Healthcare: A Universal Right of Every Worker

v>				won't teach to us. This is the history that
"Healthcare: A Universal Right of Every Worker,"				universities feel is better left ignored. And these are
Healthcare: A Universal Right of Every Worker				the types of stories that the mainstream media will
By Punkerslut				never publish. At the same time that the
Introduction				working-class was exploited, there become a
"I am a convinced partisan of economic and social				revolutionary class; a group of individuals, without
equality, for I know that outside of this equality,				regard for law or social custom, with the simple
freedom, justice, human dignity, morality, and the				interest of abolishing all that is at the root of
well-being of individuals as well as the prosperity of				mankind's misery. The Capitalists responded in kind...
nations are all nothing but so many falsehoods."				"By using the state troops and the influence of the
-- Mikhail Bakunin [*1]				Federal Government they were able to man the mills
My contention in this piece is very simple and				in Colorado City with scab millmen; and after months
very direct. Every worker has an absolute right to				of hardship, after 1,600 of our men had been
healthcare. Allow me to elaborate upon some of				arrested and placed in the Victor Armory in one
these terms. A generally accepted definition of the				single room that they called the 'bullpen,' after 400 of
term worker is "one who labors in the social				them had been loaded aboard special trains guarded
production." The phrase "healthcare" has many				by soldiers, shipped away front their homes, dumped
in-depth definitions with countless inclusions,				out on the prairies down in New Mexico and Kansas;
exceptions, and conditional rules. When I talk about				after the women who had taken up the work of
healthcare, I am speaking about providing for the				distributing strike relief had been placed under arrest
people whatever is necessary to relieve them of				--we find then that they were able to man the mines
impediments to mental, emotional, or physical health.				with scabs, the mills running with scabs..." [*5]
Many Leftists and Liberals also agree that workers				In 2005, Temple University published a study
ought to be guaranteed a right to healthcare, but not				titled, "Increase in inflammatory cytokines in median
all of them believe in the definition I have provided.				nerves in a rat model of repetitive motion injury."
Those with moderate or conservative influences tend				The study demonstrated that nerve damage from
to lean towards a more restrictive healthcare policy,				repetitive behavior can cause serious physical, mental,
one that allows exceptions to be left outside of the				and emotional problems. The researchers used the
system's officialized record for compassion. This is				term "sick worker syndrome" to describe the
not the definition of universal healthcare as I				condition. In human models, what is seen as
understood. A true system of healthcare allows				"slacking off" may actually just be the brain's
each member of the community to satisfy their				unconscious response to nerve-damage caused by
needs for emotional, mental, and physical sustenance,				repetitive behavior. [*6] It is amazing that scientists
regardless how strong or deep their need may be.				have finally isolated the chemical reaction that causes
The universal right to healthcare can only				debilitation from prolonged, monotonous action. Now
naturally follow when the world realizes the universal				science has the privilege of knowing what the
rights to food, shelter, and an equitable means of				working class have known for several millenia.
contributing to social production; or as it is commonly				The Social Contract
referred to it, "a living." A true living can only be				"Such was, or may well have been, the origin of
satisfied when an individual is allowed both a				society and law, which bound new fetters on the
democratic voice in governing their workplace and				poor, and gave new powers to the rich; which
the economic distribution of society. This entails a				irretrievably destroyed natural liberty, eternally fixed
social order where every individual is allowed to				the law of property and inequality, converted clever
pursue and advance themselves in matters of				usurpation into unalterable right, and, for the
culture, art, science, or industrial ability. To maintain				advantage of a few ambitious individuals, subjected
roots to the base of human consciousness, education				all mankind to perpetual labour, slavery and
must be an unfettered right to all members of				wretchedness. It is easy to see how the
society. Individuals must be provided with both the				establishment of one community made that of all the
facilities of a just social order and the necessary				rest necessary, and how, in order to make head
means to keep themselves alive. These are the				against united forces, the rest of mankind had to
struggles of Leftist revolutionaries. We will be found				unite in turn. Societies soon multiplied and spread over
fighting in places where people are denied the right to				the face of the earth, till hardly a corner of the world
food, water, and a fair means of living. We will also				was left in which a man could escape the yoke, and
be found in places where Democracy is threatened,				withdraw his head from beneath the sword which he
where the rights to association, assembly, and press				saw perpetually hanging over him by a thread."
are starting to crumble. Once these basic rights of				-- Jean Jacques Rousseau, 1754 [*7]
physical necessity and social integration are granted,				Every member of society has certain obligations
progressive thinkers will demand that a right to				and rights, when it comes to their behavior with
healthcare should be recognized. It is only natural				others. Social equity is founded on the idea that the
that the right to healthcare can only follow when the				law enforces its penalties and requirements
primal rights of humanity are first met.				uniformly. No party's influence or presence should
When speaking on the rights of the people, it is				be a deterring or persuading in how the law treats
unfair to use the word "citizen." Where a person				them. If the state, the "sacred guardian of the law,"
was born or whether they are federally registered to				favors one class over another, it will only instigate
the local government is irrelevant. No human being is				social conflict between the parties. Those who
an island, and to say that social policy should be				survived the Holocaust internment camps would seek
applied to one group of people and not another,				and obtain some restitution for their suffering.
based on arbitrary differences, is to make yourself				Japanese-Americans endured life in concentration
an enemy of international, working-class solidarity.				camps, and they also receive a restitution. Native
The ideal ethic of the Communist, of every Leftist, is				Americans today are also given restitution for crimes
that every person should work as much as they can				against their ancestors. The behavior of Capitalists
and that every person should take as much as they				throughout history is inexcusable. To say it was
need. To recreate a society based on class divisions				simply a matter of the law being different is ignoring
of "inclusion to privilege" and "exclusion to society's				the fact that the state had been hijacked by bribery
institutions" is to recreate the current causes of our				and corruption. There was no Democratic
misery. For this reason, when I speak of the rights				alternative to the working individual. It would be
of the members of the community, I will not use the				erroneous to pass on this debt to those of a certain
word citizen. Being a part of a community is enough				blood; it was not a crime committed by certain
to guarantee an individual the same rights as any				families, but a crime committed by an entire class.
other.				Specifically, it was a crime committed by property.
All workers have the absolute right to				Today's wealth exists because of those who
healthcare. To insist upon anything else would be a				suffered such great misery during the "Industrial
violation of social justice.				Revolution." The same weapon is still causing the
A Brief History of the Proletariat				same great tragedy. Universal healthcare is the first
The world has become a very different place				step in restitution.
today than in 1848, the year the Manifesto of the				A true worker would refuse to work under our
Communist Party was first authored by Marx. Since				current conditions. They would kick and scream,
that time, we have seen the Haymarket Massacre,				they would attack their managers and supervisors,
the laws defining the eight hour day, muckrakers				and they would burn down all the factories and bomb
exposing the filthy conditions of tenements and				all the mines. Why are we still working to build the
factories, the rise and fall of Socialist political parties,				excesses of this elite class when my own people are
public watchdog groups, and the reality of globalized,				dying in the streets? It is a question that presents
corporate power. The founding of first Communist				itself to every worker. Those who work in the
Party did not mark the first date that the working				industry sectors that provide the entertainment for
class assembled in order to secure their own				the elite class must know the truth. While their
interests. Nor did it mark the last battle that the				hands labor on expensive commodities, they must
people would face against tyranny. Class struggles				know that there are millions of people who face
have a tendency to evolve as fast as people are				starvation and homelessness. The system makes
capable of understanding them. The reins of power				good use of the unemployed millions; without people
will always be revolving through the hands of				who can't find work, wages and worker benefits
different social and economic elites. To grasp an				increase. [*8] To say that Capitalism had discovered
accurate understanding of the history of the working				a fault in the way humans behave and think, and
class, one must look to the battles that they waged				failed to exploit it, is beyond the conscience of any
and to the enemies that brought poverty and				rational thinker. Even though these facts ring true,
oppression to them, as well as the ideas that				we must still eat, and to do that, we must still
motivated and inspired them to take action.				work. The true worker would see his people
Some historians today still regard America's 19th				suffering and do everything he could to stop it. A
century as a period of economic and technological				culture created by several hundred years of Free
growth. They are fond of using phrases like "the				Enterprise cannot be abolished in one day. If it
era of rugged individualism" or "industrial revolution."				could, then the constantly lingering threat of
Here is the greatest proof of class antagonisms. As				starvation would mean nothing to those who refused
far as what history has to say, the books that make				to bargain with the enemy. If it only took the sheer
it into our schools, our libraries, and our bookshops will				will of good people to destroy tyranny, then no one
very vaguely and faintly reference this period. By				would be in chains. Capitalism proves that it will take
calling it a period of "rugged individualism," they are				much more.
simply identifying it by the title of the ideology of the				Something invaluable was taken from the most
power elites. Is an absolute ruler a king, queen, or				innocent ranks of humanity. It is only fair that
monarch, or are they just a despot, dictator, and				something invaluable be indebted upon those who
tyrant? It depends on who paid the bill for society's				committed the first crime. There is nothing that can
history books. Similarly, when we look to the early				be done to bring back those who fell to injustice, the
development of society as it occurred during this				good people of history who lost everything due to
period, we will find no time in history where there are				some over-ambitious individual in a high position.
so many in poverty and so few with wealth. It is				Nothing can change what has happened, but we can
the pinnacle of a tyrannical world -- the gap between				change how things will be. Only seven percent of
oppressor and oppressed never widened so much or				Capitalism's profit will give all of America what our
so quickly. The world became a different place and				ancestors rightfully deserved. The absolute and
today's historians are content to call it an Industrial				universal right to healthcare is more than possible. It
Revolution.				is justice.
"... there are always the mines in which fifty, a				Punkerslut,
hundred, or five hundred poor devils are suffocated,				Resources
swallowed in a single moment of horrible destruction,				1. "Stateless Socialism: Anarchism," by Mikhail Bakunin,
their charred bodies never to see daylight again."				from "The Political Philosophy of Bakunin," by G.P.
[*2] This is one glimpse into the world of the				Maximoff, 1953, The Free Press, NY.
1800's. In 1906, an article was published describing,				2. "Ravachol," by Octave Henry Marie Mirbeau.
"...the case of a girl whose hand was caught in the				3. Geo. W. Alger "Some Equivocal Rights of Labor"
wheels of a dangerous machine and so mangled that				Atlantic Monthly, March, '06. As quoted in "Working
it was necessary to cut off her arm at the shoulder.				Hours of Women in Factories," Mary Van Kleeck,
The accident was directly due to a violation by the				1906-1907.
employer of the statute which requires safety				4. "The Wreck of the Home: How Wearing Apparel is
guards on this machinery." [*3] Another piece				Fashioned in the Tenements," Annie S. Daniel, 1905.
further describes child labor as it was commonly				5. "The General Strike," Big Bill Haywood, 1911.
practiced: "A Child from 3 to 10 or 12 years adds by				6. "Slacker Or Sick?" Science Daily, October 24, 2005.
its labor from 50 cents to $1.50 per week to the				7. "Discourse on the Origin of Inequality Among Men,"
family income. The hours of the child are as long as				Jean Jacques Rousseau, 1754, the Second Part,
its strength endures or the work remains. A child 3				translated by G. D. H. Cole
years old can work continuously from 1 1/2 to 2				8. A study on this matter was published in the journal
hours at a time; a child 10 years old can work 12				Public Choice, by Springer Netherlands. Issue: Volume
hours." [*4] These are the images that our schools				72, Number 1 / October, 1991.

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Healthcare: A Universal Right of Every Worker