The fatal system of capitalism is in crisis and the only way a system built on profit and exploitation can be sustained is by feeding off workers. This year, workers around the world were shook up by the Covid-19 pandemic and bosses showed that there’s no limit to the lengths that they will go for profit. Bosses proved that the ruling class has and will always bail out their fellow crooks, while the working class showed that whether bloody and hardly breathing we too will fight tooth and nail for the lives of workers. The Progressive Labor Party(PLP) will put communism in practice whenever we’re faced with a crisis. The resounding lesson from this year is that capitalism is the virus and communism is the cure.
The disease of capitalism kills
Bosses from China to the U.S. have used their killer kkkop attack dogs on workers, carried out racist murders, have left the most vulnerable to die unprotected and carried out inhumane evictions. As a result, nearly two million workers have died of Covid-19 and hundreds of millions more have suffered greatly—not just from Covid-19 but from this burning system of capitalism.
Although Jim Crow Joe Biden won the U.S. 2020 election, workers are still losing their jobs by the millions and bosses of all races and stripes are squabbling over what crumbs they would toss at workers. They then rescinded the offers of student loan forgiveness, closing immigrant detention centers and any other worker protections in the next breath. Meanwhile both Small and Big Fascist factions of the U.S. ruling class have agreed to bail out banks and corporations to the tune of trillions of dollars.
Heading into 2021, there’s a race between bosses around the world for the vaccine. The lack of equal access to the vaccine and floundering international influence means workers will still lose and the bosses' racism means Black, Latin and Asian workers will be attacked the hardest. This year has only increased the urgency for workers to unite on the job, and in our neighborhoods and schools to fight back and build a communist movement.
Ascendant China, resurging Russia fill void
Throughout the pandemic, with brute force, militarized policing, and silencing tactics against whistleblowing doctors, bosses in China have clamped down on the coronavirus outbreak and used the lockdowns to enhance their economic position. In the wake of president Donald Trump sabotaging multiple international trade agreements, China’s bosses announced a 25-year bilateral deal with Iran in August, followed by the massive Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) in league with fourteen other Asian-Pacific nations.
The bosses in Russia projected significant military influence in conflicts in Libya, Nagorno-Karabakh, Belarus, and Syria. History shows that declining empires do not go quietly into the night. Battle lines were noticeably hardened in the last twelve months as the imperialist bosses continued their march towards another world war.
Still, in spite of all the capitalist state-sanctioned violence, 2020 offered some clear and inspiring visions of international working-class power on display. Workers rebelled in a scope not matched in over half a century, with the fires of multiracial working-class unity striking mortal fear to the core of racist bosses across the globe.
Workers want and will fight for liberation
Members of the international communist Progressive Labor Party (PLP) were proud to fight alongside our class throughout the year, receiving and giving leadership in the midst of class struggle. Our collective resolve was tested and strengthened, and we were reminded of our class’s potential to run society in workers’ interests, without borders, bosses, or profits. These lessons will no doubt be carried into the new year as PLP continues to win people to our international Party and a lifetime of revolutionary communist struggle.
In the early days and weeks of the pandemic, despite unknown risks, millions of working people stepped up to share resources and solidarity for their class. Mutual aid organizations popped up all over the world and massive car caravans were organized to protest the racist outbreaks of Covid-19 exploding in the bosses’ concentration camps. Workers in Haiti, a country devastated by centuries of imperialist intervention, banded together to provide public health resources, shelter, and food. Mass tenant organizations opposing evictions have gained traction in major cities.
The racist murders of Black workers Breonna Taylor and George Floyd provoked mass worker-led rebellion on a scale not witnessed since the late 1960s. Workers rebelled against a capitalist system that has no regard for our lives. Members of PLP travelled to Minneapolis, Kenosha, and Philadelphia to fight alongside our class and spread communist politics in opposition to capitalist state terror. The working class unleashed fightback in cities such as Bogota and Lagos, where workers fearlessly squared off against the bosses’ paramilitary forces.
Millions marched and took the streets from Poland to Thailand to Belarus to Chile. A general strike of 250 million workers in India—the largest in human history—demonstrated widespread opposition to pro-corporate agriculture reforms.
As communists in PLP, we are proud and inspired to fight as part of this international class struggle. We have waged an uncompromising fight to win other workers beyond the traps of identity politics, voting, and reforms. We have made modest gains in demonstrating that communist revolution through our mass Party is not only necessary, but possible.
Onward to another year of fightback
In 2021, PLP and friends of the Party will fight for what’s best for our entire international working class and put communism in action through fightback and dialectical-materialist study. As the international working class heads into the next year, the stakes are undoubtedly high. The racist and sexist bosses clearly have no intention of letting up, and due to their imperialist rivalries will be forced to ramp up fascist attacks in preparation for war.
May the lessons of class struggle that we have drawn in the past year lead us forward in our fight for a world free of racism, sexism, poverty, and imperialist war! Onward to a communist future!
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2020: Capitalism is the virus, communism is the cure
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- 31 December 2020 105 hits