Vol. 72/No. 37      September 22, 2008

Its real purpose was to bribe the working class and divert attention from the employers’ offensive to drive us into the ground. Every week workers are faced with the grinding reality of the unfolding financial crisis and recession. Unemployment stands at more than 6 percent by the government’s figures. Real wages are declining and health and safety conditions on the job are deteriorating, putting workers’ lives and limbs in jeopardy.

Two hundred fifteen members of the Socialist Workers Party and Young Socialists and SWP supporters proudly rejected this bribe. They instead put their checks in the mail to the socialist movement’s Capital Fund.

Workers sending their “stimulus” checks to the Capital Fund is consistent with the long and proud tradition of workers in the revolutionary socialist movement of not accepting company “blood money” bribes. That is, bribes that come with our blood, and the blood of our fellow workers, on them.

By sending in their “blood money” checks, class-conscious workers recognize that these funds can best be put to use for the communist movement’s long-term publishing goals, aimed at ending the wages system. They explain to their fellow workers why they don’t accept “blood money,” and how the Capital Fund is used to advance the book-publishing program of the communist movement, the goal of which is to eliminate for all time the wages system, the source of the capitalists’ exploitation of the working class and oppression of hundreds of millions.

When a boss doles out a contract-signing bonus in lieu of paying higher wages or so-called production or safety bonuses, it is to shut us up, to get us to ignore the blood, often literally, that they take out of our hides every day. These employer bribes range from $10 to sometimes a few thousand with what is described by the boss class as a “contract signing bonus.”

The “economic stimulus” checks were more of the same, except on a larger scale. Socialist workers know that every time a bribe is accepted it opens the door to accepting the next one, something the employing class counts on. The “silver bullet” is their favorite weapon in the class struggle.

During the past few months, two workers at Dakota Premium Foods sent $600 each, the lump-sum payment the bosses finally resorted to in order to sell a contract proposal after the workers in Local 789 in South St. Paul, Minnesota, rejected the company’s first offer. In addition, several “safety” bonus checks came from workers at the Dakota plant who rejected bribes for safety while cattle were being slaughtered and processed at dangerous breakneck speed in the plant.

A rail worker in the San Francisco Bay Area, who is a member of the United Transportation Union and a supporter of the SWP, just sent in more than $2,200 from a contract-signing bonus.

The “Economic Stimulus” Appeal was the first time a number of youth learned about this tradition of socialist workers. One new member of the SWP handed in his check with the comment: “My first ‘blood money’ contribution.”

Many contributors sent their check with a brief note that captured the spirit of rejecting the bribe: “The IRS made us wait but now we can turn it over”; “It is with great pleasure that I contribute this ‘blood money’”; “Here’s the ‘pound of flesh’ sent me.”

Three socialists who had already sent in the checks they received wrote saying they were also honored to be able to turn over the “stimulus checks” sent to estates of recently deceased family members.

The government put up obstacles to many workers who wanted to throw this bribe in their face. Two members of the party explained that they were only able to send in $300 between them because the government claimed they “owed back taxes.” Another worker reported that a state court, in a matter involving a contested settlement, had succeeded in getting the federal government to put a lien on any checks due her from the Internal Revenue Service. One party member said he did not receive a check because the government claims he is behind in paying off a student loan.

A total of $109,300 was sent in—a big boost to the Capital Fund!

While the majority of the “stimulus” checks have been sent out by the government, some continue to be received by those who filed their taxes after April 15. Several have pledged to send their checks when they get them.

While the special appeal is now complete, the Capital Fund is ongoing. We look forward to receiving future checks from workers who reject these bribes in whatever form they come packaged from the employers.  
 
 
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