RED EYE ON THE NEWS . . . December 14, 2022

Weapons production ramps up for a long, cruel war Foreign Policy, 11/16–As the war in Ukraine shows little sign of abating, Kyiv’s Western partners are grappling with how to maintain a supply of arms and ammunition to Ukraine…without letting their stockpiles dwindle to the point that it could jeopardize their own readiness levels. NATO is now discussing how to support members if their stockpiles fall below the levels needed to meet their defense obligations…But back in Washington, some former officials are wishing that the Biden administration and NATO allies had gotten the message sooner, and they want defense spending, which has boomed since Russia’s full-scale invasion, to continue to spike for the foreseeable future.

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Fighting racist police terror: It’s a lifelong struggle

I was part of a group of 18 people who turned out to confront racist KKKop/Corrections Officer, murderer Dion Middleton, on November 16, as he appeared on murder charges for the racist killing of 18-year-old Raymond Chaluisant and then fleeing the scene this past July. The bosses’ court showed how afraid they are of working-class rebellion when court officers surrounded the family and supporters and warned us to stay away from Middleton as they prepared to escort him, flanked by armed bodyguards, into and later out of the courtroom. We barely contained our contempt.

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Letters ... December 14, 2022

Andor: Greater than the sum of its parts? I just finished watching the new Star Wars series Andor on Disney Plus, and I have to admit that I was pleasantly surprised. For a science fiction franchise that usually leans on the deeds of individuals with supernatural powers to save the day, this new show seemed surprisingly class-conscious. It emphasized the collective and covert methods of “ordinary” persons to organize under fascism, often at great risk to their safety. The cast is multiracial, and women are seen giving courageous leadership in every episode. To be honest, to watch the show reminded me of reading about the inspiring deeds of the Red Orchestra, the communist-led partisans that were organizing across European cities when the continent was occupied by the Nazis.

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EDITORIAL ... Brazil: Pink tide promotes liberal fascist reign

The October 30 election victory of fake-leftist Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva – better known as Lula – as president of Brazil points to a sharpening of inter-imperialist rivalry and intensified fascist control over the working class. In a sign of deep divisions among both bosses and workers, Lula defeated his incumbent rival, gutter racist and climate change denier Jair Bolsonaro, by a razor-thin margin and secured his third term. A popular former trade unionist, Lula enjoys a cult-like status in the economic powerhouse South American nation, where previous capitalist reforms by his Workers Party threw some crumbs to sections of the working class.

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KINGSBOROUGH COMMUNITY COLLEGE: STUDENTS EXPLODE AGAINST RACIST POLICE TERROR

BROOKLYN, NY, November 10—“Racism means?” “WE GOT TO FIGHT BACK!” More than 30 students and staff chanted as they marched through the campus of Kingsborough Community College (KCC). Students and staff are in motion following racist attacks against a student last week, and this fightback is led by multiracial Black, Latin, Asian and white, women and men students. These antiracist fighters bravely marched despite a week of campus and New York Police Department threats of arrest, campus cops assaulting students, daily harassment, and constant surveillance. The cops even locked down our campus the day of the march!

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Why Capitalists love to hate Stalin

On the anniversary month of the Bolshevik Revolution, and it’s time to debunk some anti-communist myths, again. The U.S. ruling class reviles Joseph Stalin, one of the first communist leaders of the Soviet Union (USSR), and so they lie about him. But they lie about so many things, why would they tell the truth about Stalin. Yet the capitalist slander campaign against Stalin led many authors, university researchers and even ordinary people to dislike Stalin. Why so much capitalist hatred against Joseph Stalin?

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Flores Fightback Continues: Workers protest Klan in blue protected by local elections

LONG BEACH, CA – On Saturday, October 26 under the leadership of the Flores Family, Progressive Labor Party (PLP) members and their base held a well-attended march and rally in Long Beach to protest at the home of District Attorney (DA) George Gascón. He was elected to office in December of 2020. He defeated the previous DA Jackie Lacey who refused to indict over 600 cops who murdered mainly Black and Latin workers in Los Angeles during her eight years in office. Gascón, a former cop, ran on a progressive platform. He assured the workers of Los Angeles County that he would prosecute cops and weed-out the “bad apples.” But just like Lacey before him, Progressive Labor Party (PLP) and our base know that he is another tool of maintaining ruling class control that will never bring justice for workers killed by KKKops.

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LA workers organize against capitalist profit system and slumlords

LENNOX, CA, November 13—Working class solidarity and fightback around housing is growing in this area of Los Angeles County. With the U.S. Supreme Court striking down the federal eviction moratorium, and state and local moratoriums already expired, or soon to, millions of workers nationwide are behind on rent or face imminent homelessness. Progressive Labor Party (PLP) members are actively organizing within the local battle for the needs of our class. We are bringing communist ideas to this sharpening class struggle, such as the need for the revolutionary overthrow of capitalist property relations.

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Student conference fights Big Fascism on campus

NEW YORK CITY, NY, November 12—Planning for the annual Progressive Labor Party (PLP) College Conference began a couple months ago and we decided that the theme would be “Big Fascism on Campus.” We wanted to study and discuss how the Big Fascists, finance and oil bosses represented by liberal Democratic politicians, are using our colleges and universities to advance their agenda: to use liberal ideas like identity politics and “representation” to mask the naked brutality and racism of their system as an attempt to win broad political support for taking on China and/or Russia in World War III. PLP has its eye turned toward looming World War, as we see fascism world-wide rise in response to capitalism in crisis and an undisciplined ruling class.

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THE RED WRECKING BALL, COMMUNISTS VS CAPITALIST HOUSING PART 3: “REDS VS. EVICTION”

The following is part three 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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