(The following article is from the October 16-31, 2007 issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $25/year, or $12 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $25 US per year; other overseas readers - $25 US or $35 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 133 Herkimer St. Unit 502, Hamilton, ON, L8P 2H3.)
By Stephen Von Sychowski
"We're the first ones to starve, we're the first ones to die
The first ones in line for that pie‑in‑the‑sky
And we're always the last when the cream is shared out
For the worker is working when the fat cat's about"
- Dropkick Murphys, "Workers Song"
Walking down an East Vancouver street I spotted a card in a local shop for "bosses day."* What a perverse occasion, I thought to myself, a day to honour those who rob you blind each day you work, who plunge our country into imperialist war, who turn our natural environment into an unliveable cesspool and yet, apparently, dare to expect praiseful recognition for their monstrosities.
There was a time when people knew who they were, and who their enemies were. The On to Ottawa Trekkers knew it, the heroic fighters of the Mackenzie-Papineau Battalion knew it. It becomes ever more clear in the minds of workers walking the picket line each time the boss tries to break the strike. Even today, it is unlikely that many workers in Canada will seriously consider going out to buy a bosses day card; and good on them.
But still many of our working sisters and brothers have a strange kind of shame about being workers, and a sick form of reverence for the boss, the capitalist, the guy who tells us what to do. To many people, being the boss is admirable, it is the equivalent of being "successful" in life. But the boss and the worker are not friends. It proves difficult to forge a meaningful friendship with a bloke who always has his hand in your wallet and a club over your head.
Class struggle is a historical and scientifically proven fact. As Marx and Engels aptly stated in the Communist Manifesto, "the history of all hitherto existing societies has been the history of class struggle". No class based society is free from this reality, including contemporary Canada. A serious study of Canada shows ours as a country with a history rife with class conflicts. Instead of celebrating those against whom we have historically struggled for our interests and our rights, we should celebrate ourselves, our struggles and the future we must build for ourselves as a class.
So what's the big deal about being a worker? Well, if you are a worker you have a lot to be proud of. Look around you, everything you see was built by workers; unless it was built by a machine, in which case the machine was built by workers. Bill Gates didn't build your computer; Mr. Ford sure as hell didn't build your car for you. All products and all wealth in society are produced by workers. The bosses only have the vast majority of the wealth because they stole it!
Did Churchill and Roosevelt defeat fascism? No! It was the working people of the Soviet Union and the capitalist democracies, including Canada, who saved the planet from tyrannical and murderous fascism. They paid with their lives while the bosses stayed safely at home, many of them even trading with Nazi Germany!
When a building needs to be built, a worker builds it. When a boat needs unloading, a worker unloads it. When a street needs paving, a worker paves it. When garbage needs collecting, a worker collects it. When a burger needs flipping, a worker flips it! And for this, we should all be proud. It's us, not money that makes the world go around. Let's keep this in mind on October 16th and make every day a "workers day."
* Boss's Day is a holiday established in the United States in 1958 by a secretary who was the daughter of a capitalist. Not surprisingly, the capitalist in question was also her boss. The appearance of this despicable holiday in Canada is attributable to intensifying cultural imperialism imposed on our country by the United States, largely via their dominant ownership of economic sectors involved directly in culture. In this case, for example, greeting card companies.