By Al Johnson -
RPO(ML) yJim Rosenbaum - Friends of Labor's Champion
May 1st Statement
We Appeal to the Working Class of New York:
Unite in revolutionary struggle to overthrow the billionaire capitalists who are the real source of our common sufferings!
African-American, Latin, white and all other workers, Unite!
By Al Johnson -
RPO(ML) y
Jim Rosenbaum - Friends of Labor's Champion
Endorsed by:
Ralph D'Angelo
Manuel Ubiera
Elyene Dayiti
Jean Running Water Black
The billionaires who run this city, and the government that serves them, are deliberately orchestrating racist attacks on the national minority workers and peoples of the city.
On the one hand, this expresses itself in extraordinary levels of police terror affecting national minorities. We still remember Michael Stewart, the African-American artist, who was beaten and choked to death by at least six New York City transit cops in 1983. And we remember the 1984 police murder of Eleanor Bumpurs, the 67 year old African-American grandmother who was shot to death by police who were evicting her from her apartment in a Bronx housing project. Killings by the police in the metropolitan area have increased rapidly. These include the highly publicized cases of:
José García, a Dominican immigrant worker, killed by police in Washington Heights in July of 1992;
Dagoberto Pichardo, a Dominican immigrant, pushed off the roof and killed by police during the subsequent rebellion;
Phillip Pannell, a 16 year old African-American youth, shot in the back with his hands in the air by police in Teaneck, NJ, in April, 1990.
There have been myriads of other less-publicized cases of police terror in the New York area also (see below).
The government's denials of the racist bias of the police force and these killings were completely exploded with the savage police riot on September 16, 1992. On this day, thousands of police marched to City Hall chanting racist slurs and attacking Blacks who accidentally crossed their paths. Not a single officer or leader of this lynch mob has been prosecuted for this outrage.
Vigilantes
At the same time, the government has encouraged and sanctioned vigilante acts of terror upon non-whites. The notorious Bernhard Goetz and the lynchers of Howard Beach and Bensonhurst were given the green light to carry out their racist assaults by the ruling class. This is why the courts shielded them and gave most of them a slap on the wrist when they were eventually brought to trial. Other reactionaries such as the Lubavitcher leadership and the Jewish Defense Organization have worked to organize racist assaults in the Crown Heights area, such as the beating of a homeless man, Ralph Nimmons, with barely a pretense of interference from the authorities.
Mass Media
In many cases, these unconscionable acts are encouraged and justified through open appeals to white racism by the perpetrators. In others, however, more subtle means are used to create an ideological climate to justify and spur on the racists to actions.
For example, the big newspapers, radio and television stations, which are controlled by the big rich, have been steadily and deliberately preparing the minds of the white masses to accept racist attacks on non-whites. They have been creating a hysteria against Blacks and other national minorities. All the news programs, movies and talk shows espouse the same vile lie that Blacks, Puerto Ricans, Dominicans and immigrants are the source of crime, poverty and "urban disintegration". The media urges on the authorities to repress the non-whites in order to eliminate these problems. Just as Hitler did with the Jews, Romani people ("Gypsies") and Slavs, the ruling class is scapegoating the Blacks for the crimes of capitalism. But crime, which is engaged in by various persons from all sections of the population (whites and nonwhites), is a consequence of the poverty, unemployment, degeneracy and lack of consciousness caused by capitalism.
And we must never forget the elementary and fundamental fact that the real criminals in this society are the capitalists themselves, whose wealth is based on the robbery and accumulation of surplus labor stolen from the working class.
This racist, chauvinist, and counter-revolutionary role of the capitalist press was sharply exposed during the countrywide uprising that followed the acquittal of the cops who beat Rodney King in April of 1992. The initial reaction of most workers, white as well as non-white, was outrage at the exoneration of the racist cops. But the capitalist-controlled media worked overtime to whip up fear and hysteria to split the white workers from the Black workers. They spread the most blatant racist lies that Blacks were randomly attacking whites throughout mid-town Manhattan. These lies were spread by radio to workplaces all over the city, where they were picked up by the capitalist bosses, who sent workers home early, allegedly, "for their own safety." While there were examples of white workers joining Blacks and others in the demonstrations against the cops and the court system, overall this racist agitation had its intended effect of damping much of the incipient unity of the workers of all nationalities.
Capitalism in Crisis
It is no accident that this wave of racist hysteria is being whipped up at this time by the capitalist class with the help of its allies, the petty bourgeoisie and the labor aristocracy -- the high-paid workers. The capitalist system is in a severe economic and political crisis. The crisis is endemic and it affects all the capitalist states, in Europe, Asia and the Americas.
Unemployment is skyrocketing as the capitalists continue their massive layoffs of workers. Homelessness is growing. Despite the lying propaganda of the bosses, production is declining and competition for shrinking markets is urging on the bosses to attack the workers. The capitalists are recovering their profits through a wholesale attack on the standard of living of the working class. More and more, the workers' wages are dropping, society is being split into haves and have nots, into rich and poor. Sensing the approach of a workers' revolt and revolution against these conditions, the bosses turn more and more to racism. They hope to block the inevitable movement of the workers against these attacks by the tactic of "divide and conquer".
Racist incitement and police terror grow directly out of the very nature of the U.S. state, which is a dictatorship of the rich. Rights and democracy are only accorded to the rich capitalists; the laboring masses and oppressed nations, on the other hand, are subjected to a dictatorship of the capitalists. Though it wraps itself in all sorts of democratic forms and pompous language, the essence of this state still remains the same. The military, police, courts, legislative bodies, and paramilitary groups (i.e. the Klan, the Nazis, the vigilantes, the syndicate and drug lords) are the main repressive elements of the capitalist state machine used by the rich, to hold the working class and oppressed nations down. It is a savage machine that rests on violence unrestricted by any laws. And as the economic crisis intensifies, the capitalists are more and more resorting to open terror to subjugate the masses who are beginning to rise in revolt.
Working Class Interests
The rich seek to use racist appeals and incitement to drive a wedge among the various sections of the workers; among the white, Black, Puerto Rican, Dominican and other detachments in order to overcome them all.
It is this grave threat to the unity of the working class that compels all class-conscious workers and real Marxist-Leninists to warn their comrades and the masses of the danger before them. We call on you to reject racism and work to close our ranks against the capitalist exploiters.
Racist incitement and division are obviously harmful to the interest of all wage workers who are exploited by the capitalist class, for it makes resistance to the main enemy, the big rich, impossible. And contrary to the appeals of the racists, it is also in the interest of the white workers to come up to the front and fight white racism, the main source and instigator of working class disunity. Even though the bosses have set things up so that white workers enjoy small privileges over non-white and immigrant workers, these privileges act as a hangman's rope around their necks. It splits them off from their class brothers and sisters and makes it impossible for them to mount any serious resistance to the demands of the bosses. They too are thereby condemned to permanent capitalist oppression even though it may be at a slightly higher wage and with a few more token rights. As Karl Marx clearly pointed out, "Labor cannot emancipate itself in the white skin when in the black it is branded".
We must answer the united front of the capitalists class with the united front of labor!
White racism (chauvinism) has at the same time provoked anti-white sentiments among broad sections of non-whites. This has been taken advantage of by the national minority capitalist class, represented by such persons as Minister Farrakhan. Seeking to secure their own narrow class interest, they stir up hatred against all whites including the mass of exploited, common white workers. This consequently has the objective of furthering the split in the working class and is encouraged by the rich white bourgeoisie.
Dinkins and the Democratic Party
The liberal capitalists have activated the Dinkins regime to make a number of hollow and completely fraudulent appeals for "racial harmony". They want to "harmonize" the racists and those fighting racism; in other words, to cover over the foul crimes of the racists with hollow platitudes about "all of us being human beings". This demagogy is used to squash the mass struggle against the racist thugs, especially to disarm and prevent the masses from taking resolute action to protect themselves from the attacks of the racists.
After the courts exonerated the racist police who killed José García, Dinkins called on the people to "respect the decision". When the people took righteous action to punish the authorities through a mass revolt, Dinkins said that "the time for judgment is past; the time for healing is upon us" and called for "unity". By this he meant that the oppressed should unite with their tormentors and forget about the crimes of the police. To the advantage of the police and racists, Dinkins wants to unite the victims of these attacks with those who instigated and carried them out.
But from the standpoint and interest of the oppressed what is needed is not "unity" with the oppressor but disunity from the oppressor. What is needed is an intensification of the struggle against the oppressor, if justice is to be done and oppression overcome. What is needed is a complete break with Dinkins, the Democratic and Republican parties and the rest of the government, for they are working hand and glove (quietly and openly, directly and indirectly) to launch the police attacks and shield the racists from the wrath of the oppressed.
Social Chauvinism
The opportunist, so-called "socialist" parties are no better than the liberals and Dinkins. They, too, want the oppressed to make peace with the police bullies and racists, that is, to bow down before them like whipped dogs.
The revisionist, anti-Marxist, Communist Party USA is falling all over itself to endorse the line of the Democratic Party headed by Mayor Dinkins. It conceals the real fact that the phony anti-racist statements of Dinkins are completely hypocritical and designed to camouflage the government's support of the race baiters and bigots.
The Workers World Party, which supported Dinkins for mayor, follows his footsteps like a puppy. They do nothing to expose the crying hypocrisy and duplicity in the stand of Dinkins and the Democratic Party. They espouse the nonsensical demand for so-called "community control of the police," which dovetails completely with Dinkins' plan to create a "Police Review Board". This demand for "community control" misleads the oppressed into believing that, without a socialist revolution, it is possible under capitalism for the "people" to "control" the state apparatus. But the experience of the working class movement shows that this is a complete illusion, and totally incapable of reducing police terror and racist violence.
The Struggle of the Working Class
Revolutionary mass struggle is the only means to beat back and ultimately overcome those directing police terror and racist violence. Strikes, demonstrations and revolts must be carried out against the capitalists and the state.
Connected with these actions, the advanced workers and all sections of the working class must give unqualified support to the just, democratic demands of the national minority peoples in the USA. First and foremost we must demand the right to self-determination, complete sovereignty, and independence for the African-American nation (in the Black Belt South) and for Puerto Rico.
This central demand will maximize the unity of the working class by removing the divisive state privileges for the white workers and putting all workers on the same footing as far as the organization of the state is concerned.
At the same time, the working class must demand the prosecution, conviction and imprisonment to the full extent of the law of all cops who commit murder and other acts of terror against the people. The police have almost always been exonerated after carrying out these acts.
We are well aware that such measures are against the interests of the capitalist state, which will not budge without a serious fight. Therefore, a most stubborn revolutionary struggle must be waged focussing its attention on rallying the masses in the trade unions -- the main mass organization of the workers. Here, the class-conscious, socialist workers must carry out untiring, patient, persistent, educative work for these demands and work to draw the members of the AFL-CIO and other unions into the struggle. The workers in the unions must be activated to break with the racist policies of their bureaucratic misleaders and take an active role in the fight against racist attacks. As an example, we saw that after the Los Angeles rebellion, the bosses were able to undermine the unity of the workers in New York and whittle away the active participation of the white workers and trade union masses. First of all, the trade union members (regardless of race and nationality) must wage a conscious struggle according to a preconceived plan. And if, during the next spontaneous rebellion, the revolutionary workers are able to bring out even a small contingent of unionized, organized workers in solidarity, this will have a pronounced effect on the outlook of the masses of the workers and the unity of the class.
Moreover, the revolutionary, class-conscious workers must lead in the organization of self-defense patrols, made up of workers of all nationalities, to protect the working class neighborhoods against racist attacks.
Socialist Revolution
It should never be forgotten that there is but one way to completely put an end to racism, national chauvinism and division brought on by capitalism, and that is through the revolutionary overthrow of capitalism. This process begins with the seizure of power by the working class, the smashing of the capitalist state machine, the expropriation of the rich billionaires and the organization of a socialist republic in the USA. Since racism is an integral part of the capitalist dictatorship, it can only be exorcised when the socialist revolution completely triumphs at home and abroad. The dictatorship of the rich minority must be replaced by the dictatorship of the working class, which grants full democracy to the laboring masses and no democracy to the exploiters, the capitalists. This will be a new, higher type of state which draws the workers into state administration on an unprecedented scale. The workers' state will organize a new socialist order and suppress the resistance of the rich, who will not accept their defeat without a fight.
The revolutionary conquest of power will destroy much of the old repressive machine, the police, the military, etc., and the new state power will completely wipe them from the face of the earth.
In the area of national and race relations, the socialist state will immediately outlaw and ban all racist groups like the KKK, the skinheads and so forth. It will enact laws that will prohibit advocacy and agitation of the doctrine of racial superiority and chauvinism. Such laws will be strictly enforced with stiff penalties for violators.
It will allow all oppressed peoples and nations who wish to withdraw and form their own independent states to do so without interference. It will incorporate regional autonomy for national minorities and peoples who wish to remain a part of a multinational socialist state.
Duties of Class-Conscious Workers
We call on the class-conscious workers of this city to prepare yourselves and the mass of workers for the coming revolution.
We call upon you to join with us in forming a new genuine, non-opportunist Marxist-Leninist party which will organize and lead the revolutionary struggle.
In connection with these activities we call on you to take a firm stand against the racist attacks and to carry on work among the masses in the spirit of proletarian internationalism. The class conscious workers must show by their example that the way to real unity, fraternity and friendship among the oppressed peoples of various races and nationalities is through a determined revolutionary struggle against racism and opportunism.
We issue this appeal in the many languages spoken by the different sections of the working class. This is done to communicate our message more clearly and to respect the equality of languages of all the workers of this area.
We, who are making this appeal, are representatives of the class-conscious and revolutionary Marxist workers of the city. We hail from the different nationalities; we are African-American, White, Latin and Asian. Our joint action is an example for the broad mass of the workers to follow in building the unity of the working class.
Other acts of police terror:
The killing of Federico Pereira in February, 1991, by 5 cops, who beat and choked him to death after he was found asleep in an allegedly stolen car in Rego Park, Queens.
The death of a Haitian immigrant, Grady Alexis, in Greenwich Village, Manhattan, in May, 1991, after he was struck in the head by an off-duty cop and his friends.
The shooting death of Mary Mitchell, an African-American woman, in her home in the Bronx in November, 1991, by a cop who was intervening in a domestic dispute.
The killing of Hector Rivera in Bushwick, Brooklyn, in early 1992.
The killing of José Ubiles, a 21 year old factory worker, in Bushwick, Brooklyn, May, 1992.
The "off-the-books" shooting of Howard Caesar, a 17 year old African-American, by Newark cops in June, 1992, and the cover-up of this shooting.
The beating of an African-American woman, Ann B. Dodds, and her family, in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, in July, 1992.
The paralyzing of Robert Nash, a Jamaican immigrant who drove a livery van, after a beating by cops in Brooklyn in August, 1992.
The shooting of Lisa Stanley, a pregnant homeless African-American woman, in a Bronx subway station in front of two of her young children.
The paralyzing of a Black undercover transit cop, Derwin Pannell, by other cops who fired 17 bullets at him, in a Brooklyn subway station, November, 1992.
The killing of Victor Vays, a Russian immigrant, by a stray bullet fired by off-duty cops who had gotten into a fight with some other men in Astoria, Queens, in December, 1992.
The killing of Auera Bonnie Vargas, a New York City school teacher originally from Puerto Rico, who was killed by cops after she was taken hostage by a bank robber in Manhattan, January, 1993.
The killing of Lenas Kakkouras, a Greek-Cypriot doctor, who was shot by Yonkers cops when he was waiting for a friend in his car in February, 1993.
The killing of Bekim Ahmeti, an unemployed doorman, who was shot 3 times in the back by cops in the Chelsea area of Manhattan in March, 1993.
While the great majority of those subjected to police teror have been from the oppressed nationalities, whites have also increasingly been the victims.
In February, 1985, a 20-year old white youth, Paul Fava, was shot and killed by a cop in a Bronx subway station after he allegedly jumped the subway turnstile.
In April, 1988, cops shot and killed Lydia Ferraro, a Venezuelan-born woman of Italian ancestry, in a hail of bullets as she was driving in East Harlem.
In September, 1990, a police inspector shot and killed a cab driver, Leonid Pekarsky, in Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn, after a minor traffic accident.
Workers of All Countries, Unite!
Revolutionary
Political Organization (Marxist-Leninist)
P.O. Box 15914
New Orleans, LA 70175
Friends of Labor's Champion
P.O. Box 1854
New York, NY 10027
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