The Militant(logo) 
    Vol.61/No.15           April 14, 1997 
 
 
Socialist: No Human Being Is Illegal  
The following statement was issued by the Socialist Workers candidate for governor of New Jersey, Bob Miller, who is a member of the United Auto Workers Local 980 at the Ford plant in Edison, New Jersey.

The Socialist Workers campaign stands with all those marching, protesting, and speaking out against the so- called Illegal Immigration Reform and Responsibility Act, which goes into effect April 1. This federal legislation is an attack against the entire working class. No human is illegal!

The welfare reform law, which eliminates most legal resident noncitizens in this country from all federal assistance programs, is an attempt by the U.S. rulers to sow further divisions among the working class. It scapegoats a section of the population for the deepening economic crisis, which is a worldwide crisis caused by the capitalist system itself.

The working class in the United States includes people born throughout the world. My co-workers at the auto plant where I work include people born in Colombia, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Jamaica, Mexico, Peru, and several Eastern European countries. Immigrant bashing is a blow to the entire working class, and to our labor unions as well.

In France, Austria, Germany, Italy, and the United Kingdom, attacks against immigrants have also escalated. But for the working class, unity across nationalities and borders is key.

The unions in the United States need to take the lead in forging this unity in struggle. My campaign raises the idea that the unions champion a struggle around the fight for jobs for all. Shorten the workweek with no loss in pay. Wage an international working-class fight for jobs.

The recent demonstrations and rallies of hundreds of thousands in France, Italy, Korea, Russia, Columbia, and Ecuador (to name a few), point to the opportunity to link up with workers around the world fighting for jobs and against government-imposed austerity measures.

Meanwhile, the imperialist banks are squeezing the toilers of the Third World to pay the debt that crushes opportunities to develop those countries. As money and interest payments are sucked out of the Third World, workers are forced to move to the imperialist countries in search of work. This Third World debt should be canceled!  
 
 
Front page (for this issue) | Home | Text-version home