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<\/figure>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nby Susan Rosenthal (5-4-20). http:\/\/susanrosenthal.com<\/a>\n\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n\nUnder pressure from employers and right-wing organizations<\/a>, governments are forcing people back to work<\/a>, despite no evidence that this is safe.\n\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n\nAccording to the World Health Organization<\/a> a pandemic ends when disease transmission is reduced to the level of occasional new cases and small clusters of new cases. This is achieved through testing, contact tracing, and isolation of the infected. As I explained in an earlier post<\/a>, this is not possible in a penny-pinching capitalist framework.\n\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n\nWe still have no reliable test<\/a> for the virus, so we cannot know how many people are infected, how many are dying from COVID-19 (and not from other causes<\/a>) and how quickly the disease is spreading.\n\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n\nThis pandemic could have been prevented or contained<\/a>. Failure to do so has allowed COVID-19 to become embedded in the human population, with devastating effects for the most vulnerable<\/a>. It could take years to develop a safe vaccine<\/a>. And vaccines are effective only when they are freely available<\/a> to everyone. This is unlikely, given the billions of dollars<\/a> being invested.\n\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n\nHalf a dozen pandemics have emerged over the past few decades, and more are expected. Over a million unidentified viruses could make the leap<\/a> from wild animals to human beings, as COVID-19 did. As long as the capitalist class remain in power, these new diseases will also escape containment to ravage humanity.\n\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n\nRoller-coaster<\/strong>\n\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n\nWe are riding a pandemic roller-coaster<\/a>. Lifting social restrictions will lead to a spike in infections, provoking new restrictions. When restrictions are loosened, another spike may develop, and so on.\n\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n\nCapitalists are desperate to resume production, regardless of the risk. They put out contradictory<\/a> or falsely reassuring<\/a> information. They cry crocodile tears about how workers must return to their jobs so they can pay their bills and how poor children need school meals. They could afford to provide these things, yet they refuse to do so. Capitalists profit from workers\u2019 labor; there is no profit in paying them to stay home.\n\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n\nWorkers rightly distrust<\/a> that they would be safe on the job or that employers care that they are safe. They have three good reasons:\n\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n\n\u2018Essential\u2019 workers are not being protected<\/a>, so why would it be different for other workers? Instead of redesigning work for maximum safety, businesses are demanding legal protection<\/a> from pandemic-related lawsuits if they reopen and workers die. And instead of defending workers\u2019 right to be safe, governments threaten them with loss of unemployment benefits<\/a> if they refuse to return to their jobs.\n\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n\nWorkers are in an impossible position<\/a>: return to work under conditions that could kill them, or avoid work and starve. This dilemma is as old as capitalism itself.\n\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n\nClass war<\/strong>\n\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n\nWorkplace safety lies at the heart of the class war between capitalists and workers. Capitalists risk workers\u2019 lives to extract maximum profit, and workers demand the right to preserve life, limb, and sanity.\n\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n\nAt any particular time, the balance of power between the two classes determines the level of workplace safety. As bosses gain power, they sacrifice safety in order to raise productivity. As workers gain power, they force improvements in safety.\n\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n\nDecades of capitalist assault<\/a> have made work more dangerous and life more precarious.\n\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n\nPrior to COVID-19, American workers were suffering an epidemic of deaths of despair<\/a>. \u2018Normal\u2019 had become intolerable. The risk of contracting COVID-19 on the job is a final straw that is breaking the willingness of workers to accept the unacceptable.\n\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n\nFight back<\/strong>\n\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n\nThe global economy serves as a transmission belt for disease. Currently, half the world\u2019s workers face the immediate risk<\/a> of losing their livelihood, if not their lives, to this pandemic. At the same time, international production and supply chains connect workers in all nations, making it possible to coordinate international struggles.\n\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n\nBefore COVID-19, mass political protests had reached an historic high<\/a>. Social restrictions interrupted this surge, but only temporarily. This pandemic has given the world\u2019s workers a common cause \u2013 survival.\n\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n\nAcross the globe, people are refusing to work<\/a> without personal protective equipment (PPE), hazard pay, paid sick leave, and cleaning supplies on the job. The US has seen more than 150 pandemic-related wildcat strikes<\/a>, some spanning multiple cities. And this is just the beginning.\n\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n\nLifting pandemic-related restrictions will release a tsunami of pent-up demand that could challenge capitalist control.\n\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n\nBosses retaliate<\/strong>\n\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n\nWho will pay for trillion-dollar government bailouts and lost corporate profits? If capitalists have their way, it will be the working class, just as they forced workers to take the fall<\/a> for the 2008 recession. The current crisis is much deeper<\/a>, pushing the stakes much higher.\n\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n\nTo protect their profits, bosses counter workers\u2019 demands with force.\n\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n\nThey use the force of starvation \u2013 work under our rules or starve. They use the force of unemployment to drive down wages. They use the force of the media to blame people<\/a> for getting sick. They use the force of racism to divide workers. And they use the force of the State to target troublemakers, attack protestors, break strikes, and bust unions.\n\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n\nSolutions?<\/strong>\n\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n\nSome call for shutting down the economy for as long as it takes to end the pandemic. This is not doable under capitalism because workers need a wage to survive, and the system refuses to support them to stay home.\n\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n\nSome argue that the working class can \u201cuse the power of the government<\/a>\u201d to make needed change. This crisis has starkly revealed that government serves as the glove<\/a> for the capitalist fist.\n\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n\nSome call for mass strikes<\/a>. This is premature. Capitalists treat mass strikes as a declaration of war, which they are, and workers have not yet built the political clarity and organizational base necessary to win such a war. The capitalists have littered history with the murdered corpses of failed worker uprisings. If we aim to win, we must lay the groundwork.\n\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n\nUnions<\/strong>\n\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n\nOne anti-union consultant warned<\/a> that \u201ccurrent employee insecurities\u201d are increasing workplace disruptions and raising interest in joining unions. He reassuringly concluded that most unions are not equipped to take advantage of this opportunity. He has a point.\n\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n\nWhile organized workers have power to force improvements in job safety, union bureaucrats often sacrifice worker safety<\/a> in contract bargaining.\n\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n\nUnion executives manage the labor force for capitalism, and they cannot see beyond the existing system of worker exploitation. In a recent public statement<\/a>, four top union executives wrote,\n\n\n\n\n
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We look forward to sitting down with the nation\u2019s business leaders, as well as the leaders of governments, universities, hospitals and school systems, to hammer out agreements that will restore profits and economic growth as we emerge from this crisis, and protect as many jobs as possible as we battle it.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n\nLabor activists rightly condemn this as class collaboration<\/a>. As they put it, \u201cThe only way to protect the lives and livelihoods of working people is through class struggle, not class snuggle<\/a>.\u201d\n\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n\nTo escape the suffocating weight of union bureaucracy, workers need to build democratic, member-controlled unions that will not compromise their rights. [If only this was so easy. –former founding member & delegate for local 360, residential carpenters union, Olympia–]\n\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n\nIf we must work, WE must set the terms<\/strong>\n\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n\nCapitalists need workers<\/a> to produce profits, so they deprive them of any way to survive other than to work for a wage. At the same time, the economic role of workers gives them power to negotiate the conditions under which they will work.\n\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n\nThe National Union of Healthcare Workers (NUHW) has drawn up a workers\u2019 Bill of Rights<\/a> that includes: personal protective equipment, testing for COVID-19, safe staffing, proper training, input into decisions that impact their work, and protection for whistleblowers. Such declarations can be used to build workplace and community campaigns.\n\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n\nWorkers can do more than set the terms of exploitation; they can redirect production and society.\n\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n\nAn injury to one is an injury to all<\/strong>\n\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n\nSocial crises demand social solutions, and workers are stepping up to the plate with demands that reach beyond the walls of their workplace.\n\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n\nAfter General Electric announced mass layoffs, workers in Massachusetts demanded that the company\u2019s jet engine factories be reopened or converted<\/a> to produce badly needed ventilators. Within a week, their protest spread to factories in New York, Texas, and Virginia.\n\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n\nChicago teachers\u2019 strikes<\/a> not only demanded more pay and smaller classes, but also more school nurses and librarians, anti-racist hiring, and improved learning and living conditions, including access to affordable housing. These class demands won broad community support.\n\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n\nThe concerns of healthcare workers also align with those of the people they serve. A coalition of health and social service workers\u2019 unions launched a petition<\/a> calling on the governor of California to secure their safety at work and also suspend rent payments, ban evictions, guarantee paid leave during the crisis, and establish universal access to free medical care.\n\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n\nAll over the world, legions of ordinary people are producing, at their own expense and for no compensation, thousands of masks and gowns that the ruling class failed to provide.\n\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n\nKnitting ourselves together<\/strong>\n\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n\nForcing workers to return to unsafe jobs will release an explosion of class rage. The challenge is how to connect rising struggles without reproducing the top-down elitism of the managerial class<\/a>.\n\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n\nA successful workers\u2019 revolt cannot be \u2018managed from above.\u2019 Workers must liberate themselves. Anything else would simply trade one master for another<\/em>.\n\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n\nWorkers cannot rely on bosses, bureaucrats, or experts to fight for them; they must fight for themselves and each other. And they are perfectly capable of doing this.\n\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n\nWhile capitalists accumulate capital, workers accumulate something far more valuable: skills, experience, problem-solving abilities, common interest, and the ability to cooperate. This is the workers\u2019 wealth and, unlike money or capital, it grows the more it is shared.\n\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n\nPower for the working class means more than having a seat at the capitalist table. It means owning the table.<\/strong> It means workers deciding together what needs to be done and who will do it. No one is more qualified to make such decisions than those who actually do the work. As one Chicago teacher put it,\n\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n\n\nThe strike has changed the conversation about education in Chicago. It made clear that we are the experts on education, not these consulting firms, not these millionaire dilettantes. They have a lot of money to throw around, but they\u2019re not educators.\n\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n\nA central database<\/strong>\n\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n\nWorkers are an international class, yet they are divided by workplace, industry, nation, and a host of other divisions based on skin color, gender, religion, status<\/a>, etc. These divisions enable capitalists to defeat workers by pitting them against each other.\n\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n\nWe can build working-class power by knitting struggles together, stitch by stitch, to build inter-union and inter-national networks of activists.\n\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n\nNo worker should have to reinvent the wheel of effective struggle<\/a>.\n\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n\nWe need to construct an international database that gathers information about workers\u2019 struggles from all over the world, a database that enables any worker to submit information and encourages all workers to discover who is fighting where, what was achieved, what worked and what didn\u2019t, and what was learned.\n\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n\nArmed with such information, workers can build on each other\u2019s successes, learn from each other\u2019s setbacks, and forge international solidarity over common class concerns.\n\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n\nMany organizations, such as PayDay Report<\/a> and Labour Start<\/a>, collect strike information. Others<\/a> draw lessons from major strikes. These are some of the building blocks on which a more extensive and international database could be constructed.\n\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n\nConclusion<\/strong>\n\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n\nThe capitalist class and their State cannot end this pandemic; they can only manage the damage, just as they \u2018manage\u2019 all the maladies that plague humanity because there is no profit in ending them.\n\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n\nThe political downturn of the past 50 years is over. A new era of class struggle has begun.\n\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n\nThe only way out of this deadly crisis is through revolutionary social transformation \u2013 from capitalist rule to workers\u2019 rule. This path runs directly through the workplaces of the world.\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"by Susan Rosenthal (5-4-20). http:\/\/susanrosenthal.com Under pressure from employers and right-wing organizations, governments are forcing people back to work, despite no evidence that this is safe. According to the World Health Organization a pandemic ends when disease transmission is reduced to the level of … Continue reading