Thousands of office and other workers saw the marchers — many organized by PLP — fill several blocks on Broadway at rush hour, shouting their anger at bosses who dump workers in the street.  Stella supporters in two statewide unions, NYSUT (teachers) and NYSNA (nurses), won support resolutions phoned into the rally. Another rally is set for Friday, October 2, at 3 PM, at the plant.

But the struggle at Stella D’Oro is coming to a head and needs more than another rally. Lance plans to move production to Ashland, Ohio, where it will pay much lower wages and benefits. The Stella layoffs are slated to begin around October 9. The bakers’ union is negotiating with the old boss Brynwood, who is taking a hard line on severance pay and other serious issues. Little time remains. A union meeting is set for October 3.

The workers refused Saturday overtime last week, protesting the firing of one of their leaders on trumped-up charges. They have written a letter to the Ashland Lance workers (see p. 5) explaining what happened to them and asking for support. Last week in New York the teachers’ delegate assemblies of the UFT (K-12) and the PSC (college) greeted Stella workers with a standing ovation. They can count on growing support as they step up the fight.

The chant, “Whose factories? Our factories!” reflects an understanding of both the present and the future. In the present, we know that all value — including the Stella D’Oro factory and its machinery — has been created by the labor of workers and is rightfully ours. In the communist future, workers will run the factories and all of society ourselves, for the benefit of our class. PLP fights for the day when, as communist workers, we will treat ourselves with dignity and respect, not like we’re treated today — exploited and abused and dumped on the streets when the owners can make more money elsewhere.

The unite of black, Latino and immigrant which made the strike strong represents a model of anti-racism for our class to follow.

Other pseudo-leftists in the support committee tell the workers that we’re only fighting for their jobs. PLP disagrees. Of course we’re fighting for these jobs. But as communists we tell workers that we are fighting a war, not just a battle, a war with capitalism, not just a battle with Brynwood and Lance.

Of course you don’t win a war by losing battles. WE FIGHT TO WIN! ALWAYS! PLP will fight alongside the Stella workers 100% if they make a last stand for their jobs. But we also hear many workers asking for answers to bigger questions, many who understand they must prepare and organize now to fight the next battle and the one after that.

A Stella D’Oro worker at a workers’ meeting said, “We’ve all been infected now. Who knows where we’re all going to end up. But wherever we go, we’re going to spread PLP.” Many say they’ve learned they must fight for the whole working class, as their letter to the Ashland workers shows. Some see they need to join and build PLP in order to do that. They are supporting other workers like the cafeteria workers at Hunter College and the CUNY Research Foundation workers, both having staged walkouts last week.

Together we can raise the stakes for all workers, from fighting for crumbs from the bosses’ table to fighting for communist power to build a new egalitarian workers’ society, free of racism and imperialist war. Join us!