No Revolution, No Justice

WASHINGTON, DC, October 10 —Tens of thousands of antiracists gathered at the twentieth anniversary of the Million Man March. As the Nation of Islam (NOI) misleaders pushed for dead-end nationalism and reform, a small but aggressive group of Progressive Labor Party members and friends rallied for a communist solution to racist oppression.
NOI’s strategy is Black capitalism, separatism, sexist oppression, pie-in-the-sky religion, and a blame-the-victims sales pitch. PLP’s strategy is to build a multiracial, working-class movement to smash capitalism and create an egalitarian society without bosses, money or profits.  
Shut It Down
Louis Farrakhan, NOI’s worker-bashing excuse for a leader, spoke for more than 145 minutes. He attacked women workers for having abortions and poor cooking skills; he attacked Black men for failing their families. Yet he gave the capitalist exploiters and warmaking imperialists a free pass. With a big enough crowd to seize the White House and spark rebellion, the 82-year-old Farrakhan—the snake who has admitted inciting the assassination of his former mentor, Malcolm X—could make only an empty call for “justice” through reform and god.
Fortunately, triumph is defined by more than numbers. Winning lies in the class content of the politics, which PLP had in abundance. We countered the NOI’s pacification strategy with our militant chanting: “This racist system — shut it down!” Surrounded by the masses, our multiracial group of women and men launched a rally within the rally. Most people were receptive to our politics, as evidenced by the 1,700 CHALLENGEs and leaflets we circulated over two hours.                               
The crowd’s response to our literature reflects the conclusion being drawn by workers across the world: The whole rotten system needs to go. Progressive Labor Party says YES, capitalism must go. It cannot be reformed. Our brothers and sisters in Ferguson and Baltimore are helping to clue us in on the solution. We must turn these sparks of rebellion into a communist revolution—and a system free of racism, sexism, exploitation and imperialist war, run by and for workers and youth. Communism is the only system based on the needs of the international working class.
Rebellion, Not Atonement
At the original Million Man March (MMM) in 1995, NOI declared a personal Day of Atonement for Black men—an exercise in racist victim-bashing. The organization’s leadership demanded that Black male workers apologize for living through slavery, racism and capitalism. In the wake of the mighty rebellions of Ferguson and Baltimore, NOI began today’s MMM with a prayer. It culminated with a pathetic plea for “the government to respond to our suffering.”
The working class in Ferguson and Baltimore knows how the government responds to workers’ suffering: with tear gas, kkkops and military-grade weapons. Under capitalism, the capitalist bosses hold state power. They control the politicians, the judges and the cops. The system is rigged against the working class.
State power in the U.S. has always rested on racist murders. The thirteen colonies were built on the genocide of indigenous peoples. The U.S. economy boomed with the vicious enslavement of Black women, men, and children. The gross inequalities that define the U.S. today are the fruit of Jim Crow, the legalized system of racist segregation imposed after the Civil War. No amount of reform can change this system’s racist core.
Women Leaders
Women have stood at the front lines of the battles against police terror (see letter). This was and remains the case after the murders-by-cop of Tyrone West, Shantel Davis, Kyam Livingston, Ramarley Graham and countless more. At the first Million Man March, women were told to stay home. Today the NOI boxed them into supportive, subordinate roles. PLP rejects this sexist sidelining and degradation of women workers. Liberation for working-class men is linked to the liberation of women workers—of all workers. The fight against capitalism is one and the same for every member of our class. The latest wave of rebellion has taught us that multiracial unity of women and men is indispensable and non-negotiable.
Same Enemy, Same Fight
Following the action at the march, PL’ers and friends collectively evaluated the day’s events at a nearby restaurant. At first our discussion analyzed the politics of the event, how our group fared in reaching out and spreading communist ideas, and how workers responded. The discussion evolved as differing perspectives were aired by students and friends.
We debated a range of topics: the role of communists in leading struggle, the role of Black workers as the vanguard of revolution, our general strategy for fighting racism. At the end, disagreement boiled down to one question: Can the fight against racism be separated from the fight against capitalism?
Some friends thought, “Black people have to figure themselves out first before we can unite as a multiracial group to fight capitalism.” But as one comrade pointed out, “That’s like saying we all agree that we want to head to the same destination. To get there, we have to go west--but first, we are going to go east.” Fighting racism is part and parcel of battling capitalism. The two are inseparable. Even as masses of antiracists are saturated by Black nationalist ideas, PLP has been fighting back with multiracial unity — whether at an anti-KKK rally, a school integration struggle, or a campus campaign against U.S. imperialism.
Our presence at the march sharpened the politics of the event, however modestly. More important, it sharpened the political understanding of young comrades within our Party. Our post-march discussion was a model for how we will make decisions and run society under communism, when workers hold state power. The discussion will continue at an upcoming study group.
Capitalist stooges and fake leftists like Farrakhan are followed by masses of workers, however reluctantly. These workers are seeking a real movement that will fight back against capitalist oppression. Farrakhan and his ilk may have the numbers, for now. But it’s becoming obvious to more and more workers that they have no solution.
You Gotta Be in It to Win It
PLP has the only solution: communist revolution. We know that millions of workers can be won to these ideas. Hundreds of millions of workers have fought to the death for them in the past. We are building our international working-class revolutionary movement until it has the numbers to take this fight all the way. Unlike NOI, our Party is no secret society.  It is open to all workers—and it’s our job to get out there and tell them about it!
But while our Party has 50 years of militant history, we have a long way to go and much to learn about organizing a mass workers’ movement. We have a world to learn—and a world to win.

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Black Nationalism Fails Black Workers
Alongside racism and sexism, nationalism is the rulers’ main tool to divide and exploit the working class. It traps us into false unity with groups of bosses, based on nationality or the anti-scientific myth of “race.”
Black politicians are like any others; they serve the capitalist rulers. No matter who wins the next U.S. presidential election, racist cops will keep terrorizing Black, Latin, and immigrant workers and youth. The capitalist court system will keep jailing them by the millions. Women will keep suffering sexist violence; immigrant workers will keep dying in pursuit of a better life. Baltimore had a Black mayor and a Black police chief, but Freddie Gray is no less dead today.  
There is only one race: the human race. There are only two sides: capitalists and workers. They will always be in conflict—until we smash the bosses once and for all.
We don’t need the capitalists or their fake version of democracy. Progressive Labor Party fights for communist revolution and working-class power. We say: Don’t vote, distribute CHALLENGE! Don’t vote, fight the racist Klan in blue and the racist Klan in white! Don’t vote, fight back against imperialist war! Don’t vote, revolt and fight for communism!
Join us!