October 22, 2011

 

Fellow Occupiers,

The Richmond General Membership Branch of the Industrial Workers of the World offer our support and solidarity to the occupation of Kanawha Plaza by #occupyrichmond, those determined to hold accountable our oppressors.

The actions across the United States in solidarity with the Wall Street Occupation call into question the very foundation in which the capitalist system is based, and its relentless desire to place profit over and above all else. When 1 percent of the ruling class holds the wealth created by the remaining 99 percent, it is clear that the watchwords found in our union’s preamble, “…the working class and the employing class have nothing in common…”, ring true more than ever.

The future is ours to command. What began as an issue based movement in New York City, has become a popular education opportunity for fellow workers to learn and implement direct democracy, introducing revolution into our daily lives. These mobilizations shall be the beginning of a new era for radical activity. By transferring power directly to the working class, the conditions in which we live will be determined, as it should have always been, by the workers, for the workers.

Like the #occupyeverywhere movement & its consensus driven General Assemblies, the Industrial Workers of the World shall continue, with your mutual support, in building a democratic and militant labor movement and mold a new society around the struggles of the old.

Therefore, in the spirit of the Wall Street Occupation our ‘one demand’ shall be the abolition of the wage system. This will not be freely surrendered by the ruling class, it must be taken by the mass organization of the working class at the point of production. Only then will we see a definite end to global austerity.

In Solidarity we struggle, and United we Educate, Organize, & Emancipate the masses!

 

For The Workers,
Richmond Industrial Workers of the World

[download][Solidarity Letter For #OccupyRichmond .PDF]