CHICAGO, July 21—Today, communists from Progressive Labor Party (PLP) joined organizations #FreedomForMohawk, #NoMore Foundation, and #DefundCPD for the spirited “From Mohawk, With Love” Anniversary Rally (see CHALLENGEs from 12/3/20). The event, which brought almost 40 people out, was created to highlight the struggles and triumphs of Jeremey “Mohawk” Johnson in the first year since his arrest in August of 2020.
Workers, students, and community organizations banded together in a show of support and solidarity for Mohawk’s case, while sharing donated food, clothing, household items, and literature. Those of us in PLP helped set up tables and supplies, lead chants, give speeches and distribute over 200 copies of CHALLENGE newspaper.
Throughout the last year, we have helped organize within a citywide defense committee to maintain a militant presence in front of the Cook County jail and courthouse, a bedrock of the capitalist bosses’ racist and sexist legal system. But this time we opted for a change in tactics, taking the fight right to the office of Scott Waguespack, the alderman (city councilman) who represents the city ward where Mohawk currently lives.
Predictably, Waguespack has done nothing to assist in getting the charges against Mohawk dropped, despite our appeals. But given politicians’ role in maintaining this racist profit system that thrives off state terror and incarceration, this should come as no surprise.
The abolition of oppressive class structures and the liberation of the international working class necessitates mass revolutionary struggle under the leadership of the communist PLP. The fight to free Mohawk is intertwined with the broader fight to smash deportations and imperialism, in order to  establish an egalitarian communist world.
Put capitalism in its grave, join PLP
During one of her many speeches given while leading the rally, Mohawk’s close friend and former roommate spelled the situation out clearly: “They (the bosses) are never gonna stop.” It’s true that we cannot have any illusions that we can appeal to the bosses’ “moral sensibilities;” their use of state terror against our class will only sharpen as capitalism spirals deeper into crisis.
That is why we must continue to stand with, not only Mohawk, but all of our fellow workers within the prison and court systems that continue to be tortured, abused, and murdered by the capitalist state. Mohawk has been on EHM this long because the courts want us to forget about him so they can just throw him in prison, but we will not let that happen.
We will rally in front of every alderman’s office, court house, and street corner until Mohawk’s charges are dropped. We are committed to fighting with our entire class against a racist capitalist system that can never serve our needs, and building the international Party that will one day put that system finally in its grave!

Progressive Labor Party (PLP) here recently hosted a screening and discussion of the documentary PROFILED about the fight against police killings in New York. A group of comrades and friends gathered to eat and watch the movie, including three families impacted by racist police violence. Even though the movie came out five years ago, the movement against police terror still faces the same issues: What is justice? And how do we get there?
Despair to revolutionary optimism
After the movie there was a discussion that ranged from grief and despair to revolutionary optimism. One impacted family member brought up how futile the fight seemed when presented with families that have been fighting for justice for decades with seemingly no results.  “I thought it was a sad documentary.  It seemed like no matter how many baby steps or changes we make, things have gotten worse...It did show a great deal of unity between families that I loved how they helped each other, like what you guys (PLP and mass organization) do for us.”
When asked about the revolution versus reform discussion, she said, “I think something big has to happen in order for things to change and eventually we need a revolution and I feel that it is coming.  Do I think it’s needed?  Yes, I just hope something positive comes from it.”  
Veteran comrades chimed in with their experiences of organizing for communism over the decades and how they keep their optimism as they continue to plant seeds. There was wide agreement that the problem of police brutality could not be solved under capitalism which led to a lively discussion of reform versus revolution.  
Two women workers join the fight for communism
It was good that earlier that week, two of the young women—the kkkops murdered their brother—joined our club in which we read excerpts of PLP’s Reform and Revolution.  In one instance, her brother was killed while hospitalized last year while in a mental health crisis.  It is more and more clear to her the complicity of not just the killer cops, but also the hospital bosses, and that simply “defunding the police is not enough.”  
The other young woman has been a militant fighter for nearly two years since her brother was murdered in South LA and has grown close to the Party as we have with her.  She and her family have seen the documentary twice, including last year when the sister of Shantel Davis came to Los Angeles for our Party forum.  This year she joined our club and said she recognized how these “pigs are connecting families all around the country and world and is inspired by the families dedication to keep fighting even though they won’t get ‘justice’ under capitalism.”
She joined Party members in Minneapolis last year and said, “It was only because we fought militantly and the workers rebelled that Chauvin went to jail, but that reforms only build illusions in this system while revolution changes the system.”  
She also liked what one friend said about how he was recently taken out of his bubble and now is a committed organizer who is open to learning more about alternatives to capitalism and how to get there from here.  She said this “light switch” moment in him was inspiring and shows how we can “expand this movement.”
As PLP’s involvement in the anti-police terror campaigns in LA has expanded from one family to a coalition of 30 families, between almost daily actions and meetings it is difficult to not get caught up in just the day to day of the reform struggle.  We have made a recent decision to be more intentional about raising revolutionary communism as an alternative with certain families and base members as our relationships have deepened.  
Fight builds working-class leaders
It is heartbreaking and infuriating at the untold pain these families suffer at the hands of kkkops and capitalism. Most reform organizations rely on the families to simply share the horrors that happened to them over and over again, which is re-traumatizing. Of course, the families want every opportunity to use these platforms to share the story of their loved one. Yet it is heartening and inspiring at how this mass work, with our leadership, has grown. Dozens of families are uniting and finding ways to support each other. They are becoming organizers and leaders. They have moved from not only talking about their tragedy, but also fighting for other families. Most importantly, they are discussing how we need to change this whole damn system of capitalism.
We still have a long way to go in this fight, but we are in the trenches with these incredible families and supporters, raising our revolutionary communist ideology and practice with them.  We have a world to win!

Baltimore, MD, July 14—Communists have a responsibility—in the fight against police terror, and in all struggles against racism—to go beyond reformism. Think for a moment about the fight against slavery. Looking back, the people we most respect are those who were dedicated to fully abolishing that institution: the hundreds of thousands of folks like Harriet Tubman, Nat Turner, and John Brown. We don’t look back, with heartfelt admiration, at people who thought slavery couldn’t be defeated, and therefore devoted themselves to the lesser goal of trying to make it slightly less horrific.
Similarly, today, we must work hard to share a very important understanding: capitalism—which is the root of racism and police terror—can and must be abolished. Progressive Labor Party (PLP) in Baltimore strives  to make that contribution, as part of our vigorous activities supporting the weekly West Wednesday rallies, streaming events, and other parts of the struggle—demanding accountability for the vicious police murder of Tyrone West on June 18, 2013 and for all victims of police terror. In ahave recently made the decision to join Progressive Labor Party.
As an example of striving to fulfill our responsibility—bringing a revolutionary perspective into the reform struggle—here is an excerpt of a speech given by a member of Progressive Labor Party at a recent West Wednesday streaming event.

Not long ago, in May, President Joe Biden met with the family of George Floyd. After the meeting, Biden said, “…we need to build lasting trust between the vast majority of the men and women who wear the badge honorably and the communities they are sworn to serve and protect.
In other words, he says the vast majority of cops are honorable, and we need to trust them. But we know that racism is systemic. What does that actually mean? Think about it. If police were really here to serve and protect, the police cars and helicopters would be everywhere equally. Why are they concentrated in working-class neighborhoods, especially neighborhoods in which the residents are predominately Black & Latin? It has to do with power and control.
High up on the scale of power are the owners of factories and businesses. Above them are the large banks. For example, when Intel wants to build a new factory to make computer chips, the cost is about $10 billion. Businesses like Intel usually don’t have $10 billion. They have to borrow it from the biggest banks.
The owners and directors of the biggest banks really run things. Systemic racism allows business owners to pay Black and  Latin workers less than white workers. That’s how businesses make about a third of their profits. All workers are exploited, but paying lower wages to [non-white] workers is super-exploitation. On top of that, capitalists use systemic racism to divide the working class, weakening our unity. The billionaires want white workers to refuse to unite with Black workers. This disunity keeps us from fighting successfully against our common enemy, the capitalists.
The combination of super-exploitation, together with divide-and-conquer, probably accounts for a huge chunk of their profits—from racism! The big banks know this. They have think-tanks that make policy. No matter who is the mayor or governor or president, the big bankers control the economy and the government. That means they have ultimate control over the role of the cops, the courts, the state’s attorneys, and the attorney general.
Remember, after Freddie Gray [in Baltimore, 2015] was killed, and people fought back, the rulers brought in every local police force—plus the National Guard—and concentrated those forces to protect what’s important to them: major businesses, Hopkins, the Central Police station, and City Hall. At the same time, the National Guard and the police forces attacked and locked up hundreds of people who didn’t hurt anyone, but who DID challenge this system. When you get to the heart of the matter, we live under a dictatorship of the capitalist class. No matter who gets elected, the capitalists call the shots.
Yes, [Derek] Chauvin may spend years in jail, where he belongs, for killing George Floyd. But only seven cops in the whole United States have been convicted for murder since 2005. The cops kill about 1,100 people a year. If you do the math, that means just one single cop will get convicted of murder for every 2,500 people they kill. This is systemic racism. It serves the capitalist class. They want to make us fearful, so they can control us, make us passive, and continue to make their profits off our backs.
Think about the onlookers who felt horrible while watching Chauvin steal the life of George Floyd. Why didn’t they rush in and pull Chauvin off the neck of George Floyd? The young woman, Darnella Frazier, who videotaped the horrific murder, wakes up at night thinking about this, and feels awful that she couldn’t do more. In the middle of the night, all by herself, she apologizes to George Floyd.
The onlookers didn’t rush in to drag Chauvin off of George Floyd’s neck because they knew they would most likely be brutalized, arrested and incarcerated—if not killed. That’s capitalist power. It has to go!
Progressive Labor Party has a vision of the future, something worth fighting for. There is a broad range of political thought within the West Coalition, and we respect one another. But speaking from the viewpoint of Progressive Labor Party, the future we need is communism. That means sharing all the wealth that the working class produces.
We will defeat racism. We will build a new world of sisterhood and brotherhood. We will abolish the wage system. No more buying and selling of human labor power.
Let’s not forget capitalism and racism arose together historically. They cannot be separated. To defeat racism, we must defeat capitalism. And to defeat capitalism, we must defeat racism.
Biden won’t do this. Marilyn Mosby [the Baltimore City State’s Attorney] and Brian Frosh [Maryland’s attorney general] won’t do this. Brandon Scott [Baltimore’s mayor] won’t do this. On the national level, there have been 30 presidents since the end of slavery, and—during that whole century and a half—they have not defeated modern racism. Politicians won’t—and can’t—end racism.
WE must be the ones to fight for a future without systemic racism. Dare to struggle. Dare to win!

New  York City, July 20—While the Colombian government promotes speeches to celebrate the country's presumed independence today, young workers living in New York City, including a Progressive Labor Party (PLP) member, PLP supporters and other organizers, denounced the oppression and subjugation of the working class in Colombia by multinationals, corporations and the rulers of imperialist countries like the United States. We marched from Times Square to the consulate of Colombia to Bryant Park and finally to Flushing Meadows. Two months ago the organizing of these young people began, as they met protesting in the streets. The process of organizing has cost them time, debate, discussions and tears. PLP members are struggling to strengthen this international working class solidarity while building a movement for communist revolution where the working class runs the world.
Devastating capitalism
These workers, ranging from 19 to 50 years old, have recognized that the reason they are moved  to protest is the sad and cruel suffering caused by devastating capitalism. However, this collective suffering has called for the creation of a community. It has promoted solidarity among workers from different regions of Colombia and even with the struggle of other workers in Palestine, Guatemala, the Dominican Republic, Haiti, South Africa, Cuba, Peru, Mexico and Puerto Rico.
The march began with a speech in English and Spanish written by two communists, one of them a member  of the PLP. In this speech, 10 reasons why Colombia is not independent were listed, among them: capitalism and the accumulation of wealth that prevails over life; the colonialism that still displaces thousands of indigenous and Black workers, destroying their communities and culture; the decisions about the so-called Colombian territory that are made from the economic interests of Washington, Ottawa and other international powers. The official numbers of victims of police terror in all its forms during the last two and a half months were also listed, highlighting the violation of the right to protest.
No independence for workers under capitalism
The speech continues saying that we will only celebrate independence when there are no more people starving, there is no more unemployment, lack of opportunities and sexual assaults; no more displacement, environmental destruction and an inefficient health system.
The visual and performative structure of the march included five people with shields and helmets representing the front-line who, almost three months after the social outbreak, still continue to daily confront the oppressive and rapist Mobile Anti-Disturbance Squadron (ESMAD).
There was a second line composed of five weeping women, dressed in black and veiled, carrying signs and mutilated and bleeding body parts. They intervened throughout the march with cries and voices of lament, which were interwoven with the voices that led the march to tell the story of their children and neighbors mutilated and found in the river, at the doors of their homes or still missing. The open fascism that has existed in Colombia throughout its history is reflected in these devious practices to silence denouncing voices, making this territory the number one country in assassinations of social leaders in the world.
Subsequently, came the tombstones with the names of the recent 73 police homicide victims, two large coffins and behind these, other signs and a distorted Colombian flag stained with red ink representing the blood of the victims.
During the march, a stanza from the Milonga del Fusilado composed by the Uruguayan writer Carlos María Gutiérrez was shouted to denounce the violent repression of the Tupamaros in his country, (national liberation movement) in 1973.
"My voice, the one that is screaming / My dream, the one that is still whole / And you know that I only die / If you are listening / Because the one who died fighting / Lives in each partner." The slogan says: For our dead: Not a minute of silence! Not a minute of silence for the disappeared, raped women, starving children, massacres, displaced Afro and indigenous communities.
The march continued on the train to Queens where artistic performances were displayed and people from other countries interacted, explaining the situation in Colombia and establishing similarities with their governments. Mexican, Ecuadorian and Cuban workers joined the chants. In Flushing Park, the anti-imperialist speech and the denunciations of the oppression of the working class in South America continued as people clapped, raised their fists and shouted along with the march.
The march ended in a sit-in by joining an abolitionist group that was waiting for the protesters to share food, dance, and speeches.
The speech that opened the march and accompanied the denunciations in the streets, concluded that we need to get rid of the capitalist system, end imperialism and get rid of all the rulers, multinationals and corporations that oppress us to organize, join forces and fight back.
Workers will only be independent when everyone in this world, including Mexico, Congo, Haiti, Palestine… Everyone is independent! That means workers all around the world run all aspects of society not for profit, but to meet all our needs. That’s communism. Power to the working class!