Gabriel Torres Message – We have to reclaim the mantle of “working class.”
Originally published on 10/1/2019
Gabriel Torres, Member, California Federation of Teachers and Sacramento LCLAA)
Workers need an organized front to fight Capital and confront the trade union bureaucracy.
For starters, we need a new independent political party that will fight for the interests of the working class. And the term “workers” has to be in its name. This is fundamental. There is a concerted effort to try and convince us that there is no longer such a thing as the class struggle, that there are no longer social classes with fundamentally contradictory interests. We have all been dissolved into the category of “people” — of “citizens” or “civil society.”
We have to reclaim the mantle of “working class.” What we need is a Workers Party, with unions playing a central role but with the full involvement and participation of the communities of color. This is what will make the Captains of Capital tremble.
This is what we have set out to build in Sacramento, where we have Democrats who promise to support our unions and communities but then turn around and support the District Attorney, who — in the name of “safeguarding our security” — acquitted the police officer who shot and killed Stephon Clark.
We will need build our own labor-community assembly in Sacramento so that we can select truly independent candidates for public office.
