Vol. 73/No. 18 May 11, 2009
Betsey Farley, Laura Anderson, and Dennis Richter work in a union-organized meatpacking plant in Chicago. Workers there received $20 shopping cards for a local food chain. They converted them into a $60 contribution to the communist movement's Capital Fund.
Contributions to the fund help in the production of books and educational materials needed in workers’ fight to take power out of the hands of the wealthy rulers, end the wages system, and reorganize society based on human solidarity.
Mitchel Rosenberg, an oil refinery worker in Philadelphia, received bribes from his boss and the bosses' government. He immediately dispatched the checks: $603 after taxes on a contract-signing bonus and $307 from the government's so-called "stimulus" bonus.
George Chalmers, a former meat packer in Philadelphia, sent in $300, the after-taxes balance from last year's return. David Rosenfeld from Des Moines, Iowa, also a meat packer, was shorted by Uncle Sam from last year's stimulus. "I just got my tax refund, which included $52 from last year's stimulus," he said in a note.
Class-conscious workers have a proud tradition of turning over these bribes—large or small—to the Capital Fund to further the movement’s publishing program. Workers in the revolutionary socialist movement call such “gifts” from the bosses “blood money,” because the bosses use them to try to buy our silence about speedup, long hours, and unsafe working conditions. The bribes come with our blood and that of our coworkers on them.
From a different source, Deborah Liatos sent in a contribution to the Capital Fund of $1,060 in honor of her mother Ruth Liatos, who died of cancer March 26. The money is from contributions she received from family members and coworkers.
"I wanted to contribute it in honor of my mother Ruth Liatos, who though she would have liked to see a socialist revolution in this country, was not convinced it was possible," Liatos wrote. "She and I had many debates. Even so, she admired the party's steadfast confidence and commitment to advancing the fight of the working class to take power in the United States as part of the worldwide fight for socialism."
—SAM MANUEL