Under capitalism, pandemics are treated like they are as natural and inevitable as bacteria and viruses. As the current Covid-19 pandemic shows, however, nature may create the viruses and the bacteria that lead to infection but it’s capitalism that creates the disasters, worsened by the very racism and sexism this system relies on.
Pandemics in particular, like capitalism and class society itself, are neither natural nor inevitable. They are creations of class society and wars of conquest. Another world is possible, a world without imperialist war and the misery of treatable diseases. The working class’s first attempts at holding state power in the Soviet Union and China were accompanied by the first attempts to eradicate pandemics and disease forever. The revolutionary communist Progressive Labor Party fights to inherit this legacy, learning from the mistakes of socialism to smash the disease of capitalism with communism once and for all.
Disease: created by nature, spread by class society
Disease has been a part of life since the origins of life approximately four billion years ago, the era of the first cells and the first viruses (see box). Fossil evidence indicates that under primitive communism, everywhere humans (and Neanderthals) lived, we struggled against disease in our attempts to preserve life. In an age where primitive religions served as primitive science to answer questions about nature, it’s likely during this age our primitive communist ancestors developed an extensive practical knowledge of plants as medicine and transmitted this knowledge orally for generations.
We do know that medical knowledge, like the sciences of math and astronomy, was separated from the masses with the rise of slave-based class societies in ancient Mesopotamia, then Egypt, India and China. The famous ancient Greek philosopher Plato issued dire warnings to fellow nobles against scientific education, and with the separation into slaves and rulers and the advent of writing, scientific knowledge was limited to priesthoods and shrouded in religious mysticism and ritual. Meanwhile, these agricultural-based slave societies recorded the first mass outbreaks of diseases from the animals being domesticated, such as malaria, influenza, tuberculosis, and others.
Pandemics: created by class society
The world’s first eyewitness account of a pandemic comes from 430 BCE, when Greek city-states and slave societies Athens and Sparta waged war in what’s known as the Peloponnesian War. Spartan armies surrounded Athens, forcing masses of Athenian farmers into the city, tripling the population almost overnight with underfed and homeless refugees. Deadly plague outbreaks (possibly an ebolavirus) had recently affected cities across the Mediterranean, but each outbreak had been contained.
In Athens, however, once a supply ship introduced the plague, in a matter of days more than two-thirds of the population died and society collapsed. While it continued under Rome as a small city, Athens did not recover a major population until after World War II. This plague is the origin of the word “pandemic,” from the Greek words pan demos: literally meaning “all of the people.”
Following the rise of the Roman Empire, wars both brought contact with and directly created conditions for the spread of pandemics known as the Antonine (165 CE) and Justinian (541 CE) Plagues.
African slavery and leprosy
The rise of feudalism brought on the pandemic of Hansen’s Disease (“leprosy”) in Europe through growing capitalist trade routes. Most importantly, through the growing slave trade connecting Africa with Spain, Portugal and later London with the West Indies (BBC, 5/13/05). As the leading researcher in that article concluded, “colonialism was extremely bad for parts of the world in terms of human health.”
Capitalists: real carriers of disease
One of the most devastating pandemics is known as the Black Death. The highly lethal bubonic plague (spread by bacteria-carrying rats and fleas) is believed to have first arrived to Europe during the Roman era, but it was feudalism that set the stage for disaster.
The infamous merchant capitalists of the Italian city-state of Genoa first brought the bubonic plague to Europe through the Silk Road trade routes in 1347. Half of Europe’s peasantry died, and feudal power weakened. Surviving peasants organized and rebelled against their lords in the English Peasants’ Revolt of 1381, inspiring two centuries of European peasant uprisings. For the next several centuries as capitalism expanded and overthrew feudalism, bubonic plague outbreaks continued to kill. In 1855, British imperialist-controlled mining towns in Yunnan, China, became disease reservoirs for the Third Plague Pandemic, killing two million workers in China and, spreading on British East India Company trade routes from Hong Kong to Mumbai, killing 12.5 million workers in India.
Masses of miners responded to plague-ridden working conditions with revolt. They formed the backbone of the massive religious/ pre-communist Taiping Rebellion, a rebellion that inspired masses to become communists in China one generation later.
In India, especially in cities like Pune, British soldiers were sent (instead of doctors) to invade homes and steal possessions while internally deporting workers into “anti-plague” concentration camps. Officers performed public strip searches and physical “examinations” of women, leading to the assassination of the top British officer in Poona and fanning flames of outrage and rebellion into other cities.
Contagion meets communists
Based on 5,000-year-old Bronze Age skeletons, epidemiologists believe that the bubonic plague originated in or around Central Asia, in today’s Russia. In 1917 Russia, before the Bolshevik revolution, the conditions of the working class and peasantry were desperate. World War I and famine led to millions of deaths and social dislocation – perfect conditions for outbreaks like cholera or especially typhus, spread by lice among soldiers.
Following the revolution, first workers’ state to seize and hold power was created in the wreck of imperialist war. With the looming threat of 14 imperialist powers invading to crush the young workers’ state, healthcare was immediately declared free for the first time in history and the working class mobilized to combat capitalist-created diseases as well as capitalist-created imperialist war.
With five million dead in World War I, imperialist intervention in the Bolshevik Revolution murdered another eight million workers. Many of these were due to typhus outbreaks spread by lice. When typhus cases peaked at 25-30 million (out of a population of 91 million) after the communists defeated the imperialists in 1922, communist leader Vladimir Lenin summarized the new situation: “Either the lice will defeat socialism, or socialism will defeat the lice”.

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Science: Bacteria vs viruses
Bacteria are living single-celled organisms that formed more recently, around 2.7 billion years ago. Many bacteria are beneficial to humans, and in our intestines bacterial colonies are essential to digesting food. We harness other bacteria to create foods like cheese, yogurt and beer. But when certain bacteria infect us, their metabolic waste products overwhelm our immune systems and lead to disease.
Viruses are very complex, nonliving molecules consisting of RNA or DNA strands surrounded by a protein layer. Viruses “invade” or infect living cells of organisms to replicate themselves and multiply. In organisms like plants, animals and humans, these infections lead to disease. The origins of viruses, while uncertain, date back at least to the rise of cellular life, approximately four billion years ago and about 750 million years after our planet’s formation. While bacteria were first discovered in 1676, viruses are much smaller and only hypothesized to exist until proven in the 1930s.
Before the surprise “giant virus” discovery in 2018, known as Tupanvirus, models suggested that viruses co-evolved with cells, originating as independent strands of DNA (plasmids) or proteins capable of self-replication. These models are challenged by the Tupanvirus however, suggesting even earlier pre-cellular origins.
Rhinoviruses are a nickname for a group of viruses most commonly encountered by humans, producing what we all know as the so-called common cold. Coronaviruses (including SARS and COVID-19) are named for a group of viruses with surface protein spikes shaped like a “corona” (Latin for crown) when seen under an electron microscope, which can lead to respiratory disease. Still others, like the paramyxovirus, are responsible for diseases like the measles.
In late 2019, a measles outbreak began in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) that has killed more than 5,000 working class children under the age of five and infected 250,000 more. This death toll has surpassed a simultaneous ebolavirus or “Ebola” outbreak in the DRC that began in 2018. Detection and treatment was prevented by the more than 70 U.S. and Chinese- imperialist backed armies currently fighting in the outbreak zones to control the DRC’s natural resources.
As of today, the DRC measles outbreak is still the largest and most severe disease outbreak in the world.

CALIFORNIA, March 12—Today 60 students and their teachers walked out of their classes, assembled and marched to the main office with signs and chants. The students and teachers defied racist, and sexist administration stooges sent to stop them. The student marchers were refusing to take their state ELPAC tests on filthy and possibly Covid-19 contaminated computers that are shared daily with hundreds of students and go uncleaned for months.
The horrid conditions in the building and the administration’s disregard for the safety of the students point out once again that capitalism can never serve the needs of the working class. We need leaders and an education that serve the interests of our class. That will only come through the fight for workers power and communist revolution.
Filthy conditions put students and workers at risk
After marching in front of the office, carrying signs in English and Spanish that said, “clean or close the school”, “Do we matter?” a student said, “We should go in and demand answers!” Most of the crowd then filled the tiny front entryway (a student commented that it was cleaner than the rest of the school) and demanded answers to their questions about the filthy, neglected and virtual death trap the district stooges have been running despite the international coronavirus pandemic.
The school has been neglected by the district and left in deplorable conditions for at least the last 40 years since it became the most diverse and low-income school in the area. Students, spoke in Spanish and English, “Why are you keeping us in school without cleaning the classrooms, desks, computers and without reliable open and clean restrooms (any number are locked on a given day), soap and paper towels? When will you close school? Don’t you understand the impact of this deadly pandemic?”
The administration, in demeaning and patronizing tones had no information, then denigrated the students by saying that they had little to worry about and to just use hand sanitizer. Apparently, the school and district leadership despite weeks of international news, had absolutely no plan, well not for us anyway, to be healthy or successful.
They repeatedly said our district had no cases of Covid-19, seemingly unaware that a majority of Bay Area families commute all around for work. The students shot back that the school didn’t have soap or sanitizer. One of the administrators then told them, “If you’re so worried, your parents can keep you home.” Most of the students live with parents or other family or friends who work and can’t easily keep them home. The administration, mostly to clear the office so they could enjoy their oasis, said they would answer all the questions in a special meeting in the library after lunch. No one else was invited and no announcement was made.
Students and staff unite and fight back
The meeting was a classic attempt to contain the students’ and staffs’ rage. Two Black Administrators spoke, one, a surly teacher/athletic director (a close friend of the racist principal), made a 20 minute speech dismissing protests and blaming outside agitators then claimed saving JROTC for our campus was awesome. The other Black administrator, the so-called equity ambassador, droned on about how the military was a great option for low income students of color.
The Administrator charged with facilitating the meeting shut down the teachers who spoke up several times but allowed the other administrators to speak freely. Despite the ruse of the meeting, the fed-up students spoke openly about the closed filthy restrooms, rats (some teachers have taken to using their own traps) and roaches and lack of activities on campus. When one student pointed out several shelves being empty in the library, a supportive teacher spoke up about slave owners banning reading.
After the meeting, students knew that their families and fellow students would need to keep speaking up, acting up and fight back against the racist, sexist administrators who run the schools and push working class students into low wage jobs or the military.
The teachers who supported these students were already in the administration’s sights for speaking up about the treacherous conditions. They immediately joined this spontaneous upspring while others who were asked were hesitant. What greater work than to free ourselves of the daily abusive, mind numbing, soul crushing, life-threatening conditions of schools under capitalism. Until the working-class takes over society to serve the international working class, schools will remain concentration camps serving the ruling class. The racist principal and his district serving minions will one day have to explain their terrible role in keeping our community devastated. Until then, these petty tools of the bosses will keep teaching the lesson that our high school is a testing/training and experimenting prison for the racist, sexist ruling class.
Students, staff, alumni and community will continue to meet, talk and brainstorm plans and actions to fightback against school misleaders who have helped create the most disgusting conditions we’ve seen in years.

HAITI, March 20—To continue in the fight against sexism, the Progressive Labor Party (PLP) organized a gathering of about 100 people here today. Workers, teachers, college and high school students and other professionals took part in a militant day in support of the fight against sexism. This mobilization, presented in the form of a conference and cultural activities, was organized under the theme “Women in the Struggle and Leadership for a Just and Equal Society.” A young woman militant fighter, supporter of PLP, hosted the conference with a comrade from the Party.
Women & men unite to crush sexism with class struggle
 “The struggle of women is not the business of women. We want you to understand that the fight against sexism is also the struggle of men, it is the struggle of the working class,” insisted the comrades when making the invitations. In fact, almost 35 percent of the participants were men. This is in stark contrast to other activities organized by feminist groups influenced by capitalist ideologies which pit women against men and not against the capitalist system itself, which fuels sexism. For the most part, these groups remain attached to the idea that in the struggle for the rights of women, all women, bourgeois and workers, have the same interest. The PLP rejects these ideas. Thus, during the speech, one of the participants exclaimed, “I am for the fight for the respect of all, men and women.” Another woman denounced the domination of certain women over others based on their class membership.
The main presenter described the situation of women in politics and in the economic sphere. In this regard, several comrades clarified that in general it is women of the working class who are the victims. “[Wives of Haiti’s presidents] impose ministers in governments and directors. They have more power than many men,” noted one participant, to point out that not all women are in the same boat as some of the so-called feminists working on behalf of boss-funded organizations want us to believe. During the debate, in which men and women participated equally and with enthusiasm, many veils were lifted. The participants expressed their satisfaction and several of them promised to always take part in the activities that the Party organizes. Two young women, a student and a teacher, later indicated that they want to join PLP and the fight for the international working class. A young lawyer who took part also showed his willingness to join us. Our Party is gaining the confidence of the masses every day and getting stronger and stronger. Capitalism will not be able to resist in face of the anger and hatred of the organized, revolutionary working masses.
Antisexist performances create excitement for May Day
Following the debates, one student performed a classic song about women in Haiti; then another high school student accompanied a comrade and a young guitarist teacher to recite poems about the fight against capitalism. Five young people from a rural area presented a theatrical scene describing the unfair conditions and treatment that women face at work. It told the story of a young woman working at a gas pump, doing the same job as a man, but earning far less. As the scene progressed, several spectators showed great anger at this harsh reality and expressed their solidarity with the young woman worker. Finally, a youth sang about the courage of women at dinner time, having to take care of their families after a long day of labor. This is one of the things that all agreed had to change: women must have equality at home as well as at work. Husbands and wives, sons and daughters must share domestic chores. After this rousing event, all shared in a delicious meal prepared and served by men as well as women.
A young student who participated in the event did not want to leave when her mother told her it was over and that they had to go. The young woman said that in this atmosphere of solidarity and sharing, she sees the world from a different perspective. The satisfaction with the day’s activities and the desire to live in a fair and equal world were visible on everyone’s face. “These are the kinds of activities that we need,” many said at the conclusion. They say they are waiting for May 1, when PLP will lead a May Day celebration here.
“When can everyone join the Party?” This is the question of a lawyer who for more than five years had been arguing with PLP comrades in defense of capitalism. He is coming to understand that we have to destroy this racist, sexist profit system, which is the source of famine, wars and crimes, the source of poverty and disease.
Our thoughts were with all the workers from all the countries destroyed in their souls by capitalism. Communism will come. Workers of the world, engage in class struggle, fight for communism!

“We’re not cannon fodder!” cried millions across Italy as wildcat strikes erupted in every major industry to halt the spread of the deadly coronavirus disease. Workers were protesting government and corporate attempts to force them to keep the factories open, risking their lives in unsafe factories so the bosses could jam them into cramped assembly lines to pump out profits.
The wildcatters hit producers of refrigerator and auto parts, factory bolts and vacuum cleaners, closed steel and auto plants and railways, shipyards and shipbuilding docks. While the bosses’ media debated who was responsible for the spreading fatalities, there was a complete blackout of the workers’ militant actions.
The 6,000 Fiat-Chrysler workers, who touched off the strike wave in the Pomigliano plant near Naples when they walked out at the start of the 2:00 pm shift on March 10, protesting unsafe conditions on the assembly lines producing luxury Alfa-Romeo cars for the super-rich.(La Repubblica, 3/11)
As the workers stated, “We’ll withdraw the protest only when the government and the company…stop everything and pay our time off. We can’t afford to lose more money for an unalienable right to make our collective health and safety top priority…
“The big factories are places that bring people together, from the buses to the assembly lines. It defies logic: the state closes everything, starting with the schools and bans moving around…But…the Italian government has not closed the factories; it keeps saying “stay at home” even as the assembly lines continue producing and putting staff and all their families at risk!”(isnews.it, 3/11)
Workers in at least a dozen cities stopped production, including 700 women at the Electrolux plant in Solaro and shipbuilders in Liguria after one worker tested positive for the virus, causing the strike to spread to other docks. Those at Genoa were protesting unclean equipment being used amid the fatal virus.
Wildcat walkouts caught on among London postal workers, Paris bus drivers and Fiat-Chrysler autoworkers in Canada.
To free the working class from capitalism’s killing us through these fatal diseases, we must turn these uprisings into schools for communism, the ultimate solution that will rid the world of bosses and their exploitative profit system.