BY BARRY SHEPPARD
SAN FRANCISCO — An important victory has been won by undocumented workers in California as a result of the recall election of Democrat governor Gray Davis. To avoid being recalled in the October 7 poll, Davis has reversed his position and signed a bill granting undocumented workers the right to obtain a driver's licenses.
Undocumented workers, mainly from Mexico and Central America, form an important segment of the work force in California. They come looking for jobs, which are scarce in their homelands, and for better wages. California produces much of the United States' food and fibre crops. Agribusiness hires people without work papers, who have little choice but to work for low wages and long hours. Undocumented workers are also employed in construction and other industries.
While the US capitalist class wants these workers, it also wants to keep them too afraid to assert their rights and organise against their super-exploitation. This explains the capitalists' apparent contradiction in hiring tens of thousands of undocumented workers, even as state and federal governments continuously hunt down and deport many of them. This ensures that "illegal" workers remain fearful of being caught and are always in a kind of limbo.
From time to time, "immigrant scares" are whipped up by capitalist politicians and the corporate media. One purpose of these campaigns is to scapegoat "illegal aliens" for unemployment in the US. Almost every day there are letters to the newspapers charging that "illegals" are stealing the jobs of US citizens; some even attribute California's financial crisis to them. Even some Latino citizens are affected by this propaganda.
When you scratch the surface of these absurd claims, what is revealed is racism against all Latinos and other non-white immigrants, whether they have papers or not.
While some Latinos are hoodwinked by such campaigns, most are not. Most Latinos have friends or relatives who are undocumented, and know that they are very hard working people, who pay taxes out of their meagre incomes. One charge is that "illegals" come to the US to sponge off of welfare and other social services. But on average, undocumented workers pay far more in taxes than they receive in social services.
Driver's licences
In the early 1990s, a hysterical referendum campaign was waged to deny undocumented workers and their children social services. The referendum was passed, although much of it was later declared unconstitutional.
As part of this campaign, a law was passed in 1993 by the state legislature to take away undocumented workers' driver's licenses, a right which they had previously enjoyed. This made it very difficult for the undocumented to travel to work and do ordinary chores in automobile-dominated US society. Many were forced to drive without licenses, making them more vulnerable to police charges.
Attempts by the legislature to undo this unjust law were twice vetoed by Davis. His signing of a bill to do this was a victory for the undocumented. He never would have done this except for the campaign to have him recalled, triggering his desperate attempt to appeal to California's Latino voters.
The October 7 recall ballot will have two parts. The first part is a simple yes or no referendum on recalling Davis. The second part is a vote to elect his replacement should the recall part win. It is possible to vote no on Davis' recall and to also vote for a candidate to replace him.
Davis' Lieutenant Governor Cruz Bustamante is running in the second election. He is the only other prominent Democrat to run. He also had voted for the bill to take away driver's licenses from the undocumented, even though he is a son of Latino immigrant farmworkers. He now says that was a mistake. Bustamante's backflip, like Davis', has also come about because of the pressure of the recall election.
Green Party candidate Peter Camejo, the other most prominent Latino candidate, made the issue of driver's licenses for the undocumented a key part of his campaign for governor last year. Camejo marched with some 500 "illegals" to demand licenses and other rights in July last year. Davis' backflip is also a victory for Camejo and the Green Party.
Democrats divided
Bustamante's candidacy has revealed a sharp division within the Democratic Party. Davis and his supporters, including pro-war Democrat senator Diane Feinstein, pressured other Democrats not to run, but to instead focus on calling for a "no" vote on the recall referendum. Davis is now urging a "no" vote on the recall poll but also a vote for Bustamante as a backup. Feinstein, however, has made it known that she won't vote for Bustamante at all. From talking to Democrats, Camejo is convinced that Feinstein's stance is fuelled by racism.
Bustamante's official position is also to vote "no" on the recall and a vote for himself in the second part of the ballot. An indication of the rancour inside the Democrats is that Bustamante's campaign has downplayed the call for a "no" vote and concentrated on urging that Bustamante be elected governor.
At a recent debate, Bustamante supporters went out of their way to hail Camejo as "one of the most important" people in the state. Bustamante wants some of Camejo's prestige to rub off on him, while appealing to Camejo supporters to back Bustamante as the only "realistic" alternative to Davis or Republican front-runner Arnold Schwartzenegger.
Davis' backers are pressuring supporters to give no money to Bustamante's campaign. The trade union bureaucracy, craven lickspittles of the Democrats, are holding back funds for Bustamante, even though his politics are close to those of Davis.
Republicans divided too
Divisions also exist among the Republicans. Schwartzenegger has taken positions in the past that rile the conservative party machine. These include some support of abortion rights and rights for gays. The Republicans are trying to get prominent Republican conservatives to drop out of the race, to increase the B-movie actor's chances. Two have recently dropped out, but arch-reactionary Tom McClintlock refuses.
In a bid for support from his party's right-wing, as well as racist Democrats, Schwartzenegger has said he will repeal to decision to allow undocumented to have driver's licenses. But Schwartzenegger is walking a tightrope between wanting to appear as a "moderate" and retaining support from his right wing — so he is trying very hard to duck any discussion on what he stands for.
While money speaks very loudly in US elections, this is not an ordinary election. More issues are being raised in debates among the top contenders, which include Camejo, than is usual in ordinary campaigns. A crack has appeared in the solid two-party monopoly. There are 20 to 30 candidates who are raising serious ideas, including three avowedly socialist candidates for the governorship.
Meanwhile, Peter Camejo held a press conference outside the giant New United Motors Manufacturing Inc plant in Fremont on September 5. The issue was Davis' giving US$6.4 million to NUMMI for training workers to produce a new model car — a normal business expense. Caroline Lund, a member of the local United Automobile Workers executive committee, appeared with Camejo.
Lund said that Davis had been scheduled to make a tour of the 5000-worker plant in March to celebrate the handout to the company. Lund reported that the company pressured workers to sign forms stating they had received training that they hadn't.
Camejo said that if he was elected governor, he would investigate such acts of fraud and make sure such funds went to workers who had been "downsized" from their jobs and to others who could use genuine training.
From Green Left Weekly, September 24, 2003.
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