[Capitalism squeezes every ounce of ‘value’ out of these exploited Braceros from South of the Border]

The Militant, 30 June 1945

The recent death of eight Mexican track workers who were crushed beneath the wheels of an express train on the New York Central Railroad at Amsterdam, N.Y. brings to light the brutal methods employed by U.S. capitalism in the exploitation of foreign labor.

None of the eight workers could understand English. They were put to work on a two-track system which they did not understand. There was no foreman present and no watchers had been posted to warn of oncoming trains. No interpreter had been assigned to the gang. An investigation followed the accident. A charge of criminal negligence was considered, but the coroner, John W. Morris, issued a statement saying that the evidence found was carelessness!

These eight workers were part of a contingent of 60,000 track workers and 40,000 farmhands sent to work in the U.S. as the result of a deal between the U.S. Department of Labor and the Mexican government. Another 35,000 men will be sent in batches, according to a report issued by officials in Mexico City who added, This total of 150,000 Mexican workers will be returned to their homes as soon as the labor shortage in the United States is relieved by returning soldiers.

These Mexican workers, recruited by promises of high wages and good living and working conditions, are forced to do the most difficult and dangerous work without protection of either union organization or State and Federal laws covering the conditions of labor.

Truly capitalism squeezes every ounce of value out of these exploited workers from South of the Border. What a glorious day of reckoning will come when the workers and poor farmers of Mexico and the United States join in solidarity for united struggle against capitalism!