LOS ANGELES, CA—The Shootin' Newton station can now add detonating a truck of explosives in a residential neighborhood to its list of terror it inflicts daily on the working class of South Central LA. The anger in the community is palpable! Progressive Labor Party (PLP) members and close friends  have gone door-to-door in the neighborhood, attended a community forum, and will have an upcoming protest with families brutalized by the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD).
Only under capitalism would a stockpile of fireworks cause 17 injuries and a whole square mile of homes and businesses being destroyed. The LAPD has a long, racist history of brutal oppression in this primarily Black and Latin neighborhood. People were told they did not need to evacuate, that the fireworks would be safely detonated. But workers’ lives and belongings have no value in this system. This explosion is just another example of that.
As members of PLP, we know that in a communist world without the relentless drive for maximum
profit, incidents such as this would never happen. The safety and well-being of workers would always be primary. Many workers want to see the police abolished. That can never happen without a communist revolution.
As members and supporters of PLP, we have been organizing for almost two years in this community, which is just a few short blocks from where Alex Flores was killed. The leaflet we distributed at the community forum, along with copies of CHALLENGE, explained how the murder of Alex, along with countless others, and this bomb explosion are two examples of the role police play under capitalism – inflicting terror on those most oppressed. The cops and their bosses think their terror will paralyze us in our fight to smash the system, but they are wrong!
Although state power and its defenders, the police, can be intimidating, we can and will unite our class to end this brutal, racist system once and for all! We are meeting new people every day who want to fight back. Many are open to the idea of smashing capitalism. We will continue to raise communism as the only solution to racism, exploitation, and oppression.
Liberals are the main danger
The Party’s political position that the liberal bosses are  the main danger continues to lead our  ideological struggle. To try and squelch the anger of this community, the liberal politicians of South LA, all Black and Latin, pulled out all the stops hosting a forum with LAPD and ATF “to get answers.” (The ATF is The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives). They faked anger and sorrow about the incident, but when the community demanded names of who made the call for the detonation, the politicians played their usual role trying to convince people to wait patiently on the “full” investigation.
The front row of the forum was reserved for people with signs that read “God Bless the LAPD”. They carried noise makers and when we shouted down the LAPD or their politician apologists, they tried to drown us out. We confronted them asking why they were supporting the police when we know they will never hesitate to kill us  or our  family members. One of the people admitted that we were right. He said he was paid a lot of money by the LAPD to show support, but that he couldn’t do it anymore. He left the front row and moved to  be with us.
Once the two sides of the forum were clearly identified, there were calls from the stage and one or two speakers for people to unify. A woman responded to that strongly when it was her turn to speak. “Don’t ask me to unify based on the color of our skin. If you are supporting the cops, even if you look like me, there is no basis for us to unify.” Many cheered for her.
Patience and urgency
We have learned from the experiences of many comrades that when the working class faces brutal attacks such as this explosion, urgency in response has to be primary. The presence of communist ideas will only come from PLP, so the sooner we get them out there, the more effective they will be. We did a decent job in our response to this attack by going door-to-door twice and attending the forum. Also, this month’s Flores Friday protest will change from our typical route to go through the blocks most directly impacted by the bombing, continuing to raise communist ideas along the route and connect the two fightbacks.
Additionally, we know that only a long-term outlook will sustain the level of fightback we need to ultimately lead to communist revolution. It is in the day-to-day seemingly small actions that we learn and relearn the lesson that our objectively small Party has a reach far beyond our size. While distributing copies of CHALLENGE at the end of the community forum, a Black worker looked quizzically at the paper. The worker, who had just recently moved to LA, said he had seen the paper before. The comrade asked where. It turns out the worker had gotten the paper years ago from a comrade professor all the way on the other side of the country!  
The comrade and worker exchanged contact information and the worker will join our study group here and attend upcoming actions with us. The fight back continues!