Vol. 73/No. 17      May 4, 2009

Socialist Workers Party candidates will join thousands of workers at May Day demonstrations across the United States to demand an immediate and permanent end to all deportations of immigrant workers and legalization now, without restrictions. We encourage working people and youth to take the day off work or school to do the same.

In 2006 some 2 million immigrants and their supporters took to the streets and won an important victory in beating back reactionary legislation that would have made it a felony to live and work in the United States without “proper papers.” As hundreds of thousands are being thrown onto the unemployment rolls each month in the wake of capitalist contraction in production, the example of May Day is needed even more.

As the economic crisis of capitalism deepens undocumented immigrants are scapegoated with the claim that they are stealing “our jobs.” But there is no such thing as an “American” job. The bosses go wherever they want to maximize profit; working people should defend our right to go wherever we want to get the highest price for our labor power.

The bosses want us to think that they and U.S.-born workers have common interests and that “we” are all Americans. But class-conscious workers understand that we have nothing in common with the bosses, it’s us versus them.

We are part of an international class of workers and see fellow workers and farmers—wherever they were born, whatever language they speak, whatever their skin color or religious views, or whatever piece of paper or ID they happen to carry—as our brothers and sisters. We welcome them with open arms and say, “Let’s fight together against our common enemies—the bosses—and for the interests of the working class,” such as jobs for all, higher wages, stronger unions, and free government-guaranteed medical care.

The capitalist class and its government, from statehouses to Congress and the White House, are between a rock and a hard place. They can’t live without immigrant labor to be able to compete against their imperialist rivals in France, Germany, Britain, Canada, and Japan, much less against China. But they fear the potential power and example of immigrant workers who sought the American dream and found they have no choice but to fight against the American nightmare.

The so-called road to legalization is a road filled with so many roadblocks, twists and turns, and potholes—”get back to the end of the line,” pay outrageous fines, learn English, etc. and after all that, there is no guarantee of ever being given papers—that it is worse than a dead end or a road to nowhere, it’s a trap.

The union officials’ “roadmap” to immigration reform, unveiled by Change to Win and the AFL-CIO, is just as bad. It accepts the bosses’ argument that immigration must be controlled and the border sealed off. There is only one kind of immigration “reform” worth fighting for: full unconditional legalization for all immigrants.

There will be more battles to come as the capitalist ruling class tries to lower the value of our labor power and shore up their profits. Their goal is to drive down the living standard of all working people—native- and foreign-born.

The millions who turned out May Day 2006 revived May Day as a day of struggle in the United States. It is along this road that we can build a workers movement today that will be capable of taking power out of the hands of the capitalist rulers.

Join the May Day marches and rallies to demand: Release all those in jail for the so-called crime of working without papers! Stop the deportations! Legalize immigrants now! End the militarization of the U.S.-Mexico border!
 
 
Related articles:
Chicago conference calls May 1 action
Immigration raids, patrols on borders to continue
Union officials echo bosses’ ‘immigration reform’
Legalization for all immigrants! Join May Day actions!  
 
 
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