Queen & Slim, promoted as the “Blackest movie ever made,” falls short on making any real working-class advance against racism. We meet the protagonists, revealed to be Queen/Angela (Jodie Turner-Smith) and Slim/Earnest (Daniel Kaluuya) at the end of the movie, at a Black-owned diner for a Tinder date. That would’ve been the end of their relationship if it wasn’t for the drive home when they got pulled over by a racist white cop, accidently killed him in self-defense, and embarked their journey to freedom.  
No faith in the injustice system
The film showed promise. After the accidental shooting, Angela convinces Earnest that there are no good options. She holds credibility because she is an attorney. Thankfully, the audience was not given the option to debate the merits of the injustice system. Our leads were criminals in the eyes of the system, but to the audience, they were the characters we were to identify with and see the world through. But, it’s pretty much downhill from there.
Blackness is not revolutionary
We can’t separate art from its artists. To understand the film, we must look at its creators. Queen and Slim was written by Emmy winner Lena Waithe and directed by Melina Matsoukas, a creative brain trust of Beyoncé and others. Waithe says the film is a “meditation on blackness…but it was really like a hug I want to give black people” (NPR, 11/27/19). Born to parents who were in the Progressive Labor Party, Matsoukas was “raised to figure out how I was going to be an activist…I also wanted to showcase Black love and unity, not just romantic love. Black unity is our greatest power against oppression. What is represented on-screen is not just the love between those two characters, but the love that the community shows Queen and Slim” (The Atlantic, 12/2019).
Where Waithe and Matsoukas go wrong is equating Blackness with radicalism. Speaking of a Black experience in and of itself—as if it’s not shaped by class, as if Black workers and Black bosses & politicians are on the same side of the oppression line—is not radical. Celebration of Blackness, without an analysis, is an insufficient reaction to a racist system that devalues Black workers. While Waithe and Matsoukas are clearly in conversation with the racism of life inside and outside of the entertainment industry (the film was not even considered for the Golden Globes), Black unity is far from the “greatest power against oppression.” While unity based on race may sound affirming, all skin folk ain’t kin folk.
Unity with whom? Against whom?
Unity based on race (race is fake, but the racism is far too real) is dangerous for the working class, Black workers included. Black unity confuses enemies for friends. As the menu of politicians, CEOs, union leaders, and masters of war diversifies, Black nationalism will have lethal consequences for Black and all workers.
Queen & Slim did address the issue of unity. Spoiler alert: The couple does not complete their quest to freedom because a Black worker sells them out.  Matsoukas says, “We wanted it to be complicated…What the affects of racism do to our community…the Black man who sells them out, he’s a victim of capitalism” Oprah Magazine, 11/28/19). The lack of class-consciousness is a serious problem in this period of low class struggle. However, this is a criticism of lack of unity within the working-class, but leaves out attacking Black bosses and politicians (Chicago mayor Lori Lightfoot, Baltimore mayor Bernard Young, senator Kamala Harris, etc).
Yet, there was one example of multiracial unity, however marred with a transactionalist instead of a principled stance. A white veteran, friend of Queen’s pimp uncle Earl, gives the couple refuge. He’s seen as repaying a favor, not as a man who acts out of solidarity with fugitive.  
Black cops are not our friends
The film portrays Black cops in a positive light. When Queen & Slim jumpstart a car, they are allowed to escape by a Black cop who was dealing with his racist comments from his white patrol partner. This Black cop’s name is Langston. Never mind that the writer Langston Hughes grew to be a communist who depicted both the brutal anti-Black racism as well as multiracial and international fightback.
“I [Masoukas] have a Langston Hughes quote on my arm that says ‘I, too, am America” (Oprah Magazine, 11/28/19).
This cop scene is troubling due to its implications of, to put it crudely, that more Black cops can make American worth being a part of. Why claim a country that was founded on the ownership and exploitation of your own?
A failed odyssey
Queen and Slim are brutally assassinated by a line of white police. Their odyssey remains unfinished, but their story becomes immortalized. The final destination of their quest for freedom was Cuba, where Assata Shakur also sought refuge after conviction of the murder of a state trooper (another allusion to Black power). She escaped from jail and got asylum in Cuba in 1984. Today, the workers in Cuba cannot escape from the profit system there or from the racism dividing tourist havens from the majority of workers.  
Beautifully misleading
Queen and Slim’s brutal assassination leaves the audience with a sense of loss.  
The film’s beauty and form do not make up for its misleading content. Ultimately, the film confuses enemies for friends and identity with revolution; it replaces multiracial unity with Black nationalism and a protracted class struggle with romanticism and martyrdom—in more ways than CHALLENGE has room to address. Readers, we welcome your thoughts!
The working class—Black, Latin, indigenous, Asian, and white—deserves a film that goes beyond identity politics and inspires our class to dismantle race and racism. Only a multiracial, international communist party with Black workers’ leadership has the chance of dismantling it.  
Still, Queen & Slim is a popular film rich with imagery and symbolism, an opportunity for communist analysis and discussion with friends, co-workers, and students. We invite you to send your evaluation to CHALLENGE!

NEW YORK CITY—More than 75 students and faculty supporters at the City University of New York (CUNY) shut down a meeting of the Board of Trustees (BoT), which was set to vote on a $320 a year hike in tuition and fees. Capitalist politicians and their appointed trustees serve the billionaire rulers, not working class students. Their “educational” system aims to train some of us to work for them and to brainwash all of us into thinking that capitalism works for everyone. It doesn’t, so we shut their meeting down. We chanted, “What do we want? Free CUNY! When do we want it? Now!” and “If we don’t get it, Shut it down!” It was good training for us, because in the future we will have to shut this whole capitalist system down.
We refused to listen to the frantic pleas of BoT President Bill Thompson to be quiet. We continued chanting and holding up signs calling for free tuition. After 20 minutes of pulling his few hairs out, Thompson ordered the room to be cleared and CUNY security cops demanded we leave. The bosses give the orders and the cops obey. We left — but very, very slowly, meanwhile chanting loudly, “When CUNY students are under attack, what do we do? Stand up, Fight back!” In the hallway outside the meeting room, we continued to chant, and then one of the cops grabbed a female protester and pushed her into a room, where they intended to arrest her. But students and faculty chanted, “Let her go!” and we refused to leave until the cops finally released our comrade, without pressing charges. This was another good lesson. The cops serve the bosses, but united we can beat them back.
Many CUNY students, the majority of whom are Black and Latin, come from families with low incomes. A majority work more than 20 hours a week in order to afford the costs of college. That’s why students are not only opposing a tuition increase but are demanding a “free CUNY”—no tuition, with free books and transportation. But even with a “free CUNY” working class students will still be cogs in a system where capitalist profits are the main priority. And eventually we will have to fight and die in more and more bosses’ wars so they can continue raking in profits all over the world.
It is interesting that the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ recent chart of the 20 occupations with the highest projected increase in employment over the next 10 years shows that three-quarters of those jobs do not require a college degree. The capitalists don’t need large numbers of college-educated workers, so public spending on public colleges has declined, while taxes on corporations and the wealthy have plummeted.
What working class students need is an education in fighting back against this racist, capitalist system. Today we learned that with planning and militancy, we can disrupt the plans of the enemy. But only temporarily, because the trustees did eventually—in private—vote to raise tuition and fees. What we really need is a communist revolution to get rid of the fat cats, their hired politicians, and their entire system. We need to build an egalitarian communist society that meets the needs of all workers, worldwide. We need to build a revolutionary party to take state power. Join Progressive Labor Party!

Few novels are written by workers about workers. Timothy Sheard’s Lenny Moss mystery series is a welcome change. In Sheard’s latest novel one foot in the grave, working-class heroes fight the zika virus and expose the bosses’ malice in the class struggle.  
The series
The series is written by a retired emergency room nurse who bases his detective, Lenny Moss, on a real life janitor and union steward in a Philadelphia hospital. These books contain all the elements of a good mystery: suspense, developed characters, believable plots. Each mystery takes place within a larger medical framework. Lenny realizes early on in the series that when major crimes arise, he has to notify the police. He and Detective Williams learn to trust and respect each other’s skills.
Lenny Moss is an older white worker. Although cynical, he goes to bat for all the workers, nurses, doctors and techs in the hospital even though they are not in his union. His union only covers janitors, housekeeping, laundry and cafeteria workers.  He is well liked and respected by the other hospital workers. As a fighter, the administrators hate him. Solving crimes is a collective effort by a multiracial crew of workers. Though recognized as the leader, he knows he needs all of his friends to resolve the crime. His best friends in the hospital are Moose, who works in dietary, and his wife Birdie, who works in the sewing room in the basement of the hospital. Both are Black. Lenny’s wife, Patience, is an X-ray tech at the hospital. She is Black and has two children from another marriage.
In One Foot in the Grave, the crime centers on Roy Reading, an EMT. He was thrown out of medical school for how he treated a comatose female patient. The person responsible for his being tossed out is Dr. Austin. When Roy finds out Dr. Austin works at Jefferson Hospital, he plots to poison her. Roy is very skillful. Detecting why Dr. Austin becomes so ill and who did it, falls on Lenny. Being cynical, Lenny suspects foul play.
Depicts the grind
This mystery novel contains both medical drama and funny anecdotes. The other unique quality of the series is that it depicts the crushing grind of capitalism. Sheard’s mystery novels always have several threads set around medical issues. In this novel, hospital workers are scrambling to contain the zika virus which has broken out in Philadelphia. There are so many zika patients, a triage tent is located outside the Emergency Room entrance. Nurses have to determine if an incoming emergency patient has been bitten by a mosquito. If they have bites, they have to be put in isolation rooms by themselves. Without more isolation rooms, workers and doctors use ingenuity. Doubling up zika patients in one room is a solution. Staff shortages and reduced supplies complicate the situation. Nurses battle privacy concerns. Nurses are forced to wear GPS tracking devices around their necks at all times on duty. Dispatchers monitor their every move and sound, even in the restroom! The novel illustrates the rising use of technology to monitor workers and quell fightback.
Workers organize
Pregnant and women of childbearing age fear getting the Zika virus while attending patients because of the lack of proper safety precautions, such as face masks and gowns. Workers, even those in a union, who miss a day or two of work can be fired. Another thread illuminates the hard struggle to unionize nurses. Nurses could be fired for organizing on the job. The dispatching monitors play a prominent role in this thread. Nurses try to muffle their monitors and meet in the basement so dispatchers can’t hear them.
Find out how it all works out in this thrilling pro-working class detective novel! The only thing missing is an organizing solution outside of the hamster wheel of reformism.

Beneath its surface unity, the 70th anniversary summit meeting of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in London exposed the tensions and divisions between the U.S. bosses and the European capitalists. While the U.S. rulers openly view NATO as a tool to protect and advance their imperialist interests, the European rulers historically relied on it as a line of defense against the Soviet Union (and now Russia), and to protect them in the next world war.
The interests of the capitalist rulers are not only opposed to those of the working class, but are usually secured at our expense. As the rulers grab for their maximum profits, workers suffer from racism, sexism, wage exploitation, and imperialist war. The bosses’ relentless competition and their brutal oppression of workers will continue until nations are abolished under communism.
Big & Small Fascists clash over NATO
The splits between the two wings of the U.S. ruling class were obvious at the NATO summit.  Both the Big Fascists (finance capital imperialists) and the Small Fascists (bosses who make most of their money from domestic business) are complaining that the U.S. bears an unfair share of NATO’s financial burden.  With U.S. President Donald Trump leading the charge, the Small Fascists have gone a step further, calling into question the usefulness of the post-World War II alliance (National Public Radio, 12/3/19). The Cato Institute, funded heavily by the Kochs, the Small Fascists’ first family, argues that Russia is no longer a threat to U.S. interests, and that NATO is therefore obsolete (Cato Institute, 12/5/19).  
To try to maintain their international dominance, the Big Fascists need to keep their multinational alliances in place. The New York Times, the Big Fascist’s leading mouthpiece, calls NATO the “most successful military alliance in history” and indispensable for U.S. national security (NYT, 7/8/18). At the moment, despite Trump’s calls for retrenchment, the Big Fascists are winning this fight; the Pentagon recently committed an additional 20,000 troops to European defense (Foreign Affairs, 12/3/19).  
The European ruling classes have their own splits, making them less reliable as U.S. allies. A three-year conflict over Brexit has paralyzed the British ruling class. The divisions in Germany’s ruling coalition are growing more open and intense. France is facing massive strikes over pension cuts. Italy is in chaos, and its most popular party is the fascist League. In March, it became the first major European nation to join China’s Belt and Road Initiative. Other European powers may soon be moving in the same direction.
Meanwhile, in the Middle East, the U.S. retreat from Syria has left a political vacuum that Russia is looking to fill. Turkey used the partial withdrawal to attack its Kurdish rivals, provoking alarm among NATO members. France’s Emmanuel Macron has criticized Trump’s lack of leadership and is trying to rein Turkey in (NYT, 12/2/19). In response, Trump cut short his stay in London. Germany is doing its best to keep the peace within NATO, which Europe needs to counteract Russia and potentially China (NYT, 12/2/19).  
Whatever their differences, all imperialist bosses continue to attack the working class by diverting resources into war preparations and away from healthcare, food, and education.  Leaked documents show that British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, has pledged to Trump to increase NATO spending while privatizing sections of Britain’s National Health Service, which has already faced severe budget cuts under Conservative Party governments (Independent, 12/13/19). In Greece, the second-highest contributing member in percentage of gross domestic product (NATO, 6/25/19), workers suffered austerity measures that cut government services across the board. Though NATO claims nuclear disarmament to be one of its goals, three members—the U.S., Britain, and France—have amassed nuclear weapons, and five others, including Turkey, “share” U.S. bombs (Stratfor, 6/27/19). Workers will pay the price of any nuclear war, just as they did in the genocidal U.S. atomic strikes against Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945.       
As the bosses intensify their attacks against our class, workers around the world are taking to the streets in protest. In Britain, there were massive demonstrations against Trump, NATO, and healthcare cuts. In 2017 and 2018, thousands in Brussels confronted NATO with demands to lower military spending (AP News, 7/7/18). These fightbacks are crucial. First, they give workers more confidence by showing them they are not alone. Second, they create opportunities to spread communist ideas.
At the same time, we shouldn’t overestimate the revolutionary content of this resistance. All of the European fightbacks are being misled by one section of the ruling class or another. All of them could set the stage for full-blown fascism. Workers’ anger is not enough. Without communist organizing, our class will be defenseless against the coming fascist crackdown and inter-imperialist war. The international working class must smash the capitalist system and turn World War III into a revolution for communism.

**

In 1949, four years after the end of World War II, NATO was founded by the United States, Canada, and ten countries in Western Europe as a political and military alliance to block expansion by the Soviet Union. Electoral victories by communist parties in Italy and Czechoslovakia, along with Soviet control of East Germany, intensified the U.S. rulers’ fears that they could lose the Cold War and their place as the world’s leading imperialist superpower.
Although the Soviet Union broke up in 1991, the U.S.-dominated NATO still aims to counter any threats to the now-29-member alliance, primarily from Russia and China. NATO currently has troops in Afghanistan, Kosovo, Iraq, Somalia, the Mediterranean Sea, and air space over Montenegro, Albania, Slovenia, and the Baltic region (NATO, 4/25/19). While NATO claims to defend “democratic values,” it has demonstrated over and again that it is nothing more than a tool of U.S. and Western imperialism.