Black Nationalism Fails Black Workers

As the Movement for Black Lives gathers for its founding convention in Cleveland, its rank-and-file stands at a fork in the road. If they follow the Movement’s leadership and splinter into a Black group with non-Black “allies,” they will move onto the dead-end path of nationalism and reformism—and, inevitably, into the capitalist bosses’ camp. From Haiti and Indonesia to South Africa and the Congo, from Vietnam’s National Liberation Front to the Black Panther Party in the U.S. (see CHALLENGE, p. 6), nationalism has derailed workers’ revolts and led them to death and exploitation by a new set of bosses.
By dividing us, nationalism conquers us.

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Anti-Racist Upsurge Goes International

THE HAGUE, THE NETHERLANDS, July 2 — Three days of rebellion broke out after the kkkops murdered a Black tourist. The uprising in Ferguson, Missouri has spread beyond the borders of the U.S., setting the tone for a militant fight against global racist terror aimed at Black workers.
A multiracial group of young workers, out to enjoy a concert, witnessed the brutal murder. They saw the cops charge a concert-goer named Mitch  Henriquez. Subsequently, five of the kkkops pinned Mitch down and choked him to death on the street. The workers responded immediately, organizing a march that turned into a battle with the police. When the Rebels cornered one group of police, the cops had to fire live warning shots at the crowd to escape justice. For three days the country’s largest city, Amsterdam, was shut down as rebels kept battling the kkkops.

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PLP History: Anti-Racism at Forefront of Communist Fightback

To mark the 50th anniversary of the founding of Progressive Labor Party, CHALLENGE is publishing a series of articles on our Party’s history, from its origins as the Progressive Labor Movement (PLM) to its presence today in more than two dozen countries worldwide. This is the second part of an article on PLP’s historic fights against racism. The previous part discussed the Harlem Rebellion and PLP’s leadership in fomenting it.

The Harlem Rebellion of 1964 raised the fight against racist oppression to a new level while exposing the class treason of Black reformist leadership. After Harlem, more than 100 cities in the U.S. felt the torch of rebellion. PL’s leadership in this struggle set the tone for our unceasing fight against racism:

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McFarland USA Runs on Nationalism

Superficially, McFarland USA is another movie in a long line of “feel good” stories of sports teams (typically made up of Black, Latin or Asian students) up against impossible odds, who somehow overcome them and emerge victorious (frequently with the help of a tough but caring white coach). The film details the story of the McFarland (California) High School cross-country team. The team did not even exist until 1987, when a seemingly washed-up, volatile coach who had been fired from a job in Boise, Idaho, arrives in McFarland with his family to take a job as a health and physical education teacher at the high school.

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Capitalism Kills in Charleston

A cockroach named Dylann Roof pulled the trigger at Emanuel AME Church. But capitalism aimed the gun. Capitalism murdered nine people in Charleston, South Carolina on June 17—nine more victims to add to the millions of workers killed each year by callous starvation, preventable disease, environmental toxins, a profit-crazed pharmaceutical industry, missing medical care, mad-dog police, and imperialist war.
And, in particular, by racism.

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Multiracial Unity on Juneteenth

WASHINGTON, DC, June 19 — Today is Juneteenth, a holiday that commemorates the abolition of slavery throughout the South. On June 19, 1865, hundreds of thousands of slaves in Texas were the last ones to be emancipated, more than two and half years after slavery was legally abolished. One hundred and fifty years later, workers are still fighting against racist oppression.

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Mexico: Teachers Confront Bosses’ Fascism

MEXICO, June 29 — The teachers’ struggle here is intensifying as they have been forced to confront fascist terror from the capitalist class. In the fight against educational reforms, teachers are exposing capitalist democracy for what it is: a criminal apparatus to control the working class.

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Capitalist Politics of Lynching

The current siege of U.S. police violence against Black and Latin workers and youth sends a dual message. On the one hand, these well-publicized atrocities  expose the racist nature of the cops and courts. Many people are led to question whether justice is possible under capitalism, a good starting point to win them to communist ideas.

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The False Promise of ISIS

Why are millions in the Middle East, Europe and North America attracted to the Islamic State (also known as ISIS or ISIL or Daesh)?  Part of the answer lies in the defeat of the old communist movement, which left a vacuum to be filled by rotten capitalist ideologies. One such ideology is radical Islam. Alienated young people have no alternative vision, no objective explanation for the horrors of capitalism, no organization to lead the fight for a better life.

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Communist Forces Needed to Smash the Bosses, Again!

On June 22, 1941, Hitler’s army invaded the Soviet Union. For several months, the Red Army retreated. In October, and again in December, the Red Army counterattacked, driving the fascists back. This was the first time the Nazi-led forces had been stopped. In 1940 French and British troops had been quickly routed by the German Wehrmacht.

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