NEW YORK CITY, September 17—“Hey bosses, get off it: You pollute the world for profit! End climate change, end the bosses’ reign: We need communism to stop it!” This chants along with other chants resounded through the streets of New York City as upwards of 75,000 marched to protest the climate crisis. Worldwide, over a million people participated in more than 500 actions in 54 countries, the largest climate protest since before the pandemic. Progressive Labor Party’s (PLP) bold, decisive, and fearless message cut through the distracting reformist clutter: “The only solution is communist revolution!”
PLP was out in force. We mobilized a militant, multiracial contingent of anti-racist and communist fighters, and many of our members marched inside, and gave leadership to the contingents of other mass organizations. We came prepared with new chants highlighting the systemic/capitalist origins of the climate crisis. All told, we distributed between 700-800 CHALLENGE newspapers and 500 flyers.
Climate reform is another bosses’ big lie
At a demonstration with hundreds of sponsors and many ruling-class-funded NGOs (Non-Governmental Organizations)—and co-sponsored by the arch-imperialist United Nations—the machinery of the capitalist state, specifically the liberal, Democratic Party wing of the ruling class, was on full display. It is through these many organizations and their media that this Big Fascist (See glossary, page 6) section of the ruling class can shape public opinion and control working class anger. As CHALLENGEhas pointed out repeatedly (see editorial, 9/7), their deceitful and pathetic promises of climate reform are like all their promises: LIES.
As they wrap themselves in the environmental flag, U.S. bosses led by Biden and the Big Fascists continue to approve record numbers of fossil fuel leases, in large part to fund the largest military in the world (over 800 military bases in 85 countries) to defend their empire from rising rival imperialists led by China. Their latest military expenditures bill includes another $24 billion for their proxy war in Ukraine against Russian rivals, which has already cost the U.S. working class $135 billion (not to mention its untold destruction of human life and the environment).
Workers and youth attracted to open communist chants
As has become frequent in these large demonstrations, our PLP contingent attracted outsized attention. Our booming chants were rhythmic and relentless, with multiple comrades, led by women, taking turns at the mic. We took the initiative at various points in the march to lead large numbers of people in antiracist, anti-capitalist, and openly pro-communist chants. Many gave us thumbs up and nods of agreement, and quite a few followed us or joined our contingent. At one point, we led a marathon antiracist/anti-capitalist SHUT IT DOWN! chant for a full 15 minutes, involving many hundreds of people.
As capitalism sinks further into crisis, multiple indicators show a recent uptick in class consciousness in the U.S.
As CHALLENGE has highlighted (see 7/23), strikes are on the rise. Support for unions—even with their leader’s corrupt reformist politics—is growing. Confidence in big business is at an all-time low of 15 percent. In the march itself, it was more common to hear talk of workers and the working class than in the past. Young people seem much more comfortable staking out an anti-capitalist stance. (Even march organizers admitted they had only expected 15,000 people.) And climate marches are becoming decidedly more multiracial as the racist effects of the climate crisis become more obvious by the day.
Let’s be clear though: 1) increased class consciousness is due to the unflagging efforts of communists and working class leaders over decades of class struggle (not phony liberal misleaders), and 2) it will go nowhere if we do not lead others to the next step: joining PLP and committing their lives to building communism.
Our task: Sharpen the struggle in mass organizations and build the Party!
We are active in many mass organizations. Now is the time to up our game. Virtually every mass organization now connects to the climate crisis: from schools to the factories, social services and the military, health care and immigration…. It is our job to make the connections and show that the climate crisis is yet another aspect of the capitalist crisis engulfing our world and threatening human life on this planet. The urgency of our communist movement has never been more clear. It is crucial that we keep our antiracist and openly communist line front and center in these struggles, and double down with our base and inside our organizations on both the dangers and opportunities to build our movement.
AOC’s smoke and mirrors: A front for Big Fascists
March organizers trotted out celebrity politician Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC) to give the lead-off speech at the end of the march. For all her militant sounding talk, AOC fronts for the Big Fascists by disarming and pacifying the working class, channeling our righteous anger into tightly controlled demonstrations like this one, and electoral politics. As she attempts to reassure us that “we are not going from Oil Barons to Solar Barons,” that is exactly what is happening, with capitalists like phony environmentalist Al Gore becoming billionaires from their investments in renewable energy. She and her fellow “pro-Labor” Big Fascists are the same ones who voted to break the strike of railroad workers last December (see CHALLENGE 1/4). Her “incremental reformism” conceals and protects the Big Fascist bosses, who behind the scenes are carrying out their imperialist agendas, building up toward inevitable, imperialist war with rivals Russia and especially China. Falling for her fake revolutionary sloganeering leaves the working-class defenseless against this rising fascism. We cannot let this happen.