I do not mean any disrespect to Sam Webb or Professor Gluck. I just don't think they are in touch with the world us working people are living in.
Writing my ideas is very hard.
I work as a cook in a very large restaurant in Chicago.
I am 32 years old and I feel like I am 90. I am a single mother. I left my boyfriend because he beat on me so bad I was ashamed to go to work with all my bruises.
I have three small children ages 2, 3, 7.
I make $8.90 each hour I work.
I work 50 to 56 hours almost every week. I work 6 or 7 days a week.
In the last two years I have been evicted from 3 apartments because I can't pay my rent on time.
I have over $4,000.00 in unpaid medical bills because I can't afford insurance. Just to take one child to the doctor mostly costs me about $140.00 each time no matter what is wrong.
My electricity has been turned off 4 times in the last year because I was late with payments. One time over $200.00 of food spoiled.
People tell me Rosalie go get a second job so you can pay your bills. How can I work another job? I am lucky my auntie can watch my kids most of the time when I work. If I had to pay a sitter I might just as soon stay home and not work.
A friend told me about Alan Maki and his blogs. Lots of people read what he has to say. He understands the problems of working people. This stuff here by Webb and Professor Gluck is like they think we can keep living this way.
I can't pay my rent in "increments".
I can't pay my electric bills in "increments".
I can't feed my children in "increments".
I am not very educated. I learn a lot from Alan's blogs. Sometimes my friends print pages from Alan's blog and we talk about what he writes about.
Me and my friends started reading some things by Marx, Lenin and Gus Hall. Alan sent us a big box of books. I never heard of Claude Lightfoot until Alan sent us the box of books and I live here in Chicago.
I will be honest. I don't think me and my friends and neighbors can survive much longer under this capitalist system. We are all agreed we don't think now is the time to talk about making change in "increments".
Maybe if Mr. Webb and Mr. Gluck would like to pay our bills in "increments" we can make a revolution in "increments".
This is a China discussion. From what I read about China they don't have communist leaders. Not leaders like Claude Lightfoot or Gus Hall. It looks to me like China has very fake communist leaders. I think they are telling lies that they are trying to make things better for working people. This makes communism look bad.
I would laugh in my bosses face if she tells me she is going to raise my pay in "increments" until I make a real living wage. 44 people work in her restaurant. She could give each of us each a big wage increase. The only thing she would have to do to pay for this would be to let the grass turn to weeds in her yard instead of paying a lawn service or let her teenage son cut the grass. Her house cost $2,000,000.00. She has a cottage on Lake Michigan near Benton Harbor. I don't know how much she paid for that but I know a lot. I pay $1,100.00 a month to live in a slum. Our labor pays for her mansions and we live like we are less then human.
I used to be afraid of the word communism. Not anymore. I tell everyone I know to read Alan's blogs. There is a lot of truth here.
I am very glad to see Alan putting views like this stuff by Sam Webb because I think most working people living like me will see this kind of thinking is not for them.
When I read this new times and new opportunities it is like it was wrote by someone living in a world I do not live in. It is like there is no understanding of my life and my problems.
Rosalie Puchalski, Chicago, Illinois
