BROOKLYN, November 12—In the face of rising anti-Muslim racism stirred up by president-elect Trump, members of Progressive Labor Party and others in our local Unitarian church organized an even bigger annual interfaith dinner this year. Over 100 people of all ages gathered at our Unitarian church for our 16th annual dinner with Muslim workers and their families! After the September 11 terrorist attacks, we made a concerted effort to reach out to our Muslim working-class sisters and brothers to build solidarity against anti-Muslim racism. Over the years, we have built a thriving relationship that has enriched the lives of all. We are one step closer to building class-consciousness, one step closer to communism.
Cultivating Multiracial Unity
What began as a divided room 16 years ago has blossomed into a working-class family. More members of the Unitarian church participate now, and the dinner is an even mix of Muslim and Unitarian workers. We no longer have to encourage people to sit at a table with folks they don’t know. People socialize naturally regardless of their background. It’s a testament to our comrades’ outreach and community building that has fostered this sense of family and mutual respect. Our unity is based on our common struggle to end capitalism.
Many attendees gave captivating speeches. A Black Muslim imam stressed the need to overcome the racism, sexism, and division stirred up by the election. A spokesperson from the church conveyed a prayer of healing and solidarity from our minister. One PLP member who helped foster the relationship between the religious organizations spoke of the need to fight together in the face of rising fascism. These words prompted a church member to spontaneously stand up and talk about protecting and standing up for anyone who is being bullied or harassed.
The final speaker, a Muslim woman involved in many community organizations, emphasized that hate crimes are on the rise in New York. A racist letter was distributed in an apartment building in Queens saying that it is a Trump building and non-white person was not welcome. She stressed the importance of Muslim workers uniting with other antiracists to fight anti-Muslim racism and sexism being espoused by those emboldened by the election.
The election of Donald Trump has shown that capitalism is in crisis and open racism is increasing as a result. However, antiracist workers are emboldened, too. Mass marches all over the country show that millions of workers will stand up against racism. Marches show that we have the capability to fight this racist system, and dinners like these show the potential for a new communist one. In these volatile times, it is more important than ever to unite under one flag, the red flag of communism and PLP. Only with class-consciousness and multiracial unity can we defeat the capitalist bosses looking to divide us. This dinner showed that with workers looking out for one another, anyone could be a family. There is hope for a brighter future. We are already seeing glimmers of what could be! Join the fight against racism and the fight for communism now! We strive to build a world without inequality, religion, borders, and capitalist exploitation.

Los Angeles, November 9—Donald Trump won the presidential election and the working class took to the streets!  A multiracial group of angry workers and youth could not believe how such a racist and sexist could represent them. The Progressive Labor Party contingent was small but spirited because we’ve been out in the streets before. Under President Obama we’ve seen the ongoing murders of Black and Latin men and women by the police, the deportation of immigrant workers, and the Syrian refugee crisis.We have fought for immigrants’ rights, against racist police violence and against sexist wage theft.  We’ve been inspired by the many struggles of workers all over the world.
Adding Politics to Chants
Most of the chants were anti-Trump like “Not My President.” But some PLP chants caught the workers’ attention: “La Policia, La Migra, La Misma Porqueria” [The police and the border patrol are the same filth]. “The Workers United Will Never Be Defeated” was another great chant. Our group mostly chanted in Spanish and English. This was a great opportunity to get our members and friends out. Some had contacted us about our plans to protest. Members of our church, classmates and coworkers were out there but the march was so big, it was difficult to find them.
Trump Reflects Capitalism in Decay
This election shows capitalism in decay and rising fascism. No matter who is in office we must continue to fight back against the bosses. Democrat, Republican; they are all the same. Trump ran on the promise to deport more immigrants, build a wall along the Mexican border and round up the Muslim working class, but Obama has helped create the foundation that would allow these policies to be implemented.
This march and the marches that followed showed that there are workers out there willing to stand up and oppose Trump and not take a “wait and see” approach.  But “It’s not just Trump, it’s capitalism.” The only way to defeat racism, sexism and fascism, once and for all, is with communist revolution. For that to happen all workers need to become organizers and join the fight back against the terror capitalism brings. Let’s fight together to build a better future, because an injury to one is an injury to all!

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NEW YORK CITY, November 12—A multiracial, multi-generational group of members and friends of the Progressive Labor Party (PLP) marched with anti-Trump protesters in New York City. The marchers were enthusiastic, some were angry. They listened to our message that only communism can solve the problems of the international working class (see photo, page 7).
A very diverse crowd of over ten thousand marched the two miles from Union Square to Trump Towers. There was no real leadership of the march. With our bullhorn and communist politics we stepped up. We led chants; we gave speeches. Many people picked up our chants like “It’s not just Trump, it’s capitalism!” There was also plenty of reformism, such as “Love Trump’s Hate,” “Not my President,” and even some Clinton supporters. But many people were open to our revolutionary communist ideas. CHALLENGE newspapers and many anti-capitalist stickers were distributed. As is often the case, we ran out of literature too quickly.
We met lots of good people who marched with our group through the streets of Manhattan. They have joined in the protests against Trump because they believe that people need to stand up for each other against the racist, sexist, homophobic garbage that Trump promotes. In the future we need to get our unions, churches, and community groups to also organize for these protests.  But it’s not just the racist, sexist filth that comes out of Trump’s mouth. It’s a capitalist system that exploits and murders through imperialist wars, racist unemployment, poverty, homelessness and on and on. The whole damn system has got to go!
While by Trump Towers, a young comrade gave a rousing speech explaining that Trump is part of the ruling class whose job it is to exploit workers and the only way to defeat Trump and the other racists is with multi racial unity, specifically, to build a revolutionary, communist movement to overthrow capitalism. He directly called out nationalism, feminism, identity politics, and Black Lives Matter (BLM) as bosses’ ideas that divide workers more than unify them. Our comrade got a great response from the crowd, but not such a great response from a BLM organizer. After a brief back and forth, it was clear that most people wanted multiracial unity.
The bosses media and academics would divide us into small groups by ethnicity, or gender, or sexual orientation, or so-called race. They would also like us to rely on the Internet for our organizing. The BLM organizer thought that the thousands of people marched in the streets because he had created a Facebook event. He didn’t realize that changing the world and getting people to take the streets for real change takes a lot more than what Facebook can do. We in the Progressive Labor Party are committed to the long, difficult, messy work of building a base in the working class. Only a united working class can organize a world without racism and sexism; a world where the wealth is shared by all. Join us to smash capitalism and the system’s racist, sexist garbage once and for all.

HARLEM, November 5—Just days shy of the ruling classes over-hyped elections; a group of 40 multi-racial students, educators, and workers congregated at Columbia University for an election forum geared towards educating students and workers on the futility and deception of elections, as well as on the necessity of militant fight back as the gateway for true and lasting social change.
The forum which was organized by PLP’s college leadership committee was led by a trio of young communist leaders. The forum began with a female comrade delivering a skillful attack on the dangers of the lesser-evil stance, and demonstrated that Democrats and Republicans are just different sides of the same coin. She exposed the popular sentiment shared by many members of the working class that one should vote for the well-groomed and polished covert racist murderer Hillary Clinton in order to avert the more cantankerous racist and fascist Donald Trump.
After that the second panelist, another female comrade, unmasked the true purpose of elections, and shared how they are used not just a tool to mislead the working class, but also how it helps them protect the profit system-by allowing the bosses to discipline, and settle disputes within their own class.
This discussion was then concluded by a young male comrade, who gave an inspirational speech on how change has been possible without voting, and took us on a journey through the history of our class, and how these heroes risked their lives and fought valiantly for the 8 hour workday, sick days, and many of the protections we have today.
Sham Democracy
The panel discussion was supplemented by cool memes and quotes from Marx and other crusaders for workers rights like Emma Goldman and Lucy Parsons. After the panelists wrapped up the panel discussion they opened up the floor for discussion and asked questions which received many insightful responses. When the question about whether there is a lesser of two evils was asked; a sharp young student in the crowd gave a poignant response by arguing that people are quick to call-out Trump’s flagrant racism, and call Hillary the lesser evil, and overlook Hillary Clinton’s egregious track record as senator, and that Hillary is the greatest evil of the two since she has the body-count to back it up.
Shortly after a participant challenged us by asking whether the lesser evil question would even be up for discussion if Bernie Sanders were running. One panelist quickly rose to the challenge and pointed out that Sanders is a sheep in wolf’s clothing, and that he and Hillary are barely indistinguishable in their support for the Iraq War and have supported Israel’s slaughter of Palestinians. Moreover, he pointed out that while Sanders seems radical in the U.S in Europe he would’ve been another democratic socialist candidate, pointing out some of the vicious policies carried out by Democratic Socialists like Tony Blair, and Francois Hollande.
The forum was successful in attacking the electoral system as a capitalist apparatus. Yet, as we look forward, post-election to Trump’s victory, many members of the working class decry the destruction of a democracy that never existed. While many suggest that the Electoral College must be reformed, or that we should take money out of politics, we know that the truth has never been so clear; the ballot offers us no viable options, nor a future, and we cannot work to reform something that has become so entrenched in the state apparatus. It’s not elections; it’s the whole damn system. The heroism of our class has proven that the bosses fear the working class, and they try to kill our revolutionary spirit with their stupid ballot boxes. The revolutionary spirit and anger that has erupted as a result of Trump being elected could not be a more fitting response. Now it is our job as a party to channel this rage into a fight for communism.

The electoral victory of Donald Trump, a suit-and-tie Klansman, shows the power of racism in today’s United States. The main wing of the U.S. ruling class did its best to swing the presidential race to Hillary Clinton, a more reliable stooge for finance capital and U.S. imperialism. But in spite of overwhelming support from the bosses’ media, political donors, establishment politicians, and celebrity entertainers from Beyonce to LeBron James, Clinton couldn’t close the deal. The vicious racism stoked by Republicans and Democrats in equal measure—including the racist mass incarceration and welfare reform championed by Bill and Hillary Clinton in the 1990s—has come home to roost.

 The election confirmed the deep problems confronting the U.S. rulers. The bosses underestimated the impact of decades of wage-killing exploitation, economic crises, racist and sexist demagoguery, and ever-widening inequity. “It was a failure to capture the boiling anger of a large portion of the American electorate that feels left behind by a selective recovery, betrayed by trade deals that they see as threats to their jobs and disrespected by establishment Washington, Wall Street and the mainstream media” (New York Times, 11/9).

 While the Trump vote was predominantly a phenomenon of white workers’ alienation, Black and Latin and Asian workers have also tired of waiting for their lives to get better. Eight years of Barack Obama have resulted in mass deportations, wage stagnation, a bank bailout, and widespread disillusionment. The bosses’ biggest concern relates to the waning of U.S. patriotism and how it could undermine their plans for the next major ground war. They cannot count on a cynical, disaffected working class to rally around a military draft. In short, the rulers have a lot of work to do.

Progressive Labor Party also has much work to do. Communists have no reason to be depressed by this election. Fundamentally, our goal remains the same: to build multiracial unity and overthrow the bosses’ murderous system. But in a time when open racism has gained a mass base and a public platform at the highest levels, our challenge—and our opportunity—is even greater than before.

Much of the pro-Trump movement consisted of white workers misled by racism to act against their own class interests. It’s our task to wage a principled struggle with all workers against the twin dangers of racism and identity politics. We must redouble our efforts on the job, in the schools, and in the streets. Only a mass movement for communist revolution can smash the racist horror show of capitalism for all time.

Trump Will Serve the Bosses

While the big finance capitalists clearly preferred the more reliable Clinton, they will most likely find a way to work with Trump and guarantee that he serves their interests, in particular their contested control over oil in the Middle East. In March, Trump was briefed by Richard Haass, the president of the Council on Foreign Relations, the main wing’s preeminent, pro-imperialist think tank. “I respect Richard Haass,” Trump said after the meeting. “I like him a lot.” In his victory speech, Trump vowed to invest in rebuilding infrastructure, a top ruling-class priority. On the day after the election, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up more than two hundred points. The profit system did not miss a beat.

By the same token, workers had nothing to gain in this election. Under the rules of capitalist “democracy,” they were forced to choose between two monsters: a gutter racist and sexual predator who demonized Muslims and undocumented immigrants, and a liberal racist and sexist who destroyed millions of lives as a career-long servant of the thieves of finance capital. After decades of destroying working-class families on behalf of their Wall Street patrons, Hillary and Bill Clinton were unable to deceive enough voters into believing their phony promises and lies. Too many workers saw them for who they are: racist opportunists in the pockets of the richest bosses.

If Trump’s election proved anything, it’s the necessity of working outside the electoral box. Don’t vote—revolt! CHALLENGE and the Progressive Labor Party urge you to join the fight for communist revolution. We ask you to work with us in building a united, multiracial working class that will smash racism, sexism, national borders and the entire capitalist system.

Another Step Toward Fascism

As British economist Martin Wolf recently noted, the capitalists are dismantling their façade of liberal democracy, the veil for the  bosses’ dictatorship. As the bosses’ crises intensify and world war grows more likely, Wolf sees “the rise of illiberal democracies or outright plebiscitary dictatorships in which the elected ruler exercises control over both the state and capitalists” (Financial Times, 8/30). What Wolf fails to acknowledge is that the move toward fascism—a phase of capitalism where the bosses rule all aspects of society directly--is inevitable. When their system is threatened, the rulers put any pretense of democracy aside.

This election saw crude efforts by the U.S. bosses to rig the process—and especially the capitalist media coverage—in Clinton’s favor. What they failed to anticipate is that nearly half the voters would support the volatile Trump. The winner’s false “populism” and racist scapegoating found traction with white working-class voters, including women--most notably in the Rust Belt, where Trump seized votes that Obama had won four years earlier.

 The rulers’ problems aren’t confined to the U.S. The Brexit vote in the UK, the Colombian voters’ rejection of the government’s peace deal with guerrilla fighters, far-right racist Marine Le Pen’s strong polling in the upcoming French presidential election—all of these reflect a worldwide crisis of capitalism.

 Fight Back

Heading into election day, both Clinton and Trump were “seen as dishonest and viewed unfavorably by a majority of voters” (NYT, 11/4), a reflection of the decay of U.S. capitalism. But for the working class, voting has never been the path to change the world. Elections are the bosses’ mechanism to hold on to power by giving us the illusion of choice. But just knowing the system is broken isn’t enough. To liberate our class, Black, Latin, Asian and white workers must unite to defeat the bosses’ ideology of racism, sexism, individualism and anti-communism. 

Trump’s open racism is a danger to the working class, but it cannot defeat us. As we go to press, thousands across the country are erupting in protest, shutting down highways and burning the American flag. Let’s bring our communist slogan, “It’s not just Trump, it’s capitalism.” One thing is clear: All sections of the working class are fed up with business as usual. The way out of this capitalist hell? Building Progressive Labor Party and the struggle for communist revolution.