CHICAGO—Twenty people held a solidarity dinner for workers in Mexico after the earthquakes. We had great food and music. Family and friends who could not come to the dinner made some of the food. After our meal, a Progressive Labor Party member introduced herself as a communist and welcomed everyone to this PLP fundraising event. If the last “natural disasters” have shown us anything, it is that under capitalism, we as the international working class have to rely on each other—not on the capitalists or their politicians.
Two segments on YouTube of the recent earthquakes showed workers and youth coming to each other’s aid. As one young woman said, there were no police to be found. The Mexican president Enrique Peña Nieto wanted to bulldoze the areas even when the cries of victims could be heard underneath the rubble.  Another young woman spoke about a family member’s attempts to take needed items to Mexico but was prevented by the police, who wanted money. This is a regular occurrence when workers try to bring aid to Mexico.
 Another young woman at the event brought her parents. She played the guitar and sang some songs of struggle. One woman spoke about being involved in raising money for an indigenous community of fifty families in Oaxaca. These families, which include 20 children, live in tents and have absolutely no economic help from anyone in the U.S. or elsewhere. She is hosting another fundraising activity. Some of the PLP members will be going to that event. CHALLENGE newspapers were circulated to our guests before they left. Overall, we had a wonderful night and raised a modest sum. More donations are coming in from friends that could not make it.
This is the beginning of many fundraising activities for our working-class sisters and brothers. Our friends and families showed that our Party is trusted to deliver this aid directly into the hands of the working class. This is solidarity, not charity. Long live communism and the international working class of the world!