Imperialist End Game: World War

The so-called Great Powers have long been exploiting and enslaving a whole number of small and weak nations. And the imperialist war is a war for the division and redivision of this kind of booty.
—Vladimir Lenin, State and Revolution, 1917

The escalating crisis in Iraq signals the sharpest threat yet to U.S. control over Middle East oil — to the point where the U.S. ruling class is more openly acknowledging the prospect of the next world war.
The last two weeks have seen the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), an al-Qaeda offshoot, sustain its advance toward Baghdad from northern Iraq. ISIS forces now occupy one-third of the country and are laying siege to Baquba, just 30 miles from the capital. They have obliterated the border between Iraq and Syria and overrun a crossing between Iraq and Jordan, one of the very few reliable U.S. allies in the region. The region’s national boundaries, drawn to divide the spoils between imperialist powers Britain and France after World War I, are being erased before our eyes.

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Hospital Workers Gear Up for Contract Fight

Brooklyn, June 18 — Hundreds of angry healthcare workers, mainly women from Service Employees International Union (SEIU) 1199 East, picketed on their lunch hour outside Methodist Hospital. They were protesting against a proposal by the racist hospital bosses for massive cuts in benefits. Their union contract is due to expire on July 15. Workers came from every department.

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NJ Day of Action: ‘Politicians Say Cut Back, We Say Fight Back!’

Trenton, NJ, June 26 — Over 100 people traveled here today for a Day of Action to demand that any state budget deficit be paid for by the bankers and billionaires, whose capitalist system caused the 2008 crash. The aftermath of that crash has seen permanent racist budget cuts for the working class worldwide, even as capitalists have received trillions of dollars in subsidies and tax breaks.

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Birthday Celebration: Fight Racist Killer KKKops

Brooklyn, NY, June 21 — The first anniversary of Kyam Livingston’s death is on July 21. As members of the Progressive Labor Party who work within the Committee for Justice for Kyam, we have to be mindful of what is primary: to build the Party and continual struggle and eventual revolution for a society led by the working class.

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Women Workers Strike Against Poverty Wages

WASHINGTON, DC, June 23 — Hundreds of low-wage women workers of 50 federal subcontractors walked off their jobs today to demand the right to form a union. The one-day strike and rally at the National Zoo was aimed to coincide with President Obama’s Summit on Working Families at the White House. “We do not make enough money to survive,” said a woman who works at the zoo.

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Movie Review: Racist War on Youth

 A small group of CHALLENGE readers traveled to a farming town in California to view The House I Live In, written and directed by Eugene Jarecki. There was a mix of young college students,  teachers, and older workers. The film’s subject was the “War on Drugs.”

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Detroit Water Shutoffs: ‘Every Day We’re Shown that Black Lives Don’t Matter!’

DETROIT, MI June 25 — “There are people who can’t cook, can’t clean, people coming off surgery who can’t wash. This is an affront to human dignity…Every day, we’re shown that black lives, black quality of life, black communities, don’t matter.” That’s how an organizer of the Detroit People’s Water Board described the latest case of mass racist terror as the Detroit Water Department shuts off water to those who owe $150 or are two months behind on their bill. More than 150,000 customers (as many as 300,000 mostly poor and black residents), are late on bills that have increased 119 percent in the last ten years. They are targeting as many as 3,000 homes every week!

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Capitalist Democracy at Work in India: Mass Murder, Poverty, Racism

India held its general elections in April and May. As the world’s second most populous country, its elections caught the attention of mainstream media outlets, many of which heralded “the largest democracy in the world.” India has a multi-party system, including some phony communist parties that have posted major electoral victories in the states of Kerala and West Bengal in the post-independence era.
In reality, as in the U.S., the elections were fought between the two mainstream parties, the right-wing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the liberal Indian National Congress, both of which represent the Indian ruling class and have significant links to global capitalist interests. BJP won in a landslide victory — to the delight of the global ruling class, which needs more discipline of the working class during this period of intensified capitalist crisis.

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Book Review: Capital in the 21st Century

When all the mainstream and conservative columnists in the bosses’ press go out of their way to tell you a new book on economics — one that most people won’t even read — is no good and full of lies and all wrong and please pay no attention to the man behind the curtain … well, you know the book must have something going for it. And in this case, it does. The French economist Thomas Piketty’s Capital in the 21st Century shows that capitalism can never end poverty because capitalism needs poverty. Unfortunately, the author’s idea is to put reins on capitalism, not to end it.

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Student-Parent-Teacher Unity Needed — Fight Racist Education Reforms

“One Newark,” Superintendent Cami Anderson’s blueprint for the city’s schools, comes straight from the tiny minority of super-rich profiteers who rule the U.S. While some Democratic Party politicians have criticized how Anderson imposed her plan on Newark’s students, parents, and teachers, there is general agreement about its objectives. One Newark aims to educate the children of the largest and one of the poorest cities of New Jersey to better serve the needs of the ruling class. The beneficiaries will be JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Wells Fargo, and ExxonMobil.

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