This Black August, we are spotlighting an article from our 2014 Summer Project in Ferguson, Missouri. On August 9, racist killer kkkop Darren Wilson murdered Mike Brown, a Black teen who had just graduated high school eight days prior. Wilson had fired 12 bullets, 8 of which pierced 18-year-old Mike. 

The racist disposal of his life, along with countless other Black youth and workers' lives, sparked a 10-day rebellion from Ferguson and what the bosses called a year of “unrest.” The ripple effect of that rebellion spread as far as Baltimore, Maryland for Tyrone West to New York City for Eric Garner to Omar Abrego and Ezell Ford in Los Angeles, just to name a few. 

Progressive Labor Party (PLP), taking the leadership of Black youth, marched alongside with youth and workers in Ferguson. Over the span of a year, every time a PLP contingent visited Ferguson, the communists and CHALLENGE were welcomed. We had built a relationship with a group of youth who organized themselves under the name of Lost Voices. The Ferguson Rebellion was a key historical event that shaped the antiracist consciousness of those who participated. 

Since then, that generation has experienced the non-indictment of killer kkkop Wilson, the gutter racist Donald Trump presidency, the #metoo movement, a pandemic, the Black Lives Matter movement in 2020 following the murder of George Floyd, record deportations, the Genocide Joe Biden presidency, the Jan. 6 Insurrection, countless wars, a raging genocide in Gaza, and more. A decade later, Black members of the working class are still three times more likely to be killed by police than their white counterpart (Mapping Police Violence, 8/1). What was true then is still true today—racist police terror is part and parcel of the profit system. 

In this period of ever-spiraling capitalist crises (see editorial, page 2), many of our class siblings are searching for answers. PLP urges workers to unite based on our class interests, and antiracism and antisexism are prerequisites in the final defeat of the bosses’ system. The only way we can rid the world of exploitation is through running these bosses into the ground, while building for a communist society. 

Ferguson, Mo, August 29 — During the recent rebellions here, a young multiracial team from Progressive Labor Party visited the area to support these antiracist actions and put forward the idea that communism is the only way to defeat racism and capitalism. Here is one account. 

The bosses’ media keep spreading the lie that “outside agitators” aren’t wanted in Ferguson, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. Hundreds of workers and students received CHALLENGE and a PL leaflet calling for more rebellion against racist police murders. They embraced communist ideas and calls for communist revolution. An older couple contributed to our lunch after a brief discussion on the history of racism in Ferguson and the U.S. and the lack of opportunities for working-class youth. 

During our time here, we connected with a group of young freedom fighters that formed a new organization during the rebellion following Michael Brown’s murder. The group consists of youth who met night after night to battle the cops. Calling themselves The Lost Voices, they are dedicated to preventing racist police murder from becoming the norm.

The Lost Voices have camped out on Florissant Avenue, Ferguson’s main strip, where protests have persisted for two weeks. One leader of the group said they march daily so that workers in Ferguson and around the world know that “we out here.” 

One of the most exciting developments was a PLP study group with these youth, where we discussed the Our Fight section in CHALLENGE. Beyond outright agreement with our antiracist stance, these young workers echoed our idea that the abolition of money will aid in creating a new, worker-led world.  

On our last night, we had a rally of 50 through the streets of Ferguson. Workers responded by joining the march with their kids, holding signs from balconies, honking as we marched, and yelling out words of solidarity. It was a powerful experience. After a brief water break from the heat, we rallied again and received even more overwhelming support from local workers. 

People’s fightback spirit against police harassment and the murder of black people was unwavering and inspirational: “The whole system is guilty!” We heard this statement over and over during our time in Ferguson. The ruling class and misleaders like Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson pushed for peace and more black cops and politicians, but the working class wasn’t falling for it. Jackson was confronted by workers and youth who asked him, “When are you going to stop selling us out?” They told him, “Get out — we don’t want you here!” This trip to Ferguson has taught the young people who went a lesson on how to work among the masses. Two of them have joined PLP.