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
Nov 26, 2018
When the 50-million-dollar Kardashian-West mansion was threatened by the recent California fires, a private firefighting crew sprang into action, saving the house.
And their house was not alone: at the peak of the fires, Wildfire Defense Systems had 53 engines protecting almost 1,000 expensive homes.
It appears that wealthy people get “private” fire protection because public fire services are not funded enough, especially in the face of the increasingly severe fires.
Two months before the recent round of fires started, CalFire had already exhausted almost its entire budget. The Forest Service budget for controlling wildfires has been cut year after year since the mid-1980s. Municipal fire departments have been facing the squeeze all across the country.
The wealthy class today has the wealth they’ve stolen from the rest of us to hire their own fire protection. If the rest of us want enough funding for the fire departments we depend on–we’ll have to take that wealth back!