From: nyt%nyxfer%igc.apc.org@MIZZOU1.missouri.edu (NY Transfer News)
Subject: NEWS:What All Workers Owe Malcolm X/ww
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Resent-From: "Rich Winkel" <MATHRICH@MIZZOU1.missouri.edu>
Date: Fri, 20 Nov 1992 22:01:14 GMT


Via The NY Transfer News Service * All the News that Doesn't Fit

WHAT ALL WORKERS OWE TO MALCOLM X

By Deirdre Griswold

The struggle of the African American people for justice and
liberation that Malcolm X inspired and came to represent had a
broad impact on U.S. society. Looking back over the last three
decades, a very clear pattern can be seen of significant progress
for all working and oppressed people in and immediately after the
decade of the 1960s.

Those were years of struggle on diverse fronts; many movements
were born then. But it was the civil rights movement that ushered
in the decade with massive protests. It was the courage of Black
people, young and old, in the face of lynch mobs, night riders,
attack dogs, bombings and fire hoses that opened up a new era in
U.S. politics after the reactionary hysteria and fear of the
1950s.

And it was the evolution of the Black movement in a more
revolutionary direction, especially the growing influence of
Malcolm and the Black Panther Party, that struck fear into the
ruling class, leading to both violent police repression and
simultaneously the granting of a wide range of economic and
social concessions.

Once the pressure of the movements of the 1960s had finally
waned, there was a marked decrease in wages, benefits and social
programs that is still being felt by the working class as a
whole.

To examine the truth of this statement, one must look no further
than the figures put out by the U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau
of Labor Statistics. There you can find a review of the average
weekly earnings of non-farm production workers in constant 1982
dollars (that is, discounted for inflation) for the period 1964
to 1990.

These wages stood at $280 in 1964. In the tumultuous years of
struggle that followed, wages rose almost every year. They hit a
peak of $319.22 in July 1973, and have been steadily dropping
ever since, to around $260 a week in 1990 ($20 a week less than
in 1964!). Again, these figures are in constant 1982 dollars,
making it possible to easily measure declines or increases in
purchasing power.

But wages are not the only measure of social progress. The
struggles of the 1960s also ushered in very significant gains in
Medicare, daycare, Head Start, nutrition programs for women and
children, federally subsidized housing, greater access to higher
education, and many other areas of social need. These programs
have benefited many, many white workers as well as Black, Latino,
Native and Asian peoples who had suffered discrimination and
oppression.

Yes, all workers owe a great deal to Malcolm X, Martin Luther
King, Huey Newton, Bobby Seale, Erica Huggins, and all the other
brave Black women and men who fought the exploiting and
oppressive ruling class. By striking a blow at the source of
racism, they helped improve the position of the working class as
a whole.

But that improvement was eaten away during the years of racism
and ultra-right reaction that followed the upsurge.

The hardships and pain now being imposed upon so many millions
are in part the result of the entrenched capitalist economic
crisis, which is being felt throughout the capitalist world. But
it is important to note that the decline in wages began way back
in 1973, long before the current recession and most of the
restructuring of industry.

In the years that followed, especially the "go-go" years of
Reaganomics, there was a tremendous shift of wealth to those at
the top. Thus, the growing poverty of the workers is both
relative and absolute: wages are actually lower than they were in
the 1960s, and at the same time workers are getting a smaller
percentage of the wealth. The causes are not economic alone; they
are also political, reflecting the lack until now of a
coordinated, classwide fighting response to the ruthless
offensive of the ruling class.

Grasping this lesson from the 1960s--that a gain for the most
oppressed section of our class helps all workers--is vital for
building that united fightback, and is a direct answer to the
divisive, racist lie that workers must endlessly fight one
another for a piece of a shrinking "pie."


(Copyright Workers World Service: Permission to reprint granted
if source is cited. For more info contact Workers World, 46 W. 21
St., New York, NY 10010; "workers" on PeaceNet; on Internet:
"workers@mcimail.com".)


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