Editorial: Capitalist tinderbox of war

On January 27, a drone attack by an Iran-backed militia killed three U.S soldiers and wounded more than 30 at an outpost in Jordan, near the border with both Iraq and Syria. It marked the first killings of U.S. troops since Israel’s mass murder and ethnic cleansing in Gaza began last October. “Genocide Joe” Biden promptly promised retribution. Two days earlier, the United Nations’ World Court cowardly failed to call for a ceasefire in Gaza while warning Israel to “prevent” the genocide already happening (aljazeera.com, 1/26). It’s a ruling the Israeli Zionist bosses and U.S. imperialists will simply ignore. And six days earlier, the U.S. and UK launched the eighth missile attack on Yemen in the last two weeks, in retaliation for the Iran-backed Houthis’ attacks on cargo ships in the Red Sea.

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From NYC to Gaza: Shut this racist system down

NEW YORK CITY, January 20—Another spirited march – there are many every week - about the genocide in Gaza was held in uptown Manhattan involving over 500 demonstrators. It was organized by a coalition of groups demanding an immediate ceasefire. The police brutally attacked marchers, arresting 10 people for things as minor as assembling in a park or carrying a bullhorn and leading chants, which has now become their general practice citywide. This included a public health student, who in response to the first arrests, led the chant “NYPD, KKK, IDF, All the Same.”

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100th anniversary Lenin’s Death: Stand on the shoulders of revolutionary giant

January 21, 2024 is the 100th anniversary of the death of the great revolutionary Vladimir Ilich Ulyanov. “Lenin” was his revolutionary name. He dedicated his life to the exploited and oppressed of the world: workers, peasants, women, and those especially exploited by colonialism and racism. He dedicated his life to the destruction of capitalism and the establishment of an egalitarian world without racism and sexism. As capitalism ravages the world with wars (see editorial, page 2), let us all make a contribution to the fight for communism.

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Adams, We Charge You with Genocide!

Members of the Progressive Labor Party (PLP) , including college professors in the Bronx, joined with coworkers, students and community organizers in rallying against NYC’s Mayor Eric Adams last week. Adams came to the South Bronx to deliver his State of the City address to a campus which had been transformed into what looked like a military occupation. We were able to hold a successful rally in a nearby park, with high school and college students and led a short but militant march. We then joined a larger rally. As we gathered our forces in the park, we heard speeches about Adams’ policies that have resulted in migrant families being thrown out in the cold, his barbaric budget cuts to schools, libraries, and the CUNY system, his pro-KKKop policies and, of course, his support of genocide in Gaza.

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Boston: educators stand vs. genocide

There has been a lot of organizing among workers and students against the U.S. backed Israeli bombing of Gaza. At the November Boston Teachers’ Union membership meeting a friend of the Progressive Labor Party (PLP) introduced a resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire over Gaza and for the basic civil and human rights of those living in Gaza to be restored. The motion was adopted from the UFCW3000UE, (United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America), which was passed by several other union locals and areas around the U.S. - including the Massachusetts Teachers Association, (MTA). The motion is both antiracist and anti-war and humanitarian but doesn’t address the imperialist nature of the conflict.

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Pakistan: No good bosses in an imperialist system

Since Israel started bombing Gaza, Progressive Labor Party (PLP) members have been actively participating in demonstrations against the genocide of the innocent workers of Palestine. At the beginning all these demonstrations seemed as the continuation of the old rallies organized to condemn the atrocities “Muslims” are facing all over the world. Religious parties always took the lead of these rallies while pleading that Palestinians are Muslims and they are fighting for the liberation of our holy place “Bait-ul-Muqadas”( Al-Aqsa Mosque, Jerusalem). Religious groups always claim that “Palestinian Muslims are fighting to get back the holy place from Israel and we have to support the Jihadis (sacred warriors) who are fighting holy war to establish an Islamic state of Palestine.” But our friends and comrades confronted them with the true analysis of the situation and played a key role in bringing the facts about the Israeli occupation and aggression.

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Fighters in MLA oppose Gaza Genocide

Martin Luther King’s call to civil rights action, “the fierce urgency of now,” animated political action on Gaza at the January 2024 convention of the Modern Language Association (MLA). The MLA Radical Caucus—including core organizers from the Progressive Labor Party (PLP)—felt it was absolutely necessary to act in the MLA, the largest professional organization of academics in the humanities. But we could not call for a ceasefire and an end to the Gaza genocide, as comrades and friends had just successfully done at the annual meeting of the American Public Health Association (Democracy Now, Nov. 20, 2023).

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Ecuador: workers caught in bosses’ crossfire

Ecuador, January 31—Workers in Ecuador have found themselves caught between a turf war between drug gangs led by Jose Adolfo Macias, known by the alias “Fito” and the Ecuadorian state headed by new president Daniel Noboa. Workers of course have been the victims of the attacks by both sides of this fight. Gunmen hired by the Cartels have taken hundreds of hostages. They have also taken over a TV station during a live broadcast (an event which has been widely viewed over the internet), killing at least 14 people, and threatening to execute more workers and soldiers.

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“Call of Duty”—Reject Imperialist Propaganda and Embrace Communism

Late last year, the U.S. imperialist propaganda machine cranked out another “game” Call of Duty Modern Warfare III to encourage young workers to enlist in their bloodsoaked military and die for oil profits. The U.S. imperialists know that they are facing ever increasing competition and in fact are already deeply engaged in the wars in Israel/Palestine and Ukraine/Russia. Just as Russia, Ukraine, and Israel are desperately attempting to recruit or coerce youth to join their militaries, so too does the U.S. military as it leverages video games to boost its dismal recruiting as it prepares for further, more expansive wars.

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Letters . . . February 14, 2024

Felt ‘urgency and emotional rawness’ I was impressed by the seriousness of the comrades at the recent cadre school. The school was proof the Party is developing young, working-class, Black and Latin, women leadership to lead the working class to power. The discussions were advanced, focused, and honest. People shared their questions and disagreements, and we struggled for everyone to be heard. People came from different walks of life, but we were united in our commitment to study the world and fight for a communist future. We contemplated some of the most complicated issues we face in the class struggle, like the need to confront nationalism and fight for internationalism, the need to fight directly for communism, the necessity of armed struggle and revolutionary violence to defeat the capitalist class once and for all. You could feel the urgency and emotional rawness in the voices of the comrades in the room: the fate of the international working class is on our shoulders! I came away feeling fortified to apply myself more resolutely to struggling in my neighborhood to win my friends and neighbors to the Progressive Labor Party.

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