The Cultural Revolution: A Model for Communist Society

As communists, we are often asked how a communist society would function under the leadership of the Progressive Labor Party. One way to envision a communist society is by studying historical examples, such as the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution (CR) that occurred in China between 1966 and 1976. An excellent source of first-hand knowledge and documented facts is Dongping Han’s book, “The Unknown Cultural Revolution: Life and Change in a Chinese Village.”
The book is largely based on research done for Han’s PhD thesis. He traveled from the U.S. to his native village in China to interview villagers who lived there during the CR, and to examine records of crop production and village expenditures. As part of his thesis, he wanted to provide evidence that the educational and political reforms that took place during the CR greatly improved the lives of the average villager.
However, by 1969 Mao retreated from the CR and had the Red Guards dismantled or placed under army control. Many of the educational and political reforms that the CR initiated were reversed. Consequently, the children of many rural villagers were, and continue to be, denied an education because the schools are no longer free. With the abolishment of communal farming (and thus eliminating the societal security it created) many farmers are forced to work well beyond retirement age.

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Germany Protests Austerity Cutbacks

Crowds of anti-capitalist protesters on June 1 blocked streets leading to the European Central Bank in Germany's to protest its role in pushing for austerity cutbacks as a way to fight the continent's debt crisis.

Capitalist Courts: Tool to Maintain Bosses’ Power

The following article advances some possible answers to questions raised in the thoughtful letter, “Can Class Struggle Use the Bosses’ Court?” (CHALLENGE, 4/26/13), especially about the history posed by the law professor whose lecture on the racist history of the U.S. Supreme Court inspired the letter.
There is historical evidence that the U.S. War of Independence was fought mostly to preserve slavery. By the late 1700s, the British rulers were gradually moving away from chattel slavery toward wage slavery due to the rise of industrial capitalism in Great Britain. The leaders of the War of Independence, including southern plantation slave owners and northern shipping and banking interests, all profited from the continuation of chattel slavery.

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Obama Scandals Mirror Fight Among U.S. Bosses

Three recent White House scandals — its handling of the attack on the U.S. embassy in Libya; its use of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) against Tea Party political groups; and its spying on Associated Press reporters — reflect serious disagreements within the ruling capitalist class.
On one side is the finance capital wing, which is preparing for long-term global conflict to maintain U.S. rulers’ top-dog status. These liberal imperialists are represented by Barack Obama’s new “Defense” Secretary, Chuck Hagel, who is seeking a U.S.-led alliance to confront rivals.
In opposition is a less powerful group of capitalists, led by the billionaire Koch brothers, with a shorter-range outlook. They are seeking immediate profits from domestic investments and are less interested in paying the bills for U.S. hegemony around the world.
In addition to this fundamental split, the liberal wing has its own internal conflict. It centers on how

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Fight Racist Police Terror

BRONX, NY, May 20 — “Do you want to march to the precinct?” “Yes!” came the resounding reply from 200 people who rallied at the home of Ramarley Graham, a black teen brutally gunned down in his apartment bathroom by NYPD officer Richard Haste on February 2, 2012. The Graham family was joined by relatives of Shantel Davis and Kimani Gray, two Brooklyn youths shot and killed by the NYPD in the months following the Graham tragedy.
The rally became an open forum when Ramarley’s family asked the community to speak out about their experiences with police in the area. One said the cops broke down her door, arrested her and left her grandchildren unsupervised. The point was made that the cops are doing their job — to terrorize working-class people. The families of Kimani, Ramarley and Shantel called for multi-racial unity, explaining how this struggle has become bigger than the fight for justice for just these particular victims of police terror, advocating the need for mass action.

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Profit Drive Kills Garment Workers, from L.A. to Bangladesh

Los Angeles, May 11 — Like Bangladesh, downtown Los Angeles is filled with garment factories that the bosses have callously neglected. As one of our comrades put it during a CHALLENGE sale here, to nods from workers passing by, “In an earthquake, this old building (see photo) could collapse just like the one in Dhaka that killed over 1,100 people.”
Why did factory owners in Bangladesh threaten to withhold workers’ pay to force them to enter a building with visible cracks in its concrete walls? Why was the fertilizer plant that blew up in West, Texas built next to a nursing home, several schools, and an apartment complex? Why are garment workers in LA working in buildings that have yet to be retrofitted to meet current earthquake-safety standards?

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Transit Bosses Guilty of Racist Murder

New York City, May 21 – NYC Transit bosses are guilty of murder, and the transit workers’ union leader is guilty of helping them cover up the crime.
Transit worker Louis Moore was dragged to his death in the tunnel in Astoria last month. He was walking to get to the platform when his tool bag caught on a gate he was trying to open. As he struggled with his bag, the E-train roared in, snagged the bag, and pulled him under the wheels.
Louis was born in Jamaica and was a single dad who lived with his teenage daughter. He had been on the job for eight years. Six years ago to the day, track worker Daniel Boggs was

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The Missing Link: Guatemalan Genocide and U.S. Imperialism

There is a decades-long history of direct aid from the U.S. political and military establishment to dictators and military coups in Latin America. Since the CIA orchestrated one such coup against the President of Guatemala, Jacobo Arbenz, in 1954, the USA has been complicit in genocides throughout the continent. U.S. capitalists used these dictators as a bulwark in the so-called, “crusade” against communism, particularly after the triumph of the rebel movement in Cuba in 1959.

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May Day Challenges Mexican Bosses’ Attacks

MEXICO, May 22 —The labor and educational reforms, approved at the beginning of President Peña Nieto’s sixth term, legalized layoffs, wage cuts, the elimination of pensions and social security. Just like that, in one single stroke, and with the backing of state violence, the capitalists destroy our lives to solve their crisis.
The recently approved telecommunications reform and the upcoming energy reform concentrate even more wealth in the hands of the mostly Mexican and U.S. billionaires.

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Mexico: May Day Spurs Goal to Topple Capitalism

A weekend before May Day, members and friends of PLP in Mexico organized three meetings to discuss its historical and international significance. We also presented the flyer we planned to distribute at the march and briefly discussed the current situation in Mexico, in relation to the reforms pushed by the new government. (See Mexico article above)
The achievements at these dinners — which we planned since the beginning of the year — were few, but important. Four friends of the Party, all CHALLENGE readers, participated in the first one; two friends and a youth who joined during our last Summer Project participated in the second, and during the third we were joined by a comrades’ family and by two CHALLENGE reader friends.
They all expressed their commitment to participate in the May Day march, since we’d be the only contingent that’s an international organization promoting the overthrow of capitalism and replacing it with the dictatorship of the working class.
In the three meetings we highlighted the imperialist struggles between China and the U.S., which will probably lead to a confrontation between these  bosses and their respective allies.
There is a long road before we reach our goal and there is a lot to be done. This is the only Party that fights for collective work and the destruction of the profit system that creates inequality the world over. PLP is the only Party that struggles against nationalism and sexism, and the only one that holds that the working class should direct all aspects of society.