Following is a talk
given in the Closing Plenary of the Nov. 13-14, 2010, National Conference on
Socialism sponsored by the Party for Socialism and Liberation.
Growing up, like many of us in this room, my parents both
worked countless hours a week in order to be able to provide for me and my
brother with everything that we needed. My family always managed to pull
through, even during rough periods, by cutting corners and working extra hours
in order to get the bills paid by the end of the month. Although we were shy of
having the so-called “American dream,” we were content with our modest way of
living, and remained a happy, closely knit family. But things quickly began to
change for us when my mother was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1998. She had
to stop working for over a year in order to focus on her health and recovery,
which left us with only my father’s income.
Making ends meet became more and more difficult, and
although my mother had insurance, there were still many things that were not
covered by it, such as any and all procedures that could be considered part of
the reconstruction process. These procedures were not covered because, back
then, according to her insurance, they were not necessary for my mother’s
complete recovery. The out-of-pocket expenses of her medical bills increased
dramatically over that year, and it took years to finally pay them all off.
I still remember how excited my mother was after buying her
last bottle of tamoxifen, a common hormone treatment used by recovering breast
cancer victims for five years following their diagnosis. But she was not happy
because it marked the victorious end of her half-a-decade battle with this
disease, she was happy because she no longer had to pay those $90 a month in
order to get her necessary prescription refilled. I remember thinking, at 17
years old, how unfair it was for these insurance and drug companies to profit
off other people getting sick, and how money, or better yet, the lack of money,
can consume the thoughts and cripple the spirits of everyday hard working
families, like mine.
As I got older, and began working a retail job after school,
I started to notice how “far” my hard earned cash actually took me. After
taxes, bills, transportation and school expenses such as textbooks and tuition,
I barely had anything to go and enjoy myself with, that is, if I was not too
tired to go out after working so many hours and being a full-time college
student! I finally understood why my uncles lived by the words “Mucho trabajo,
poquito dinero.” It just didn’t seem right to me at all, that the majority of
people have to work so hard in order to simply get by, while big business
profits from my daily thousand-dollar-sales goal and reaps the earnings of the
end product that I, in fact, worked tirelessly for, while paying me $6 an hour.
And even during a personal time of crisis, when their employees need an
emergency paid medical leave, maternity leave, or proper health or dental
insurance, these corporations show no sympathy for the very essence and
backbone of their successful businesses—the workers. I knew there had to be
another way to live other than this biased economic system.
I decided to join the Party for Socialism and Liberation
because I realized that in order for our society to flourish from the barren
soil capitalism has caused, we all must actively take part in planting new
seeds. Building consciousness of all the injustices that are occurring in our
own communities and that are practiced against our sisters and brothers on a
daily basis is definitely the first step, but the next and most important step
is to have that newly found consciousness compel you to join the movement for
revolutionary change. As Rosa Luxemburg famously said, “Those who do not move
do not notice their chains.”
During the time that I joined the party as a candidate, back
in early July of 2009, the New York City branch was in the middle of collecting
15,000 signatures citywide in order to attain the right to have our mayoral
candidate, Frances Villar, be on the ballot for the November 2009 elections. In
a matter of three weeks, the NYC branch was able to meet our goal of 15,000
signatures, and we immediately continued on to spread the word of our campaign
throughout the city. Frances was the first woman of color to run for mayor in
the general elections of the country’s largest city.
The Frances Villar for Mayor campaign spoke diligently
against the inequalities that we as oppressed workers have to deal with
constantly, such as police brutality, gentrification, rent hikes, MTA fare
hikes, CUNY tuition increases, massive layoffs and always supporting the call
for amnesty for our immigrant sisters and brothers. The buzz of a socialist
candidate who was not afraid to go toe the toe against profit-hungry
billionaires such as Mike Bloomberg began to spread.
It was apparent from the individuals we met throughout the
campaign at our weekly community speak-outs, public meetings and while
flyering, that the people of New York City wanted things to change, and they
were listening to us. Through months of hard work, the PSL’s campaign of
“putting poor and working people first” reached tens of thousands of New
Yorkers. Frances received a higher percentage of votes than any socialist on the
ballot since 1981. Several new comrades joined the Party based on our work in
this campaign, and those of us who were already members grew tremendously
through the experience.
Everyone in this room right now made the decision to attend
this conference for their own reasons, and some may feel after everything is
said and done, “How can I take part in this movement?” We need fighters to join
us in our struggle to reach our goals of putting the interest of people before
profit. Our goal of having a planned economy that can provide free education,
universal medical care, and guaranteed food and housing, cannot be achieved
without the mass mobilization of our sisters and brothers—which is why everyone
here should strongly consider joining the PSL in order to actively take part in
fighting back against the oppressors.
Only with the help of thousands of peasant farmers and
workers were the Bolsheviks, led by Vladimir Lenin, able to overturn the
corrupt Czarist autocracy and return the wealth of the Soviet Union back into
the hands of those that helped create it. The Russian Revolution of 1917 is a
testament to what can be achieved when galvanizing the workers of
society—that’s everyone in this room!
My past year-and-a-half of membership in the PSL is only a taste
of what is in store for us in the struggle against the ruling class. Only by
building the party can this capitalist state be overturned by a revolutionary
party that seeks to put the interest of the workers of society first and
foremost. Join us in the struggle—join the PSL!
