Humanity Depends on US
Let me start by saying who I am. I am a white USer. I am female, raised Catholic, raised working class, currently working class. I am a factory worker. I am a Direct Production Worker. I make books right now.
I went to the recent Direct Production Workers’ Workshop led by Dan Nickerson [International Liberation Reference Person for Working-Class People]. Best workshop I had ever been to—despite it being on Zoom. I was with my people. I was home.
I later gave some reports on the workshop, and I got some flack [disagreements] about what I’d said. In my opinion, the disagreements were based in distress. The people raising them have oppressive attitudes about working-class people—as does everyone, including working-class people themselves (internalized oppression). Like we are stupid. The reality is we make everything run [operate]; our labor creates all the wealth in this society. In fact, humanity depends on us. Right now, we run things for the wealthy or the owning class. Dan encouraged us to change that.
The RC Working-Class Commitment (below) is beautiful. Middle- and owning-class people need to discharge where they get restimulated by it, to be effective allies for us.
Harvey [Jackins] used to talk about “factory workers.” Dan has used the term “wage-earners.” Now it is “Direct Production Workers”—producers of goods and services. In my RC Area, I am the only Direct Production Worker.
All these terms are trying to get at the same idea—one’s role in the economy. COVID gave us another way to look at this: we are “Essential Workers.” We are the frontline workers, the workers who could not work from home.
We are cashiers, truck drivers, factory workers (my factory has more women than men and many immigrant workers), meat-packing-plant workers, auto workers, post office workers, Amazon workers, warehouse workers, UPS [United Parcel Service] and FedEx workers. This is certainly not an exhaustive list.
We are the ones who went to work every day during COVID, risking our health and our lives, while many middle-class people stayed home and relied on us to bring everything to them! We are the ones who got sick, and some of us died—from COVID. A hundred people in my plant got COVID. One was on a ventilator and is now so disabled he cannot work anymore. One got COVID, brought it home, and his father died from it. We went from essential to expendable.
The bosses are intensifying the work, having fewer of us work many more hours, work faster, and so on. Our wages are flatlining [staying the same] while prices for food, rent, and gasoline—necessities of life—are through the roof [very high]. This means our wages buy less than they did yesterday—quite literally. Our standard of living is lowering.
As for working on internalized oppression, the Working-Class Commitment is a good start. But it requires our Co-Counselors to take us seriously and take the commitment seriously. It is not “outdated,” as someone said to me.
I hope this makes sense and you find it useful.
The Working-Class Commitment
I solemnly promise that, from this moment on, I will take pride in the intelligence, strength, endurance, and goodness of working-class people everywhere.
I will remember to be proud that we do the world’s work, that we produce the world’s wealth, that we belong to the only class with a future, that our class will end all oppression.
I will unite with all my fellow workers everywhere around the world to lead all people to a rational, peaceful society.
I am a worker, proud to be a worker, and the future is in my hands.
From page 11 of the Appendix to The List.
From page 11 of the Appendix to The List
(Present Time 209, October 2022)