mim3@mim.org for the Maoist Internationalist Movement:

I've been asked what the practical meaning of opposing parasitism is as a
cardinal question. Unless you attack the labor aristocracy and not
just the labor bureaucracy, you will end up in the hands of white
nationalism and fascism in the imperialist countries.

Let's look at it from the point-of-view of philistine practice.
The following article has been posted in threads about our line
on parasitism on the Internet by the "RCP-USA." The central task
of the "RCP-USA" is to distribute their newspaper. So in practice,
what I am showing you below is their central thing, an article
from their newspaper.

In practice, MIM would not publish an article like this, but
minus the sentence about "Civil Rights," a Mussolini alive
in the united $tates today would publish it. He would only
conclude that the state has to take the side of both the workers
and the bosses in corporatism.

One thing you can search the whole article below for is
any sense that Georgia is connected to the global economy in such
a way that surplus-value flows into Georgia. It's not mentioned
anywhere, and especially as an answer to MIM it is objectively
white nationalist. We can just see Mussolini getting worked up
over the same thing the "Revolutionary Worker" is talking about.
Not for nothing it is called "national socialism."

White nationalists believe that their nation is independent and would even
be better off without economic interaction with the Third World. The KKK
holds rallies opposing NAFTA for that very reason. By talking about these
workers off in Georgia somewhere, as if they were independent of
imperialist exploitation, the "RCP-USA" is stoking the fire of white
nationalism--even when people involved are Black. Because the larger
portion of the beneficiaries of super-exploitation is white, it does not
matter if the people putting forward the line below are Black or other
nationalities. There could even be a kooky multinational fascism: that
is not the point right now.

We need to be clear that some hard-working proletariat working
by itself not sucking in super-profits from the Third World is
an imperialist country MYTH. It belongs with fascism, not
progressive forces.

Not for nothing Marx said that the ONLY difference between a communist
and other working class movements is the communist's internationalism:
"The Communists are distinguished from the other working-class parties by
this only: 1. In the national struggles of the proletarians of the
different countries, they point out and bring to the front the common
interests of the entire proletariat, independently of all nationality.
2. In the various stages of development which the struggle of the working
class against the bourgeiosie has to pass through, they always and
everywhere represent the interests of teh movement as a whole."
"Communist Manifesto," II "Proletarians and Communists"

[Article from the "RCP-USA" below supposedly rebutting MIM.]
********************************

Finding the Proletariat in Georgia

There has been discussion on http://2changetheworld.info around the
question of whether or not there is a proletariat in the USA.

Are there really people here that have nothing to lose but their chains?
Some claim that there is no real proletariat in the USA, but when I look
around me I see differently.

Albany is a small city deep in south Georgia, with a population around
100,000. If you drive down its main street, it seems that there must be
nothing here but service jobs, mostly small stores and parking lots. Its
surface is like a skin stretched taut that hides the many small industrial
plants, most with fewer than 50 workers.

One produces ice cream cones, in another women are crouched over
electronics boards soldering parts in place, then there are the sewing
factories that turn out uniformsthe list goes on.

There are large factories as well, like Miller Brewery and M&M Mars or
Bobs Candy Company which recently closed, only to reopen later without
hiring back most of the older employees that were nearing retirement age.
Close to 50 workers out of some 350, who will not see the retirement
benefits that they worked so long for, were left trying to find some
employment somewheremost likely at lower wages than they had before.

And its not an easy thing to go on strike herethe law has a heavy hand on
people and always has. This is a region where religious conservatism has
produced laws that linger still today in surrounding areas that forbid
shopping on Sundays and can get you busted for drinking a beer on your own
front porch. There is the feeling that the cops keep an eye on everyone
and everything. Something as simple as washing more than one car in your
yard in certain neighborhoods can get you sent up on charges of operating
a business without a license, which can lead to losing welfare benefits,
and so on. The daily paper makes no mention of cases of police brutality,
yet nearly everyone you talk to has either had an experience with it or
knows someone who has.

City officials call this The Good Life City and talk about how people like
Dick Cheney come here to hunt on the exclusive hunting plantations rich
with Southern heritage. Covered over is the history of the intense
struggles of the Civil Rights movement and the brave resistance waged by
the people here against that Southern heritage. Those struggles are
something that the city officials seem to wish to forget, or to at least
paste over.

This pasting over cannot hide the realities that exist for the majority of
people here.

Transmission Crafters is one of the small factories here. From the front
it seems to be nothing more than a neat little storefront of off-white
brick from some bygone time. Behind this extends the red tin shell which
is the outside of the operation. Inside, on summer days, the temperatures
soar well into the 90s and often hit the 100s. The conditions are harsh,
but quite typical. The only ventilation is the large open spaces where the
trucks are loaded and unloaded.

Here, used transmissions are brought in on trucks and unloaded. Workers
who are mechanics and machinists rework them. This is one of those places
where people find the job of last resort, the backbreaking job to get the
hours in for the welfare reform programs or work release programs. Some
people have spent years here, in the same place. The vast majority of
workers in this shop are from among the oppressed.

A few months ago there was a strike at Transmission Crafters, and I went
out to see what was up and to offer support to the workers.

I pulled into the small side road that runs along the main road and up
toward the factory. It was already close to noon. Several of the workers
ran up to the car as I approached to see if I was coming to scab. Others
were marching with signs. Broad shoulders testified to the heavy work that
is usually carrieBroad A
to the heavy work that is usually carried out inside, but the machines lay
silent.

Instead of the usual grinding and hum of voices from the line, one worker
shouted out at the owner with the others joining and repeating. These were
not passive voices. The passion of the words could be felt deep inside.
They meant it. They were serious. They were on strike.

After struggling to get a union and a contract over a year ago, the boss
had suddenly pulled the contract. He refused to negotiate. Its obvious
that he has gone as far as he can to break the union. Even with the union,
each man on the line was making no more than $9 an hour. The workers are
machinists and mechanics whose training takes up to six months to master
the jobs that they do. Before getting the contract, many of them had been
putting in as much as 14 hours a day, sometimes 7 days a week. The owner
was trying to turn back what gains the workers had made.

Many of the workers at Transmission Crafters had started at minimum wage
and worked years to break in to $6 an hour. The work that they do requires
that they lift 70 to 80 pounds a day up to 1000 times. The harshness of
the work added to their certainty that they would win out even though
scabs were being hired. Those scabs they are hiring, they wont last till
2. They be running out of there like cockroaches as soon as it gets hot.
They might think that they are coming in here and get our jobs, but they
aint gonna last a day in there. The boss claimed that the plant was
running, but the workers knew better.

I joined in and marched with them. Most of the workers were Black and some
were white. Some have been on welfare, others came here from prison. One
man told me, I cant just go out and get another job like this one. We
fought to get a union here and these wages, someone else will just give me
$5.15. I cant start over. Ive been in prison.

Under a tent, the workers took breaks from marching in shifts so that the
driveways remained manned. Word had been put out that there were jobs
available and people were coming up to see if they could get a job. Most
were unaware that if they were hired they would be replacing a worker on
strike. This is scabbing. It was important to confront these people coming
to scab and let them know the situation. Many of them understood and
decided that they didnt want any part of being scabs.

As a car approached, the workers moved in to surround the car and it would
slow to a halt. A worker approached the driver and explained, If you take
this job, you aint going to have job security. You are going to be just
like us. Thats why we are out here, they dont pay anything and the work is
hard and its hot in there. You will just be taking our jobs and then they
will just do this to you, too. You dont want this. You dont want to go in
there.

One driver replied, Hell, if they are doing that shit to you, damn right I
dont want it, Im better off without that and pulled away down the road.
The workers shouted with a sense of celebration as the car disappeared.
The scene was repeated over and over. A few didnt listen and went in
anyway.

The bosses tried to stop this, claiming that the workers were on private
property when they were stopping the cars. But the workers had already
gotten the documentation from city hall showing where the property lines
were. The bosses tried to get the police to stop us from gathering around
the cars, saying that we were impeding traffic. At one point there were
threats of arrest, but the workers continued to stop the cars anyway.

Some people had been sent over by welfare or by the department
of labor. They felt that they had to go in. The state was clearly taking
the side of the bosses, just like the cops, acting together against the
workers on strike and seeking to undermine their efforts. A discussion
about whose side the state is on developed out of this. Back under the
tent we got into the RW article Welfare Train Wreck a bit. The few copies
that I had were shared around.

An older worker told those gathered about how back in the 60s, this
wouldnt have happened. About how people were fed up and need to get fed up
again. How it looked like things were going to change, and he never
imagined that they would go back. He told us that that is the way it needs
to bethat there needs to be more fighting back and more strikes. That we
shouldnt keep tolerating these conditions and that people really needed to
think about doing something about it.

Despite their efforts, the workers at Transmission Crafters went back to
work without a contract. The small gains they had made still hang in the
balance. And even if they had gotten the contract, could they say that
they would not lose it again? They remain at the mercy of this societys
power structure. These workers, and many others, truly have nothing to
lose but their chains.