TEXAS PROJECT FIGHTS BORDERS, BUILDS COMMUNISTS

TEXAS, July 7—The Progressive Labor Party organized 50 workers and youth against capitalist borders during a summer project here. The focus of our fight was a call to unite against racist borders and anti-immigrant racism. We strengthened our commitment to multiracial unity of the working class and the struggle for communist revolution to destroy capitalism.
Every year, PLP and friends join to fight collectively in an area of focus—to connect struggles, grow our organization, and develop young leaders. Throughout the week, we demonstrated, volunteered, distributed CHALLENGE and leaflets, engaged in workshops and discussions and strengthened our relationships with each other.
Internationalism on July 4
After the protest against the new concentration camp in Carrizo Springs (see front page), we took the fightback to the Texas-Mexico border. July fourth in the United States  is a day of hyper nationalism and morid hypocrisy. PLP comrades countered the bosses fake holiday by staging a militant anti-July fourth demonstration, and distributing communist literature to workers and shop owners around the international pedestrian bridge.
Many stopped to read CHALLENGE right then and there. Several joined in on our march through the streets and at the corners where we stopped to chant and hear speeches prepared by our comrades—a call to unite all workers and smash all borders!
Again, PLP’s commitment to international solidarity was proven by rallying directly at the border—connecting with workers who cross back and forth between the two countries on a daily basis. We urged them to take our message back to their families both here and in Mexico and beyond.
Solidarity with migrant families at the shelter
Throughout the week, PLP volunteered at a local shelter that housed migrant families who made the hellish journey from Mexico, Central America, the Congo, and Haiti. As many as 300 arrived every night. We served meals, played with children, and listened to many migrants share their experiences (see letters, page 3). We helped some make travel arrangements, for their journeys are far from over. Many are going to meet family already here—some are going to cities and states they never heard of.
Still, many are going to cities where they will  face more racism, poverty, and exploitation. We ached for them, as they come to the U.S. with immense hope in having a chance at a new life. Ultimately, we learned from our fellow brothers and sisters, as their very presence once again shows the power workers hold in demonstrating their ability to defend themselves even in the harshest of conditions.
A week of learning
PLP also took to the streets in Texas, distributing CHALLENGE and leaflets to Toyota factory workers, passersby, shoppers, and shelter volunteers. We focused on spreading our sphere of influence and developing young leaders. Throughout the week, we engaged in discussions and workshops to increase and strengthen our understanding of intensifying inter-imperialist rivalry, its dependence on racism and nationalism to divide the working class with borders, and to prove further, the heightening danger of fascist liberalism.
We fortified our understanding with direct experience to take back to our schools, our jobs and our communities. We ended the week with a real Texas barbecue celebration, sharing our impressions and lessons learned from the week.
Rising fascism and liberals are main danger to workers
While liberal politicians may cry “keep families together” to appear concerned with the humanity of migrant workers and families seeking refuge, merely keeping families together in a detention center is a complete sham. They use the suffering of the migrant workers for their own cynical purposes. Just like president Donald Trump and his conservative cronies, U.S. liberal bosses have high stakes in exploiting the working class—they just use smoke and mirrors to do so. They want workers to forget that it was Barack Obama who deported more migrants than any other president. Obama authorized the construction of detention camps for children at the border. Obama created DACA to target Latin youth for military recruitment.
Thus, we cannot ignore that it is Obama’s racist legacy that Trump’s anti-immigrant administration is built upon. While Trump’s administration uses open racism to mobilize its political base and fuel anti-immigrant sentiment, we must acknowledge that intensified racism, nationalism, and use of “law and order” to terrorize workers are strategies employed by a number of Democratic presidents—Obama, Clinton, Carter—and are a hallmark of rising fascism.
Worldwide, bosses are sliding towards wider war and the various national bosses are moving towards more fascism amid growing volatility. But, liberal fascists continue to insidiously mislead workers into believing they have our best interests at heart when they are agents of a violent system. They seek not to alleviate the exploitation of the working class, but to subdue workers with meaningless reforms. They seek not to unite workers in multiracial unity, but instead keep workers divided through identity politics. Time and time again, liberals screw workers over for power, profit and control. The working class shouldn’t be fooled!
Communism means no racist borders
Our work in Texas this week reflected what communism means—workers’ power, no racist borders, and no workers forced from their homes and families to find work. Our work this week reflected our dedication to building and strengthening PLP—and our fight to smash capitalism for good. We must unite and fight the increasing mass arrests of undocumented workers, ICE police raids on homes, jobs, military bases, bus stations and highways, mass detentions and deportations.
Same enemy, same fight, workers of the world unite! ¡El mismo enemigo, la misma lucha, los trabajadores del mundo se unen!