Undocumented workers don't harm veterans. War profiteers do.

Here's a hint: Don't send them to fight corporate wars

So Trump has this to say:

“In many cases, illegal immigrants are taken much better care of by this country than our veterans,” Trump said at the annual Rolling Thunder rally on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., where hundreds of thousands of bikers gathered to honor prisoners of war and service members missing in action. “We’re not going to allow that to happen any longer.”

“We’re gonna rebuild our military,” he continued. “And we’re gonna take care of our veterans. Our veterans have been treated so badly in this country.”

Well even if Trump was right, what does he care about veterans? Remember Bob Dylan's great song, A Pawn in the Game about the assassination of Medgar Evers?  Trump is organizing a the game with his comments and the way he phrases the issue. His intention is that we blame undocumented workers who are for the most part economic refugees, for the disgusting way US capitalism treats those that fought its wars and have paid dearly for it.  It's the old divide and rule. 

Trump is parasite. He has never done any socially productive labor. His slumlord father left him millions. He blames the economic refugees for the poor treatment him and his friends are giving veterans and at the same time he says he wants to rebuild the military.  The US is already the world's largest dealer in weapons of mass destruction.  It's military budget alone could eliminate poverty.

Will we hear the national voice of the trade union leadership on this?  Will the leaders of an' organization with 12 million workers in it explain this con game for what it is and how we must not be the pawn in the game. Will they explain this in class terms? Unfortunately no, we will not.

They will, as always, keep their mouths shut on the most important issues of the day. They, more than the capitalist class, fear the organized working class because a conscious, politically aggressive membership means the end of the job for life.  Better let the sleeping giant lie.

In the unions those activists and leaders at the lower level, closer to the ranks must lead from below.  Resolutions can be introduced countering the bosses' divide and rule propaganda and offering solutions that unite, not divide us. These resolutions can be sent far and wide, to other locals and union bodies asking for support or statements along similar lines.They can be made as public as possible to break through, even in a small way in the beginning, the stifling weight of the capitalist media.

These resolutions can be discussed and debated and voted on. This process will affect consciousness and increase awareness of the important things that are happening in the world around us; issues that determine where we live, where our children go to school.  Issues that determine whether or not we have adequate health care.  It is a failure of duty in a way for any union activist to remain silent and not bring to the forefront the refusal of the labor hierarchy to fight back.

We are in a struggle for the consciousness of the working class. For older workers, we owe it to our grandchildren to participate in that struggle.

* I wrote a piece some years ago before I had this blog. Undocumented Workers are Not the Enemy of Labor. I wrote it and distributed it at work in response to a right wing worker trying to get us to sign a petition to deny undocumented immigrants driving licenses.  I got so mad at him and another guy that supported him, he was white, the other guy black. I had never seen this guy take any stand for the union or involve himself in the struggles on the job. "And this was what gets you off your ass", I told him, "Supporting a petition to deny some of the most oppressed and vulnerable of our brothers and sisters the legal right to drive to their shitty jobs."