Letters ... October 5, 2022

Transit workers not scared by bosses’ tactics
At an early morning rally in front of a transit repair shop in Chicago, a railcar repair worker called for workers to fight back against the bosses. His words rang out as the workers cheered him on with encouragement, honking horns and smiles. "The bosses have tried to divide us, pit us against each other and disrespect us with low wages and poor working conditions."

A militant shop steward organized and spoke at the rally. A coworker told him how one of the low level bosses has been breaking the contract, giving overtime to his friends, and trying to micro-manage the workers. This big-boss wannabe had an opportunity to do the right thing - but he refused. He instead drove past our rally and called us some names, and said he would kick our butts.

The coworker who wanted to resolve issues with him was threatened with physical harm by another coworker! But our brave friend said he wanted to come to another rally and speak on the bullhorn!
The threats of this stooge rang hollow as one worker remarked, "We have been through life, and we have been through death (already) with Covid!"

The working class is in a life and death battle with capitalism every day. From the pandemic to floods from climate change to starvation, homelessness and increased gun violence against each other - it is capitalism that has created the conditions for all of these deadly things to keep on happening!

The ruling class in Chicago is intensifying their efforts to win workers to support fascism in the form of more police on buses and trains. But as communists, we say there will be no justice and no safety for the working class under capitalism!

The members of the Chicago Transit Justice Coalition will increase our efforts to organize the workers to fight back against the bosses, the sellout union officials and their rotten contracts. We are having discussions and debates about the role of the police. Members of the Progressive Labor Party will continue to distribute CHALLENGE to the workers and struggle to get more readers to spread the ideas of communist revolution.
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Death to royals,  power to the working class
“Our hearts are broken” is the message of the bourgeois British media to the world on the death of Queen Elizabeth who is the symbol of 400 years of slavery, colonialism, genocide, racism and imperialism that has caused millions of horrible deaths and billions suffering lives of poverty and misery worldwide.

The contradiction of a 96 year old queen, one of the richest women in the world, living in one of her castles attended by the best medical care and servants and the daily worldwide pictures of babies with only skulls with bulging eyes for heads and just ribs and sticks for bodies and legs dying by the millions from malnutrition and lack of medical care in Somalia, Ethiopia, Afghanistan, Yemen and worldwide breaks my worker’s heart. Workers worldwide must recommit to end this murderous capitalist profit system from the British Empire to the U.S Empire and nascent Chinese and Russian empires. Fight for communism!
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PL’ers at Labor Day
In the U.S., Labor Day is celebrated every first Monday of September. This date is a federal holiday. This year we found out that a community group that fights for workers’ rights and is led by liberal politicians was invited. We activated some PLP comrades who already participate in this mass organization. But this organization, together with other primarily Latin organizations that are now a coalition, was in charge of “opening the march.” The slogan of this march was to seek support for the Coalition of Excluded Workers and Unemployed Workers. Along the way, we handed out 100 CHALLENGEs and several hundred Party leaflets where we declared that we welcome fellow immigrants and families sent from Texas to New York City (see page 4).

As several comrades have already been working in this mass organization, there were several PL’ers helping in this event. One young PL’er arrived early to help with materials, transportation, food, and giving leadership, while the other PL’ers distributed CHALLENGE, Party leaflets, and had conversations with the workers. The young PL’er was also in charge of writing several signs for the march. While the liberal leaders of the organization marched with slogans like “Say yes to unions and yes you can,” the young PLer sharpened the struggle with slogans like “Workers united will never be defeated.” The PL’er also noticed how some participants had liberal slogans written on their masks, so the young PL’er decided to write on his mask “Eat the rich!—F*ck taxes!” Several participants seemed to appreciate it.

We also talked with some attendees. We came to the conclusion that this date does not have the warmth of MayDay: International Workers’ Day and it is absurd to try to forget the Strike in Chicago that originated this unforgettable conquest of the eight hours of work in the world. The number of attendees and the joy of the participants was remarkable. It is important for  communists to participate in these mass organizations, not only to lead, but also to sharpen the struggle with our communist politics and ideas. WORKERS OF THE WORLD UNITE!
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