FORT WORTH, Texas — A lively discussion followed an Aug. 10 Militant Labor Forum I gave here as the Socialist Workers Party candidate for U.S. Senate, on why the working class needs its own party, a party of labor.
Ysmemia Silva Rosales, who is from Venezuela, said she was a lawyer in her country and is not allowed to practice in the U.S. She is now a production worker at the Bimbo bakery near here in Grand Prairie, along with SWP members Gerardo Sánchez and Hilda Cuzco. “Would your campaign do something about workers who come here with licenses and are not allowed to use them?” she asked.
I explained how the immigration laws are used to allow the capitalists to exploit workers from other countries to make higher profits. “That is why the SWP candidates support fighting for amnesty for any worker who lives and works here. This is a key question for the labor movement and to unify working people,” I said. “If the working class took power we would be able to create a society to meet human needs, which would include using all of the knowledge and skills that immigrant workers bring with them.”
Keashia Davis wanted to know, “Do these forums reach out to workers who have been incarcerated?” She said this was important to do.
Davis is one of 11 workers at Bimbo, members of Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers Local 111, who have endorsed the SWP campaign of Rachele Fruit for U.S. president and Dennis Richter for vice president.
I described the Prisoners’ Fund that makes it possible for workers who are incarcerated to subscribe to the Militant and get Pathfinder books. “The forum reaches out to fights organized against police brutality like the one by the family of Anthony Johnson Jr., who was killed by jailers at the Tarrant County jail. We will be organizing a forum on this soon.”
Davis’ son said he liked what the SWP campaign said about 30 hours of work for 40 hours of pay to prevent layoffs and create jobs, and that as prices go up, wages should go up automatically. Her grandson wanted to know more about what was going on in the Middle East.
Following the meeting, Rosales and her husband, Angel Montezuma Peña, who is a construction worker, signed up to endorse the SWP campaign. Later in the week both joined Sánchez, Cuzco and myself outside a nearby Walmart to campaign and publicize the upcoming Aug. 24 forum with Dennis Richter.