Letters of October 20

Propaganda is power in the hands of workers
Two of us here in Massachusetts distributed CHALLENGE at a Haitian-church-sponsored protest against Biden's cruel and vicious deportations of workers from Haiti. About 150 workers from Haiti and others heard church leaders speak. The thrust of the speeches was that "Though these terrible things are happening, God will help us get through these troubled times."
 Signs said "No Deportations", "Stop Discrimination", and "Due Process for All Refugees."
One speaker attacked the racism of the deportations of Haitian workers in the U.S..She said that refugees from Afghanistan to the U.S. are helped to resettle, while  refugees from Haiti are deported, where kidnapping, gang violence, poverty, and hunger are everywhere, and where some deportees haven't lived for over 10 years.
While Black churches have been a base of support for the Democratic party of capitalism, Biden's racist deportations have spurred many protests.
Religion can't save us from capitalism. But a number of people in this religious crowd took CHALLENGE when we told them that the paper calls for overthrowing the system of capitalism, racism, deportations, and war.
 We also reconnected with some old friends of the Progressive Labor Party.
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Vaccinate against individualism
It’s the start of the Covid-19 mandate at work, and I hope more transit workers get vaccinated because as of right now, nearly 40 percent of us are unvaccinated. I’m not sure how the bosses are going to handle workers who choose not to comply.
In the transit quarters last month, my vaccine hesitant co-worker tested positive for Covid-19. Many workers, including myself, that he made contact with had to quarantine until they got a negative test result. Everyone came back with a negative result except one worker who was vaccinated.  
I asked my vaccine hesitant coworker, “Has this experience changed your opinion on the vaccine?”
“No,” he responded. “In fact it only solidified my ideas even more. Like why get the vaccine? When our other coworker who was vaccinated got Covid.”
I told him, “it's because he was vaccinated that he had no symptoms and you had severe flu-like symptoms.”
Then he replied, “I don’t argue bro, not even with my wife.”
The conversation may have ended there but at least the Covid scare has encouraged one of my closest coworkers who has been uncertain about the vaccination. After being exposed and learning of our co workers' view on vaccines, he said he “didn’t wanna take any chances.”
Many workers are falling victim to conspiracy theories surrounding the vaccine. I’ve come to realize it’s mostly out of fear. Fear of things changing by getting worse. The worst part is that workers are told that the only change we can get is in a voting booth, which builds more cynicism. This then transitions into inaction, which allows capitalism to continue. Most workers don’t know communism is a choice, too. They don’t know that many workers are striving for it. I hope to continually struggle with my coworker and turn his cynical inaction into action towards a communist future!
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Liberals are still the main danger
Here in Washington, DC on September 18, fascist supporters of the January 6 insurrectionists at the U.S. Capitol tried to rally, calling for the release of the so-called political prisoners from that participated in the storming of the Capitol back in January. Their call fell flat with only a few dozen showing up, as thousands of police from DC, Maryland, and Virginia ringed the newly-fenced Capitol with hundreds of National Guard troops on call. PLP members joined a counter-rally, distributing over 70 CHALLENGEs and making contact with several young people interested in revolution.
Our numbers must grow to form a disciplined revolutionary communist party to better lead the fight against fascism and the entire capitalist system.
Fighting the gutter racists like those who had stormed the Capitol is important, but we should not lose sight of the greater danger posed to our class by the liberal politicians who pretend to be our friends. Already, Biden and his ilk are intensifying imperialist rivalry with China in the South China Seas and the Indo Pacific in general with new military alliances forming with Australia and India, leading towards war to re-divide the world among the rich capitalists. Both Democratic and Republican politicians almost unanimously supported an increased “defense” (read: war) budget and more cops to keep us under control.
Workers of the world have nothing to gain from looming war and everything to lose. These rulers in both imperialist China and imperialist U.S. must be overthrown by a united struggle of workers of the world. This message was endorsed by many of those at the counter rally. The next step must be to grow the Party and sharpen the fight against the finance capitalists who rule (and destroy!) our lives!
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I shared CHALLENGE at immigration march
Several of my comrades and I were happy to join the immigration march in DC on September 21 to help bring the Progressive Labor Party and CHALLENGE to some of the thousands of multiracial marchers. I was personally able to share CHALLENGE with over 50 of them. I’ve been involved locally in fighting to close the concentration-style camps for immigrant workers and tenant housing struggles, and was happy to see many friends from these struggles in the march.
I wore a shirt that had “revolution” in bold white letters on a red background, and this attracted a number of people who wanted to talk more about our Party. Despite the great spirit of the marchers, we really have to be clear that the liberal politicians who claim to be on the side of immigrants are really just repping on behalf of finance capital. So, we need to build a revolutionary party to lead a fight to topple the whole system!
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