Chicago
CHICAGO, October 18—A contingent of Progressive Labor Party (PLP) members and an equal number of friends marched today with 275,000 fellow workers angry with the rise of fascism in the United States. This march was part of the national “No Kings” Day organized and sponsored by the Democratic Party. The national “No Kings” mobilizations represent a massive effort by the liberal Big Fascist section of the U.S. ruling class to win the working class to build more U.S. patriotism. As such, there was a huge increase in the number of U.S. flags at this rally, and an effort to dampen the growing anger, militancy, and hatred workers around the country are expressing toward the destructive crises of capitalism.
The “No Kings” movement is an attempt to win our class to nationalism, patriotism, and back into the Big Fascist camp. We exposed these contradictions by calling for the destruction of all borders so racist forces like ICE can’t exist. We called for multiracial internationalism to connect the struggles in Gaza to the struggles in Sudan and elsewhere around the world. We called for wokers power to show that we don’t need the bosses’ political parties (Democrats or Republicans) to “save” us. One friend said, “Y’all are the only ones who call out racism.” Another friend said, “Y’all are the only ones who talk about workers actually running things.” Our friends who marched with us are clearly seeing the differences between PLP and the other groups at these rallies.
We were able to rapidly distribute 1000 leaflets, hundreds of copies of CHALLENGE, and get numerous contacts of workers who want to learn more about the Party and how to build a society where no human being is illegal, a society based on working-class need and equality – communism.
We need communist leadership and worker power, not liberal racists
For the past month Chicago has been under siege by the ICE Gestapo and other fascist federal troops, but many of the workers who have been leading the valiant battles against these fascists weren’t a part of the carnival-like “No Kings” parade. The rally and march were visibly lacking the very sections of the working class who are being targeted and leading the resistance to brutal attacks.
The Democratic Party is aimlessly trying to position itself as the alternative to Donald Trump’s brand of fascism, but Black and Latin workers in Chicago have lived under the Democrats’ brand of fascism our entire lives, including poverty wages, homelessness, and racist police terror. The Democratic Mayor Brandon Johnson and Governor of Illinois, JB Pritzker, have publicly talked tough against Trump and the raids, while deploying their own police departments to protect ICE agents as they kidnap and terrorize our class siblings.
When Governor Pritzker marched past our contingent, a comrade quickly made a speech exposing his hypocrisy and collusion with the growing fascist movement. Unfortunately, a sizable number of workers at the ‘No Kings’ rallies didn’t yet see the Democrats for the wolves that they are and tried to shut our comrade down, but some workers, particularly younger workers, cheered on the speaker.
Another comrade led a chant saying, “If we don’t get it, shut it down” and a worker responded, “Why would we want that? They already shut the government down!” Our comrade responded, “The bosses have shut the government down on their terms to hurt our class. They shut down jobs, hospitals, food, and schools to hurt us. What we are talking about is shutting down the stuff the bosses care about (profits) so that we can make sure our class gets the food, education, and health care WE deserve!” The crowd erupted and we all started chanting, “IF WE DON’T GET IT, SHUT IT DOWN!”
Not just “No Kings,” no capitalists at all!
While the overall politics of the No Kings marches are weak, their massive turnouts show that workers are disgusted by the profit system’s slide into wider fascism. It’s on us in PLP to unite with millions of other workers in the context of class struggle. Through fighting back together, we can win our class to the truth that the chaos we’re witnessing is not just limited to Trump and his goons but is a result of capitalism’s unstable nature and need for racism, exploitation and war.
Not just “No Kings” but no capitalists! The system can’t be reformed to meet the needs of billions of working-class people on the planet! Join the PLP and help build for communist revolution and a world where workers run society for our collective needs.
NEW JERSEY
Newark, October 18th—Antiracist working class fighters showed out at the ‘No Kings’ rallies, ready to stand against fascism (see glossary on page 8) under U.S. President Donald Trump’s MAGA regime. Members of the Progressive Labor Party (PLP) prepared to take the demand to ‘Dump Trump’ a step further by calling for workers to dump capitalism altogether. Our Party utilized a banner that displayed the words ‘TWO HEADS OF THE SAME FASCIST MONSTER”with drawings of liberal fascists, representing Columbia University, the United Nations, the AFL-CIO Union on the left and far-right nationalists like ICE, IOF, Proud Boys, and Trump on the right. The bottom of the banner read, ‘WORKERS WILL WIN THE WORLD.’ We see the millions of workers who are fed up with racist deportations, the high cost of living, and genocidal wars, with a potential to do far greater than rallying against one capitalist ruler. An organized working class has the potential to stop all these capitalist rulers and run the world.
With this confidence, our NJ section of PLP decided to split up between three areas of New Jersey—Trenton, where a friend in the organization leading “No Kings,” 50501 invited PLers to speak, Newark, our organizing base for 40 years, and Maplewood, where brave fighters actively protest the genocide in Gaza. We used CHALLENGE newspapers as a tool to spread communist ideas, selling more than 200 copies. Even as crowds of people waved the American flag and sang the racist nation’s anthem, workers looked our way to learn more about communism.
Dare to struggle, dare to win
PL’ers have consistently attended protests and deportations at Delaney Hall, the ICE Detention Center in Newark, and continued the fightback with collective study groups in the park. One friend who has both actively marched and studied with us shared after one study group the idea for PLP to speak at the “No Kings” rally in Trenton. Following his leadership allowed several Party members to give both direct and more subtle speeches about the need for a working-class communist movement and to tell hundreds of workers, directly, not to pin their hopes for defeating global war and fascism on voting for the Democrats.
One 20-year-old trans person took the mic and said, “I’m not the problem; I’m being made to feel terrified for just existing. I need a country to feel protected in.” We responded within our speeches that politicians can’t save us when we’re facing an avalanche of crises. Politicians representing the ‘Democratic Party’ will swing towards fascism, or extreme repression against workers, if it means saving the rotten capitalist structure. The current NJ Democratic Party nominee, Mikie Sherrill, was boosted by the main speakers, while workers on the side shared that they had visited her office for two years, pleading that she close detention centers and stop supporting Israel’s bombing of Gaza. Despite promises to not support any more detention centers, Sherrill swiftly signed off on them anyway. Voting for Democrats and reforms may gain us the potential of legislation in support of abortion, public schools and gender affirming healthcare, but the trade off will still be more pillaging of the international working class.
Misleaders will get workers killed
History teaches us that while some material gains are made, the capitalist class will swiftly take them away to maintain their profits. To expose these lies we cannot let our work stop at protests. We need to build friendships with the working class, think through these ideas together, and struggle with one another to demand more. Looking for solutions on the ballot is the wrong place to look, and we need to be building something else with one another. We need to reach out to friends who are feeling conflicted and provide political direction on how to not only survive but how to win something long term for the workers. PLP offers concrete direction and greater engagement beyond just voting.
Workers are being made to feel more directly responsible for the impact of our decisions during this time, and we are. But whether we vote or not, we need solutions that cannot be cut by the bosses electoral system. Approaching the rallies with deliberate planning and political decisiveness made us bold enough to tell workers to join PLP, to fight alongside other workers for a communist future. Only by being committed and bold can we inspire each other to fight for revolution and run the whole world. As one PLer’s speech reminded us “we workers cannot allow ourselves to be herded like sheep. Don’t fight for politicians or reforms alone, fight for communism. Read CHALLENGE! Join Progressive Labor Party!”
Only two paths are therefore open before present society.
One is the path of fascism.
The other is the path of communism.
-R. Palme Dutt, Fascism and Social Revolution (1934)
This story is not pretty. It is shocking and brutal. It is the story of fascism, a monumental attack by the desperate capitalists upon the international working class.
Modern fascism came into its own in 1918, after World War I. In 1945, it absorbed a crushing defeat from workers, many millions of them led by communists. By the end of this first period of modern fascism, the fascist overlords were annihilated.
In Hungary, a virulent form of fascism developed in response to a failed revolution. In 1918, workers took to the streets against the Hapsburg monarchy and the handful of barons that had ruled the country for centuries. Inspired by the magnificent example of the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia, Hungary’s working class turned to communists to lead a revolution. In March 1919, in the capital city of Budapest, a united front of working-class forces, including the untrustworthy social democrats but under the leadership of the Communist Party, seized power and declared a Hungarian Soviet Republic. For five months, these heroic workers fought against the old ruling class, the new capitalists, the petty bourgeoisie, and expeditionary armies from Czechoslovakia, Romania, and France intent on crushing the communists.
For a time, the working class controlled many districts of Hungary. But the powerful forces arrayed against them, a betrayal by the social democrats, and the vacillations of top communist leaders led to the defeat of the dictatorship of the proletariat. In August 1919, the capitalist armies of Romania and France, in league with a Hungarian “National Army” under the right-wing Admiral Miklos Horthy, crushed the Hungarian Soviet Republic in a bloodbath.
Fascism as the outcome of modern capitalism
In 1933, the Nazis took power in Germany. Within months, the entire nation was under the heel of these fascist cutthroats. Big business reigned supreme, and the largest communist party in the capitalist world was systematically destroyed. The victorious advance of fascism in Italy, Portugal, Hungary, and Japan now reached a climax.
The Communist International, or Comintern, had to ponder the reasons for these defeats. In 1934, R. Palme Dutt, a leading comrade in the Communist Party of Great Britain, published his Fascism and Social Revolution. As a reference point, Progressive Labor Party defines fascism as a period of capitalism in an economic and political crisis that can be resolved only by war. Inter-imperialist rivalry over resources and markets leads to more desperate competition among the bosses of leading national powers.
As these bosses prepare for larger wars, they can no longer rule within the constraints of liberal democracy, the mythology that masks the reality of the capitalists’ absolute class dictatorship. “Free and fair elections,” “the rule of law,” “due process,” constitutions, independent unions—all must be abandoned or obliterated. The bosses have no choice but to ruthlessly discipline or eliminate opposing factions within their own class. They’re also forced to normalize state terror, and to use more overt, vicious racism—typically culminating in mass murder—to attack and divide the working class. To survive, the fascist bosses must command workers’ loyalty to their nationalist war agenda.
Dutt used dialectical materialism to show that fascism is the natural and logical form of government for declining monopoly capitalism, just as liberalism had been the natural scaffolding for expanding competitive capitalism. The clash of ideas and parties in liberal democracy corresponds to a stage of capitalism marked by technical progress and marketplace competition. The regimented terror and decadence of fascism corresponds to a concentrated monopoly in the marketplace and the anti-scientific depravity of the capitalist class in the 1930s, and increasingly so today. If one accepts Dutt’s premises, a communist party must rule out any strategy based on the defense of liberal democracy.
Dutt began with a description of the crisis of capitalism:
Capital can no longer utilize the full labor power of the productive population. Monopoly capitalism is more and more visibly choking the whole organization of production. “Today they are burning wheat and grain, the means of human life. Tomorrow they will be burning living human bodies,” Dutt wrote prophetically.
Scientific and technical advances are increasingly rejected by the capitalist class. This decadence expresses itself in the growing revolt against science, reason, cultural development, and liberal philosophy, all characteristic of ascendant capitalism. In their place, the capitalists turn to religion, spiritualism, mysticism, anti-scientific illusions, and racism.
Bourgeois parliamentary democracy has outlived its usefulness: “It is clear that liberal democracy has played out its historical role.”
Trade is restricted. Free trade is the lifeblood of ex¬panding capitalism, confident of its strength. Trade restrictions and thinly disguised trade wars are the hallmark of decaying capitalism. Under full-blown fascism, war becomes national policy.
Social democrats and labor misleaders will sell out the working class. Since they oppose the dictatorship of the proletariat, these class traitors inevitably end up in bed with the fascists.
Does this mean that fascism can’t be beaten? On the contrary, says Dutt: “Fascism is not inevitable. Fascism only becomes inevitable if the working class follows the line of reformism, of trust in the capitalist state.’’ In other words, the fight against fascism cannot trust liberal democracy and its anti-worker leadership. To preach confidence in liberal democracy--in legalism or constitutionalism—is to guarantee the victory of fascism.
In 1935, the 7th Congress of the Comintern met to consider the communist response to the fascist offensive. In the Comintern’s main report, Georgi Dimitrov backed away from the sharpest conclusions in Dutt’s book. He ignored the roots of fascism in liberal democracy. He left unmentioned Dutt’s thesis that fascism is the inevitable form of government for modern capitalism.
Dutt had argued for a tactical fight against the fascistization of the liberal regimes, but only toward the primary goal of organizing a communist revolution. Dimitrov made the rescue of liberal democracy primary and revolution secondary. He proposed an anti-fascist united front with the treacherous social democratic leaders, a strategy that would have disastrous consequences.
Kentucky, October 18—Kentucky members of the Progressive Labor Party (PLers) in Richmond and Owensboro attended the national “No Kings” protests going on across the country. Recognizing it as a liberal-led event that only seeks to redirect workers’ energy into supporting the Big Fascists’ faction of capital, we understood that it would be an opportunity to introduce more radical ideas and show that it’s not just President Donald Trump, but the entire capitalist system that is to blame. Workers were receptive to our ideas, and although the march maintained a liberal character, we had an impact and made contacts who we hope will become more interested in the PLP.
Why we need communism
The protest in Richmond was held at the Madison County courthouse. We were the first ones to show up. Before long the crowd grew to cover the entire front of the courthouse. As people showed up, we handed them CHALLENGE and had conversations about our communist politics. Many of the younger folks that showed up were students who already knew us from our organizing activity at the local university. There were also others who were unaware of our presence and expressed interest in coming to our study group. One person came up and asked us “Why communism and not Democratic Socialism?” We explained that the state is built around the interests of the capitalist class, and that we can’t abolish capitalism without also getting rid of their state apparatus which is designed to protect private property and maintain capitalism through both force and reform. Acknowledging this, the question became more about how we can make sure that after a revolution we don’t go back to the same capitalist system, to which we explained the importance of internationalism and spreading the revolution rather than relying on nationalism and only focusing on trying to build a new society within borders imposed by capitalism. They thanked us for our patience in explaining our view points and took a copy of CHALLENGE!
Ramping up our chants!
In order to combat the piss-poor politics of the liberal misleaders, we also started introducing more radical chants that attacked capitalism and racism rather than focusing solely on the current administration. We chanted “ICE out of Kentucky now!” and “Genocide means – We got to fight back!” One comrade also started a chant “Asian, Latin, Black and white–Workers of the world unite!” but was too nervous to continue in a sea of pro-capitalist U.S. flags until suddenly a multi-racial group of younger workers next to us shouted “Keep going! That one was good!” which showed that we shouldn’t immediately expect our message to be rejected. When workers hear our line, they know whose side we’re on.
Liberals expose themselves as class misleaders
In Owensboro, PLers came out to engage with the masses and spread word of our upcoming lunch and learn, as well as hand out issues of CHALLENGE. What we came upon was what hardly anyone would consider a protest. Live music, people dressed up in costumes, and signs saying “Marry me” with a photo of Andy Beshear or Gavin Newsom. The liberal misleaders of Owensboro have for very long exercised a strangle hold on the local working class and their energy. However, through our engagement with the masses, we found many of them, specifically the younger workers, had grown quite disillusioned with the liberal leadership in town, expressing frustration at how the liberals had lost the local fight to keep the library inclusive, as well as their rolling over to the local fascist organizations who pushed this agenda.
What we learned is that the masses here are receptive to our message when given the opportunity to speak with us. They have been held back by the liberal old guard in town, and by the revisionist socialist organizations that have cropped up recently. We learned that we must continue to struggle against revisionism and neo-liberalism in our movement, and only then will we be able to properly exert our power as a class. No Kings in Owensboro taught us that there are hundreds of younger workers ready to take the fight to the bosses. We just have to take the time to meet them where they are and bring them into the fight through proper education, agitation, and mobilization!
Bogata, October 7—Nearly 3,000 protestors marked the second anniversary of the Hamas attacks on Israel, which served as an excuse for the deadly Zionist offensive that has left nearly 68,000 dead and hundreds of thousands wounded and displaced in Palestine. Gathering in Bogotá at various points in the capital, including the U.S. Embassy, we protested the U.S. government’s ties to the genocidal Israeli state students from public universities, trade unionists, and workers marched late into the night toward the emblematic Plaza de Bolívar in downtown Bogotá, chanting slogans in protest against the occupation and systematic violence.
Members of PLP were there each step of the way, sharing our party’s line and raising awareness of CHALLENGE newspaper, exalting the need for international solidarity, overcoming nationalist ideas, and betting on the unity of the working class, because the oppression of the world’s workers will not be resolved by building new bourgeois states, since only communism and its red flag will destroy our chains and the engine of war.
Workers reject genocide and exploitation by bosses
Workers also gathered at institutions such as the National Association of Industrialists (ANDI), criticizing for its active communication with the Benjamin Netanyahu government, defending the deplorable need to increase coal exports to Israel. The so-called Committee of Solidarity with the Palestinian Cause, composed of Arab activists, independent political organizations and human rights defenders, student and union groups such as La Federación Colombiana de Trabajadores de la Educación (FECODE) among others, called for massive mobilization in the streets, supporting the resistance of the Palestinian people and demanding an end to the genocide
Although protests against Zionism in Colombia had not reached the scale of other countries, the October 7 demonstration made it clear that Colombian workers are also fed up with the exploitation, abuse, and bosses’ war that plagues the global proletariat. The march was largely peaceful, with some clashes with the police, who violently attacked some students. Fascist representatives of the far right took advantage of the opportunity to brand the thousands of protesters as “terrorists.”
For his part, President Gustavo Pedro hypocritically expressed his support for the pro-Palestine marches, criticizing “the working classes” for not joining these protests en masse. Once again, Petro, with his messianic complex, seeks to harness the discontent of the working class, using the so-called “popular causes” as a political and electoral platform
Communism can end the carnage of capitalism
While these types of mobilizations can fall into revisionism when championed by unions, reformist collectives, and even the national government, and be limited to defending the Palestinian state constitution and calling for an end to the genocide, working-class discontent over Netanyahu’s fascist onslaught and his relations with U.S. imperialism can be an initial step toward an international mobilization of workers in solidarity against the bosses’ wars.
Only communism will eradicate state violence against the working class, and it is necessary to promote communist education to channel the potential of the mobilizing masses. While politicians like Petro and Trump, who claim to have achieved the ceasefire in Gaza, seek prominence over the suffering of the proletarians, the war expands, and the forms of exploitation diversify and intensify.
In a vibrant, collective celebration of revolutionary history, young comrades of the Progressive Labor Party (PLP) led an inspiring event commemorating the October 1917 Revolution - the historic moment when the working class, led by the Bolsheviks, seized power and began to build the first workers’ state in the world.
A multiracial group of about 25 participants - high school students, college students, and workers - gathered to honor the revolution that proved workers can run society without bosses. What made this event truly special was that it was designed and led entirely by new and young comrades. Their leadership, creativity, and commitment to building a communist future shined throughout the day.
The program was organized into four dynamic sections, each sparking thoughtful discussion and collective learning.
Understanding systems: capitalism, socialism and communism
A high school student kicked off the event with an interactive discussion about capitalism, socialism, and communism. Using vivid images to represent each system, she encouraged everyone to share what they noticed. Together, participants developed shared definitions - recognizing capitalism as a system built on exploitation and profit, socialism as a transitional period still burdened by inequity and remnants of class rule, and communism as the true goal: a classless, moneyless society based on collectivity and fulfilling human need.
This section set the tone for the event. It grounded everyone in the understanding that ideas and political clarity are weapons in the fight for liberation.
Politics are primary: Lessons from the pre-revolutionary struggle
Next, two college students presented on the political landscape before the 1917 Revolution. They explained how various parties and movements shaped the direction of Russia’s working-class struggle, and how only the Bolsheviks’ commitment to revolutionary politics and working-class leadership made victory possible. This section highlighted a key truth for today: without revolutionary politics, even the most courageous struggles can be co-opted or crushed.
Building a new society: The achievements of socialist USSR
In the third section, two more college students presented the tremendous accomplishments of the early socialist Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR). The audience learned how the working class, through collective planning and mass participation, eradicated unemployment, dramatically improved literacy and education, and made major strides toward ending racism and sexism. Women entered the workforce and political life on a massive scale. The discussion reminded us that when the working class holds power, real progress is possible.
Learning from setbacks: Why socialism reverted back to capitalism
Finally, a college student and a high school teacher led a gallery walk exploring how and why socialism in the USSR eventually gave way to capitalism once again. Participants analyzed how lingering inequalities, the persistence of wages and money, and the rise of new bureaucratic elites undermined the revolution. This critical reflection opened the door to understanding PLP’s guiding lesson: we can’t fight for socialism - we must fight directly for communism.
A movement for the future
After each section, lively discussions filled the room. Participants drew connections between the struggles of the past and the battles we face today. In the closing discussion, comrades reaffirmed PLP’s commitment to building a mass international party of workers, students and soldiers - united to smash capitalism and abolish the wage system entirely. Additionally, we rejected nationalism, which divides workers by borders and binds us to the ruling classes of our nations. Our fight is global, our class is one, and our vision is clear: a communist world without exploitation.
The day’s energy and unity inspired everyone. In fact, a young Black woman worker, moved by the collective spirit and the clarity of communist politics, made the powerful decision to join PLP and dedicate herself to fight for a world run for and by the workers.
This event proved that the revolutionary spirit of 1917 lives on in today’s youth. With leadership like this, the future belongs to the working class!
