It’s a struggle of Chicano people for liberation. It’s a struggle of workers against the boss, a struggle which involves a whole lot of things.. .more than just a fight for a union. A striker said, ’It is people like Willie Farah who long ago stole our land and paid cheaply for our ancestors. And it’s time that we Chicanos stand up and say Basta Ya! That’s enough! No more!’ – from panel on IMPORTANT LABOR STRUGGLES ’73 on the Farah strike
The central importance of raising the national question and of fighting discrimination was a common thread which ran through all of the workshops at the Labor Conference. In the workshop, “The National Question and Labor,” however, the role of communists in fighting discrimination and white chauvinism, in uniting the class, was discussed in great detail.
In building mass organizations among the workers, both national and multi-national forms can be used. The form of organization depends largely on the objective and subjective conditions in each shop. Often caucuses that are national in form raise demands that are in the interest of all the workers.
It is necessary that communists apply the principle of “division of labor” in our shop work. That is, the white comrades have a special responsibility to do work among the white workers, combatting racism and winning them to support the special demands of the nationally oppressed workers. At the same time, it is essential that national minority comrades concentrate especially on building up the political movement and organization of nationally oppressed workers, and in so doing, build up working class leadership for the democratic struggles of their entire peoples.
As the labor aristocrats struggle to maintain ideological and political sway over the workers, white chauvinism is one of their main weapons. In the South and Southwest, the failure of the union bureaucrats to seriously take up the task of “organizing the unorganized” in textile, agriculture and other areas, is another example of white chauvinism. It is in these areas where great potential exists for unity among the national minority and white workers.
We must avoid being arrogant and “know it alls” in the shop, and place special emphasis on following the mass line. Workers of different nationalities have different cultural background. We must build mutual respect among the workers in this area. In the plants where there are workers who speak different languages, we must push the union< caucuses and other workers’ organizations to publish material in the various languages spoken.
In combatting white chauvinism, it is often necessary to go “against the tide.” Communists should avoid, however, being abstract and dogmatic about the national question, recognizing that only in the course of practice and struggle can the need for unity be made concrete.
One of the main ways in which discrimination manifests itself in the shops is through the seniority system. How can communists fight concretely against the “jim crow” use of seniority?
Communist organizers must come “face to face” with the issue. We cannot sidestep the question of seniority simply because it is controversial or unpopular among a certain sector of workers.
The main thrust of the attack must be made at the company, where the primary responsibility rests and not on the white workers. In taking up the struggle against the racist use of seniority, however, a small handful of white workers might be displaced. The main point is that the defeat of the racist seniority system is in the interest of the vast majority of workers of all nationalities.
On the question of democratic rights in general, in order for principled unity among the workers to be built, the white workers must be won to support the demands of the nationally oppressed people against discrimination in all areas of society, not simply as it affects the national minority workers in the shop.
We must win the workers to oppose imperialism and its policies of national oppression and genocide abroad as well as here in the United States. Fighting against deportations is one example where stressing proletarian internationalism is the key. These attacks on foreign nationals, Haitians and Mexicans for example, working in this country, must be stopped if real class unity is to be developed.
We can see how the failure of communists and communist organizations to unhesitatingly take up the fight against national chauvinism has led to their isolation and downfall.
In general, the fight against national oppression and for unity of the class must be waged in a principled way. Communists must avoid building “unity” simply for temporary economic gains. The white workers must be won to see the need to develop this unity to a working class perspective.