Organizing to protect students

Dear CHALLENGE,

I’m a communist teacher, organizing in my school for two decades. This is the first time I have been in a room with a multigenerational group of 25 Asian, Latin, Black, and white teachers who were planning on how to fight against ICE entering our school building. More teachers were interested but had other duties during the time and so couldn’t attend. They will be followed up soon.

An event like this and of this size has never happened in our building. Teachers expressed how they need to bring in other teachers from different schools who had experience to help facilitate and train them in the struggle ahead. Several first year teachers didn’t care about their tenure; they cared more about their students. A teacher a year away from retirement and others talked about how we were going to be arrested if they came for our students by locking arms and not letting ICE in the building. 

It was my Progressive Labor Party (PLP) club that got me to make sure this inspiring meeting happened. Different Party teachers discussed what they were doing in their own schools, and I carried out what needed to be done in mine. I reached out to my Chapter Leader who put our meeting out in a chapter update. I talked to different teachers throughout the building, making sure to lead with a CHALLENGE to get the conversation going. Many teachers in my meeting proudly discussed what they had heard other teachers were doing in other schools. 

I also made sure to build with my students as I used the “Know Your Rights” information to facilitate classroom conversation. Several students have agreed to come to a future study group. We need to continue to seize this time to continue to fight back and build PLP. We can end all borders.
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Racist Amazon firings

Amazon is a racist company that supports tech for apartheid across the world, including Israel and the U.S. border. Amazon blames their subcontractors, which they call Delivery Service Providers (DSP), for the exploitation of drivers. Recently they retaliated against workers as one worker I’ve been in touch with noted "they fired basically everyone who striked... Another worker I talked to reported “They have let over 30 people go (fired). It’s been a hilarious fiasco and definitely movie (popcorn emoji) worthy.” 

I asked one worker if they went back to work or got fired. "Neither [crying laughing emoji]" was their response. Six people gave me their contact information. Some of the workers quoted above were Asian, Latin and Black. They all lost their jobs. The other two workers who gave me their contact information were white. They both kept their jobs. This demonstrates the racist nature of the company. One of these workers appeared to be in a leadership role coordinating with the Teamsters staff organizers and DSA. They told me there were "normal post peak layoffs" after the strike "but most strikers are left standing and carrying on the struggle."

There were also mixed reactions about the union’s role with one worker saying, “Theunion is supporting everyone really well and trying to help us.

It was a step in the right direction but we need a stronger move next time." and another worker contradicting that statement: “The Teamstersused us [as] pawns in their power grab. There is a part in my song that says the working man [is] a sucker. After this ordeal those bars took on a deeper meaning...spread the word!" 

The Teamsters signs said "follow the law," and many drivers, teamsters, and local politicians emphasized the right to strike and the labor law protections against being fired for striking. Workers made this promise to encourage their coworkers crossing the picket line to join the strike.

These workers who stayed in touch with me felt they were fired for striking and being "laid off" was a pretext. Promising the bosses' state will protect workers' "rights" adds a second betrayal.

We can't blame unions for the bosses' racist firings, but we also can't make excuses for them. We should be aware that Chris Smalls, the Democratic Reform Caucus, and the International Brotherhood of Teamsters are three groups within the Amazon Labor Union. Other communists and left wing intellectuals from the picket line helped explain these important distinctions, and it is important to base build with them as well. We need to be aware of the political relationship of these groups as we continue to build a base in the working class, smash racism and sexism, join and lead working class fightback, and turn strikes into schools for revolution.
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Bosses to blame for LA fires

One aspect of the recent L.A. fires that was not discussed in the recent article is the role of the utility companies. Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E) and Southern California Edison (SCE) have been allowed to ignore basic safety for years. Most wildfires start when trees fall or dead branches fall against power lines and create a spark that then ignites the dry vegetation below. Very rarely do they replace old equipment so that power lines will not fall down, they do not trim plant life near power lines or insulate them, they do not install automatic shut off devices or build lines underground instead of stringing them across combustible landscapes. 

Until now, the worst fire in California history was the Camp Fire in Paradise in 2018 that killed 80 people, caused by a 97 year old worn PG&E wire. In 2021, the huge Dixie fire was also caused by PG&E wires, and this company was found responsible for over 1500 fires from 2014-17. SCE is now being sued by Altadena residents as a video shows the fire starting at the base of one of its towers nearby.

Although PG&E has been found guilty of over 80 counts of involuntary manslaughter over fire deaths, had to file for bankruptcy, and committed to spending billions to protect its grid, it has done little. In fact, it has laid off thousands of workers and is raising rates 18 percent this year. As with climate change, brought on by the profit gouging fossil fuel industry, capitalism is the basic problem. As long as making money for large industries is the driving force of the economic system, as long as workers are dispensable, deadly wildfires will recur. One more reason why we must urgently build a movement for a society we workers run in our interest - a communist society.
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Appearance & essence The Brutalist

I went to see the new film The Brutalist recently and was reminded of the ingenuity of capitalist culture to replicate and reinforce its ideology. To be sure, the film is a majestic tour-de-force, with stunning cinematography and powerful acting throughout. But beneath all the bombast, the film gives little to no message to benefit the working class.

The main protagonist (played by Oscar winner Adrien Brody) is László Tóth, a Jewish architect from Hungary who arrives in the United States after surviving the Holocaust. Much of the first act shows his efforts to try to assimilate into his new environment as a “fish out of water,” taking odd jobs until he is recognized for his architectural talents by a wealthy capitalist and subsequently grows in professional stature.

The film is insightful in showing that no matter how much superficial praise historically marginalized persons can receive in class society, racist and sexist prejudice, violence and discrimination remain par for the course. But instead of reaching the liberating conclusion that such a society is inherently flawed and that we should find ways to collectively struggle to overcome it, The Brutalist instead offers the recurrent example under capitalist art of turning to decadent self-pity and destruction to cope and escape. 

To this end, László is shown regularly engaging in extramarital affairs and struggling with a heroin habit. Even as he later finds the strength to overcome his demons, the end result is not a rejection of a capitalist system that through its violent contradictions almost has annihilated him and his loved ones but rather making an uneasy peace with it as it still gave him prestige and wealth. Collective solutions to capitalist alienation and violence are not even on the table; László instead has escaped from the living nightmare of the Holocaust only to wall himself behind the edifice of his mastery of architecture.

A lesson to take away is the misleading allure of so-called “high art” under capitalist society. Even as we are awed by its shiny appearance, we can’t overlook its role in upholding the dominant ideology that is always looking for ways to lead the masses away from the need to organize for communist revolution.
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