NEW YORK CITY, December 17 —“Capitalism is war. We have to educate the masses about [it], so they see how it’s all connected,” one worker stated.
Another said, “Bosses I’ve worked for keep saying, ‘I’ll pay you next week, there’s no money right now.’ This guy right here is owed $2,000. We even know where the boss lives. We have to raise the consciousness of the workers.”
In response to the intensifying anti-immigrant racism inspired by U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump and others, PL’ers went to a local intersection to befriend mainly Latin undocumented workers and distribute CHALLENGEs in its Spanish-language edition, DESAFIO.
Every day of the year, rain or snow, up to 400 undocumented construction workers gather here at sunrise. They are mainly from Mexico, Guatemala, Ecuador, and Peru. “We go all across the city,” one of them said. “Some bosses treat us okay, others are abusive. Sometimes we get paid, or it takes months, or not at all.” The threat of cops and deportation is used to exploit and terrorize workers into accepting wretched wages.
Yesterday a PLP member distributed 30 DESAFIOs to a large group of workers, sparking a three-hour political debate. With limited Spanish, we did our best to communicate, often through pantomime. It reminded us of the importance of learning the language of the workers in the places we live. After reading the DESAFIO headline, they would tell the others, “No, take the paper, they’re against Trump!”
But soon they understood that the PL’er was more than just against Trump; he was against the whole damn system.
Immigrant Wage Slavery
Attacks on undocumented workers are sharpening. Rising racism has fueled job competition and cut wages. Painting an apartment pays about $160. “But when winter comes and your hands are shaking from standing out here from 7 a.m. until sunset, some will take anything,” one worker said. “Some do it for as low as $70 because they need to eat. That makes it harder for the rest of us freezing alongside them to negotiate more and feed our families.”
Many also work in nearby restaurants, where bosses force them into 14- to 16-hour shifts, six days a week, for $250 or less. “It’s brutal exploitation,” a worker said. Taking Leadership From Workers
We read the “Nuestra Lucha” (“Our Fight”) section, and the PL’ers shared information about reform groups helping undocumented workers in their day-to-day lives. The workers said their immediate problem was a lack of class consciousness, and an unwillingness to hold out for higher pay for their labor. We discussed the connection between imperialism and immigration, and PLP’s struggle within the working class in 28 countries to build for communist revolution.
One worker said, “If you want to organize, you can’t just come here once, you need to build friendships and confidence. Be here tomorrow, when hundreds more of us will be here.”
The worker from Peru agreed: “I support these ideas about communism and smashing all borders. Do you know the International?”
With that, the worker and a PL’er sang the International in Spanish.
Build a Base in the Working Class
We returned today with a native Spanish-speaking comrade. We made many contacts, and distributed 129 DESAFIOs in an hour. We could have distributed more! One young worker told us, “It’s getting worse with Trump. Workers born here feel bolder yelling or attacking us. The bosses treat us even worse. I think it’s related…What’s my solution? Overthrow it all—the system. Fight back. We can’t live like slaves.”
Trump is a bullhorn for the systemic racism in the U.S. that creates divisions among workers. He is thriving in the polls because his speech reflects the racist practice and ideology of capitalism. Liberal politicians like Barack Obama carry out the racism Trump spews: higher rates of deportation, more surveillance of immigrants, the closing of hospitals that serve the working class. The finance capital wing of the ruling class needs anti-Trump workers to buy into the myth of “lesser-evil” capitalists who will carry out the same racist, sexist agenda for imperialist war.
These workers want to meet with PLP to learn more about communism, and we will invite them to upcoming study groups. They will strengthen our fight with their experience and leadership, born out of hatred for capitalism and imperialism. We can learn from them as we organize students for a possible City University of New York strike in the spring (see page 3), as we bring our ideas to industrial workers, and as we build the international PLP and a worldwide communist movement against imperialism.  Los nada de hoy todo han de ser. “We have been naught, we shall be all.” Stay tuned for struggles ahead!