The following is an adapted talk from the Nov. 10 Socialism Conference in Los Angeles.
When we look at the world today, we can all see that it is not working for the vast majority of us—the ones who work, the ones who pay rent and struggle pay our bills. We make the world function, and yet we get the bare minimum in return.
There is a reason for the way the world is. It is all rooted in the capitalist system. In capitalism, making profits is the
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Capitalism is the system in which, in order to continue fighting the battle for increasing profits, the capitalists must compete for wider markets, leading them inevitably into imperialist wars. The war in Iraq that is killing so many Iraqi and U.S. workers is just part of that global quest for greater and greater profits for a tiny few.
The vast wealth that is produced under capitalism is produced by the labor of our class—the working class. It is the factory workers, store clerks, secretaries, bus drivers, nurses, all those who produce the goods and services that we need to live. Those of us who are students are in training to be workers.
The hundreds of billions of dollars in wealth that our labor creates is stolen by the capitalists on a daily basis. We only receive the bare minimum in order to survive and come to work the next day.
Do the billionaires work harder than electricians and hotel clerks? We know they don’t. The owners hold a position of privilege. Their entire wealth was created by stealing from the workers they employ.
And any time working people fight back, the capitalists use their laws, their cops, and their repressive forces to enforce and cover their theft of the people’s wealth.
Capitalist society is organized to make working people like us stay divided and fighting amongst ourselves.
White workers are taught that they are better than Black and Latino workers. Citizens are taught that immigrant workers are their enemies. Men are told that they are superior to women. These are lies created by the capitalists to keep us from uniting.
There has to be another way. Our future depends on fighting for a different society.
Working class power
Our class—us, our families, our coworkers, our fellow students and other working-class people—has a tremendous power in its hands.
It may seem like an uphill battle to unleash that power. But we are filled with revolutionary optimism that it can happen.
Our optimism comes from scientific study of society, social movements and social change. We see that capitalism cannot meet the needs of the masses of the people. The billionaires and the big banks and corporations have created an army of working people who are shut out of the wealth they have created.
But history teaches us that we can fight back—and win.
Our optimism comes from the heroic struggle of immigrant workers. Millions of immigrant workers and their supporters stood up to the rich and powerful when they were faced with a racist law in early 2006. They boycotted work, they marched and they became politicized like never before.
It was a small window into the power that we have as a working class.
Our optimism comes from the massive demonstration against the war in Iraq that took place on Sept. 15 in Washington and the Oct. 27 nationally coordinated protests in Los Angeles, Chicago, San Francisco, New York and elsewhere.
On Sept. 15, nearly 100,000 people marched on the Capitol with 200 people arrested, including many leaders and members of the Party for Socialism and Liberation, along with Iraq war veterans.
Just five days later, over 50,000 people marched to demand justice for the Jena 6, six young African American students who were unjustly charged with crimes for doing nothing more than defending themselves from racist attacks in small-town Louisiana. Again, the Party for Socialism and Liberation was there to engage in the anti-racist struggle.
One month later, over 100,000 people came out in cities across the U.S. again to challenge the criminal war. In Los Angeles, over 10,000 people demonstrated in the midst of raging California fires and a media blackout. At the protests, we not only opposed the war, but also raised solidarity with Palestine, took an anti-imperialist stand on U.S. threats facing Iran, denounced racism and the continued prosecution of the Jena 6, demanded full rights for all immigrants and much more.
People are now seeing that the problem is not just Bush, it’s not just the Democrats, it is not just corrupt, rotten politicians from the two main capitalist parties—the problem is the whole imperialist system. Our answer to this problem is not just reform—not just a band-aid for capitalism. The PSL believes that the entire capitalist ruling class has to go.
The PSL is deeply involved in the mass anti-war and anti-racist movements. We look forward to the day when those movements merge into a revolutionary force. We are working to this end.
Our optimism also comes from the examples of the revolutionary process in the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela and, of course, from socialist Cuba. Cuba has stood firmly against U.S. attacks since 1959, building a society where people’s needs come first; where education and healthcare and jobs are the top priority.
These are just a few examples of why we are optimistic; why we know that we will change the world. It is already changing and you should be a part of this exciting journey.
