Two letters on the New York TWU Strike United States Share Tweet We publish two letters commenting on the recent New York TWU strike, one from the USA and another from Venezuela. The strike has exposed once more the fact that the two main US parties, Republicans and Democrats are not enemies, but partners opposed to the working class. The strike has also highlighted the fact that in the USA there is not just the imperialist bourgeoisie, but also a might working class that is an ally of the workers of the world. We publish two letters commenting on the recent New York TWU strike, one from the USA and another from Venezuela. The strike has exposed once more the fact that the two main US parties, Republicans and Democrats are not enemies, but partners opposed to the working class. The strike has also highlighted the fact that in the USA there is not just the imperialist bourgeoisie, but also a might working class that is an ally of the workers of the world.Dear comrades,When it comes time for votes and campaign money, the Democrats make it their business to be seen and photographed hugging union leaders and members and swearing eternal support. When the union actually needs that support, the Democrats are nowhere to be found! Where are any Democrat officeholders standing up and supporting unconditionally the right of working people to strike our only way to improve working conditions and pay? Why hasn’t even one Democrat called for the repeal of the anti union Taylor law? Why hasn’t one Democrat stood up for the transit workers and criticized the efforts of the MTA/Governor Pataki/Mayor Bloomberg to divide and destroy this union by instituting a second-class status for new hires?For the umpteenth time, the Democrats have clearly demonstrated for all who have eyes to see that they are just as much a corporate party as the republicans. They approach certain situations with different tactics and strategy, but their goal is the same.We see that on the national level with their support to the war against Iraq with some “differences”. We see that with their joining with the Republicans to vote against immediate withdrawal. We see that with their support to the Patriot Act, the nomination of Roberts as Chief Justice to the Supreme Court, the nominations of Rice as Secretary of State and Alberto “international laws against torture are obsolete and quaint” Gonzales, we see that with tort “reform” and bankruptcy “reform” and their desperate attempt to avoid uttering the word “impeachment” for Bush/Cheney’s illegal war, torture and spying.How much more does this rotten party have to do before people on the left who fight their policies 364 days a year stop buckling to “lesser evilism” and refuse to support them on election day???Dennis Kobray,USA, December 2006Dear comrades,I would just like to add a short comment that shows what kind of implications and repercussions this strike will have, not just in the US, but in the whole world. At the moment I am based in Venezuela where I’m helping out the comrades of the CMR.Yesterday we attended a meeting of the Venezuelan Communist Party in the industrialized Guayana region. Present were also representatives of the left-wing trade unionists in ALCASA, the aluminium factory under workers’ control. At this meeting the strike of the transport workers in the US was mentioned as a great example of a mood of discontent within the USA. The speakers at the meeting emphasized that this shows how the US working class is not reactionary and slavishly following every twist and turn of the white house, but is in fact an ally of the Venezuelan workers.I think this “detail” shows that the most conscious workers in the vanguard of the labour movement around the world are following these events very carefully and are quite inspired by them. In the past a lot of people, especially in the countries that are under the grip of imperialist domination, didn’t distinguish between the rulers and the people of the United States. They saw all of them as one reactionary block. This is really changing now, beginning with the active layers of the class. But after president Chavez has appealed for the support of the people of North America against imperialism, more and more people here in Latin America are beginning to learn that the working class of the US is really not an enemy, but rather a natural ally that has quite similar conditions and faces equal problems.The logic conclusion must be that the solution is therefore also the same: World Socialist Revolution!Revolutionary greetings,Andreas Bulow in Venezuela,December 2006
