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Introduction: Socialist
Action and YSA are supporters of working farmers in their struggle to
stay on the land and be paid decent prices for their produce. Along with
workers, farmers are the other major class of producers in this country
off whose labor the capitalist class has grown so wealthy. As commodity
producers who own, or who aspire to own, the land they work, most farmers
are not part of the working class (they don't have to sell their labor
power). But like wage workers, farmers are exploited by the
capitalists; workers as wage slaves, farmers as debt slaves.
Over the past few decades, this exploitation of farmers has been
intensified by the banks and by the seed, fertilizer, food processing,
farm implement and energy monopolies. This tightening squeeze comes on
top of the inflation, tax burden, war danger and other social problems
facing working people.
SA and YSA advocates solidarity between workers and farmers, and seeks to
help direct their struggles against their common oppressor, the
capitalists.
We’ve set up this page to report on developments in the farmers'
movement, post articles on the lessons of past farmer struggles, and
explain the role that Marxists believe farmers can and will play. We
welcome your feedback.
Family
Farmer News & Views:
 Farm Worker March Hits Burger King’s
Greed: A November 30th demonstration of more than 1500
farm workers and supporters marched in Miami to the
national headquarters of the giant Burger King corporation to demand that
it pay farm workers in Immokalee, Florida one more penny a pound
to pick tomatoes and improve working conditions. Observers have called
conditions in this Central Florida
town, "modern day slavery." Many of the Miami
marchers wore T-shirts with "Exploitation King" imposed over
Burger King logos. continued
The
Struggle of Black Farmers Today: The
primary issue contributing to Black farmers’ decline is rooted in the
reforged class structure that followed the abolition of chattel slavery
after the Civil War. The war left the South’s infrastructure in ruins.
Stripped of its main source of surplus value (profit)—slave labor—the
Southern economy became subordinate to the new king, Northern industrial
capitalism. continued
Power Line Fight in Wisconsin: For
years the American Transmission Company has been trying, with a lot of
success, to intimidate and bribe local governments, courts and regulatory
bodies to give it a green light for the Arrowhead-Weston line. The
Arrowhead-Weston, if built, will be a massive 345 Kilovolt (that’s
345,000 volts!) bulk transmission line that will allow ATC to sell cheap
electricity from the Manitoba Hydro project in Canada to the Chicago
area, where it could make a handsome profit underselling existing
electric providers. continued
 Down on the
‘Socially Responsible’ Farm:
"Think
Green," says Whole Foods' CEO John Mackey. But if the issue is labor
rights or how many Fair Trade coffee companies mostly still profit from
exploiting farmers, he may not want you to think too much. continued
Archived
Articles:
The Plight of Working Farmers:
Washington D.C. rally highlights Black farmers’ struggle
in America
Down on the
'Socially Responsible' Farm
The Ongoing
National Farm Crisis
Minnesota
Farmers Are Facing Disaster
State of
Agriculture in Wisconsin
Dust Bowl Blues
Hot enough for you?
Rural Activism:
Farmers & Students Block
the American Transmission Company
Interview W/ an Activist From
Save Our Unique Lands
Rural
Midwesterners Stand Up to Electric Power Monopoly
History of the American
Agriculture Movement
Critique of
the Movement for Sustainability
Gas, Crop & Livestock Prices:
$7 a
Gallon?
What You
Should Know About the Price of Gas
International Farm Issues:
World Food
Day 2004: The political Economy of Hunger
Farm Workers:
Farmworker March Hits Burger King's Greed
Immigrant Workers and the AFL-CIO Split
UFW
Reverses Itself on "Guest Workers"
Bush’s new
‘bracero’ program: Temporary work, starvation wages
UFW Marches
Again - but Toward What Goal?
AFL-CIO
Backs Amnesty for Undocumented Workers
Farmer Links & Resources:
National
Black Farmers Association
Family Farm Defenders
American
Agriculture Movement
Friends of Agriculture
National
Farmers Organization
National
Family Farm Coalition
National
Farmers Union
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