Pakistan: bosses leave us penniless, fightback persists

PAKISTAN, November 17—The working class is under severe attack in Pakistan. This crisis is a crisis of capitalism, a system that will not save our class, only communist revolution will.
The Pakistani bosses were sinking in 2019 as their profits from exports dropped because of competition from even lower wage countries (The Diplomat, 4/18/2019). They begged the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to save them. Now the Pakistani bosses are making the working class pay their debt.
The desperation is widespread. Fuel prices have increased 47 percent  in the last year as part of a deal the Pakistani bosses cut with the IMF to raise prices in exchange for a massive bailout of the Pakistani ruling class (DW.com, 11/15).
The gas price increase has driven up prices of basic food items as well as most necessities. The official inflation rate is twice what it was in 2018, but the actual rate is much higher as businesses are closing and wages for the poorest workers are less than they were in 1991 (Tribune.com.pk, 11/16).
Yet, the working class continues to fight back. People are on the streets chanting against the ruling class and the capitalist system. There have been large demonstrations against the deteriorating conditions. A dynamic contingent of Progressive Labor Party (PLP) members have joined the fightback, countering dead-end electoral politics and nationalism with communist politics.
Capitalist crisis leads to rising fascism
As the crisis deepens, the ruling class is increasing fascist attacks against both their enemies from competing factions and against the working class. State oppression is the worst it’s been in the history of this country. Social media and the mainstream media are under tight control. People are being tortured, kidnapped and killed in various parts of the country if they speak out against state oppression or exploitation.
Communists or others with radical ideas against capitalism are declared to be enemies of the State. Talking against exploitation, inequality, injustice, fundamentalism and poverty is considered anti-state, which means many workers risk  imprisonment or disappearance. Truth has to be fought for and we are struggling to prevail. The Judiciary, Parliament and other institutions of the state are focused on jailing political organizers.
Pakistani bosses sell working class to IMF
Price hikes are making the lives of the working class miserable but bosses are giving a nonsense excuse that prices are going up all over the world because of Covid-19 and restrictions on air traffic. When capitalism is in crisis, it is workers that bear the brunt of exploitation. The annual inflation rate is at its highest this decade,  almost 20 percent, which results in  increased prices all over the country. The bosses’ political parties are not organizing demonstrations against these price hikes, but rather are just maneuvering to try to get themselves to the table with the IMF.
Political parties in Pakistan are led by capitalist lackeys,  so they are not concerned about inflation but they desperately want to get power by any means. Bourgeois parties are just talking about inflation and trying to mislead the masses by blaming only the party in power. These misleaders are hiding the fact that capitalism is to blame. These capitalist parties are not allowing workers  to participate in strikes or sit-ins organized by students and workers.
The official and self-proclaimed left wing in Pakistan  is just serving the bosses while praising  socialism. They pretend to be progressive but in fact they are not. They are reactionary and reformist. They use every backward idea i.e, tribalism, racism, ethnicity, sectarianism and nationalism to bring people close to them, just as we would expect from bosses.
The future is in fighting back and communist revolution
Workers, students, and professional organizations are demonstrating all over the country against inflation and ruling class lies and crimes. Comrades and friends of Progressive Labor Party (PLP) are participating in the demonstrations with anti-imperialist, pro-worker and communist chants and politics. Our comrades are condemning the capitalist system publicly by recounting its cruelties and holding the bosses accountable. Comrades are fighting for a  system based on "from each according to their ability, to each according to their needs.” That is communism! Our communist thoughts are being criticized  by so-called progressives as well as liberals and capitalists because they know that our line is a true threat to capitalist society.
We are involved in organizing protests, strikes and sit-ins against poverty, homelessness, exploitation and unemployment. Our young comrades are leading the demonstrations in  some places. Our comrades involved in professional organizations are trying to unite the struggle of the different segments of society against the capitalist evils. We are striving in difficult situations to bring more people under the red flag of our international revolutionary communist party—PLP!