BROOKLYN, NY, October 18 — What a week we’ve had at our High School! Class struggle has been alive and well: We’ve helped fight the layoff of a co-worker, built our union chapter, fought back against a racist attack by the principal, and, out of all our activities, nearly 40 students, parents, and friends joined us to celebrate John Brown’s raid on Harper’s Ferry.

We started the week with a parents’ dinner for the parents whose children were interested in coming with us to Harper’s Ferry. Seven students and eight parents came. While we ate we talked about our reasons for going to Harper’s Ferry, and celebrating John Brown’s raid, and the fight against slavery. The discussion broadened, as we talked about layoffs on other jobs. One parent works for a city agency, which has laid off 700 workers and replaced them with temps. Other parents talked about their struggles in their schools.

We explained that the reason we were organizing to go to Harper’s Ferry was because we were revolutionaries who wanted to win other workers to see the need for revolutionary violence to overthrow capitalism, the same way that John Brown saw the need for violence to overthrow slavery. Three parents came on the trip, and another couple gave us a contribution. A post Harper’s Ferry potluck celebration is in the works.

Organizing Against Layoffs

In NYC, 530 school aides are being laid off (NY Daily News, 10/9), a racist attack because most are black and Latino. At our school, one aide is being “bumped” for a more senior worker who was laid off at another school.

In response, PL members and leaders of the teachers’ union chapter at the school organized a petition to build support and anger among the workers in the building. Almost everyone signed the petition. We then campaigned to bring teachers and other staff to the UFT Delegates Assembly (DA) to get more support. We weren’t able to get other staff to come, but we were able to get our co-worker into the meeting, and pressure the UFT misleaders to help fight for her job.

The following day we had two union-chapter meetings in the school where about 25 workers met to make plans to fight the harassment and micromanagement by our school administration. We also distributed stickers that many staff and students wore, saying essentially, “No Layoffs… Make the Bosses Take the Losses.” We assigned members of each department in the school to build for a dinner on Friday to take our soon-to-be laid-off coworker out after her last day, and struggled with staff to come out to a picket line Friday morning.

Friday morning about 20 staff picketed the school, against lay-offs and cutbacks, chanting, “They say cut back, we say fight back,” and, “The workers, united, will never be defeated.” It was difficult to get more staff out, but we’re setting the stage for more protests in the future.

Mid-day one of our comrades was called into the racist principal’s office and warned not to bring students to Harper’s Ferry. This racist attack on student-staff unity only made us angrier and more committed, and we found later that even conservative members of our staff were infuriated.

We followed all of this activity with a social in a local bar Friday. About 30 of us toasted our co-worker, and shared stories, and built ties.

The Result of This Week

Over thirty-five students, parents and teachers joined us in a day of celebration of the fight against racism with working-class violence and multiracial unity in Harper’s Ferry. We are developing plans, with students, staff and parents, to fight the racist principal. We will start a campaign to fight for student-staff unity. The future is ours, the struggle continues. J

HOW WE ORGANIZED

During the summer, some PL’ers began thinking about organizing a trip to Harper’s Ferry to celebrate John Brown’s raid. Some of us were in a position to organize official school trips while others were in a more fascistic situation. In one instance, the principal said if a teacher arranged to meet a student at an AIDS Walk, that would be a “school trip” and it needed his approval. This was obviously false, but this principal was more intent on attacking certain teachers than in educating students.

In one Brooklyn high school, teachers had nearly 50 students interested in the John Brown trip. Everything from politics to logistics was explained to the students’ parents. There was an overwhelmingly positive response. Several parents wanted to go with their children. An information/parent permission slip was produced along with a pamphlet about the activities in Harper’s Ferry. Those materials were circulated to all the interested students.

Excitement grew and new students became interested. Calling parents became a daily activity. Money and permission slips began coming in. A parent informational meeting was organized and a sizable group of parents and their children attended.

In the end, the trip had an excellent turnout. Several parents and dozens of students came. Most thought it was a great trip despite the rain. Now the struggle moves on.