LETTERS ... January 4, 2023

​​Imperialism is making us sick On December 1, World Aids Day, I went to a rally at the White House to join with other health organizers demanding the Biden Administration extend the public health emergency on Covid-19 and take executive action to boost global vaccine manufacturing. These demands were combined with a call for increased funding for HIV/AIDS as the “two pandemics collide.” The fight for Covid-19 prevention and care is similar to the long, militant struggles in the U.S. and South Africa for global access to HIV medication.

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EDITORIAL ... Midterms Mask Liberal Fascist Agenda

In capitalist societies, elections like the recent U.S. midterms serve two critical purposes for the bosses. First, they resolve disagreements within the ruling class before the need to resort to violence. Second, they help to mask the true nature of the profit system—a capitalist dictatorship—and to keep workers tied to that system with the illusion that they can decide how it works. The fallout from the November 8 elections reveals that ruling-class disputes—both within the U.S. and among the globe’s imperialist rivals—are becoming less and less controllable. The insurrection in Washington in January 2021 was a sign of things to come. As the U.S. economy deteriorates, as bosses in China continue to rise and authorities in Russia destabilize Europe, the U.S. bosses soon may be unable to rule in the old way.

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THE FIGHT CONTINUES: KCC students fight racist attacks

BROOKLYN, NY—“What if PLP takes power and not everyone wants to live without money right away?” “If communism outlaws racism, how are laws enforced under communism?” These were some questions our multiracial Progressive Labor Party (PLP) student study group’s new comrades and attendees asked and discussed following our march against the racist KCC (Kingsborough Community College) campus police, administration, and the NYPD (New York Police Department). PLP and students are fighting them to drop the charges against Adrian, a student tackled by campus police, after being harassed by a racist student using the n-word (see CHALLENGE, 11/30).

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Big Fascists Discipline Ye

Multi-billion dollar sneaker company, Adidas, ended its nine-year relationship with Ye (formerly known as Kanye West) after the rap mogul made repeated anti-Jewish remarks. Ye praised Adolf Hitler and the Nazis while spewing toxic anti-Jewish racism during radio interviews and on his social media accounts. Twitter and Instagram booted him from their platforms, too. The statements about breaking ties with Ye is hypocritical at best. It also demonstrates the tactics of the Big liberal Fascists: pretend to care about racism to distract from their systemic racism and exploitation, all while sewing division in the entire working class.

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Capitalism fails 48K striking student-workers

Berkeley, CA, November, 14— Four union locals of the University of California striking workers (UAW) representing 48,000 Graduate Student and Postdoctoral workers walked out of the 10 campuses of the University of California (UC). This is the largest student-worker strike in U.S. history as it enters their third week. Progressive Labor Party (PLP) members have joined picket lines in Berkeley and Davis - passing out leaflets, distributing copies of CHALLENGE. We joined about 500 workers and students who militantly marched over a mile from 1½ miles from campus to the University President’s $6.5 million mansion in a fancy Berkeley neighborhood.

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APHA: Communists provide leadership for public health

Boston, MA, November 30–Progressive Labor Party (PLP) members and friends attended public health conferences to present antiracist and communist messages to thousands of public health workers. The pharmaceutical bosses and their genocidal state once again chose to put their profit over workers’ lives in the Covid-19 pandemic and beyond, murdering millions of workers around the world. Government officials, politicians, and pharmaceutical companies have assaulted the public’s health through racist “vaccine apartheid,” denying lifesaving Covid-19 vaccines to millions around the world–specifically South Africa, while several doses were exported to Europe (New York Times 8/16/21)- refusing reproductive health services to women in the U.S., and spending billions on the war in Ukraine.

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The New School: Student-workers on strike vs crisis-ridden system

NEW YORK CITY, November 23—Since November 14, the union for the Part-Time Faculty (PTF) representing 2,600 teachers ( 87 percent of the entire faculty of the New School) has been on strike because the administration refused to meet their simple reasonable demands for higher wages and better benefits. Many full-time faculty and students quickly joined the PTFs, canceling classes and issuing statements opposing crossing picket lines (physical and digital). Progressive Labor Party (PLP) members are joining these striking workers, bringing a strategic revolutionary message of the need to struggle for communism.

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Remembering The October Revolution: Over a century of communist celebrations

CHICAGO, November 19—Over 50 multiracial workers and youth gathered in a local fieldhouse for our annual October Revolution celebration, marking the monumental seizure of power by the working class over a century ago. For years, our collective has held a social event in which we honor the communist Bolshevik Party and the millions of workers and soldiers who overthrew the capitalist bosses across the former Russian empire. This year’s theme was “Commit to the Working Class.” In this temporary period of low class consciousness and struggle, rotten capitalist ideas such as nationalism, racism, and individualism still hold sway.

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October Revolution Celebration: Commit to the Working Class!

The theme for tonight’s Great October Revolution event is “commit to the working class.” the Progressive Labor Party stands on the shoulders of the great Bolshevik revolutionaries and we strive to emulate their strengths and avoid their weaknesses. The Bolshevik Party’s commitment to the working class was strong: (1) they organized among rank-and-file soldiers to turn the guns around during the First World War to make revolution. (2 )They armed themselves and workers for insurrections following strikes to battle for political power. (3) They used their newspaper Iskra, as an organizing, propaganda, and unifying tool amongst workers. And (4) they fought against tactics that divided workers like racism, sexism, and nationalism.

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Reds vs. Eviction Part 4: Working-class children bear racist brunt

The following is part four of a seven-part series reprinted and lightly edited from the communist newspaper Daily Worker in September-October, 1932, written by famous communist Mike Gold. Workers here are referred to as Black instead of the original “Negro” to reflect our antiracist principles as well as the linguistic shifts that occurred over decades of antiracist class struggle. Communists have a long history of fighting against racist attacks on our class. One such fight was against landlords and evictions.

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