Letter to the Editor: Lisa Potash

I extend solidarity to Samantha Strelzer at Emory University. Her strong stand against Jew-hatred sets an example for all of us. Acts of Jew-hatred are increasing worldwide, including here. It is crucial to respond to any expressions of Jew-hatred, no matter how seemingly small. And regardless of whether it comes from the anti-Israel ‘left’ or ultra-rightist forces.

Scapegoating of Jews grows during deepening capitalist crisis, to try to keep people from seeing that the root of the devastation bearing down on working people, and increasingly on the middle class as well in coming years, stems from capitalism itself.

Jew-hatred is a mortal threat to the working-class, as workers today increasingly seek to use our unions to fight employers’ attacks on wages and working conditions. We cannot rely on the government, or the Democratic and Republican parties which both aim to shore up the profits of the capitalist class, to defend Jews and working people.

The only way to truly begin to end Jew-hatred is for working people to take political power out of the hands of the capitalist class and form a workers and farmers government. In Cuba, working people have set an example with their socialist revolution, protecting the rights and community institutions of Jews from the beginning.

The alternative to that course is fascism and barbarism.

Antisemitism in the U.S. working-class has greatly declined, largely a biproduct of the impact of massive civil rights battles in the 1950s and 1960s. Opposing Jew-hatred today is crucial for working people to effectively face growing capitalist decay and war in coming years. We urge unions to join all those speaking out whenever acts of Jew-hatred occur.

In Solidarity,

Lisa Potash, Socialist Workers Party candidate for U.S. Senate