Annual Dinner Feeds Working-Class Unity, Counters Anti-Muslim Racism

NEW YORK CITY, November 22—Following the attack on the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001, Muslim workers around the country were targets of racist violence. Thousands were rounded up, jailed, and tortured by the government. In response, a local church began a yearly tradition of holding a “Children of Abraham dinner” in which Muslims, Christians, Jews, atheists, and others share dinner and vow to unite across religious lines. Every year, the dinner seems to get larger and we greet each other as old friends. As people entered the hall this year, they were welcomed, as they are every year, with delicious medjool dates, cheese and crackers and hummus on every table. The meal was halal in honor of our Muslim sisters and brothers.

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Learn to Fight Capitalism at College Conference

NEW YORK CITY, November 11—The ability of youth to provide leadership was on display as teachers, students and workers gathered today for PLP’s annual College Conference. Although capitalism bombards us with the message that youth are lazy, irresponsible, violent and selfish, PLP places trust in them and today a multiracial group of young people led a conference with the theme of “Smashing Borders.” More than 50 attendees brainstormed how to combat the borders designed by the bosses to separate and weaken our class.

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Untenured Teacher Pushes Back Against Principal’s Mistreatment

NEW YORK CITY, November 21—One of the Progressive Labor Party’s chants says, “What do we do when under attack? Stand up, fight back!” At a New York City high school where students and teachers are constantly harassed by the administration, a young, untenured teacher did just that. She also struck a blow against sexism.

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Vietnam History: Rebellion in the Military

In a previous issue (11/8), we described the mass rebellion of soldiers and sailors against the imperialist U.S. invasion of Vietnam, and pointed out that’s one huge omission from the recent Ken Burns PBS series on the Vietnam War, which the bosses’ press has been pushing as a ‘true history’ of the era.
The Progressive Labor Party (PLP) played an important role in that rebellion, and many of our members were among the rebellious soldiers. Starting in 1966, a year after our Party was formed, we sent members into the armed forces, sharply rejecting the then-popular pacifist ideology of draft evasion. We correctly understood that was a way out for only a few, while the military was based on a draft of mostly working-class youth.

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U.S. & China Rivalry in West Africa A Prelude to War

The killing of four U.S. troops in Niger brought to light the escalating role of the U.S. military in West Africa—and the sharpening rivalry between the U.S. and China throughout this strategically vital continent.
In his March 2017 testimony before Congress, the commander of the U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) spoke bluntly about inter-imperialist competition in the region:  
Just as the U.S. pursues strategic interests in Africa, international competitors, including China and Russia, are doing the same…whether with trade, natural resources exploitation, or weapons sales, …. These competitors weaken our African partners’ ability to govern…and they also undermine and diminish U.S. influence.…

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Bolshevik Revolution Centennial Series: The Great Conspiracy

Churchill wryly told his World War II ally Stalin, after the Red Army had stopped Hitler’s invading army in its tracks: “I’m lucky I didn’t kill you back in 1919.”
In 1919 Churchill had been in charge of invading forces from 14 capitalist countries attempting to overthrow the new Soviet government and to put in power the generals of the counter-revolutionary “White” Russian army fighting a civil war against the “Red” Soviets. From 1918 to 1922, troops from the U.S., Britain, France, Italy, Germany, Japan, Serbia, Poland, Rumania, Turkey, Czechoslovakia, Greece, and China intervened on the side of the “Whites” in the civil war which killed over seven million Soviet workers and peasants. Michael Sayers and Albert Kahn wrote the book The Great Conspiracy (1946), our main source here, about this now little-known invasion of the young Soviet Union. It shows the lengths world capitalism will go to to prevent the loss of its profit system. Revolution, and counter-revolution, are not a tea party! But in this epic test of its strength, the first workers’ state triumphed.

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Oakland Workers Fight Racist Rent Hikes

OAKLAND, CA—Twice, Oakland workers and their children invaded the wealthy enclave of Piedmont to confront racist slumlord Steven Kalmbach at his $4 million mansion. This battle is centered in East Oakland, a predominately Black, immigrant and working-class area.
For weeks, up to a dozen Oakland families and friends fought back against Kalmbach who doubled rent, from $1200 to $2400/month. According to a notice, the tenants must pay the new rent or move. This is basically an eviction notice.
Capitalist investors salivate over “opportunities” to profit from the “housing stock” there. Police terrorizing of Black and Latin youth, and Immigrant Customs Enforcement activity work hand in glove with these investors. Progressive Labor Party is uniting with local antiracist fighters and building a base for communist politics.

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International Forum Builds Working-Class Unity

NEW YORK CITY—Twenty-five PLP members and friends in the community from eight different countries  held a forum connecting Yemen, Venezuela and the rebellion in Charlottesville. For the first time, seven immigrants from Yemen participated. Together we read a leaflet about the theme. The discussion took place in English, Spanish, and Arabic.
We made the connections between these three places in different parts of the world. Forums like these are the basis of international working-class unity.

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Texas: Bosses Attack Hurricane Victims

TEXAS—Two months after the devastation from Hurricane Harvey, the world series has put Houston in the spotlight again. For much of the city life seems to have returned to normal.
Nationalist Slogan Masks Capitalism’s Role
The “Houston Strong” slogan that was pushed in the aftermath of the storm has now reached a fever pitch with the Astros win. This slogan masks the capitalist causes of the disaster and hides the ongoing crisis faced by the workers hardest hit by the hurricane.
Despite being a natural disaster, the laws of capitalism are at the heart of what made Hurricane Harvey a catastrophe.

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Hollywood Weinstein Scandal & The Disciplining of the Democratic Party

The sexual assault scandal that started with Harvey Weinstein has spread across Hollywood and engulfed the whole of the bosses’ media in the U.S., Canada, Britain, and France. Masses of women workers unleashed their wrath, publicly coming forward to call out their harassers and tormenters, many of them in the bosses’ entertainment industry and the bosses’ governments. Some were shamed into resignation. In France, women shared stories on social media with the hashtag, #Balancetonporc, or “rat out your pig.”
Waves of inspiring anti-sexist stories have even rocked local communities as women workers made the exposure of Weinstein their own.
Communists in the Progressive Labor Party salute this mass bravery. Our class will need it to build a communist world without racism and sexism. Fighting for a movement capable of eliminating capitalism also means analyzing reality, and investigating things like the exposure of Harvey Weinstein.
The reality is: these exposures have nothing to do with any justice under capitalism for the vicious sexist attacks against women workers. Harvey Weinstein’s depraved attacks on women in the movie industry were widely known for decades.

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