NEW YORK CITY, April 25—The Columbia University campus resounded with the chants of hundreds of graduate teaching and research assistants who began a five-day strike yesterday. They are supported by many undergraduate students, including about 50 undergraduate clubs, many professors, area construction workers, and other campus United Auto Workers (UAW) locals.
Graduate students do a large bulk of the teaching, grading, and even research their professors. In December 2016, they voted to join the UAW, at a time when the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) had asserted that these students are to be considered workers. For all the teaching and grading of papers they do, they are demanding a living wage, on-time pay, better health care, and protection from sexual harassment.
Columbia has refused to bargain with them, has appealed the decision in court, and is hoping that Trump’s new anti-union appointee to the NLRB will be approved and the recognition of grad students as workers will be reversed. But after waiting over 18 months for Columbia to “come to the table” and with a 90 percent strike authorization vote, the workers’ action began. Many classes have been cancelled or moved off campus.
Columbia’s anti-worker stance is nothing new. This week marks the 50th anniversary of the massive student strike and occupation of 1968, when students protested Columbia’s takeover of a park in Harlem to build a gym for students and the University’s participation in research supporting the Vietnam War. The action lasted a week and ended with the brutal arrests of over 700 students.
Columbia is still run by a Board of Trustees 75 percent of whom are bankers and it has now taken over a huge portion of Harlem and displaced thousands of low-income, mostly Black residents. It continues to educate an elite student body to become the managers, political and financial leaders of worldwide capitalism, and the scientists and academics who will oversee the U.S. attempt to maintain economic and military control in the world.
The last five years have witnessed an upsurge in student activism, stimulated by the summer of Occupy Wall Street. One group, Student Worker Solidarity (SWS), has fought for the rights and wages of campus workers and undergraduate student workers. Other groups have formed around divesting from fossil fuels, fighting racist speakers and racism on and off campus, supporting Palestinian workers, and other issues.
PLP members have been welcomed into SWS, and we continue to struggle with students about the need for revolution to abolish all exploitation of workers, and to join PLP to make that happen. Many hate capitalism, but have not yet been convinced that all reforms are temporary and that a long-range plan to change the system is necessary and possible. A five-day strike may not win any concessions, but it has heightened the class-consciousness of many. It is our job to build on this energy and win participants to a life-long journey of struggle with the ultimate goal of communist revolution.
LOS ANGELES— When the U.S. bosses expanded the Middle East war by targeting Syria’s ruling class and moving the U.S. into a more direct military conflict with Russian bosses, 3 students from the local health university showed up on a day’s notice to join the PLP contingent marching against the war downtown. Unlike the previous anti-gun violence march or Women’s March which drew thousands of unaffiliated workers, most workers who joined ANSWER Coalition’s demonstration were with revisionist groups.
A small group of nationalist Syrian workers supported the Syrian ruling class, carrying a Syrian flag and large Assad posters. Clearly, the Democratic Party and their sellout unions who are struggling to build patriotism for sending ground troops into the Middle East and elsewhere are not going to spend millions to supporting the anti-war movement like they have with the previous marches mentioned.
In fact, Trump’s excuse for bombing Syrian workers following supposed chemical weapons use was in response to the “red line” Obama drew during his presidency. With Russian jets, tanks, and ground troops this marks the first time a foreign imperialist power has set foot in the Middle East-- other than the U.S—since World War II. As the U.S. global hegemony and control of Middle Eastern oil has continued to weaken since their failed wars in Iraq, this new presence of Russian bosses is a further indication that larger war is imminent. Short of an all-out military invasion with U.S. and likely European Union troops, their regional hold and global power will further diminish. We cannot predict when or where, but it’s a slippery slope to World War III.
Our involvement in the current movement is crucial, particularly for Black, Latin, immigrant and Muslim workers largely absent from the anti-war movement during the Bush years. The racist U.S. bosses will sacrifice these workers first on the frontlines for their profits.
Thus, it was a significant that three Black future healthcare workers, one whom is an Iraq War veteran, marched with PLP and brought a revolutionary message to the small crowd. These three Party friends have participated in Party study groups and social events and after May Day. The plan is to recruit them. It’s a modest and yet significant development for our work here in Los Angeles.
It’s also a testament that even within this period of war and fascism, we can move our class, even if in small numbers, right now.
Just as these new set of bombings in Syria can quickly spillover into a World War III, our small work now, could lead to waves of growth of our organization, and the fight for communism.
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Volatile imperialist order fosters fascism worldwide
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- 20 April 2018 63 hits
As Progressive Labor Party mobilizes and marches for communism in over 20 countries across the globe on May Day, capitalism is moving headlong into crisis. In a time of global economic turbulence, extreme inequality, and intensifying inter-imperialist conflict, the international system that established U.S. dominance and governing norms after the Second World War is beginning to implode. Richard Haass, president of the main-wing U.S. bosses’ leading think tank, the Council on Foreign Relations, is lamenting “the fading liberal world order” (cfr.org, 3/21).
Liberal institutions, from “free” media to an “independent” judiciary, are under attack in one-time “democratic” strongholds in Central Europe, Asia, and Latin America. Writing in the New York Times to promote her new book, Fascism: A Warning, Madeleine Albright, the bloodthirsty U.S. Secretary of State under arch-racist President Bill Clinton, declared that “fascism—and the tendencies that lead to fascism—pose a more serious threat now that at any time since the end of World War II” (NYT, 4/6). Two days later, the ruling coalition led by Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban and his racist, anti-immigrant, hyper-nationalist Fidesz party swept their national elections to a two-thirds supermajority in Parliament. They are poised to tighten state control over “the media, central bank, constitutional court and nongovernment organizations. European Union leaders have warned those laws would undermine the country’s democracy” (cnn.com, 4/8).
Two faces of capitalist dictatorship
Capitalism is by definition an absolute dictatorship of the capitalists, the ruling class that holds state power—for now—in every country in the world. The bosses control every institution, from the schools to the unions to the cops to cable TV news. When they have a choice, they prefer to rule through liberal “democracy,” which conceals the true nature of their system: ruthless exploitation, murderous racism and sexism, genocidal wars for profit. (Albright is most infamous for asserting it was “worth it” to kill half a million children in Iraq with U.N. sanctions after the first Gulf War.) Phony elections and fake “freedoms” veil the rulers’ daily atrocities. Liberal democracy fosters the illusion that workers have a say in how things are run, and that capitalism can be reformed to serve workers’ needs. It is designed to mislead and pacify our class.
Fascism is a form of capitalism in crisis, when the capitalists can no longer rule in the old way. It typically gains sway when the balance of power among the top imperialists grows unstable—in this case, as a declining U.S. desperately tries to hold onto its shrinking empire against its authoritarian, state capitalist rivals, an aggressive Russia and a rapidly rising China. With ever-wider wars in store, the big powers’ bosses need to impose greater discipline on their own class (see CHALLENGE editorial on Facebook, 4/18). At the same time, they must squeeze workers to fund their war efforts—and to enlist the foot soldiers they’ll need for the coming global conflict. Seeing their vital interests at stake, the dominant imperialist bosses seek to crush resistance by both rogue capitalists and their most dangerous enemy—the working class. Meanwhile, smaller-capitalist bosses do the same as they scramble to find new alignments and protect their tenuous toeholds.
In such a period, the capitalists cast off their liberal mask and reveal the naked brutality of their system. “Democratic” institutions are discarded. The “rule of law” no longer applies. Racism and sexism—always essential to capitalism—become more codified and extreme, and yoked to the poisonous ideologies of nationalism and patriotism.
But while rising fascism and inevitable global war have devastating implications for the workers of the world, they also present our class—and our revolutionary communist Party—with a historic opportunity. They reflect the unsolvable contradictions of capitalism and the essential weakness of the old order. They set the stage for the possibility of a new world. Out of the fascist onslaught of the 1930s and 1940s, the communist revolution in China—one of the two greatest political advances in history—was born. Communist ideas triggered a wave of anti-colonial rebellions in Africa and Asia; a mass communist movement flourished in the United States. Though these advances were eventually compromised and lost in a reversal to capitalism, they point the way to a communist future, when the world will be run by and for the working class. This May Day, we will march to symbolize our commitment to and our confidence in that future. We have a world to win!
Central Europe: return of the Eastern Bloc?
The landslide re-election of Hungary’s Viktor Orban—the champion of “illiberal democracy” and an open admirer of strongmen like Russia’s Vladimir Putin and Turkey’s Recep Erdogan—signals the rise of fascist policies in this front-line state between Russia and Western Europe. Orban’s program includes the destruction of liberal institutions, an executive-controlled judiciary, and the scapegoating of immigrants and refugees. Similar policies are being embraced by the Czech Republic, Poland, and some of the Balkan states (Washington Post, 4/12)—all members of the Soviet bloc during the Cold War. No less ominous to the U.S. bosses are pro-fascist opposition mass movements in Western Europe, notably Alternative for Germany, Golden Dawn (Greece), the National Front (France), and the League (Italy).
U.S. politicians are concerned that Central European allies are abandoning both liberal democracy and the orbit of U.S. imperialism as they seek better deals with U.S. rivals: “ Hungary sits right on the edge of a declining European Union and a resurgent Russia….Centralizing power will improve Budapest’s negotiating position for what Orban sees as an inevitable opening to the East” (Stratfor, 10/11/13). The Russian state-owned company Rosatom, chosen without competitive bidding, has been engaged by Orban to expand Hungary’s Paks nuclear power plant, with Putin extending a $€10 billion loan to facilitate the project (Politico, 2/1/2017).
In January, after President Milos Zeman was re-elected in the Czech Republic, Putin “praised Zeman’s ‘authority,’ and Chinese President Xi Jinping emphasized the [two countries’] ‘strategic partnership’….[In]the coming years Zeman will concentrate on sealing strategic business deals with Russian and Chinese state-owned entities” (dw.com, 1/31).
In Asia, U.S. bosses losing ground to Russia, China
The U.S. has dominated the Philippines’ economy and political system since granting independence to the Pacific regional power after World War II. Now, with Chinese and Russian imperialists seeking leverage in the South China Sea, President Rodrigo Duterte is welcoming Russian hardware to shore up his repressive regime. In October 2017, during the first-ever visit by a Russian defense minister, the two countries signed a military logistics deal. A leading military figure noted, “We still prefer U.S. and Western equipment but they are very expensive. If the Russians and Chinese equipment can be comparable in quality, then they can be excellent alternatives” (Reuters, 11/10/17). China has been even more assertive in wooing the Filipino ruling class. When Duterte visited Beijing in October 2016, he was gifted with a $24 billion business deal (ASEAN Briefing, 4/10/2017).
Turkey, poised on the edge of the Middle East conflagration, is also pivoting toward Moscow. Despite its strong trade ties to the U.S. and European Union, half of Turkey’s gas resources come through the Blue Stream pipeline from Russia across the Black Sea, with a second pipeline already approved. Meanwhile, Russia’s State Atomic Energy Corporation (Rosatom) is set to build a $20 billion nuclear power plant in southern Turkey, to be operational by 2023 (Brookings, 10/4/2017). Despite threatened penalties, Erdogan has flouted U.S. sanctions by purchasing Russia’s S-400 surface-to-air missile defense system. Since the S-400 cannot be integrated into NATO’s common defense system, it represents a potential fracture of NATO’s military coordination (Reuters, 4/4).
Liberal fascists the greatest danger
While the likes of Putin and Viktor Orban—or Racist-in-Chief Donald Trump—are obvious harbingers of fascism, the greatest danger to the working class has historically come from the liberal fascists who mislead our class to slaughter. In France, for example, Prime Minister Emmanuel Macron has vowed to tighten state control over the internet “to protect [our] democratic life” (rt.com, 1/4). His regime has decimated the country’s labor protections. In the name of anti-terrorism, it has installed a surveillance state with expanded police powers that would be the envy of the National Front (Financial Times, 10/2/17).
In the U.S., such “friendly faces” as Bernie Sanders, Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, and Elizabeth Warren are capitalizing on Trump’s unpopularity to usher disaffected workers back into the Democratic Party. But beware: These are the same figures who will strive to unify and mobilize the population for war and fascsism in the interests of imperialism. As revolutionary communists, we have a different job. Our task is to expose the liberal misleaders and prepare our sisters and brothers to turn the guns around. As world war draws closer, our challenge is to prepare for class war against racism, imperialism, and the bosses’ fascist crimes.
R. Palme Dutt, a prominent communist theoretician in the 1930s, argued that as a global capitalist crisis destabilizes society, there can only be one of two outcomes: socialism (communism) or a descent into barbarism. Around the world, that descent is well underway. This May Day, join PLP to fight for workers’ power instead!
Happy May Day to the international working class! May Day is the working class’s international holiday celebrated by tens of millions of workers worldwide. It’s a day when workers around the globe march for their common demands, signifying international working-class solidarity. It was born out of — and honors — the Chicago workers’ historic struggle for the eight-hour day on May 1, 1886. Many of those labor leaders not only fought for better working conditions, but also to end the capitalist system. The Progressive Labor Party (PLP) marches on May Day to celebrate workers everywhere who fought back and continue to fight back against the bosses’ exploitation.
We also celebrate May Day to not only remember that we are the products of a long history of class struggle, but to keep the red flag flying as we carry on that struggle for a better world - a communist world. There is plenty of reason to celebrate this May Day. Under the clouds of increasing war and fascism, our international revolutionary communist party continues grow and fight back against the bosses. This year’s theme - “One World, One Class, One Party” reaffirms our commitment to smash all borders and fight for a communist world.
Stalingrad shows what’s possible
This year marks the 75th anniversary of the Battle of Stalingrad—the turning point of World War II (see Challenge 2/8). Forced to face the Nazi army alone, the Soviet Union’s chances of winning looked slim to many around the world. However, the communist leadership in the Soviet Union and the working class around the world didn’t have a choice. Millions bravely fought to defeat the Nazis in Stalingrad and eventually win the war. It showed us that the political ideas of communism, when realized by millions, can help defeat any capitalist army.
There certainly are differences between now and 1945. For example, nowhere in the world does the working class hold state power. Communist consciousness is relatively low compared to that period. And while there were errors made by the old communist movement that caused the full restoration of capitalism around the world, examples like Stalingrad show us that even when the odds may seem to be against us, the working class - under communist leadership - can win. We march on May Day for the fighters of Stalingrad and other battles of World War II who heroically gave their lives to smash fascism.
Fascism and war
For many workers the idea of an egalitarian society seems like a far off vision. In the world today over 40 million people were forced to leave their home due to war. While the major powers like the United States, China, and Russia are not fighting each other directly, the world is at war. From Syria to Somalia, North Korea to Venezuela, the imperialist powers are putting their pieces in place in anticipation for another world war and the working class has been paying the price.
This rivalry continues to move the world today, affecting all aspects of life. The U.S. capitalist class fights with each other over individual interests while millions of workers continue to drink unsafe water, undocumented workers and students live in fear of deportation, and police murder continues to take the lives of Black, Latin, and all workers. One thing they do agree on, however, is that they must continue to push racism to divide and conquer the working class.
As the bosses march towards war, fascism is the order of the day. The ruling classes of China and Russia shed the cloak of liberal “democracy” by jailing, torturing, or killing capitalists that put their own interest before those of their class. In Saudi Arabia, we are also seeing this out in the open under the new Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. Many of our comrades, from Pakistan to El Salvador, have been living under these conditions for decades. However, this is becoming more obvious amongst the major capitalist countries. We march on May Day for the millions of workers and students who continue to live under war and fascism, knowing one day that millions will join us in raising the red flag in the Middle East, Africa, and all over the world.
Liberal politicians lead the way to fascism
The U.S. imperialist rulers are still attempting to solve their problems without open murder or torture. They are using the Robert Mueller investigation and elections to discipline Trump and the domestic capitalists behind him. Whether it is gun violence or sexism, the liberal rulers are trying to position themselves as the champions of the working class.
It is no different for workers in countries like Mexico or France. In Mexico, liberal politicians try to trick the working class by creating alliances with China rather than the U.S. In France, politicians like Emmanuel Macron win workers by not being as openly racist as his opponents. This is one reason why PLP says that liberals are the main danger (see editorial, page 2). Trump may win white workers to the gutter racism portrayed by the Nazis, but liberals attempt to win a larger, more multi racial portion of the working class to war and fascism by coming off as anti-racist or anti-sexist. Their policies, however, will inevitably leads to the deaths of millions around the world. We march on May Day to expose these liberal politicians and win workers to fight for communism.
Fight Back
Our Party started as a small group of revolutionaries who came out of the Communist Party USA over 50 years ago. Since then, our Party has not only grown in size, but our line has changed to reflect the lessons learned from the old communist movement. One of the biggest advances we have made as a party is our fight against nationalism. While it drew a lot of criticism when we first fought for this line (and still does today), history has proven it correct.
Today PLP spans five continents and 27 countries. Members and friends from all over the world are fighting and struggling over the same line. It is this communist leadership that allows PLP to continue to give communist leadership to workers around the world even in these tough times. Under the right conditions, the ability of the working class to fight back, even if they seem like small steps, can turn into giant leaps towards communist revolution. Here are some examples of class struggle happening around the world.
In the United States workers and students are fighting back against police murders. The recent murder of Stephon Clark by Sacramento police set off a new wave of protests.
Workers in Haiti led by mainly women workers, are fighting back against low wages and terrible working conditions.
Construction workers in Colombia have gone on strike and shut down production over back pay.
Healthcare workers in Mexico have shut down hospitals as the bosses continue to layoff workers and lower wages in healthcare.
Students in Tanzania continue to fight back against deadly housing in their dormitories on campus.
Workers and students in Israel have organized multi-racial fight back against the racist deportation of Black workers in Israel.
In China, Marxist study groups are organized to win workers and students to expose the current capitalist government and win workers to fighting for a communist world
In Pakistan, workers continue to organize strikes and other forms of class struggle even if that means being imprisoned under their “anti terrorism” laws.
Members of the Progressive Labor Party are involved in some of these struggles and attempt to give communist leadership while also learning from the workers and students in these struggles. History has shown us that the past two world wars have lead to communist revolutions (Soviet Union and China). This happened because communists in these areas organized for communism, even under the most oppressive conditions.
As the bosses prepare for World War III, we must also do our best to win workers and students to see the need to turn these struggles into communist schools. We march on May Day to highlight these struggles spread our communist message “One World, One Class, One Party.”
Capitalism kills off workers with racism, sexism and war. We are reminded of this when we discuss the destruction going on in Yemen, Haiti or Puerto Rico. However, capitalism also kills workers without the open viciousness of war, racism or sexism. Day after day it also kills workers based on class.
This sometimes goes unnoticed. We can explain how Shantel Davis was killed by a Black cop in the name of racism. We can say that the lack of a response or fightback for any woman killed by the racist police system is a product of sexism. We can describe the deaths that are happening in Yemen, supported by U. S. money and military equipment. But sometimes it’s just the bottom line taking over and killing. The need for bigger profits ultimately leads to the death of many workers.
Track worker murdered by MTA
That’s exactly what killed 23-year-old St Clair Zaire Richards Stephens of Transit Workers Union (TWU) local 100. Profit margins killed him.
He was a track worker of the NYC subway system, run by the Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA) and held together by bandaids. On March 20, he fell to his death because of lousy management and a subway system where the MTA bosses place profit over safety. They make rules for the workers that produce death on the job. The bosses know what’s safe and what’s not safe but if it doesn’t make sense, they let it ride until a worker gets killed. It’s a reactionary system. Nothing changes until someone gets hurt.
Bosses blame the dead for dying
The union bosses are also in bed with this plan. One mouthpiece of the bosses, also known as the New York Post, pointed out the weight of St. Clair, as if his death was his own fault, and the union leadership pushed the same line. “He was a big worker,” said Union President Utano. No one asked about the working conditions that led to the death of St. Clair.
The management organizes stand-downs to discuss what happened when track workers die. They use these to cover up the underfunded transit system and blame the workers. At the stand-downs these bosses pushed the same line. “He was a big worker” was the phrase of the day. They also reminded all track workers that there’s a rule against leaning on the handrails. There was no mention of why wood handrails were still in use. They did nothing to stop St. Clair from falling to his death. Wood handrails were supposed to be phased out decades ago.
Subway delays
The subway delays are also the product of capitalism. The bosses don’t care how the wage slaves get to work; they better just get there. The workers pay when the rich decide it’s time for cutbacks. They will pay with fare hikes. The Governor of New York took $60 million from the MTA’s budget. That budget does more than pay the union workers. It takes cares of repairs. The riding public are second-class citizens. Many believe the workers are the reasons for the delays but the MTA bosses hide the real truth. The MTA bosses pay their loan payments to the banks before they make repairs or pay workers. The banks milk the system in the name of profit. The union leadership doesn’t point this out and this puts it’s union dues paying members on the wrong side of the ridership’s anger. The New York Daily News recently reported about the MTA bosses fudging data for over 10,000 subway delays (3/27).
Ask anyone who works for the MTA and they will explain the delays. The bosses don’t care about moving the poor working class around the city. They only react after a delay. The system has been left to rot for decades and now we are seeing the results.
Worker-rider unity needed
Basically rank and file transit workers and riding workers have to pull together and fight for any improvements in the transit system. Both suffer the effects of a capitalist profit-driven system. United the two groups could fight against the billionaire bosses and their management stooges. We should fight to improve both the working conditions and the riding conditions for the entire working class. However, like every reform the bosses will eventually push back and so we would have to organize and fight again.
We need a system run by the workers for the workers. The ultimate response to these poor conditions is communism. Only then will workers have good working conditions and be able to help improve our society while getting to their location on time.
