ALTADENA, Calif. — “Under capitalism, every time a disaster happens, the bosses and their politicians merely recreate the same conditions for it to happen again,” said Eric Simpson, Socialist Workers Party candidate for Oakland mayor and a union factory worker, in a discussion with Santos Aviles and his two sons in front of their home here.
They returned yesterday after being evacuated for two weeks because of the fires that swept through Los Angeles starting Jan. 7. Altadena, where many Black families live, saw 17 of the 29 deaths in the fires, after city officials failed to get out timely warnings.
Simpson came to Los Angeles Jan. 25 and 26 to join SWP members in meeting with working people who’ve been devastated by the fires and the disdain shown by government officials.
With the first significant rainfall in months, the fires have been mostly contained. People are returning to their homes, picking through the damage. More than 16,000 homes and businesses were damaged or destroyed in fires that consumed over 85 square miles, making it the costliest blaze in U.S. history. Close to 200,000 people were under evacuation orders.
The thousands of working people throughout the area who volunteer staffed an untold number of makeshift distribution sites and donation centers in parking lots, churches and elsewhere. They are getting smaller as the fire burned out. Armed National Guard troops in desert camouflage sit in their Humvees parked at intersections restricting access to burned-out areas. Hundreds of utility workers are replacing destroyed power lines.
Santos Aviles is a landscaper, but said he doesn’t think he’ll get much extra work cleaning up. “The insurance companies will be in charge of cleanup, and they won’t give work to me,” he said.
Simpson said the Socialist Workers Party campaigns for a massive government-funded public works program to put thousands to work at union-scale wages to clean up and rebuild. “The union movement should lead this campaign. While only a small minority of workers are in unions today, they can campaign for things that will benefit the entire working class, including people like you who are self-employed. Millions will be attracted to this struggle. And the fight for amnesty for immigrant workers needs to be right at the heart of it.”
Nikki High is the owner of Octavia’s Bookshelf in nearby Pasadena. “I came down to the store the day after the fires hit to get power and an internet connection,” she told the Militant. “I invited others to come down.” People, businesses and restaurants brought donations. “Volunteers helped hand out supplies. I took all the books off the shelves, stored them in the attic, so people could come in and ‘free shop’ straight from the shelves with dignity.”
Roger Dagoberto Cruz was volunteering for the day at the Pasadena Community Job Center because his work as a gutter installer was slow. Right after the fires, 800 or 900 people would show up in the morning to get supplies and distribute donations, he said. “But now it’s a lot less.”
Shea Sage was standing next to a lot filled with burned-out cars. On the day of the fires, she didn’t get any warning to evacuate. “I saw 14 fire trucks and police cars driving down the street. Then the power went off and I had no cellphone service because the towers were without power. I never felt so abandoned.”
Francisco Garcia pulled Simpson aside at a church-run food distribution tent after hearing him talk about unions. Garcia is a truck driver at BNSF Railway. He lost everything when the fire destroyed his home, including a collection of love poems he wrote as a youth. He’s staying in a shelter now.
Garcia used to be a union organizer with the United Food and Commercial Workers at Zacky Farms. “These companies are getting greedier and greedier,” he said.
The New York Times food section ran a special story Jan. 18 on how small restaurant owners and hundreds of working-class volunteers had organized to make and distribute thousands of pizzas to firefighters and evacuees.
When LaSorted’s Pizza started this up, workers from other shops showed up. “The line out the door looked like diners waiting for tables,” the Times said, “but this was a crew of volunteer drivers who’d signed up on Instagram. They were waiting for instructions from other volunteers who sorted hundreds of requests.”
It was like a small army had been deployed. “When things like this happen,” Tommy Brockert, LaSoreted’s chef, told the Times, “people are able to do extraordinary things.” It was a snapshot of the potential of the working class.
Simpson and other SWP members were distributing “A working-class program to rebuild Los Angeles in wake of deadly fires,” a statement by the Socialist Workers Party. It says, “The government on every level, with its two capitalist parties, is responsible for the devastation. Now all they do is try to pass the blame by pointing fingers at each other. No preparation, dilapidated infrastructure, no evacuation plan. The labor movement must break from the capitalist parties and organize our own party, a party of labor, to organize the whole working class. This is a necessary step on the road to taking power out of the hands of the capitalists and building a socialist future.”
To contact the SWP in Los Angeles or Simpson’s campaign in Oakland, turn to the list of party offices.