Letters of September 7

‘No Shortcuts...Struggle is the essence of life...’

The feeling I’ve experienced [during this Summer Project] has been invigorating. I see strength in the hope that the inequality in our world, caused solely by the power of money, would one day disappear for good.

I see so much suffering and am unable to do anything immediately, for I myself am empty-handed and feel that ideological work is not enough. I wonder if there is a shortcut. But history grounds me: for revolution to succeed, we must do profound ideological work following PLP’s red line. Those foundations should be solid within each of us.

As Marx wrote, “struggle is the essence of life,” and therefore, one shouldn’t rely only on theory, but should dare to help our class fulfill their needs through practice. That way, one day, we’d fully understand the needs of the proletariat.

I should admit that although I am afraid, it’s an honor to open my house to great comrades from Mexico and other parts of the world; I never imagined I’d be sharing the same roof with them. I won’t see many of them again. But, I’m certain that every word, every CHALLENGE or flyer that we distribute, is contributing to the weakening and fall of those responsible for so much misery and pain.

A communist worker

‘Great road ahead...good to journey with PLP’

The first day of activities was very satisfying and encouraging. Twelve of us participated in a meeting, in which ten were members and two were CHALLENGE-reader friends who will be asked to join the Party.

The first part of the activity was a discussion of the work we’ll be involved in during the Summer Project, as well as a brief report of the work each of us carries out in the Party and the length of our involvement. We also discussed the purpose of our Party, its final goal, and our politics. We shared our struggle against nationalism, sexism, racism, and the importance of building the base and CHALLENGE.

We shared the struggles in our “home countries.” The importance of PLP is its internationalism. We benefit from the experiences of our class sisters and brothers. It’s important to learn that in spite of the distance and borders, the condition of workers is the same, because the system under which we live is the same.

A young participant shared his experience in the Haiti Summer Project. It’s important to organize these activities because of the enthusiasm and commitment they generate.

This is the first Summer Project in which I have participated and it gave me the energy to keep on building the Party; there is a great road ahead and it’s good to journey with PLP.

A comrade

Pizza with a ‘Communist Topping’

Throughout the fight at Brookdale Hospital, our PLP club has been struggling with CHALLENGE distribution and the ideas in “Build a Base in the Working Class,” and Lenin’s “What Is To Be Done?” A recent incident illustrates that even while building long-term ties, there are plenty of opportunities to expand our CHALLENGE readership!

While visiting with Brookdale workers at their homes to discuss CHALLENGE, I stopped to grab a slice of pizza in the mostly black and Latino working-class neighborhood of East New York. I, a white-skinned worker who was deliriously hungry, walked into the store and failed to notice all the young black workers’ eyes on me.

While staring at the menu, I heard one of the workers behind me ask, “what’re you doing in here, slick? What business you got being in here? What’s your deal?” I turned my head and realized he was talking to me. “What, you a rookie undercover [cop]?” I nervously laughed and answered, “no man, I’m not undercover.”

The police maintain an armed occupation of East New York, as in every other black and Latino neighborhood. There’s no shortage of plainclothes KKKops walking around as if they rule the place. He — and apparently the other black workers in the store, judging by the number of folded arms standing around me — sized me up again. “So, Transit [cop]?” Then, remembering the several dozen CHALLENGEs in my bag, I said, “Actually, I’m a communist in the Progressive Labor Party.” The look on everyone’s faces was a unanimous, “who the hell is this guy?”

I handed out CHALLENGEs to all the workers and began an impromptu speech — starting with the Brookdale bosses’ viciously racist attack on workers in East New York and Brownsville. Several were born at Brookdale, and were unaware of the hospital’s dire condition.

Those who were hoping for an entertaining confrontation walked outside, but two of the workers (including the one who asked if I was a cop) remained to talk politics.

As they leafed through the paper, commenting on the photos of the Harlem Rebellion in the article about Comrade Milt, I explained that PLP is not just another political party, but a revolutionary communist party organizing all workers to fight the racist attacks. The international PLP is trying to organize workers worldwide to fight for communism. We believe that millions of workers must fight for armed revolution and smash the entire racist, sexist, imperialist capitalist system.

“Word?” He asked. “Yes! Armed revolution of millions of workers, against capitalism. The only way to smash racism.” (I especially emphasized this not only to keep politics primary, but also in case there were any lingering suspicions about me being a cop.)

One of the workers, Aaron, has been a truck driver for a milk company for six years. We spoke about our respective jobs and union issues. I asked him if he’d like a CHALLENGE subscription mailed directly to his home, and we exchanged contact information. After he told me he hangs out with many of the workers in that store regularly, I promised to send him several copies to distribute.

As I walked out with my pizza slice to continue my home visits, Aaron called out “you better start sending me those papers!” That day, visiting and building stronger ties with our fellow workers at Brookdale was a step forward for our Party, for sure; but this was a bonus!

Red Pizza

Debating the Road to Revolution

Revolution was definitely in the air at the 2011 annual summer institute of the MLG (Marxist Literary Group). Partly because of PL’s presence last year, this year’s theme of revolution attracted nearly twice as many participants as the year before despite the scarcity of academic celebrities. Interest in radical politics is definitely gaining credibility among instructors and students. Communism is no longer an unmentionable word: a recent poorly-advertised UK academic conference on “the idea of communism” drew over a thousand attendees. 

While most MLG contributors consider themselves to be Marxists, few are communists. Many of those present this year included anarchists, socialists, anticommunist Marxists as well as a contingent of revisionists (fake leftists).  Although our twenty-five years of work in the MLG have led to only a few people actually joining the PLP, we have maintained a left analysis of the various versions of Marxism popular at the MLG. 

We have consistently criticized the impact of identity politics, postmodernism, neo-Marxism, and post-Marxism upon the study of history and culture.  We have fought the anticommunism — specifically in relation to distorted conceptions of Soviet and Chinese history — that prevails even among academics who consider themselves to be anti-capitalist radicals.  We have put forth the need to rely on the working class and to make the fight against racism and sexism an essential part of revolutionary struggle.

The PL papers this year that criticized the two-stage theory to establish socialism before moving to communism, were well received, despite these ideas having sparked skeptical or hostile responses at preceding conferences. 

The present moment offers significant opportunities for the Party’s membership and influence to grow among radical academics in the humanities.  PL members in the MLG — as our comrades in the public schools are doing — need to seize all possible opportunities to make our voices heard.

Red intellectuals

Comrade Milt Rosen: No Retreat from Working-Class Communist Revolution

The remembrance for a great communist leader, comrade Milt, in CHALLENGE was both moving and inspiring.  Milt, along with Mort, Wally and others, provided the leadership for rebuilding the international communist movement at a time when most had abandoned the revolutionary content of the ideas of Marx, Engels and Lenin.

A small group of revolutionaries split from the CPUSA and joined with a ragtag group of anti-racist, anti-imperialist students, of whom I was one, to form PLP.  Milt was instrumental in welding us all together in a fighting party that put principle first, last and always.

 Milt seemed to be at least one step ahead in analyzing the political ideas and strategy necessary to build a working-class party, but he also was the most patient in listening to, and learning from, the input of each and every comrade. Milt would sometimes not speak at a meeting until after everyone else had contributed their often-conflicting ideas.  He would then summarize the discussion with an analysis that would often lead to everyone thinking, “why didn’t I see it that way?”  Criticism and self-criticism came naturally to Milt, and democratic centralism became a live process to even the most individualistic students (as I certainly was).

Another of Milt’s crucial contributions to PLP’s growth was his insistence on honesty in our political line.  This had not always been the practice of the international communist movement.  Industrial and agricultural workers had been approached with reformist ideas, with communism reserved for the “right” time.  Milt always said, “we can’t trick our way to communism.” When PLP criticized the politics of the Vietnamese comrades that were fighting U.S. imperialism to the death, it didn’t make us popular in many quarters.  However, in the long run, it enabled PL and our friends (and eventually many others) to see the consequences of compromises with our class enemy.

Milt was a gentle soul when struggling with us all to make whatever contribution we were capable of, but he showed no tolerance for any retreat from the politics of working class communist revolution.  Attacking racism, sexism (and eventually nationalism) was not just a tactic — they were the essence of our communist politics.

Our recent international growth is a result of the PLP’s unwavering commitment to communist revolution in the face of the retreats of the old movement.  It is a testament to the leadership of Milt and many others.  We can honor their memory by continuing the struggle until the working class rules the world. Comrade Milt, we will miss you.     

Old time NYC red

Capitalism’s Unemployment Spawns Suicide

I am a 29-year-old student about to finish my masters’ degree. My spouse is 26 years old and finished a bachelor’s degree in biology two years ago, but has not been able to find a job since. Unemployment is a tremendous problem for young people. This wrecked her spirit since she faced ever-dwindling savings and did not receive unemployment insurance. In the last two years she deteriorated from a young, energetic science student to a bitter, angry woman crushed under the wheels of the job market.

A year ago she had enough. After not finding a job for a year, she was an emotional wreck. In desperation, she tried to kill herself to avoid being a burden to me or her mother. She almost succeeded, and was hospitalized for several days in an intensive-care unit with acute poisoning. After this suicide attempt, she was diagnosed with depression and began receiving anti-depressant treatment. She also started receiving a small disability benefit due to her depression.

However, this is not a personal mental illness like the system tries to say. This is not her fault. She does not want to be unemployed and receive a disability benefit. She wants a full-time job to earn a living. The capitalist system cannot provide her with a job and blames her for her anger and bitterness.

A system that can’t provide everyone with a real job has to go. A system which drives so many workers to desperation has to be replaced by a new system that will allow everyone to work for the benefit of all and receive an equal share of the bounty produced by society. Both of us have joined the Progressive Labor Party and are now fighting for a future free from the horrors of unemployment and poverty.

 Red Student