https://themilitant.com/2019/03/30/build-fighting-alliance-of-workers-farmers/
SWP campaign statement
Build fighting alliance of workers, farmers
Vol. 83/No. 14
April 8, 2019
The following statement was released March 24 by John Staggs, Socialist
Workers Party candidate for City Council At-Large in Philadelphia.
Staggs grew up on a family farm in Illinois.
Working farmers are victims of conditions over which they have no
control. But these are not primarily natural conditions — flooding or
freezes or insect attacks. They are social conditions that result from
the workings of capitalism — usurious interest rates; monopoly-rigged
pricing of farm machinery, fertilizer, seeds and fuel; and monopoly
control over marketing.
The only way out of this crisis is for a fighting alliance of workers,
who are wage slaves, with exploited working farmers, who are debt
slaves. Farmers and workers face the same enemy, the capitalist system,
which puts the profits of the bankers and corporations ahead of the
needs of working people.
Our unions and organizations of farmers need to demand that farmers get
a price for what they produce that covers the cost of production plus
enough to live on. Farmers should be guaranteed the right to work the
land without fear of foreclosure. There should be a permanent moratorium
on taking away their land.
The rents and mortgages system saddles family farmers with big payments
and debts just to use the land they work on. The produce of their labor
is sucked off by landlord and banking parasites.
The Cuban Revolution in 1959 solved this problem by nationalizing the
land and turning it over to those who worked it. Peasants in their
millions, backed by workers and the new revolutionary government led by
Fidel Castro, led the land reform. This is an example that can be
emulated here.
I will be one of the participants on this year’s May Day brigade to Cuba
April 21-May 5. We will do volunteer work on farms there and meet with
members of the farmers’ organization. I will tell them about the
struggles of farmers and workers here and bring back the truth about
what Cuban toilers have accomplished to share with farmers here.
If you would like to join with me, contact one of the Socialist Workers
Party branches in the directory here.
In This Issue
Front Page Articles •Workers, farmers face social disaster in floods
•‘Times’ scribe urges liberals to declare war on rural America
•UK rulers face crisis as toilers push for break from the EU
•SWP launches campaign in Troy, NY: ‘Workers can unite, fight boss attacks’
•‘We got out truth,’ Hawa Bah says after win over city in son’s killing
•Boeing bosses sacrificed safety to defend profits, market share
Feature Articles •Venezuelan peasants’ fight for land met by gov’t,
landlord attacks
Also In This Issue •Protests grow after cop who killed Antwon Rose gets off
•Mueller report derails liberals’ witch hunt against Trump
•SWP to launch drive for books, ‘Militant,’ funds
•Crisis of capitalism today drives farmers off the land
•UK gov’t revoking citizenship is blow to workers’ rights
•Build fighting alliance of workers, farmers
On the Picket Line •Iceland hotel workers strike for higher wages,
better conditions
•Hundreds of New York nurses rally in contract fight
•Amazon worker, who spoke out for union, challenges firing
•Maryland teachers rally for school funding, increased pay
25, 50 and 75 years ago
Letters
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Christopher Hitchens
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― Christopher Hitchens,