Views in brief

Sinking below the poverty line

I JUST read your deeply personal and moving article "My So-Called Golden Years" and I have to say that I'm in much the same boat. You are not alone.

I was pushed into early retirement because they could get two new teachers to replace me at the decent salary I earned after a double masters, bilingual endorsement and more than 20 years experience. Now, I'm on Social Security disability and have a small pension, so I live well below the poverty line. I do know my situation could be much worse.

I've gotten past the anger and sadness of being pushed out of my career, but I also feel that a lot of my health issues certainly grew worse once I no longer could rely on earning enough to live tolerably well. It took three years to get the Social Security disability and decent health care and other benefits like food stamps. Maintaining my benefits is much like a part-time job!

The ISO is a lifesaver for me. I read Haymarket Books, am as active as possible and can't wait until Socialism 2014 in June! Meanwhile, I'm writing a book on immigration, which may be ready for publication in a year or so. Thank you for writing your article. I wish you well.
Paula Cohen, Chicago

If we don't stand together...

IN RESPONSE to "A new postal unity": I was a delegate at the convention in Atlantic City where I was one of the minority of delegates who spoke against the motion to bargain separately. As I recall, then-NALC President Vince Sombrotto supported the motion. I hope current President Fred Rolando encourages all of the NALC locals to support the day of action. "If we do not stand together, we will hang separately."

Whether it is union versus union, or worker versus worker, the 1 Percent always encourages division to weaken the working class. As a recently retired NALC member with 37 years of service in a perfect example of a socialistic enterprise, the U.S. Postal Service--ranked number one in the world among postal services, by the way--I know that socialism always outperforms capitalism in providing service.
William Beaulieu, Oak Lawn, Ill.

Is solidarity a one-way street?

IN RESPONSE to "Solidarity to carry us forward": Funny. I'm an adjunct in Professor Padin's supposedly inequality-sensitive department, and I have been for 14 years. I, too, am unionized, and in a real AFL-CIO union, where part of my dues go to support other workers and organize the unorganized.

In my department, I am term-to-term and not allowed to teach more than .49-time. What's defined as .49 for me would be a full teaching load for Professor Padin and his tenure-track colleagues. Meanwhile, the huge profits from my comrades' labor pay Professor Padin's salary, and also for the massive bloat of bosses and "institutes" at PSU.

Guess what? To manipulate its precarious situation, this department has just laid me and my colleagues off. They are my bosses. They make twice what I do for the same work. I'm struggling to feel sorry for them. Solidarity? A one-way street?
Michael Dawson, Portland, Ore.

Applause for SJP

IN RESPONSE to "From Roxbury to Ramallah": I applaud Students for Justice in Palestine and all they are doing to bring awareness for peace and justice to the campus. Where else are they to educate people if not on the grounds of campus?

We are 100 percent behind SJP. They have every right to stand up for what they believe in. They should be treated equally as any other student organization. Northeastern needs to stop the hypocrisy and treat all students with dignity and respect.
Olivia Azat, Silver Spring, Md.

Less-than-great expectations

IN RESPONSE to "A writer for new hard times": Charles Dickens was not a socialist, but a moral reformer. He simply believed that if we all treated each other more kindly, all would be well. The heroes of his books, for the most part, are kindly old gentlemen from the middle or upper classes who treat their workers well, or who have a change of heart and "see the light."

Dickens seldom writes about the working class except to caricature them. Steven Blackpool in Hard Times was portrayed as a man of integrity who refused to join a union to confront the coke-town capitalists. Dickens was a reformer, not a trade unionist nor a revolutionary nor even a rebel. Still, much can be learned from his writing, and he undoubtedly helped advance the conditions of poor folks in Victorian England.
John Murray, from the Internet