“Fork by fork, step by step, option by option, America or, to be more precise, the men who spoke in the name of America decided that it was going to be a white place defined negatively by the bodies and the blood of the reds and the blacks. And that decision, which was made in the 1660s and elaborated over a two-hundred-year period, foreclosed certain possibilities in America -- perhaps forever -- and set off depth charges that are still echoing and re-echoing in the commonwealth. What makes this all the more mournful is that it didn't have to happen that way. There was another road -- but that road wasn't taken. In the beginning, as we have seen, there was no race problem in America. The race problem in America was a deliberate invention of men who systematically separated blacks and whites in order to make money.” —The Road Not Taken, Lerone Bennett (1970)

The Body of Liberties, 1641: Massachusetts becomes the first colony to legalize slavery. This is done through the passage of the Body of Liberties. Under section 91 the article clearly sanctioned slavery - and creates three categories of workers: Native Americans (Reds), white people under the system of indenture, and enslaved Black workers.
 
The Body of Liberties, 1662: The Bodies of Liberties was amended to include the enslavement of a slave woman's offspring to be a legal slave. This guaranteed that offspring of all slaves were considered as the same legal status as their mother, a slave.
 
Salem Massachusetts, 1645: Emanuel Downing writes to his brother-in-law about a scheme to trade captured Native Americans for Africans, claiming that the Puritans can maintain "20 Moors cheaper than one English servant.”
 
The Royal African Company, 1672: The British Parliament charted the Royal African Company (RAC). This company would have a monopoly on the slave trade between Africa and America. All slaves were to be brought to America only through this company.
 
Bacon’s Rebellion, 1676: Stricter slave codes emerged in Virginia after Bacon’s Rebellion in 1676, when wealthy planters decided to abolish indentured servitude and establish permanent slavery for Africans, fearing that class conflict would undermine their tobacco plantation holdings. Also in 1676, a law was enacted that prohibited free Black people from having white servants.
 
Virginia General Assembly, 1691: Any white person married to a “black or mulatto” was banished and a systematic plan was established to capture "outlying slaves."
 
The Negro Act, 1740: The comprehensive Negro Act of 1740 passed in South Carolina made it illegal for slaves to move abroad, assemble in groups, raise food, earn money, and learn to write English. Additionally, owners were permitted to kill rebellious slaves if necessary.
 
The Naturalization Act of 1790: Alternately known as the Nationality Act, this act restricted citizenship to "any alien, being a free white person" who had been in the U.S. for two years. In effect, it left out indentured servants, slaves, and most women.
 
The Indian Removal Act, 1830: Signed into law by Andrew Jackson, The Removal Act paved the way for the forced expulsion of tens of thousands of American Indians from their traditional homelands to the West, an event widely known as the "Trail of Tears," a forced resettlement of the native population.
 
The Foreign Miners Tax, 1850: The California legislature passes the Foreign Miners Tax, which requires Chinese and Latin American gold miners to pay a special tax on their holdings, a tax not required of European American miners.
 
The Fugitive Slave Act, 1850: Passed by Congress in 1850, the Fugitive Slave Act required that all escaped slaves were, upon capture, to be returned to their masters and that officials and citizens of free states had to cooperate in this law enlisting the assistance of other whites. The act also made it possible for a Black person to be captured as a slave solely on the sworn statement of a white person with no right to challenge the claim in court.

NEW YORK CITY, October 10—A multiracial group of antiracists and Progressive Labor Party members helped organize a march today, Indigenous People’s Day at Columbus Circle. The main contradiction in this movement is nationalism versus working-class consciousness. We must reject unity on the basis of the concept of “race” and unite on the multiracial basis of our class, the working class. PLP members within this movement are struggling with friends and fighters to win them to this communist outlook.
Struggle inside the mass organization
The organizing committee was made up of Palestinian, Asian, and Colombian workers,  three of whom have indigenous roots. The initiative arose after an educational activity on ecology and politics in which we decided to focus on the struggle of indigenous workers and at the same time connect it with the environmental destruction.
In the organizing meetings, we addressed the capitalist interests that value nothing more than economic profits and that unleash imperialism, devastating extractivist projects. It was also discussed how so many other workers—indigenous, Black, Latin, Asian, white—suffers from the exploitation of the ruling class and the inhuman and destructive pursuits of capitalism.
New York City invests millions of dollars a year to protect Columbus Circle and the statue from the so-called “discoverer” of America. The country of the U.S. is made possible by the genocide of indigenous workers, enslavement of Black workers, and the servitude of white workers.
Workers here are mobilizing to change the holiday of Columbus Day and recognize it as the Day of the Indigenous People. In other countries, such as those of South America, October 12 is recognized as the International Day of Race or Day of Respect for Cultural Diversity.
But make no mistake—those countries aren’t any less racist against indigenous workers. Workers needs state power, not symbolic empty gestures. Only a communist party, PLP, can achieve that.
A sexist tradition is a sexist tradition
After chanting, we continued with a teach-in for which, despite the rain or thanks to it, we had an audience of 40 people. The first speaker told us about the need to take care of some traditions of indigenous communities as well as the environment. He also emphasized on the importance of connecting with nature and developing a different relationship with “mother earth.” The romanticization of indigenous culture exempts them—wrongly—from criticism and analysis. Today, one such tradition was exposed for its sexism.
During the ride to Randall's Island to join another Indigenous People´s event, each chant was multiracial and international. The march joined a cultural celebration. There, a PL’er who also volunteered for the event, suffered discrimination because she was a woman. The culture of this indigenous community bases this sexist discrimination on sacred and spiritualistic aspects of its tradition. But this is capitalist crap! Under no circumstances do racist and sexist practices of any kind have a basis and reason for being. That is why as a working class we have to continue fighting to abolish capitalism, the source of these divisions.
Workers must own what we produced
When we marched towards the subway station, we kept the doors open so we could have free access to a public service. “Whose streets? Our streets! Whose train? Our train! Whose bus? Our bus!” Public services—actually, all needs—should be free. Under communism, all worker needs would be met by us, the workers.
In addition to chants like “Hey, hey! Ho, ho! This racist system has got to go”,“ Who has the power? We have the power!” there were three short speeches in English and Spanish, one of them by a communist friend who described October 12 as the date that “symbolically constitutes the beginning of a political-military occupation that resulted in extermination of more than 80 million people and the slavery and forced displacement of another hundreds of thousands.”
Communist spirit
The last speech was by a PL’er, who spoke openly of her commitment to "overcome the dark night of capitalism and colonialism" and of the need for communism to solve the environmental crisis and racist discrimination. "We [working class] need to [smash this] profit-driven system so that we can survive as a species," In capitalism, “we are pitted against each other and against the planet that nourishes us ”.
A PL’er shared with us the CHALLENGE editorial (9/8) about the racist treatment of Haitian refugees.  This reminded us that the struggle for liberation and solidarity for our class is the same across the globe. The working class has a natural interest in unity—unity for equity, dignity and respect for our labor power. In every situation, communists struggle to demonstrate their love for the working class. We know that capitalism will be defeated and a communist world will prevail, where workers fight together for their common class interests. PLP is committed to doing that and bringing the best out of every individual with communist spirit.

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SPEECH FOR INDIGENOUS PEOPLE´S DAY
I join you today as a member of the Progressive Labor Party, as a communist, who is committed to overcoming the dark history of colonialism and capitalism. We need to overcome the oppression of a profit-driven system so that we can survive as a species and so that we can continue with some of the qualities that make us worthy of survival. So much of what made humanity strong and beautiful has been lost to individualism and the placement of profit above everything, and it is killing us. Capitalism is always hungry for more resources to exploit—both from the earth and from us—and cannot tame itself enough to allow us to heal.
The so-called progress of capitalism has marched side by side with death in the form of war, colonization, industrialization, and the destruction of our interconnecting ecosystems and human relations.
Under capitalism, we have been turned against each other, so that our relationships are combative and monetized. [Capitalism has] turned against the planet that nurtures us.  It is good to get rid of the monuments to colonizers and murderers. It is good to have land acknowledgements. But what we need is a transformation, a revolution, that brings a new era without domination.
We cannot go back, only forward, and I have staked my commitment to communism—to a society in which people work together, as family, unifying humanity and restoring balance to a world that has been torn apart. And so in this struggle, I stand with you.
If the best parts of humanity are to survive, we must come together and end the destruction that is capitalism. I stand with you to honor our [working-class] ancestors by building a world that overcomes borders, nurtures the best in each of us, and heals the wounds from which we collectively suffer.
So let us celebrate our [predecessors] while we build toward something better—a world that honors [our class]. The Progressive Labor Party looks to a better future with you.

Alabama strike reveals capitalist corruption 
After visiting Alabama miners and staying in touch with them over the last month and a half, our club has been able to reach out to miners in other countries to connect with them and support them. A few activities are coming up! One, is to celebrate Bolshevik Revolution Day on November 6 at Brighton Beach. We will sell some home-made mead and food to collect funds and support the striking miners in Alabama. Our second goal is to organize an international conference on November 20 to study the history of mining as well as to understand and learn from the miners' experiences. These two events will prepare us for a winter project in Alabama on December 20, where we will support the strike, collaborate at a toy drive and continue building solidarity with the miners.
BlackRock is the largest asset manager in the world and the largest shadow bank. It is the largest stockholder of WarriorMet, the coal company in Alabama where the miners are on strike. Aside from Alabama, this multinational company is involved in the exploitation of mine workers in countries from South America and Africa. At the same time, this corporation fuels war and death around the world by investing in weapons manufacturers, military contractors, and civilian firearms manufacturers in the U.S., Afghanistan and the Middle East.
We, as a Progressive Labor Party club, think that it is important to build internationalism and to draw the connections that one struggle has with another. The world is run by a few companies that control the money and resources and decide the future of the working class.
Our mission is to unveil these capitalists that create war and destruction across the globe and build solidarity among us so that we can overthrow imperialism in and outside of the U.S. We hope you can mark off these dates on your calendar and join us for the events. They will be fun!
*****
Building a base fundamental to struggle and morale
We are Progressive Labor Party (PLP) members that have been organizing with a collective of students, staff, and faculty at the City University of New York (CUNY). During the ongoing pandemic, we have had some modest successes in helping to lead the campaign to build strike readiness against racist austerity. This includes a number of militant caravans to the homes of CUNY presidents, marches through the community, teach-ins and speak-outs, CHALLENGE sales and study groups. We are also active in a collective of rank and file union members who are open to our ideas and agree that students are the key element in building this fightback.
This semester started somewhat slowly for us. It’s been hard to get students to attend events and sometimes our Zoom meetings, usually robust, have ended up small and more low key. We always have big plans, call for mass events, and are good at being bold, but after a few meetings that were not well attended, we wondered if this semester might be one where we just can’t get things going.
Subjectivity is the enemy! That feeling that “things are not going my way,” that our own view on things is what should guide our actions, these are fatal mistakes in the class struggle. The power of the collective is much stronger than subjectivity. Through discussions with other members of our mass organization and insisting that we keep trying, the last few weeks we saw our perseverance pay off. We had an excellent student study group with some of our students where we discussed many important political questions, including the key question of how we can reach more people with PLP’s ideas. We had a well attended student meeting and we helped to lead a student speak-out on campus two weeks ago against CUNY’s racist disorganization. The speak-out was well organized, got front page coverage in a local newspaper, and energized all of us to continue fighting back!
There are important lessons that we can learn from the masses of students and workers.In this period we have learned that relying on our base is key—they were the ones pushing us forward to hold these events. We also learned that our seriousness and dedication builds confidence in us as organizers, and in PLP as a Party that can lead the workers to our ultimate victory. We learned that we need to continue pushing forward, meeting, planning, struggling…and even in what can feel like difficult times, keep going forward!*
*****
Young communists learn from leadership in action
I recently attended my first Party cadre school, which I led along with four other Progressive Labor Party (PLP) members. Being a new and young member of PLP, I was intimidated by the task when first offered. However, it was a valuable experience in many ways. In the months leading up, I coordinated planning meetings with my comrades, and we gradually built our vision for the event. Up until the day of the event, we had only met and discussed virtually—which helped in terms of seeing all the planning notes but lacked the same energy as in-person gatherings.
Our cadre school completely made up for the time apart. With one of our discussion leaders out of state, we led virtual and live discussions based on the theme Communism: Past, Present, and Future. About 40 comrades and friends of  the party participated in discussions and reflected on communism’s distinction from capitalism and socialism. Two of our comrades, who are Metro workers, ended our event with a discussion on an ideal transportation system. One comrade from New York pointed out the ruling class’s tactics to divide workers over financial insecurities for transportation fare.
An older comrade, who introduced me to the Party, commended me and our fellow comrade who led virtually. Despite technical issues and timing, we succeeded in facilitating engaging conversations and using our time to analyze the flaws of the old communist movement and our own actions to fight against the oppressive system of capitalism.
*****

After more than 10,000 refugees from Haiti risked their lives to journey through South American jungles and gang-infested territory to reach the Texas border, they were met by a wave of racist terror. In a throwback to the 18th-century slave catchers, U.S. border patrol agents, mounted on horseback, whipped and kidnapped members of our class—men, women, and children. But this shocking display of inhumanity was nothing new. It was part of a long tradition of liberal atrocities toward immigrant and Black workers. In the United States of Amerikkka, Democrat and Republican rulers alike use racism to divide, exploit, scapegoat, and demonize the most vulnerable workers.
After U.S. President Joe Biden campaigned last year to address “the Trump-created humanitarian crisis at our border” and to stop “denying asylum to people fleeing persecution and violence” (joebiden.com), many were deceived into thinking his administration would be a change from open racist Donald Trump, and that he would welcome immigrants with open arms. The reality exposes the fallacy of “lesser evil” wishful thinking. The fact that liberals are the main danger to the international working class. In fact, Biden is following the same playbook used both by Trump and by Biden’s nightmare Democrat predecessor, Deporter-in-Chief Barack Obama. Like Trump, Biden is cynically exploiting the Covid-19 pandemic and using “Title 42” to authorize his nazi border agents to deny migrants their asylum “rights.” Like Obama, he is expelling migrants en masse—more than 700,000 since February (BuzzFeed, 9/23).
Progressive Labor Party (PLP) fights these racist expulsions and stands in solidarity with workers who are fleeing the instability and destruction caused by capitalism. The international working class must reject all forms of nationalism and borders. The fight to destroy capitalism and imperialist exploitation must be led by Black workers under the banner of the revolutionary communist Progressive Labor Party.
Bosses’racism leads to mass desperate, migrations
Anti-immigrant and anti-Black racism are essential to all capitalist rulers. Since the devastating 2010 earthquake, Haitian bosses have partnered with U.S. and other imperialist thieves in skimming tens of millions of dollars for business “development” while leaving workers in Haiti worse off than ever. This, in turn, has led to the latest mass migration out of Haiti (Current Affairs, November 2016).
In Brazil, the bosses super-exploited these immigrant workers to build stadiums for the 2014 World Cup (Reuters, July 2014). In Chile, they faced racist super-exploitation and terrible poverty; in Venezuela, the collapse of the state capitalist economy caused more of the same. Heading north to the U.S., they had to pass through Mexico under the fake-socialist Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, who collaborated with the U.S. to keep migrants penned in Mexico while waiting indefinitely for their asylum claims to be processed in the U.S.
Abused, humiliated and rejected, these refugees trekked on from the frying pan into the fire: to the United States, with its horrific history of brutalizing immigrants in general and workers from Haiti in particular.
From Carter to Clinton: racist incarceration
Former U.S. presidents Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan worked hand-in-hand with the arch-criminal Duvalier dictatorship(Papa Doc and Baby Doc, ruthless ex-Presidents of Haiti) They deported asylum seekers back to Haiti, sending many to their torture and death.
In 1991, after Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide was ousted in a coup, thousands of fleeing workers were intercepted by the U.S. Coast Guard and penned in an overcrowded camp in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to await processing. Then President George H.W. Bush ordered the Coast Guard to turn back ships directly to Haiti—a policy denounced as “cruel” by Bill Clinton in his 1992 campaign for president. But after taking office, Clinton reversed course and kept Bush’s policy in place.
He also continued to use Guantánamo Bay for the racist detention of hundreds of refugees from Haiti. His administration justified this racist detention by claiming that they were carriers of the HIV virus, even though the rate of HIV transmission was lower in Haiti than in the U.S.(refugees.org, 9/21).
Obama to Biden: continued racist assault
Under the Obama administration, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton focused on building a favorable climate for business in Haiti. In the name of “free trade,” the U.S. embassy engaged in a joint effort with Haitian elites, factory owners, and big U.S. textile companies to cap the minimum wage in Haiti at 31 cents per hour (COHA.org, 7/11).  
After the 2010 earthquake, the face of the international relief effort was United Nations “special envoy” Bill Clinton, who channeled “relief” efforts to attract foreign investments and profits. At the time, Port-au-Prince lay in ruins. Haitian workers were crowded into filthy tent cities, where thousands died in a cholera epidemic triggered by United Nations “peacekeepers” (pri.org, 10/27/20). As Current Affairs (11/2/16) noted, “the Clinton-led recovery was a disaster.”
Shortly before Obama left office, his Homeland Security Department rounded up thousands of refugees: “Immigration facilities have been so overrun that hundreds of immigrants have been moved to criminal jails, in violation of international norms” (Miami New Times, 12/14/16). Obama’s solution was to ramp up and fast-track deportations to a country then in shambles from Hurricane Matthew and rocked by “violent post election unrest”(Miami New Times, 12/14/16).
Communism = No Borders
In the face of the relentless attacks by Biden and other capitalist bosses, the refugees from Haiti organized migrant caravans to protect themselves from police and gangs, and to take care of one another to the best of their ability.
 As usual, the international working class has turned out in support, with rallies in solidarity throughout the world. At the U.S.-Mexico border, workers from Mexico cooked for the refugees stuck under a bridge in Del Rio, Texas (Mexico Daily News, 9/27). On the U.S. side, community organizations have raised money for them.
As this border crisis continues, we must fight for no deportations—and to build a revolutionary communist party. Borders were created by the capitalists to define which workers were theirs to exploit. But workers have no borders!  We must fight for communism to create a world without nations or exploitation. One class, one world, one Party. Join PLP!