On September 7 the United States celebrates Labor Day, which originated from the labor movement of the early 1880’s as a day to celebrate workers. In 1885, before the holiday was adopted officially, the union movement led by the AFL put forward the demand for the 8-hour workday to become effective May 1, 1886, and coordinated strikes to enforce the demand.
On May 4th a demonstration took place in Chicago’s Haymarket Square; it was the day after Chicago police killed one labor demonstrator and injured several others. During the demonstration, an unknown individual threw a bomb at the police who had advanced on the speakers’ podium, guns loaded, to force demonstrators to leave the square. Police opened fire on the crowd, killing 4 strikers and injuring at least 100. Though it was unknown who threw the bomb, eight anarchists were arrested and four were eventually hanged.
The Haymarket Affair, as it was known, cemented May 1 as International Workers Day. In 1887, Grover Cleveland, fearing that celebrating Labor Day on May 1 would bolster anarchists and socialists, publicly supported instead a September Labor Day. In 1894, this became the official holiday, showing the state’s willingness to recognize labor only if that recognition is bled of any threat to capital.
The coronavirus pandemic has made it clear to many that, then as now, the working class can only rely on itself to defend its interests, which now serve only as pawns in the political games of the two capitalist parties. This is true under normal conditions of course, but the pandemic has torn away the veil for many workers in the US. We work hard our entire lives, together with workers of all countries, producing the whole of the value in society, the fruits of our labor pocketed by the capitalists while we struggle to survive. When the inevitable crisis comes, it is the working class who shoulders the burden. While we are buried under the weight of unemployment, evictions, and hunger, the Republicans and Democrats use our suffering to score points, to prove who are the better managers of capitalism. Our wages, our homes, our jobs, gone while politicians take their summer break.
As a result of post-industrial capitalist organization, the weakness of trade unions, and the lack of workers’ social and political organizations, the working class has been rendered nearly helpless. Labor has become an interest group, an NGO of sorts that, like all the others, must beg the capitalist political parties for recognition. Whether workers vote or not, labor is dependent on them to uphold labor’s interests. Yet both parties, Republicans and Democrats, are parties of capitalism, their interests diametrically opposed to the interests of the working class.
Workers want higher wages, but an increase is wages is only possible through decrease in profits. Under capitalism, the owners of property must make a profit if they wish to remain capitalists; because of competition they must make the most profit possible. In order to increase profits, wages are reduced to a minimum. The immediate reaction to this state of affairs is the organization of trade unions to win higher wages, job protections, and benefits such as health care, etc. The union struggle, while important for teaching class solidarity and showing workers their strength is, however, a defensive struggle. It takes place within the confines of the capitalist mode of production, and as such is subject to the laws of political economy. Given that reality, the working class, in its struggle against the bosses, will inevitably come up against the power of the state, both the police and the bureaucracy. Hence, the working class struggle must be a political struggle. And political struggles are only political struggles if they are a struggle for power.
To wage a struggle for political power the working class must be organized–by itself and for itself–into a political party for the defense of its own interests. As mentioned above, the interests of the working class can only be realized through the abolition of the capitalist mode of production. As such, a working class political party must necessarily be a socialist party. Without a party, without a socialist program, the working class will remain but one of many pressure groups begging to be heard by the capitalist political parties.
On Labor Day, and every day, we remember those workers who fought and bled and died for what few rights workers have. In their spirit we appeal to the working class today: Build the Worker’s Party.
-Editorial Board of The Workers’ Gazette
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The Housing Crisis
by J. Steelman
Since the start of the pandemic, the housing crisis has taken on a new dimension. Previously, the housing crisis was defined largely by homelessness and gentrification, today an eviction wave is looming. Of course, all the conditions of the former still exist and will certainly be exacerbated by present crisis. Thus far throughout the pandemic 90+% of renters (NMHC.org) have been able to pay all or part of their rent by the end of the month. The Federal Unemployment Compensation extension has been key to helping people make their rent and the biweekly schedule of payments is likely the cause of payments being spread out over the month. Even with the additional help, late payments and partial payments are still grounds for evictions. [read more]
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Automation
By A. Barns
Humans are making rapid strides in robotics and artificial intelligence (AI). Both have the potential to reduce working hours, make jobs safer, increase energy efficiency, etc. But there are many potential problems—chief among them being unemployment and the use of AI to control human destiny in ways we may not want.
While the capitalist system has developed these technologies to their current state, it can never truly free human beings from work using robotics, nor allow AI to alleviate, rather than enslave, the human species. If we want more advanced machines to help us, we must ditch the profit motive in exchange for rational economic planning carried out by a government of the working people. [read more]
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Universal Basic Income and Its Pitfalls
by S. Callaghan
Universal Basic Income has become a popular subject on the left as the capitalist economy falters under the pandemic. As Marxists, we know there can be no discussion of Universal Basic Income without rooting it firmly in a class analysis. Certainly, the bourgeoisie will do so. The only way UBI will exist in a capitalist economy is if the bourgeoisie believes it to be in their interest. If serious leftists are to advocate for UBI, we must demonstrate how it serves the long-term interests of the working class when the ruling class believes the opposite. [read more]