With ICE’s fascist abductions escalating across the country, Los Angeles workers and students are rising up in resistance. In neighborhoods from Paramount to Downtown LA, tens of thousands have taken to the streets—fighting back against racist state violence and standing in defense of their families, neighbors, and fellow workers. With fascism burgeoning in the U.S., the ruling class is unleashing ICE, its cold and callous gestapo, on immigrant workers and anyone who dares support them. Capitalism needs these nakedly racist attacks to build for fascism to try and keep the working class in check as the crisis of their system deepens. But this is a program LA workers showed bosses they aren't going for!

PLP comrades lead the way against ICE in the streets!

In February, students led mass actions against anti-immigrant attacks. This spring, those protests have only grown in strength. The Progressive Labor Party (PLP) was there—on the front lines, distributing CHALLENGE newspapers, talking with workers, and standing shoulder-to-shoulder with the multiracial working-class community. 

The streets have now become sites of rebellion. In Paramount, residents stood outside their homes for blocks, confronting police barricades and razor wire. Protesters faced off against heavily armed cops, while some residents threw firecrackers, bottles, and rocks at the KKK-like occupiers. The Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) fired blank rounds, rubber bullets, and tear gas. Protesters responded by building barricades and setting cars ablaze. 

Young people on bikes and in cars lined the streets—not just watching, but joining. One young protester told us, “We’ve been out all day, from 10 a.m. to 11 p.m.—this is our city and we are fighting back against ICE.” Another resident said, “We’re out here to support the ones who've disappeared—and if things go down, we’re here to protect those facing off with the police.” 

During the takeover of a freeway—mirroring February’s actions—PLP members witnessed Waymo self-driving cars set aflame and LAPD forces hiding beneath overpasses as protesters fought back. On horseback, cops tried to trample demonstrators, firing flurries of rubber projectiles and tear gas. But the protestors did not back down!

A protester wounded by a metal projectile was treated on the spot by a comrade. The fighting spirit never waned. Night after night, local youth launched car and bike caravans—horns blaring, engines roaring—keeping up morale and creating movement even as the police tried to scatter the crowds. 

Beating back capitalist terror 

This is more than a protest—it is class struggle. People are rising up not just against ICE, but against the entire capitalist system that enforces borders, racism, and exploitation. 

A friend of PLP who we know through the police murder fightback joined us for one of the trips into downtown. Her brother was killed by Long Beach police in 2017, and she has been one of the fiercest fighters for justice against police violence. Her immediate willingness to join us in this fight even after the fightback against police murder has died down shows that she is connecting the dots back to capitalism. Whether police, ICE, the National Guard, or the Marines, they all serve the state in terrorizing our class. The Party’s long term commitment to building a base in the working class positions us in the fight for a communist world.

Workers have the power

We rounded out a week of activity with an all out call to members and friends to rally outside of Inglewood City Hall, a community we have worked in for the last decade. We brought messages of multiracial unity, working class solidarity, and fierce fightback through our speeches and chants. Our leaflet and paper were well received by participants and those driving past. 

A Black mother with her two boys from the crowd gave a speech about standing up for each other because one day they come for your neighbor and the next day they will come for you. In talking to her after, we learned that her children’s school is one of the ones being closed in a racist attack by the school board and state. Capitalism is attacking workers constantly on all fronts. Our involvement in reform movements gives us opportunities to raise the Party’s line that capitalism is the root of all problems. We exchanged contact information with this sharp mother to stay in touch.

Workers laying on their horns as they drove by in their work vehicles led to an impromptu speech by a Party member about the power of our class to shut down the city. The crowd responded with thunderous cheers to that potential.

Workers in LA County are learning so many powerful lessons through these fascist attacks. We have heard people say:

*There are more of us than there are of them.

*They can’t take us all.

*We have to stand united for our neighbors.

*What do borders even mean? No one can own land.

These calls from members of our class for working class solidarity, multiracial unity, and to smash all borders give us so many opportunities to build for communism. Throughout these days of rebellion, PLP remained present—day and night. We are fighting to build a revolutionary movement of workers and students to smash racism, eliminate borders, and overthrow capitalism. Deportations, police violence, imperialist wars—they are all symptoms of a system designed to divide and exploit us. But we are one class, the working class, and united we have the power to destroy this rotten system. 

No more deportations. No more racist terror. No more borders. Join the PLP in the fight for a communist world.

This article is Part III of a four-part series on the Scottsboro Boys. In 1931, during the Great Depression, nine young Black men were falsely accused of raping two white women on a freight train in Scottsboro, Alabama.  However, the U.S. Communist Party (CP) initiated and led a world-wide struggle involving millions of people fighting to prevent their execution and to free the “Scottsboro boys. 

This series of articles will analyze the role of the two major defense strategies in this case, the International Labor Defense (ILD), the legal arm of Communist Party USA (CPUSA) and the NAACP. We will study the different strategies as they relate to the questions of mass protest, institutional racism, the fight for legal reforms, and the use of the courtroom to raise the level of political consciousness and struggle.

Parts III and IV coincide with our annual summer project. This year we celebrate the 50th anniversary of Boston’s 1975 Summer Project. That  summer, the communist Progressive Labor Party (PLP) played a pivotal role in the struggle against local Nazis and their racist political allies from attacking young Black youth who were being bussed in effort to desegregate, all-white schools in Boston. The movement mobilized working-class youth and community members in an unforgettable, militant struggle against gutter racist capitalism and state-sanctioned violence. 

After the second guilty verdict and death sentence for Patterson, the International Labor Defense (ILD) mass campaign escalated. A large march to Washington was planned for May 6-7 along with the presentation of civil rights petitions demanding enforcement of the 13th, 14th and 15th Amendments and freedom for the defendants. Again, mass meetings and demonstrations were held. As in 1931, it was not uncommon for these various meetings and demonstrations to be attended by at least one thousand people.

The ILD planned to continue this mass strategy if the case was appealed on two major grounds: unfair trial and exclusion of Black jurors. The first step was a motion for a new trial before Judge Horton. Between April 16, the date of the motion, and June 22, the day of the decision, the ILD mass activity for 1933 was at its peak. This time, however, there was a real effort to link the trial to the issue of non-enforcement of civil rights by the judicial system. This brought the issue of racism to the fore.

ILD broadens struggle without resorting to United Front

The ILD leadership did not propose unity with the leaders of reformist organizations, who were still seen as obstacles to a mass campaign; but they did propose exposing the reformist leaders by inviting the organizations to form united fronts. By 1933, even major Southern newspapers outside Alabama were beginning to admit the defendants were being framed.

All this made for a broader campaign. By June 1933, according to the ILD, 500,000 people had signed petitions for a new trial, and the total number of people attending meetings or demonstrations worldwide since 1931 was well over one million. In addition, at least 150,000 telegrams of protest had been mailed to Governor Miller of Alabama.

The mass campaign in the South grew also. A publicity tour led by ILD lawyer Allan Taub visited 50 Southern churches in four months and spoke at ILD meetings of 1100 in New Orleans and hundreds in Birmingham. A leaflet was issued in April 1933, to Southern white workers calling for Black and white unity and pointing out how the exclusion of Blacks from juries and voting worked to justify exclusion of poor whites.

The climax of the organizing effort was in Washington, D.C. on May 8, 1933, where 4,000 people marched for freedom for the Scottsboro boys and enforcement of the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments. Civil rights petitions with 200,000 signatures were presented to Congress. Attempts were made to obtain congressional intervention in the case, which were refused.

ILD takes on the kkk, racist dems, & kkkourts

“Justice” Callahan, who, according to the ILD, had some associations with the KKK, opened as the Judge for the third round of trials in November 1933.

It is important to remember the climate of the period. In 1924, the Democratic Party, in its national convention, after a long and bitter debate, refused to condemn lynching. In 1928, no attempt was made to condemn lynching. Southern congressmen and senators openly endorsed lynching without any fear of reprisals from the national government.

Yet the Communist Party, a small party of no more than 7500 men and women, was able to put the Southern racists on the defensive, to force new trials and eventual freedom for nine impoverished Black people, and to make a “rape case” the great widely discussed “celebrated case” among workers throughout the world.

They were able to do this, first, because of their organization, democratic centralism. Although there was resistance once the party made it a priority. Communists all over the nation were able to organize a massive struggle.

Second, their line was correct. By linking up the fight to save the Scottsboro defendants with the struggle against the Southern ruling class and its allies in Wall Street and Washington, communists won support from both Northern and Southern workers and the freedom of the defendants.

None of this comes through in most accounts of the Scottsboro case. Instead, we are given a liberal judge— Horton— as hero, some Southern redneck spectators as villains, and a condescending if not outright racist view of the defendants. Their parents, who played major roles in the campaign to save their lives, speaking all over Europe and the United States, are totally ignored. Communists are mentioned only here and there.

Building a defense strategy vs. racist kkkourts

The defense courtroom strategy in the third trial was almost the same as in the second. The courtroom circumstances changed, however. Judge Callahan much more openly identified himself with the prosecution. The appellants' brief to the Supreme Court of Alabama lists two separate instances in the Patterson and Norris trials where Callahan interrupted the defense counsel, stopped him from proceeding along a line of questioning, or declared a question illegal or improper. In most of these instances, the State did not even have to make an objection before the court intervened.

In the instructions to the jury, the trial judge made the ridiculous and vicious statement that there is a strong presumption against white women having voluntary intercourse with Black men. He further stated the prosecutor's testimony did not have to be corroborated. He concluded the charge to the jury by “forgetting” to give instructions on how to render an acquittal.

Despite this vitriolic racism, Leibowitz and the ILD generally played within the rules of the game. But in a situation like this the argument that a strong political defense would antagonize the judge and jury is not convincing. A stronger effort to link the case to the organizing done by the ILD in Birmingham and New Orleans could have been attempted.

Look out for Part IV in our July 16th issue, where we explore how the ILD’s new organizing strategies helped shape the Communist Party—and learn what lessons we draw from the fight to save the Scottsboro Boys in the present.

CHICAGO, June 10 – A multiracial group of over a dozen Progressive Labor Party (PLP) members and friends united downtown this evening to inject communist internationalism and antiracism into the ongoing fight against the fascist Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE). A mass mobilization was called for today to show solidarity with the ongoing militant rebellion of workers in Los Angeles who are resisting open capitalist state terror in the struggle for a better world.

Workers and youth present were eager for our revolutionary energy and analysis, and we distributed 300 bilingual flyers and just as many copies of CHALLENGE newspaper. We led many communist chants in both Spanish and English, while giving speeches that blasted racist bloodsucking capitalism being at the root of deportations, imperialist war, and environmental devastation.

Antiracist uprisings like those were involved in now are necessary and justified responses to a wretched profit system that destroys countless lives every second. But rebellion alone, however bold, will not lead to our liberation as a working class. It’s essential to build a mass international communist PLP of millions of workers and soldiers who can elevate the fight from pitiful reforms to the revolutionary class war that finally creates a borderless communist society.

Workers fight back against fascist deception, attack

Although Los Angeles is being seen as the epicenter of national fightback against fascist deportations, resistance against raids and arrests has been ongoing across the country. Prior to today’s march, in Chicago on June 4th, there was a rapid mobilization to defend immigrant workers against a despicable attack from ICE.

On that day, several immigrant workers connected with a federal program called Intensive Supervision Appearance Program (ISAP) received text messages ordering them to attend a “surprise check-in” about their legal proceedings. Upon getting to the office, however, at least ten were arrested and detained (Block Club Chicago, 6/9).

Dozens of antiracist fighters, including several PLP members, learned of the attack through rapid response networks and were on the scene promptly trying to de-arrest, document, and give whatever support possible. Upon getting there they squared off with the ICE neo-slave catchers armed with military-grade weapons and gear.

While the liberal politicians running Chicago proudly like to flout the city’s “sanctuary” status and how local kkkops won’t cooperate with ICE, we know they’ll never do anything significant to protect our class. Although it’s President Donald Trump and his faction of white nationalist bosses running the deportation machine today, we can never forget that it has been the racist liberal bosses who built and perfected that machine, from Clinton to Obama to Biden. Capitalism can’t maximize profit without dividing and terrorizing workers – It doesn’t matter who’s in office!

Take the streets, join the Party

It was this class-conscious understanding and anger that we brought with us today to share with the rebellious masses downtown. After realizing that there was no one giving much direction to the rally or march, we gladly took over political leadership.

Chants such as “Democrats, Republicans, All the Same – Racist Terror is the Name of their Game” and “Obreros unidos, jamás serán vencidos!” were picked up with enthusiasm by many others. We called out the kkkops flanking the march for their fundamental role in upholding the capitalist dictatorship, shouting “CPD (Chicago Police Department), KKK, IOF, they’re all the same!”

Some marchers tried to contrast our communist chant of “The workers united, will never be defeated” with the more liberal version “The people united, will never be defeated!” We pointed out that in the history of the working-class movement the term “people” has been used to include nationalist bosses and other exploiters who block the path to communist revolution. We proudly chant “workers” because we know that our class is truly the only progressive force that can bring about an egalitarian world.

At the conclusion of the march in Daley Plaza, a comrade addressed the crowd on our bullhorn attacking capitalism and inviting everyone there to join the Party. Many came up to us to get more literature and give contact information afterwards, and we will be following up with them in the weeks and months of struggle to come.

We need communism ASAP

Participating in recent antiracist struggles is showing that much of the working class is deeply enraged with the status quo of capitalism. Witnessing families being torn apart, as the world burns through imperialist wars and unchecked climate chaos, has our class seeking a real alternative. Let’s work even harder to build this movement and PLP to bring communist revolution on as soon as possible!

BROOKLYN, June 4—The cancellation of not one—but two—student-demanded Eid celebrations at this majority-Black high school is a symptom of deepening racism inside the bosses’ institutions. This suppression unmasks a Black liberal administration using the rhetoric of inclusion (see bottom) to uphold racist divisions in a capitalist society.

In response, the working-class community is learning how to fight for antiracist solidarity under a chilling political climate. This small fightback has opened the doors to deeper political relationships and exposure to communist ideas through CHALLENGE. For many students, this struggle was their first step in questioning capitalist authority as part of an organized collective. Progressive Labor Party makes it clear multiracial and student-worker unity are mortal threats to the threads of this profit system. One way the bedrock for communism grows is through seeds of class struggle and solidarity. 

Suppressing working-class unity 

In 2025, we are bearing witness to an all-out assault on working-class people—migrants terrorized, kidnapped, and deported; students policed and suspended for minor infractions; healthcare, medicaid, and social security funding attacked; DEI programs gutted; antiracists doxxed and removed for fighting genocide; abortion effectively criminalized; and the equivalent of six atomic bombs dropped on Gaza, and more. The liberal school’s Black woman principal joins in to attack a majority-Black student population for organizing multiracial unity. That’s the political climate we are breathing in. 

After the silencing of Eid in April, student organizers gathered to plan their response (see box). Even after multiple attempts—the issue was presented at a union meeting, in which ten teachers were openly supportive another Eid proposal was submitted—the administration stonewalled the effort. 

This isn’t about stopping a celebration; it’s about how capitalist institutions deeply fear, and hence suppress, students and staff organizing independently. While the working class has yet to realize their potential power, the bosses shiver at the first sign of unity. 

the bosses’ censorship, some students and staff independently organized a henna table, distributed stickers that decried Palestinian genocide, wished Eid Mubarak, and demanded “RESPECT” in four languages. We created informal spaces for Arab and Black students to mingle and build solidarity. These small actions are the seeds of a future communist society, one built on multiracial unity and working-class power.  

The alternative to this profit-based system is to fight for a needs-based one, where every-day students and workers like ones at this school are the decision-makers. To see a glimpse of that, many were invited to May Day, the communist holiday. Through struggles like these, CHALLENGE readership increased by nine people. 

An annual tradition of unity broken

At this mainly Black school, Eid celebrations without pushback date back to 2019, and students from all backgrounds participated with enthusiasm every time. Eid was a cultural moment of joy, food, and recognition for students who are so often asked to shrink themselves. It was always explicitly about creating a space of multiracial unity in a public school system that fails working-class, migrant, Black, and Brown youth. 

So derailing Eid hits different. Students are not only grieving what they see in the news; now they’re being told that even a cultural celebration in their school is too much. It sends the message that certain students don’t fully belong.

Why the obsession to police celebrations? In a system that thrives on dehumanization and disunity, students independently organizing a cultural event is a declaration: we matter and an injustice to one is an injustice to all. Schools, institutions controlled by the ruling class, fear ideas that threaten to challenge this chokehold of capitalist isolation. 

Bosses sow chaos, we can sow solidarity

The assault on Eid is no isolated matter. Many see a deeper pattern of canceling or delaying or last-minute changing initiatives that build unity—student events, advisories, clubs, field trips, and so on. The goal, it seems, is disorganization and demoralization. Because divided and disorganized we fall. 

One thing is for sure: Black faces in high places don’t serve the working class. This mainly-Black administration clearly fears student organizing, teacher organizing, and family organizing. And what better way to keep us disconnected than by fostering chaos and confusion?

We need a different model rooted in collective organizing by students, families, and education workers. We need student-family-worker unity now—to fight back against anti-Muslim racism, against a dictatorship over school culture, and against the manufactured chaos meant to keep us apart. 

And in this model is the seed for communist ideas, for that’s a system based on working-class power. To nurture and sustain any growth, the working class needs to be won to the long-term solution of communism.

Background:

In April, less than five business days before the high school’s planned Eid celebration, the Administration sabotaged it—declaring Eid will be “postponed” because we hadn't done anything for Easter. The postponement was de facto cancellation. 

They say: “[W]hy…only have an Eid celebration when there are hundreds of Christians in the school too…If [Student Council] truly represent and respect the whole student body, then everyone can be celebrated.”

We fight to say: This isn’t inclusion—it’s racism. Muslim students matter, and multiracial unity matters. This is a racist attack on students, period.
This student organization has been disciplined in the past for their pro-student activities, so it’s unsurprising the administration attacks one of the few events that unites students. 

Students debated the merits of the administration's top-down decision to change Eid. Their responses:

“I’m a Christian…and there are so many celebrations [but] the one day for Muslims after a month of fasting gets looked over? That’s genuinely so frustrating”

“We’re so bummed out!” 

“How about we call it Eid-ster?!”

“I don’t know why they’re complaining now”

“I think the fact the the school ISN’T majority Muslim is the biggest reason to have an Eid celebration”

On the surface, the idea of combining Eid and Easter into one “interfaith” event may sound like inclusivity. The logic behind this decision reeks of “All Lives Matter.” It pretends to call for unity, but in reality, attacks student unity. 

After the discussion, the students reached a decision: the Eid celebration should stand on its own. The student organization sent a second event proposal to celebrate the Eid in June. This was immediately dismissed in four words: “we already discussed this.”

When another student heard of the original postponement, they were inspired to write an article about it for the school newspaper, which became the basis for conversations with students and co-workers.