NEW YORK CITY, July 17— “We are still going through the same madness about homelessness…I don’t know. Something’s gotta change…this is not working.” That’s what a formerly homeless worker said at a demonstration at Gracie Mansion, racist kkkop Mayor Eric Adams’ home. The rally called for an end to the City’s racist displacement and immediate permanent housing. He is exactly right, and demonstrating with him were 40 workers and Progressive Labor Party (PLP) members. The rally was,) sponsored by the Open Hearts Initiative.
Mayor Eric Adams is leading the bosses’ efforts to clear New York’s streets of homeless workers by employing racist, fascist sweeps that try to force the homeless into shelters by destroying their street encampments. Yet many of these workers return to the streets because of the unsafe conditions in the shelters. Imagine that—homeless workers prefer the streets to the shelters! The revolutionary communist Progressive Labor Party is fighting to organize the entire international working class to smash racism, sexism and imperialism and build a communist world. That means a world run by and for the working class, where things like healthcare and housing are provided on the basis of need, not on racist profits.
Capitalism creates racist homelessness
Racist profits, sharpening fascist attacks, and U.S. imperialism’s preparation for wider world wars are at the heart of the homeless crisis in cities, including the financial capital of the world’s top imperialist power. As inflation skyrockets hand in hand with capitalist profits (PBS, 4/12), more U.S. workers than ever are paying most of their income for necessities like food, housing, transportation, and heating.
Nationwide, average apartment rents have increased 14.1 percent, and at least one in ten workers pay 55 percent of their monthly income on rent (Newsweek, 8/2). As “hot” real estate markets line the pockets of real estate capitalists, a 2020 study by the U.S. Government Accountability Office found that for every average $100 increase in the average rent, homelessness increases an estimated nine percent (Washington Post, 7/3). Meanwhile in the past year, average rents have increased almost $300.
In New York City, May 2022 saw a near-record breaking 18,863 homeless adults and 15,432 children in the shelter system; 93 percent of these workers and youth are Black, Latin or immigrant (“Basic Facts”, coalitionforthehomeless.org). The bosses’ politicians’ response to homelessness is the same —whether liberal Big Fascist Democrat mayors like De Blasio and Adams, or the openly gutter Small Fascists running cities in states like Florida: they all rely on racist police terror to violently clear out encampments.
With homelessness at the highest levels since the Great Depression of the 1930s, PL’ers have been fighting shoulder to shoulder with homeless workers at the Lucerne Hotel from the beginning of the struggle and throughout the Covid-19 pandemic (see CHALLENGE, 7/21/20).
Lucerne workers expose Big Fascists
Homeless workers at Lucerne have been on the front lines exposing the Big Fascists’ politicians and their liberal misleaders for two years, and this was not their first march on a fascist mayors’ home (see CHALLENGE, 10/22/20). PLP salutes these workers’ militant leadership and experience, and we will continue fighting and struggling alongside them to earn their leadership into our ranks! At the same time, we are active in sharing and struggling over communist ideas.
For example, one problem with today’s demonstration was that the primary goal of the organization sponsoring the march was to get coverage from the capitalist media. We are organizing and struggling with homeless workers on the grass roots level rather than relying on getting attention from the bosses’ media. Only in this way can workers build confidence in themselves and each other in working class leadership, not politicians or boss-led reform groups. Only in this way can our class organize a revolutionary communist PLP and smash racist homelessness once and for all. To do this, we distributed CHALLENGE at the protest, and talked with our friends and many of the participants.
Fight for workers’ housing, fight to tear down capitalism!
Winning workers to the fight against homelessness helps to tear down the wall of racism that separates us today. The only reason Adams is doing the sweeps is because the developers, landlords, and Wall Street are concerned about the “appearance” of New York City. Seeing homelessness is bad for business. Capitalism is incapable of solving this issue!
As their economy sinks into another recession, the bosses would rather spend $54.6 billion on weapons manufacturers sending weapons to imperialist war in Ukraine, rebuilding Madison Square Garden, and building more luxury housing.
The Progressive Labor Party puts all confidence in the international working class. We fight in the struggle for workers’ housing against the bosses’ politicians and their racist police terror, and for a mass PLP that will lead international communist revolution. Racism and homelessness will only be ended by millions of workers united to fight for communism. JOIN US!