EDITORIAL: Taiwan: a killer trap for the working class

China’s bold response to the recent visit to Taiwan by Nancy Pelosi, speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives and third in line to the presidency, exposed the decline of the U.S. as a superpower, the rise of capitalist China, and a sharpening competition that will eventually lead to World War Three. Pelosi’s provocative trip had nothing to do with the defense of “democracy” or the promotion of “freedom.” In reality, despite disagreements over her tactics within the U.S. ruling class, it was a move to defend U.S. imperialist profits with a risky show of power. The workers of the world must have the clarity to turn inter-imperialist war for the division of the world into a revolutionary war for communism where the working class runs society.

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Justice for Hadi is communism

OAK LAWN, ILLINOIS, August 5—Over 50 multiracial workers and youth gathered in bold unity today in front of the local kkkop station to protest the racist beating of 17-year-old Arab student Hadi Abuatelah. Members of the international communist Progressive Labor Party (PLP) proudly joined the ranks of the angry fighters, advocating for communist revolution as the only solution to capitalist state terror. On July 27, Hadi and friends were pulled over by the klan-in-blue because the car they were in allegedly “smelled like marijuana.”

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Workers History: Harriet Tubman & John Brown, models of multiracial unity

The following article can be used in history and other humanities classes. This model of multiracial unity is a good foundation to set the tone for the school year. This coming October 17 marks the 163nd an- niversary of the raid on Harpers Ferry. It was a revolutionary revolt showing the need for militant, antiracist, multiracial, revolutionary struggle! The fight against racist terror continues with the re- bellions sparked by police murders this summer. As workers recognize the power of unity, the cops crack down harder on protests.

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Rodwell-Spivey struggle Justin released, fight to be free from capitalism continues

EWARK, NJ, July 26—As a group of multiracial workers rallied outside the Veterans Courthouse on MLK Blvd., Monique Rodwell, the mother of the Rodwell-Spivey Brothers, texted the Rodwell Spivey Defense Team group chat. “Come up guys, they agreed to release him.” After a year and two months of being detained and punished in one of the most dehumanizing ways on earth, the City of Newark’s prosecutor’s office temporarily set down its whip to release Justin Rodwell from jail. Our defense team of Progressive Labor Party (PLP) members and friends have rallied around the Rodwell-Spivey family from the beginning in support of their decision to unite against police terror and in defense of every worker ever put under the boot of this racist, capitalist system.

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Fight for AC heats up, again! Residents choose CHALLENGE

Hyattsville, MD,August 22–Last year Friendship Arms residents were sweltering in the summer heat with no A/C. They petitioned, called the mayor and held an exuberant, noisy rally inside and outside of the building. The goal was achieved — air conditioning in the building’s hot stuffy hallways. Friendship Arms is a subsidized building for seniors and persons with disabilities overseen by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Two residents of the building started reading CHALLENGE as a result of the Progressive Labor Party’s (PLP) participation in this struggle.

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Part 12: Black communists in the Spanish Civil War Thyra Edwards: antifascist thinker and fighter

This is part 12 of a series about Black communists in the Spanish Civil War. In the early 1930s the urban bourgeoisie (capitalists) of Spain, supported by most workers and many peasants, overthrew the violent, repressive monarchy to form a republic. In July 1936 the Spanish army, eventually commanded by Francisco Franco, later the fascist dictator, rebelled to reestablish the repressive monarchy. Hitler’s Germany and Mussolini's Italy gave Franco massive military aid. In 1936 the International Communist Movement, called the Comintern, headquartered in the Soviet Union and led by Joseph Stalin, organized volunteers, mainly workers from more than 60 countries into the International Brigades (IBs) to go to Spain to defend the Republic.

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Bella Ciao, Comrade Larry, Bella Ciao, Comrade Larry!

Larry was born on October 12, 1944 in Levittown, NY to parents who had been around the Communist Party. He liked sports and was a pitcher for the Division Ave High School baseball team. He got his BA in education from Harpur College and a teaching credential. After graduation he drove south, stopping in Gulfport, Mississippi. He asked about a teaching job, and the recruiter advised him against it since it was an all-Black school. Not to be deterred by racism, Larry taught math for a year. Moving west, he taught first at Pelton Junior High in San Francisco and then at Presidio.

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RED EYE ON THE NEWS ... September 7, 2022

Miners in Alabama ordered to pay for bosses’ expenses UMWA, 8/3–“This is a slap in the face not just to the workers who are fighting for better jobs at Warrior Met Coal, but to every worker who stands up to their boss anywhere in America,” UMWA International President Cecil E. Roberts said. “There are charges for security, cameras, capital expenditures, buses for transporting scabs across picket lines, and the cost of lost production. The union entered into a settlement agreement in June with NLRB Region 10 regarding charges the company had made about picket line activity...On July 22, the NLRB sent the union a detailed list of damages totaling $13.3 million dollars, more than 33 times the estimated amount NLRB lawyers had initially indicated would be assessed.

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LETTERS ... September 7, 2022

Down with Kingmakers & nationalism During one of my last days of summer break, I went to see Lauren Greenfield’s 2019 documentary The Kingmaker. We learned about the legacy of the infamous Marcos family, which has terrorized the working class of Philippines since the late 1960s. Following in the footsteps of the late, heinous Ferdinand Marcos, his son Bongbong—aided by his mother Imelda—campaigned for the 2016 vice presidency in an attempt to reclaim the family’s power. Soon after his opponent Maria Leonor Robredo won, in Trump-like fashion, Bongbong protested the official count with no avail.

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Uprising in DRC - Burning down the house: Workers attack UN criminals

In late July, hundreds of courageous workers responded to the latest crisis of capitalism by storming United Nations outposts in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). Workers’ lives everywhere have been made even more precarious by the imperialist bosses’ war in Ukraine, which has triggered astronomical hikes in the costs of fertilizer, food, and fuel. In recent months in the DRC, an additional million people have fallen below the poverty line (ebrary.ifpri.org). These workers also face ever-mounting terror from mineral-hungry local gangs, government thugs, and Chinese imperialist mining companies.

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