Minneapolis: ‘Socialists in Action’

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... Interview with a union carpenter SOCIALIST ACTION NOVEMBER 2017 11 MINNEAPOLIS—Twin Cities So­ cialist Action, together with the Phi­ losophy Department at Minneapolis Community and Technical College (MCTC), hosted a conference en­ titled: “Socialists in Action: Taking Theory to the Streets,” on Nov. 3 and 4 on the MCTC campus.

Over 80 people were in attendance for at least some portion of the con­ ference—many for the entire two-day event. A majority of those in attendance were students—well over 60%—most of whom were be­ ing exposed to socialist ideas in real depth for the first time.

The conference opened with a keynote address by Socialist Ac­ tion’s National Secretary, Jeff Mack­ ler, speaking on “The Relevance of the Russian Revolution Today”—in this, its 100th anniversary year.

All day on Saturday, Nov. 4, we ex­ plored the core concepts of Revolu­ tionary Socialism. Michael Livings­ ton explained: “What is Socialism Really?” to people who might only efforts. Successful union campaigns require shifting the terms in our favor. If there are workers who can do the same work for less, then anything we do will be less ef­ fective. The other side is organizing and militancy such as strikes, pickets, recruitment, etc. We have the tools, we just need to use them.

EG: Do you see pockets of class struggle where the building trades can/are linking with other unions and working class for formations?

ML: Unfortunately, no. There have been campaigns and collaboration with other organizations, but they are too superficial to mention. The building trades are on the defensive right now. The leaders don’t want to be too aggressive either.

EG: Are your coworkers active in political movements? How have they reacted to the Trump presidency? What is their general feeling about what happened in Charlot­ tesville and the rise of fascism/white supremacism?

ML: I haven’t heard much talk about Charlottesville, al­ though most oppose it. Overall, I think workers are op­ posed to Trump, at least here in New York City. They’re aware of his history of employing non-union labor and recognize that his policy proposals overwhelmingly ef­ fect working-class people. Many white workers do sup­ port him though, largely for his stance on immigrants. So, I would say there is a significant minority of Trump supporters within our unions.

I have noticed workers become more involved as well, especially in DSA [Democratic Socialists of America]. But there is also a contingent of workers who are try­ ing to create pressure from below on the union bureau­ cracy. Most of us recognize there is a need for militancy, but that has yet to be channeled into real organization and action.

EG: Before we wrap up, I’d like to ask what you would say to any young worker considering entering an ap­ have heard of socialism through the Bernie Sanders campaign.

Bruce Lesnick gave an “Introduc­ tion to Marxist Economic Theory.”

Carl Sack spoke on “Eco-Socialism:

How Marxists Confront the Climate Crisis,” while Karen Schraufnagel, branch organizer for the Twin Cities branch, addressed: “Marxism and Women’s Oppression” in her talk.

Rob Wallace spoke on: “How Capi­ talist Agriculture Misuses Science,” in a lecture that transfixed the au­ dience and led to a Q&A session running well into the time for the closing panel, as the deeply engaged crowd asked question after ques­ tion.

The day ended with a shortened closing panel: “Socialists in Action,” featuring Jeff, Carl, and Karen, to­ gether with Adam Ritscher. When it was over, several students asked to join Socialist Action immediately, with another 10 or more expressing interest in learning more and poten­ tially joining in the near future. n prenticeship in your trade?

ML: If you want good money, join the union. Don’t ex­ pect it to be easy or perfect, but it’s the best option out there. You’re guaranteed raises, make a living wage, and have an opportunity to learn a skill that will keep you steadily employed and can be used to help others. Most important of all, be active in your union and don’t ever become complacent. We need more honest, class-con­ scious members. n ... Labour Party (continued from page 9: “British Labour Party seeks ‘democratization’”)

sors were under suspicion. However, Paul Mason, writing in The Guardian, demanded that Riming­ ton stop fueling “paranoid fantasies” about Cor­ byn.

The main attack is on shadow chancellor John McDonnell. McDonnell was elected Member of Parliament representing Hayes and Huntington in 1997 and has continued to win every election since. He has clearly stated that he is a Marxist and describes the current economic crisis as a classic capitalist crisis. The gutter-press tabloid, The Daily Mail, declared that McDonnell has ad­ vocated driving the Tories from office by means of a violent “insurrection.”

It is doubtful that these attacks will have a nega­ tive effect on Corbyn and the Labour Party. It gen­ erally illustrates the failure of the Tories, who, since they have nothing new to tell the British people, can only resort to their failed past. After the recent conference, it looks like Labour Party activists are more concerned about being pre­ pared for the next election than worrying about red-baiting in the press. n

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SOCIALIST ACTION 12 SOCIALIST ACTION NOVEMBER 2017 SANTA ROSA, Calif.—In the past year, Sonoma Coun­ ty has swung from one environmental extreme to an­ other. These extreme weather patterns set the stage for the past month’s wildfires, but they are also much more significant than just the most recent disaster. They are the trends that we can expect going forward as the effect of climate change.

One year before the wildfires, Santa Rosa was emerg­ ing from five years of record drought into the wettest winter on record, with 60 inches of rain, more than double the average amount. Record rainfall was fol­ lowed by the hottest summer on record, with the hot­ test days of all coming at the end, in early September.

The conditions for the spread of wildfire were ac­ cumulating. The five years of drought left California with an estimated 100 million dead trees across its parched landscape. After last winter’s rain, there was a magnificent wildflower bloom and renewed under­ growth, but the summer heat dried it up and turned it to kindling. In the end, the rain only added to the fire danger. Scientists expect this cycle of extreme drought and extreme rain in California to continue as one of the effects of global warming.

When the wildfires came, nearly half of Santa Rosa was in evacuation zones. Tens of thousands of people fled to shelters or to friends and family in other areas. Across Northern California, nearly 100,000 people were displaced by the fires.

Fear of deportation by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), along with rumors of immigra­ tion checks at shelters and the unnerving presence of armed, uniformed National Guards, kept many people from going to the emergency shelters in an area that is almost one-third Latino and 17% immigrants of ev­ ery status. The major local industry—the wine indus­ try—is heavily dependent upon immigrant workers, who are often undocumented.

Recent news of ICE lying in wait for immigrants at courthouses, hospitals, and outside schools, along with targeting homeless shelters and refugees, weighed heavily on people’s minds. The fires also occurred barely two weeks after a highly publicized nationwide series of ICE raids targeting sanctuary cit­ ies, in which 498 people were arrested, including 27 in the Bay Area.

Some immigrant evacuees fled to coastal beach ar­ eas, far from the fires and also the shelters. Sonoma County is home to an estimated 28,000 undocument­ ed immigrants, and the Sonoma County Sheriff’s Of­ fice has a long history of complicity with ICE, includ­ ing continuing to work with ICE while claiming oth­ erwise.

ICE itself made an announcement in transparent doubletalk, saying that it would “suspend routine im­ migration enforcement operations” in the area, “ex­ cept in the event of a serious criminal presenting a public safety threat.”

The hollowness of this lie was shown just days later when the acting director of ICE, Thomas D. Homan, repeated the allegation, first spread by the alt-right Breitbart News, that a homeless undocumented im­ migrant and longtime Santa Rosa resident who had been arrested on a minor charge was also charged with starting the wildfires. The statement was based on nothing but racism and a desire to stoke fear. Nev­ ertheless, ICE sought to have the person transferred from the Sonama County jail to their jurisdiction. Sheriff Robert Giordano eventually told the media that the charge was “false and misleading.”

Evacuating immigrants called a popular local, po­ litically active, bilingual radio station for informa­ tion, looking for ways to find help without having to go to the shelters or seek help from federal agencies such as FEMA who could turn their information over Jeff Chiu / AP to ICE. People who were not evacuated called to of­ fer help, such as serving hot meals at their houses to those who needed them.

Throughout the fires, wineries in Napa and Sonoma kept the grape harvest going, wanting their valuable grapes to be picked and brought in regardless of the cost to workers. The fires came late in the harvest.

Most wine grapes had already been picked. But what remained was mostly Cabernet Sauvignon, a late-rip­ ening grape and the most expensive in the area, used to make the most expensive and prestigious bottles of wine. Fieldworker crews, often without masks, picked grapes at a rate of one ton per hour in the smokeclogged air as the wildfires burned nearby.

One of the lingering effects of the wildfires will be an increase in Santa Rosa’s housing crisis. In total, 2834 houses in the city were destroyed—five percent of Santa Rosa’s housing stock. Suddenly, a city where the average rent has been rising at 10% a year, has far fewer houses.

Rents are already spiking as landlords are setting the price of new rentals based on the upper limits of what insurance companies will pay towards the rent of displaced customers. Before the fire, it was esti­ mated that 3000 residents of Sonoma County were homeless. Encampments in Santa Rosa are already spreading and getting more populous.

Capitalism cannot prevent these disasters and offers no help to the working-class people affected by them. Instead, time and again, we see nothing but disaster capitalism, making sure to use the disaster for its own gain. Capitalism is the cause of climate change and the increased and increasingly extreme disasters that come with it.

Only a socialist system in which decisions about energy sources and the use of land, water, and other resources are made in the interest of the people can reverse climate change and save the planet. n