The writer presented this as the opening talk of the Day of Socialism Workshops in Los Angeles on April 28. Over 110 people attended the event, organized by the Party for Socialism and Liberation. Alvarez is a member of the PSL and the L.A. coordinator of Youth & Student ANSWER. He is a student at Santa Monica College.
Good morning comrades and friends.
Welcome to the Party for Socialism and Liberation’s Socialism Workshops in Los Angeles. We urge everyone here to participate throughout the day, and by days end give serious consideration to joining the Party for Socialism and Liberation in struggle.
The PSL is doing a lot of work to organize the working class in the United States. As a member group of the ANSWER
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The day-to-day issues tackled by workers—whether it’s a struggle for a better wage or for affordable housing—are products of the capitalist system itself. A system based on profits is a system waging combat against the interests of workers and all oppressed peoples.
Our party is founded on revolutionary Marxism. We look to the working class as the only class with the potential to bring about revolutionary change. But it can not possibly do this without organization. We believe that there must be an organization that can and will lead its class to revolutionary victory. This type of organization is what we are trying to build.
There are thousands of organizations that exist that are trying to make the world a better place. Some work to get rid of homelessness; to tackle racism, sexism and homophobia; and to stop the U.S. war on Iraq. These organizations exist to ease the burden of the workers under capitalism. They are progressive. Our party, the PSL, exists to eradicate capitalism, the root cause of all workers oppression.
Capitalism cannot be reformed. It is a system based on the private ownership of the means of production. This includes the largest corporations in the world owned by the wealthiest people in the world.
Subscribing to the idea that a kindler and gentler capitalism is possible dooms workers to a catastrophic defeat. Capitalism is condemned to a fight a fatal battle waged by the working class.
Nothing in class society exists without opposition. Oppression breeds resistance. Capitalism creates the necessary conditions for revolution and the creation of socialism.
Los Angeles uprising
This weekend marks one of the greatest examples in Los Angeles of what happens when workers rise up against racism and oppression.
April 29 marks 15 years since the 1992 Los Angeles uprising was sparked by an outrageous jury verdict that found 4 white police officers “not guilty” of viciously beating a Black man, Rodney King. The King beating was captured on videotape and seen by the whole country.
After the verdict, a fire of revolutionary protest overtook much of South Los Angeles—the heart of the Black and Latino communities in the L.A. area. Tens of thousands of oppressed people were out in the streets. The angry rebellion forced the ruling class to call in the National Guard to repress the enraged communities. Around 16,000 people were arrested by the state.
The National Guard also had been called in to repress the Watts uprising of 1965. The rebellion in Watts was one of many uprisings of that time responding to the vitriolic racism and oppression faced by the Black community.
The rebellion in 1992 was even more widespread than the Watts uprising that happened decades earlier.
Demonstrators set fires, threw Molotov cocktails at the cops and even shot at police helicopters. Bus lines were rerouted, and even flights were cancelled because the demonstrators had created a security threat for LAX. Business as usual came to a grinding halt throughout the Los Angeles area. A community that was previously choking at the hands of the capitalists was now rising up in justified rebellion.
In an attempt to quell the rebellion from spreading, the City of Los Angeles promised all kinds of fixes to the problems of unemployment and underemployment in the affected areas, including bringing more grocery stores and other businesses. As soon as they were made, almost all of these promises were broken. The projected progress that the capitalists spoke of does not exist 15 years later.
A large number of workers must commute outside of South Los Angeles to find jobs. It is estimated that 14 percent of the city’s labor force now lives in South L.A., but only 3 percent of jobs are located there.
Over the years, the demographics of South L.A. have changed as well. An influx of immigrant labor has meant that many in the area live outside of the formal economy, receiving below-poverty wages and no benefits.
South L.A. has also seen the lowest rate of job growth as well the lowest rate of wage increases in the county.
While South Los Angeles is one of the poorest areas in the region and, indeed, the country, the problems are not only specific to that urban area. They reflect the overall deterioration of living conditions for workers across the United States.
The 1992 Los Angeles uprising was not something that could only happen in this city. It was a reflection of how people resist and reject the problems that the capitalist system heaps onto the working class. It showed once again that, under the racist capitalist system, working-class people inevitably will rise up against their oppressors.
Working to win
As long as there is capitalism, we can be sure that these kinds of spontaneous and even armed uprisings will occur. The uprisings, however, will come and go if there is no leadership that directs all of the anger and frustration against the capitalist bosses and the system itself.
The PSL is organizing to be able to be effective in these struggles that break out. They are an expression of working-class anger. They can advance in the interests of the working class.
Throughout the day we will delve into the many facets of class struggle in the United States and the world. This will be a rare opportunity to discuss at length the potential for revolution and the creation of socialism in this country. We’ll also discuss why we defend nations under the jackboot of U.S. imperialism.
Ultimately, we are looking to talk about class struggle and how to advance it. We want to be an active agent of change in that struggle and we want to win it. The most important thing that everyone can take away from today’s workshops is the determination to get involved with the Party for Socialism and Liberation.
Today’s event is a place where everyone can start that process. Each of us should strive to talk, to listen and to learn. If you don’t like to speak in front of a big group, the workshops will have a more intimate atmosphere. If you aren’t sure what you can say to add to the discussion, ask a question. Your active participation today is important for the collective experience.
Thank you.
