THE BRONX, November 5—Over 70 students, along with some faculty members, participated in a Fightback Forum about reform and revolution. It began with a panel discussion featuring the latest developments in the labor movement and concluded with a Q&A. The panels included reports from organizers on the GM autoworkers’ strike, the 7K movement at the City University of New York (CUNY), and a young Progressive Labor Party (PLP) member who is both a student and organizer with homecare workers. The discussion was filled with student enthusiasm from the inspiring examples of militant fight-back.
From start to finish, the activity was led by students—from the details of serving food and signing up students to join Common Ground, a mass organization on campus (see CHALLENGE, 10/23), to what ideas would be emphasized in the forum. CHALLENGE was on every desk along with literature from the various struggles. The planning paid off as the event was seamless from start to finish, with revolutionary music, great participation from the students, and clear and sharp speeches from the panelists.
Student worker unity the way forward
The forum opened with a spirited introductory speech from a West African student who emphasized the need for international solidarity of the working class and who spoke about why CUNY students and workers have the same enemy, and have the same interest in fighting and uniting with other workers and students everywhere. He pointed out that whether it is in Puerto Rico, West Africa, or the South Bronx, workers are all being strangled by capitalist exploitation. He then introduced the first speaker, a UAW (United Auto Workers) organizer who shed light on the exploitation of autoworkers. He described how the bosses super-exploit temporary part-time workers (lower hourly wages than full-time workers, few or no benefits, no path to permanent jobs), and are amassing even higher record profits. He went on to discuss how workers in different auto factories just organized a militant strike against the auto bosses and how they halted production in the plants, causing the bosses to lose profits.
Afterwards, a CUNY professor and “7K or Strike” (for a $7,000 salary/class) organizer delivered an inspirational speech about the super-exploitation of adjunct (part-time) college teachers, and organizing for a better contract for them. He connected the struggle for a better contract as not just for better working conditions but one that will improve conditions for students as well, making the important point that students’ learning conditions are teachers’ working conditions.
The final panelist closed the forum with a poignant account about homecare workers, and opened her talk with a powerful statement: “Workers fought for the eight hour workday in the 19th century. In the 20th, we won the 40-hour workweek and minimum wage laws. Sadly, in the 21st century, thousands of workers in the so-called progressive state of N.Y. work 24-hour workdays. For the last two years, I have been organizing with them.”
She went on to describe the sexist and racist conditions homecare workers in New York face. For example, the mostly Black, Latin and immigrant women work 24-hour shifts and are only paid for 13 of those hours. She emphasized the historical and present-day leadership of women in fighting for shortening the workday.
Future working class leaders learn communist politics
The panelists did a great job of showing that capitalism is the problem. This was reflected in the comments that followed. One student asked whether the panelists believed we need a new system, given the worsening conditions workers are facing across the board. Another student asked whether we saw an end to these injustices in sight, and whether we would achieve equality in our lifetime. All the panelists replied that while workers must continue to fight against the system, capitalism can never meet workers’ needs. In order for us to end the horrors of sexism, racism, exploitation, and inequality, we need to fight for a society that is run by working people—communism. Only then can we meet our needs. Overall, students were very receptive to our ideas.
One young woman remarked, “I am so glad you all opened my eyes to what’s going on. Now I know I have to do something!”
Through our newly formed group, Common Ground, we have been involving students in the fight-back campaigns on campus, whether it is about raises for part-time faculty, the lack of services on campus, or the deportations of workers in our community and students in our schools. We will continue to distribute CHALLENGE, and encourage them to attend PLP study groups. Our goal is to organize students not only to see themselves as the future workers in our society, but also as the future leaders of working-class struggle, and armed with communist ideas, to be the force that will eventually lead us out of this capitalist hell, and into a bright future under communism.