Other serious illnesses are very common here, such as diabetes, high blood pressure, and obesity. These are associated with bad nutrition and living conditions. The main cause is poverty, which keeps most people from having a healthier life.
Other significant diseases regularly recurring are epidemics transmitted by mosquitoes, like dengue fever, zika, and chikungunya. These diseases have natural origins. But their effects are made worse by the overall lack of hygiene and public services. Trash which isn’t collected becomes a haven where mosquitoes multiply. So do rats carrying the deadly leptospirosis bacteria.
Finally, another consequence of underdevelopment is that young people leave here. Youth unemployment hits three out of five young workers, so they emigrate. This leaves an older population behind, who are more vulnerable to COVID-19.
Apr 20, 2020
Translated from Lutte Ouvrière (Workers’ Struggle), the newspaper of the revolutionary workers’ group active in France.
The deepening crisis takes many forms for third world countries. Prices of raw materials are falling. The wealthy are moving their investments out of these countries. Cash stopped flowing in. Interest rates are rising for governments to borrow money.
World oil prices have fallen by half since the year began. This creates a disaster for oil producing countries, whose revenues from selling crude oil often make up the biggest part of their government budgets. Africa’s most populous country is Nigeria, which gets half its revenue from oil.
The price of sugar dropped by a third in just over a month. The price of coffee fell by almost that much since December. The price of copper dropped by almost a fifth since January. All countries that live by exporting raw materials—minerals or agricultural—are on their knees.
At the same time, the big bourgeoisie and the big banks move masses of their capital out to the imperialist countries, which they consider safer. Every time an economic crisis spreads worldwide, they do the same. But this time capital is fleeing the underdeveloped countries even faster than during the 2008 crisis.
These countries’ currencies are collapsing. The South African rand and the Brazilian real have lost 30% of their value against the dollar, and the Mexican peso lost 25%.
The credit rating agencies recognized these collapses by downgrading South Africa, Angola, Nigeria and Mexico. This only adds fuel to the fire. Now these governments have to pay more to borrow, at the same time that their revenues have melted away. Eighty-five countries have asked for help from the IMF—twice as many as in 2008.
These countries are often called “emerging.” It is more accurate to say they are sinking. Their populations are too, stricken twice by the pandemic and by the madness of capitalism.
Apr 20, 2020
Translated from Voz Obrera (Workers’ Voice), the newspaper of the revolutionary workers’ group active in Spain.
The biggest fortunes and corporations on the planet are making donations to pay for medical supplies around the world: Amazon, Microsoft, Facebook, and others.
Spain’s richest man, who is the sixth richest man in the world, donated more than 25 million dollars and 300,000 facemasks. This donation makes him eligible for tax exemptions. Last year his donations concerning cancer saved him well over 100 million dollars in taxes. Meanwhile his company Zara plans to temporarily lay off 25,000 workers and demand a government subsidy. The craziness is that before the epidemic, his company Inditex, which controls Zara, declared net profits of three billion dollars!
Ditto for other companies like El Corte Inglés, Decathlon, Bancos ... the list is endless. When profits are high, fortunes go right into the pockets of the private owners. But when bad times are coming, they want the government to pay unemployment—in other words, working class taxpayers! Yet the wealth these big entrepreneurs and multinational corporations hide in tax havens comes from collective human labor.
Their charitable donations only serve as free advertising parroted by their media companies. Public health experts explain that facemasks are made for single use only, so new ones need to be constantly produced in this situation. The donations are really trivial and not what the health crisis needs.
The real solution would be to convert these companies now to produce what is needed now, such as facemasks, daily necessities, medications, and so on. But for this to happen, companies and banks would have to be expropriated and put at the service of real health needs.
This society permits skyscraping personal fortunes, but at the same time it is incapable of offering miserable little facemasks to health personnel. This is a society that has stopped working and must be changed now.
Apr 20, 2020
This is the editorial that appeared in SPARK’s workplace newsletters, for the week of April 6.
The virus that causes COVID-19 was only recently discovered. The way it acts is not yet fully understood. But nurses and doctors do know it is quite contagious, that a person without symptoms can spread the disease to another person. They’ve seen that it can be deadly, sometimes killing people who seemed to be in perfectly good health only a few days before, while others may not even feel as though they have a cold.
As mysterious as the disease may seem, the basic problem is not the disease nor the virus that causes it. Medical science has long known how to overcome diseases caused by viruses. Smallpox and measles have practically been wiped out by the development of vaccines. And science has known how to prevent virus-caused diseases from spreading and becoming serious epidemics.
What makes this disease so deadly today is that the findings of medical science have been rejected by the political establishment. And the concrete discoveries being made on the spot by doctors, nurses, technicians and other medical personnel are being ignored.
The Trump administration says this virus-caused disease first appeared in China, and that the Chinese regime hid the disease’s reality for the first month and a half. That’s true, but so what?
Fact is, by the beginning of January, the American political establishment knew full well the magnitude of what was happening in China and what could be expected to happen when the virus made its way around the world to this country—as inevitably it must. Ever since capitalism began building trade routes four centuries ago with the slave trade and European diseases spread into Africa, diseases have been international.
Three months ago, the American political establishment knew what would happen. But their spokesman, Trump, pretended things were fine.
Three months is a lot of time—if time had been used to prepare. Public health services could have been resurrected. They are the first line of defense against any disease that can easily be transmitted from one person to another. Research into vaccines needed to be ramped up.
Federal and state public health budgets have been severely cut ever since 1980, while for-profit hospital systems took over. Research for vaccines was also cut, while money flowed into profits for the pharmaceutical industry. The money needed for public health and basic medical research serving the population was diverted into the bank accounts of a morally ugly capitalist class and the corporations they own.
Even so, a lot could have been repaired in three months time. Look how fast, and with how much money the government reacted when the stock market began to crash. In less than three weeks time, they came up with six trillion dollars.
Three weeks for the stock market. They had three months for the health of the population—and didn’t use it. If they had come up with even half a trillion dollars when they first knew about the disease, they might have prevented this disease from becoming an epidemic.
Enough tests could have been produced so the population could be widely tested. Public health knows how to use testing so the spread of a disease can be accurately plotted, infected people quarantined, without locking up everyone. Masks, gloves and gowns could have been produced so medical personnel could attend to the sick without becoming sick themselves. Time could have been gained while a vaccine was developed. Even now today, hospitals that have been turned into profit-making machines could be taken back, restored to their simple medical purpose.
Three months to prepare. But the time wasn’t used. And time still is not being used today. So the disease is spreading, no one knows how far it will go. People are dying, no one knows how many there will be.
The cause of this is no mystery. It is the necessary outcome of an economic system that puts profit before all else. Capitalism is the disease that is killing us.
Apr 20, 2020
The following statement about the disaster linked to COVID-19 was issued by the Working Class Party of Michigan. It was posted on the independent website, www.WorkingClassFight.com.
As the COVID-19 virus spread across this country, it is the working class which is bearing the brunt of this virus. Working people are paying the cost for a government that was unprepared to deal with this crisis despite the warnings it received; paying the cost for corporations who are more concerned about profit than our health.
Millions of workers have already lost their jobs or were laid off. Millions more workers will face that in the coming weeks.
Many working people don’t have health insurance or are in health care plans where it is harder to get to see a doctor or face high costs.
Many workers live in neighborhoods and apartments that are more crowded, where it is harder to stay isolated. We have family members we have to look out for and care for.
Nurses, as well as doctors, are on the front lines, without enough masks and protective equipment. The other hospital workers who clean and cook; the caretakers who care for the elderly—they are all being exposed to the virus.
Workers in the grocery stores, the workers delivering food to the stores, the workers who produce and package the food are all in harm’s way—without enough masks and protective equipment.
The truck drivers delivering all the goods; the workers stocking the shelves; the workers delivering packages to the homes; the plumbers and electricians who do repairs—are all in harm’s way.
The workers who drive the buses and deliver the mail and fix the roads all risk being exposed.
Workers in auto plants and parts plants; workers in other factories, offices and workplaces, were kept on the job, while the virus was spreading. Many workplaces were finally shut down. But even then, when the virus was spreading, the corporations and Trump and other government leaders were trying to figure out how soon they could send people back to work.
All the people who are still working are called “essential” to maintain everyone’s health and well-being. The workers they wanted to send back to work are called “essential” to the economy.
And that is all true. We are “essential.” The working class is “essential” to the economy. We are “essential” to the whole society.
We are the majority. We build everything and maintain everything and run everything. That means we have power, when we come together and use it. We can already see that. Workers in some factories and offices and warehouses refused work because it was unsafe for their health, some forced better conditions, and some went home.
In the coming weeks and months, workers will be facing lost jobs and income. The relief Washington provided so far is just a drop in the bucket compared to what will be needed. The corporations and the banks and the wealthy have accumulated trillions of dollars over the years, based on our labor. Workers have the power to make this money be used to meet our needs.
Workers who are still on the job and workers going back to work have the power to make sure that we are safe at work; that we have all the masks and safety protection and disinfectant that we need.
Yes, we are the “essential” people who do all the work. We have the power and the capacities needed to make sure our needs are met and our safety is “essential.”
Apr 20, 2020
The following statement was issued by the new Working Class Party of Maryland. It was posted on independent website www.WorkingClassFight.com.
We have officially gained ballot status in Maryland. A few dozen volunteers went to markets, parades, Motor Vehicle Administration offices, and stood on street corners. Together we collected more than 14,000 signatures, more than the 10,000 that the state requires.
We named our new party, Working Class Party, as a way to demonstrate our allegiance to our class. Speaking to tens of thousands of people to get the signatures, we discovered that this struck a chord with many people. When we talked about the importance of working people having our own political party and having a way to express our interests on a broader scale, many people were interested.
Workers’ interests are opposed to their employers’ interests. Having Working Class Party on the ballot is one way to express that politically. It’s a way to let workers’ voices be heard, which doesn’t happen today under this two-party system.
The Working Class Party of Maryland is not administratively and officially linked to the Working Class Party of Michigan. But both parties have similar goals. And some of the first people to be active in Maryland had helped in or supported the campaigns of the Michigan Working Class Party in 2016 and 2018. Seeing the response this got in Michigan, many of us were convinced it was necessary to make a similar effort in Maryland.
So now we are official. Fortunately, we had done the work to get on the ballot before the Coronavirus crisis broke out. Now there is other work to do, and the situation will certainly make our work more difficult. But the crisis connected to this disease, and the near collapse of the economy convinces us, all over again, that the working class must be heard.
Not only heard. Workers will have to fight if we are going to defend ourselves. Our campaign, whatever form it will take, will be built around this idea.
Apr 20, 2020
Millions of students around the country are shut out of school, and so forced into “distance learning.” Schooling in a class society is inherently unequal—this “distance learning” is even more so.
“Distance learning” requires access to the internet. Working class and poor students usually have spottier internet—or no internet access at all. In Chicago, ComCast stepped forward to say it would offer two months of internet for free, to bolster the public schools’ efforts to engage students remotely. But some families found out that they could not use the program if they had a balance with the company—and so are effectively shut out of school!
It goes like this across the board: working class students are less likely to have a quiet place at home to be able to work. They often have to help out with childcare for siblings—particularly if their parents are “essential workers” and still working. Many middle class students can take advantage of educated parents who are also working from home—a class advantage. Students with unstable housing situations could benefit from the same schooling environment when in an actual school. But such students often find it difficult or impossible to take part in “virtual school.”
“Distance Learning” is inferior to regular education for almost all students. But, as with all things in this crisis, the problems are magnified for students from the working class. This society, and the people that run it, are fine with discarding the education of working class kids.
Apr 20, 2020
As the days drag on under COVID-19 isolation, youth are being pushed in front of electronic devices for school. Only a few weeks ago, these students were walking the halls of high schools, gearing up for prom, SATs, spring break plans—in the blink of an eye it was stripped away.
For most students it probably seemed fun, at first, spring break a little early. But as the days and weeks have passed, the reality is settling in. For high school seniors, all of the memories, good or bad, created in those final months of your formative schooling, are gone.
For many students, working through high school provided income for them to go to college or begin a life on their own, but that has all been shattered.
For students as well as the older population, social interaction plays a vital role in the development and stability of the brain. Colleges are already looking to start school in the fall with no students on campus. Online communication and education are not an answer for everyone, and should never be a long-term solution.
Restarting or reopening businesses is going to happen, we’re not sure how or when, but in a capitalist system, profit will always be put before lives, as it has done for hundreds of years. What does this do for the students and elderly stuck at home? For them, reopening the economy doesn’t mean much. They still will not have a place to go.
Apr 20, 2020
In 2010, Newport Medical Instruments got a contract to produce ventilators for the federal government’s depleted emergency stockpile, to be used for situations like the current coronavirus pandemic.
But a larger company, Covidien, bought up Newport Medical Instruments in 2012. Covidien refused to honor the contract to build ventilators. There wasn’t enough profit in it.
The takeover by Covidien and its cancellation of the contract was approved by the Federal Trade Commission and the federal government. These much-needed ventilators were never built. And the federal government’s stockpile of ventilators was still depleted when the Coronavirus pandemic hit this country.
For the corporations and the government that serves the wealthy, nothing comes before profit, not health care, not even life and death. That is how capitalism functions. It is a system that must be replaced by a system that serves the needs of all humanity.
Apr 20, 2020
About 2.4 million people are still working on this country’s farms. The migrants who make up a big portion of these workers are already some of the lowest paid people in the country and they are threatened by the Coronavirus, sleeping in crowded dorms as they move from one farm to another.
But the farm bosses say they are struggling. So the White House Chief of Staff and the Agriculture Secretary announced a plan to help out—they are trying to reduce wages for the 200,000 “foreign guest workers” even further! This will of course mean lower wages for all farmworkers.
Could it be any clearer which class the government serves?
Apr 20, 2020
This pandemic has let the cat out of the bag on all of the social issues that plague the system we live in, such as health and economic disparities in areas where there are minorities and/or low income workers, the lack of healthcare workers and supplies, the lack of teachers in the education system—we could go on. Jumping to restart a system that put us in this situation is only going to continue the problem.
There are lessons to be taken from this crisis and the first is that the workers are the ones that stepped up to the plate to care for one another, not Washington or Lansing. The hospital staff, the bus drivers, grocery store workers, etc., stepped up to make sure those in the communities were taken care of. People taking care of people is best in our communities, not politicians dictating policies.
Apr 20, 2020
Workers are thrust into combat mode. Called to stand on the front line, expected to be out in the COVID-19 world as doctors, nurses, firefighters, police, being LIFE SAVERS. Bus drivers, factory workers, office workers, restaurant workers—“essential workers” were never taught to be in combat situations. Yet, here we are!
While “essential workers” become super heroes supporting our communities, what is happening to the people that are essential to supporting workers at home—their families? The youth and elderly left at home during this pandemic are subjected to exposure every day when essential workers return home.