Monday, May 18
Oppressed must take back system
Abolish chancellor’s, administration; surrender university’s
control to hands of teachers, students
By Michelle ObermanFight the racist purge of the universities!
Defend affirmative action and more! Fight for open admissions and
no tuition! For free, quality, integrated education and jobs for
all!The April 16 march by 300 African American students, joining an
integrated crowd of 200 protesters, sent a striking message of
disgust and anger over the UC campuses’ recently announced
acceptance figures, in which the numbers of African American and
Latinos plummeted 43 percent and 33 percent, respectively! The
protest was led by the African Student Union and the Affirmative
Action Coalition. These groups, in addition to demanding that
student organizations be part of the admissions process that
decides who will be excluded from higher education, also called on
Chancellor Carnesale to use his "moral authority" against
Proposition 209. But Carnesale’s authority, like the Board of
Regents’, comes from his administration of the bourgeoisie’s racist
purge of the universities. With no jobs or a future for youths, the
racist American rulers have made it clear they have no interest in
educating African Americans and other minorities. The Spartacus
Youth Club says: Abolish the regents, chancellors and
administration! For student, worker and teacher control of the
universities! For open admissions, no tuition and a state-paid
student stipend! Free, quality, integrated education and jobs for
all!We defend the token gains of affirmative action against the
bourgeoisie’s racist assaults, but we recognize that it cannot
crack the oppression of African Americans in this country. Last
hired and first fired, African Americans are an oppressed
race-color caste, an integral sector of the working class and the
American economy, forcibly segregated at the bottom of society. The
historic fight for African American equality and liberation can
only be achieved in the struggle against racist American
capitalism.Anti-immigrant Proposition 187 set the stage for "Three
Strikes" Proposition 184, Proposition 209 and the racist "English
Only" Proposition 227. The bourgeoisie seeks to use such
initiatives to split the working and oppressed classes along racial
and ethnic lines, and set each against the other in a struggle for
the crumbs of an ever-shrinking pie. The integrated protest at
Murphy Hall cut across the sectoralism of some of its leadership
who bought into the ruling class’ divide-and-conquer tactics and
organized African American students separately. As students
fighting to defeat the racist assaults on African Americans and
minorities and provide an education for all, we must ally with
workers who have an interest in defending affirmative action and
securing an education and future for themselves and their children.
What is required is a struggle against the racist capitalist system
itself. The Spartacus Youth Club is dedicated to building the
revolutionary party, based on the multiracial working class which
is necessary to lead that struggle to victory in a socialist
revolution.Nothing short of a workers’ revolution to smash
capitalist exploitation will win African American freedom! After
the affirmative action rally next Tuesday, come to the Spartacus
Youth Club forum for a discussion on the revolutionary
integrationist perspective to mobilize the multiracial working
class in struggle for African American liberation through socialist
revolution. The forum will be held May 19 at 6:30 p.m. in Haines
110.