January 1971 Wei Min She, "Organization for the People" was formed out of the experience of the Asian Community Center.
"What Is Wei Min She?" is a handout written in 1971 explaining the organization.
"WHAT IS WEI MIN SHE?
Wei Mm She is an Asian American anti-imperialist organization in the S.F. Bay Area. Our name means “organization for the people.” Our organization is committed to building an anti-imperialist, multi-national, revolutionary mass movement in this country. Our strategy is to build a united front movement of all who can be united against the system of imperialism, led by the working class. The system of imperialism is controlled by the small class of capitalists who own the majority of the world’s wealth, while everyone else must work to live. We see the system of imperialism as the root cause of oppression of workers, national minorities, students, and women. While it exploits workers and national minorities at home, imperialism oppresses and exploits the people of .the world. Since the end of WWII, the U.S. has become the most powerful power in the world. Its tentacles have reached out and seized political and economic control of the underdeveloped nations of Asia, Africa, Latin America and the Middle East.
In the last couple of years, we have seen US, imperialism on the decline. The rise of national liberation movements in the underdeveloped and oppressed nations have been kicking U.S. Imperialism out of their countries. Vietnam and other countries in Southeast Asia, Africa, the Middle East, and Latin America have cut off the ability of U.S. companies to make superprofits. In other parts of the world, the political and economic strength of the U.S. is being challenged by other capitalist nations in Europe and Japan. Competition with another imperialist power, the Soviet Union, has also weakened the U.S. position.
Because of the rising struggles and economic and resistance abroad, the U.S. has found itself in a vise, US .imperialists find that they cannot maintain their rate of profits. They are turning to the working class at home to insure the profits they lost abroad. Nationwide, the living standards of the people are being attacked in a thousand different ways. People are being confronted with work speedups, mass layoffs, elimination of protective work laws, cutbacks in social services, increased police terror in Third World communities, energy freezes and food shortages.
Immigrant and minority workers are being attacked even harder. Because of the economic crisis, the companies are coming out with all sorts of propaganda to prevent unity in the class. The recent wave of anti-alien propaganda in the news and the massive deportations of Mexicans in California are bringing back reminders from the past. In the 1890’s, when the capitalists no longer needed the labor of Chinese and when the workers’ movement was on the rise due to the depression, the employers put the blame for the economic crisis on the large influx of Chinese workers into the country. Hence, a misguided workers’ movement began to develop around the slogan, “The Chinese Must Go:” instead of “The System Must Go:” When the Chinese were kicked out or forced into hiding in the Chinatowns throughout the West, unemployment was not solved and economic depressions continued on.
Today, immigrant workers are kept unorganized and used as cheap pools of labor. They have little job protection and work the longest hours at the lowest pay. The present crisis only intensifies their exploitation even further. However, this does not mean that working people are not resisting. These attacks on the people‘s living standards have been met with a militant and ever growing anti-imperialist movement. People everywhere are fighting back. Together with the peoples of the world, the American people are uniting across national lines to begin building the struggle against imperialism.
The anti-war movement, the struggles for childcare, and the increasing numbers of strikes arid walkouts are powerful testimonies to this development. Asian American and other Third World people are fighting for our democratic rights arid against national oppression. The Lee Mah and Jung Sai organizing drives in the S. F. Chinese Community, the struggle for equal employment in N.Y. Chinatown arid the fight for Ethnic Studies at U. C, Berkeley are a few examples. As Third World people, we must fight both oppression as minorities and exploitation as working people. Not only must the struggle be taken to the Asian communities, it must also be linked-up with the overall struggle of the multinational working class against the system.
The development of the mass movement into one is key to building the United Front Against Imperialism. Through this united front, we can rally various sectors of the American people against this system which must exploit in order to survive.
In building this united front, Wei Min She is involved with these areas of work:
1) Building labor Struggles--building the movement of Asian workers to link up with the larger working class movement to be able to lead the fight against imperialism. We have had practical experience in building support for the Farah strikers, Farmworkers, Nam Yuen Restaurant Busboys walkout, Asia Garden Restaurant workers dispute, S.F. Gold garment factory organizing drive, and now, Jung Sai and Lee Mah,.
2) Student Organizing—fighting for ethnic studies and building the anti-imperialist student movement through various forms of student organizations.
3) Fighting For Democratic Rights--building a movement in the community around the issues of health, housing, education, equal employment etc.
4) Building the Friendship of the Peoples of U.S and the People’s of China_--through film programs on China, forums, and. U.S.-China.People’s friendship events such as the 1974 Friendship Fair and October lst Celebration.
5) Building the Struggle Against the Oppression of Women--forums, supporting struggles of working women on the job, building the fight for childcare, and. participation in initiating events such as International Women’s Day.
If you would like more information about our organization, please contact us at: Wei Min She c/o ACC 846 Kearny St. S.F.,CA. 94108"
