Newark, NJ, July 4—Fifty Progressive Labor Party (PLP) members and friends collectively kicked off this year’s Summer Project by sharing food, speeches and international solidarity. The goal was to sharpen the fight against racism, sexism and nationalism as we organize for communist revolution - working class power. One participant commented that as communists, “we make a commitment to free ourselves from capital and invest our lives into the international working class.”
At each summer project like this one, workers from around the world put communism into action in one central location of struggle. With an ongoing pandemic, we are raising working class consciousness about how fascism, or excessive state control and police terror is rampant in Newark. To smash this, we need to build an internationalist communist party with Black, white, Latin, Asian and Arab workers leading the way toward a world where the needs of all workers are put first.
History of Newark
Three newer and two veteran comrades gave speeches about the history of Newark and how the education, housing and court system is impacted by racism. The first speech discussed the importance of recognizing Newark as a laboratory for Big Fascists (see Glossary, p. 6) to operate on a local scale under Mayor Ras Baraka. Praised as a “progressive” and “revolutionary” the Mayor has promoted reforms like Universal Basic Income, a worker-led review board of the police and temporarily fixed lead-poisoned water pipes.But in fact, he’s in line with what the Big Fascists are pushing worldwide. They want to throw a few crumbs or fake reforms to the working class to win us to support the finance capitalists’ plans for imperialist war against China and Russia. As we fight against racist police killings and for better housing conditions, PLP wants workers to see through the lies of the Big Fascists in Newark and worldwide to fight for a communist world.
In the United States, particularly during the 60s, the U.S. bosses were faced with hundreds of rebellions led by Black workers fighting against their racist conditions. As a result the bosses began to experiment with using Black politicians to control the masses. Ken Gibson was elected Newark’s first Black mayor in 1970. The speaker went on to say that the “Main legacy of the civil rights movement and those riots, where Black workers rose up against police brutality, is that Black politicians came into office and betrayed the workers.” Big Fascist politicians like Baraka ultimately steer workers away from fightback and into the ballot box, while smashing any revolutionary potential amongst the working class.
Another speaker talked about the history of the education struggle in Newark. Schools here “continue the legacy of molding children into compliant workers.” At the same time segregation in Newark contributes to the racist conditions in the schools. However, this does not mean there was no fightback. The Newark Teachers’ strike in 1970-1971, the student-led fightbacks for better curriculum and school conditions of the 80s and 90s, and the fightback in 2015 to get rid of Superintendent Cami Anderson and State control of Newark schools all provided valuable lessons for our Party.
The final speech addressed public housing in Newark. Like many cities, Newark saw a rise of public housing during the 1930s New Deal era. Then a decline in funding started in the 1960s. The speaker talked about the courageous tenants of the Stella Wright Housing Project who conducted a four year rent strike (1970-1974) against racist housing conditions that persisted for over a decade. But what was most powerful was her own experience of living in public housing and committing to fight for communism because of the strike. She had moved to a number of different housing projects throughout the city as one shut down after another. On top of the inhumane living conditions, many of those in public housing during Covid-19 had to deal with constant police surveillance, day and night. Despite these conditions, many residents who are on disability and rely on this housing are afraid to speak out. This even with the city's possible gentrification plans for this housing project. She then stated, “And Ras [Baraka] is on this trip that if you want to get rid of gentrification, then buy a house - but that’s not possible for us.” But PLP is continuing to organize and talk to residents so that they have the confidence through collective action to fight for what we all deserve.
As the cookout was wrapping up the Rodwell/Spivey family and a local organizer arrived. The lawyer for the family spoke about the case and how these young men were racially profiled and attacked by the cops. Then another local organizer, who has been leading the fight back in this struggle, spoke about his attempts to organize support around the family and how PLP was the only organization to respond. “After I saw the video and news headlines I visited the family myself. When I heard the real story I called every organization in the city. Nobody called me back except for PLP. And the next day at the rally they came out.” That’s what we do. In this period it is important for us to take a patient long term approach when organizing workers and students, but it is also necessary to act with urgency when situations like these arise. The mother of the young men also spoke about how the cops have been harassing the family by parking a mobile precinct on the street and checking Is of those coming in and out of the neighborhood. After she spoke we passed around a hat to raise funds for the family’s legal defense fund.
Just as Big Facist liberal bosses like Ras Baraka build a base for capitalism, PLP is building a base for communism. It was evident when one woman who attended and was alive in the 60s commented that when she was growing up in Jersey City, she never would have seen a multiracial, intergenerational group. Communist organizing was also clear in the way that members collectively produced the speeches.
As essential as it is for the 20 percent of non-english speakers at the opening event to listen to Black and white workers in the fight against racism and leading communism, as we move forward with our activities it’s equally as important for us to struggle with mainly English-speaking workers to experience live translation as a form of anti-racist internationalism. Practices like these smash the uneven divisions bosses flame to keep the most useful ideas for our class scattered.
What’s ahead
Over the next few weeks this PLP Summer Project will continue to build upon the barbeque through CHALLENGE distributions around the city, and study groups on topics like political economy, displacement, nationalism, and racism. We will end our project with a rally and a motorcade connecting the various struggles that the working class in this part of the world is currently involved in. We plan to maintain the common feeling of strong solidarity and joy felt throughout, as a way to strengthen the bonds among members and friends of PLP. Contact PLP if you would like to join us during this Summer Project.