Vol. 80/No. 2      January 18, 2016

 

Workers donate ‘blood money’ to build SWP

 
“Enclosed is $30,” wrote Charles Godine, a factory worker in Miami, donating to the Socialist Workers Party Capital Fund. “This company pays most of its production workers minimum wage and takes a ‘vacation’ in December, amounting to a three-week layoff for a lot of us. This $30 gift card is their way of saying ‘happy holidays.’”

One-off payments from employers like safety and production bonuses, contract-signing incentives and holiday gift cards — blood money — are bribes to convince us to be grateful to the boss instead of standing up and fighting for our interests.

More than a dozen Walmart workers recently contributed profit-sharing “MyShare” bonuses. “These paltry sums don’t make up for low wages and a lack of decent benefits,” three of them from Seattle wrote in a note along with checks totaling $349. “We are glad to contribute them to the revolutionary party as part of the blood money the capitalists meagerly dole out to try to have us identify with ‘our company.’”

Blood money is the political cornerstone of the Capital Fund, which finances long-range work of the Socialist Workers Party. To make a donation, contact the SWP in your area listed on page 8.

— EMMA JOHNSON

 
 
 
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