This article was presented at a Party for Socialism and Liberation public forum in Los Angeles. The writer is a teacher and union representative for United Teachers Los Angeles.
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In May, California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger made a “profound” statement. He said, “California no longer has low-hanging fruits—we don’t have any medium-hanging fruits, and we also don’t have any high-hanging fruits.” The sage continued spouting wisdom, “We have to take the ladder from the tree and shake the whole tree.” No one knew what the hell Arnold was talking about. But one thing was clear: His proposals are hell on working people.
Schwarzenegger wants to eliminate CalWORKs, a valuable welfare-to-work program. The program provides 1.4 million people with monthly checks, and two-thirds of its beneficiaries are children. His proposal would essentially eliminate welfare in a state that has the eighth largest economy in the world.
Schwarzenegger’s proposals would also slash child care for working families by $1.2 billion. The loss of child care for millions of working families is a double blow. If workers do not have access to child care they cannot go to work.
Schwarzenegger announced that he plans to cut the In Home Services Support Plan by $700 million, a program that serves 400,000 seniors. Some 70,000-80,000 seniors will lose their in-home care services entirely.
Although the governor claims that the cuts are needed to close the state’s $19 billion debt, in fact his aims are nothing more than an ideological assault on the rights of workers in favor of rights for capitalists. California will lose $3.7 billion in matching funds because of the elimination of CalWORKs and the in-home services program.
The policies make no sense—all these cuts could be avoided if Schwarzenegger had not approved $2.3 billion dollars in corporate tax breaks last year. Even in his current proposal, the governor wants another $2 billion in corporate tax breaks. If we stopped these tax breaks, we would have enough money to save all the programs previously mentioned.
The governor has made no secret of the fact that he also wants to dismantle pension systems for hundreds of thousands of state workers. State employees can possibly see a 5 percent pay cut, and the state will force workers to put more of their income into their retirement contributions. Plus, another furlough day will be added each month, as if there was not enough strain on their wallets already.
Simply put, the budget cuts kill. Homelessness, hunger and unemployment will all increase if the elimination of mental and substance abuse treatment takes place. Plans are in place to slash food assistance programs by $42.8 million. $1.5 billion may be cut from K-12 education.
Despite everything, corporate tax rates have been drastically reduced in the past 30 years. If taxes were raised back to the rates they were at in the early 1980s, it would raise billions. Plus, California is the only oil producing state that does not tax oil companies in the form of an oil severance tax.
Also Prop. 13, which froze property taxes in the late 1970s and starved the state of needed resources, overwhelmingly benefits commercial property owners despite the media spin of grandma and grandpa holding onto their house because of lower taxes. If Prop. 13 was rescinded for commercial property owners, it would represent a huge windfall for the state. Taxes for rich individuals should be raised to level the playing field since the disparity between rich and poor has never been greater.
All the governor’s proposals are not set in stone. Higher education was not cut, and that was because of the militant protests on California State University and University of California campuses on March 4, and the subsequent actions in Sacramento. Movements matter. With a people’s movement we can make a difference. We can fight back.
Communities United for Justice
In early June, a great action took place in downtown Los Angeles. The aim was to fight back against Schwarzenegger’s budget cut proposals. Stridently rejecting the notion that the working class must pay for capitalist debt, 300 protesters formed a large picket line chanting for basic human needs such as child care and welfare.
The action, organized by Communities United for Justice, a coalition of community groups and social service providers, which is an initiative of the ANSWER Coalition [Act Now to Stop War and End Racism], spearheaded the rally. Buses brought individuals from public agencies who came to struggle for essential services vital to their lives. Some came with their homemade signs and their children. Workers and families who participated represented the multinational character of the working class. The rally was much bigger than expected. Even California’s speaker of the assembly, John Perez, attended the rally.
The protest action showed that the working class is willing to fight for justice. Unfortunately, the unions have been dominated by their attachments to the Democratic Party and bourgeois politics, but the workers themselves, unionized or not, are yearning to struggle.
Several people from different public agencies present spoke urging the crowd to continue to fight. PSL member Muna Coobtee spoke on behalf of Communities United for Justice and told the crowd to not just defend the services they have now but fight for more rights.
Those there knew that the struggle for health care services, child care, education, the right to a job, were all one in the same and worth fighting for. The possibility of a large militant movement growing out of the fight against budget cuts is very real. When the issues affect the everyday reality of people, the working class will fight back by instinct.
This is why Communities United for Justice is such an important part of ANSWER in Los Angeles. The ANSWER Coalition formed after the World Trade Center attacks as a means to build a mass movement not only against war but other crimes of the system and to help people connect the dots between these issues.
ANSWER is a united front of progressive groups with staunch anti-imperialist views. In recent years, ANSWER has expanded its focus and organized demonstrations against Bush’s drive to privatize Social Security and opposed budget cuts imposed on the masses by bourgeois politicians.
Within the ANSWER Coalition, the PSL is the anchor. Our role as PSL members and as Marxists is to help build a mass movement that can mold members of the working class into a strong and cohesive formation that fights back against their class enemies.
The ANSWER Coalition is about building a mass popular movement of activists from different struggles. We participate in groups like Communities United for Justice to bring new faces, like many we saw on Monday, into the movement.
Comrades can orient working-class activists on many struggles, and facilitate working-class multinational unity on all fronts. As an organization, we believe strongly that people learn by doing and taking part in struggle, and that organizing and taking part in mass mobilizations itself increases the class consciousness of the working class. Communities United for Justice will attract people who feel they might not be ready to join a revolutionary organization, but are willing to struggle for progressive societal gains. Maybe some will remain allies and friends. All are welcome in the struggle. But some others may become revolutionaries and comrades.
Some of us, including myself, came to ANSWER first. We can attest to the effective and just tactics of ANSWER and PSL. Like many of us, I came to ANSWER wanting to struggle for a better world. Through the PSL I learned how we can get there. With our message of ditching the Democrats and building a real fighting movement in the streets, PSL will attract many people in the years to come. There are many who are angry and threatened under the present political climate and are itching to do something about it.
Help Communities United for Justice grow and become a thorn in the side of the ruling elite. Together let’s build a movement that will fight for the change the working class deserves.
