BROOKLYN, NEW YORK, June 29—The U.S. ruling class wants us to believe their electoral circus is the only way to fix the problems inherent to capitalism. But as communists we understand that the only way out of this worldwide misery of capitalism is organizing to smash it and replace it with communism, a society run by and for the international working class. In this vein more than 50 comrades and friends gathered to learn from inspiring fightback stories of veteran Progressive Labor Party (PLP) members who organized against U.S. imperialism in Vietnam and against racist and sexist attacks in the U.S. in the late 1960s and 70’s. We discussed how to apply these lessons to the current movement against racist genocide in Gaza.
The opening speech detailed the disasters our international brothers and sisters are living through today from imperialist wars, to genocide in Palestine and Sudan, to climate catastrophes, to racist anti-immigrant attacks. The importance of revolutionary optimism was emphasized- the understanding that the international working class will one day smash this horrific capitalist system. Participants then moved from table to table to learn from five veteran comrades who shared inspiring stories of how they joined the mass movement against the Vietnam War and against racism. They spoke about gaining the experience and confidence to join a Party dedicated to fighting for a communist future free of wars for profit, inequality, police terror and the impossibly long list of capitalist-created social ills.
The world, then and now
The world was different then. Millions of workers around the world were inspired by the communist movement led by the Soviet Union and China. There was mass unrest, strikes, antiracist rebellions in cities and mass marches. In 1969-70 Black workers led a strike of 164,000 workers against General Electric for 102 days. The Party led thousands marching to the Labor Department in support, chanting “Warmaker, Strikebreaker, Smash GE.” In 1970 postal workers went on an illegal, wildcat strike, once again led by Black workers. In 1970 over 400,000 workers struck against General Motors. In 1971 when the U.S. bosses invaded Cambodia, protests on college campuses exploded.
PLP was involved in bringing revolutionary ideas to campuses and workplaces, to picket lines and mass marches. Masses of workers and students were in action and many Party members acted boldly in response. We pushed the limits. We made mistakes but we learned by doing.
Practice is primary.
Nationalism is nationalism, but it was different back then. Revolutionary nationalists, aligned with many communists, defeated the U.S. imperialists, kicking them out of Vietnam. Today Vietnam is a capitalist country and a sweatshop for profiteering corporations led by Nike. Nationalism is a dangerous idea for the international working class because it keeps us tied to the bosses of capitalist nations. Just because they look like us and speak the same language as us does not mean they have our interests. Capitalists will always use their power to continue their profiteering.
Some key lessons from those years
Lesson 1: Multi-racial, working-class unity is necessary to fight racist attacks! PLP called for college students on summer vacation to get factory jobs and build a worker-student alliance. Many Party members learned from workers how to fight the bosses on the job. Strike support during the 1970 General Motors strike was organized by PLP college students on strike against the Vietnam War. The point was to show how capitalism was a system that attacked the whole working class. GM, GE and the U.S. Postal Service attacked workers in the U.S. by cutting their wages and forcing them to work in dangerous conditions while U.S. imperialism dropped bombs on workers in Vietnam.
Lesson 2: Base Building is key! This means we have to get to know each other and build trust to effectively fight back. Comrades described how much of this happened at the bar. Spending time together, building friendship and struggling over ideas are all necessary ingredients to building a strong movement that can survive the bosses’ attacks.
Lesson 3: A communist party is necessary to eradicate capitalism! Fighting the bosses takes discipline, organization and commitment. Right now the working class is unorganized and influenced by capitalist ideas of individualism and cynicism. But workers can reject those ideas and organize to fight back collectively. Under communism workers will run the world. We need millions of workers committed to fighting for a world where we work collectively based on what we all need, not based on profits for billionaires.
We take inspiration from these fightbacks but today we live in a different period. This period is one of increasing chaos as the world’s bosses' rivalry for top-dog status spirals us towards world war III. There is more racist scapegoating of migrants, more genocidal attacks and more brutal suppression of fightback. Our job still remains the same though. We must continue the lifelong struggle to defeat capitalism with communist revolution. We have a long and difficult road ahead. We need everyone to join us so we can bury this disastrous system once and for all! On that grave, we will build a new world- one where all humanity is valued!
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East Africa: flooded by capitalism; workers organize!
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- 19 July 2024 667 hits
East Africa, July 4, 2024—Last night a group of Progressive Labor Party (PLP) members met with a small group of students, parents, teachers, and a man who runs a tutoring center. They were affected by severe flooding in a town in east Africa. They discussed how the government and the rich were to blame for the flood as well as the suffering that has followed.
Ever since British colonialism, this area has been prone to flooding. When it was clear there would be severe flooding again, the government should have diverted the flood water from human settlements, but the officials were more interested in protecting their own investments. For example, in order to preserve the huge profits from safari tourism, they redirected the flood waters away from the hippo lake in Ngorongoro Crater increasing the flooding where people live. One member of parliament who owns farms near Lake Eyasi, another place where the flood waters would have been redirected, blocked this in favor of redirecting it to where people live. The government organized temporary housing in churches and schools, but only a small number benefitted. They distributed a pitifully small amount of food.
Finance capitalists use the State to ensure profits
Many people who borrowed from banks to build homes no longer have homes to live in but still have to pay back the banks. They also lost their gardens and animals which they depend on for survival. Affected government workers are getting their debts automatically deducted from their salaries, which is one way the government and the banks are colluding to guarantee their profits. Because of these policies many of the affected don’t have the means to pay rent or build elsewhere. Some have been forced to move back into their damaged homes and impassable, disease prone neighborhoods without access to clean water.
The government officials knew that this was a flood prone area, but encouraged settlement anyway, splitting the area into plots to make the settlement official. (And, during the flooding they removed the individual plot markers to make it seem like an unofficial settlement, to try to absolve themselves of responsibility.) These corrupt government officials could never solve this problem because of their incompetence and self-interest. The workers, who knew how to divert the water, could have solved it but didn’t have the power to assert themselves.
Workers figure out strategies to fight back
Those at the meeting felt powerless but didn't want to feel like that. One man focused on going to local officials to solve the flood problem for the future, but that doesn’t address the problems that these workers are facing now. One comrade from the Caribbean shared stories about what they did around Covid relief when the government refused to take responsibility for the well-being of its citizens. With the financial solidarity of comrades and friends in the U.S., self-help brigades were formed to sew and distribute cloth masks and to set up communal sanitation stations where residents had no running water.
The meeting concluded with a group volunteering to buy some of the needed goods (mattresses, blankets, exercise books, pens, etc.) with money that PLP had raised for them. They plan to distribute them by prioritizing those most in need—the disabled, the elderly, single parent households, and school children. (The wheelchair of one disabled eight year-old boy was destroyed in the flood and has not been replaced.) They still need debt relief and new housing in a safe environment with electricity and clean water, but forming a self-help organization and distributing much needed items to affected families will empower them and could lead to more fightback against the banks and the government.
Next steps in organizing for communism
In this collective East African culture, helping each other comes naturally. PLP’s participation can make this small struggle a school for communism. This man-made disaster is a product of capitalism, a system that reduces working people to tools for the bosses’ profit. Fighting to make things better, like this reform struggle is doing, may or may not be won, but history has shown us that capitalism will always try to take back whatever workers win. We will remain on the defense until our class is running society in our own interest. Building our movement for communism is the most enduring victory possible.
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Kenya: youth storm parliament, need to attack profit system
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- 19 July 2024 721 hits
Nairobi, Kenya, July 12—In mid-June, a million Kenyan youth in 34 out of 47 counties rose up to protest against government corruption and oppression. Spreading rapidly on social media, the courageous protests culminated in the storming of the Parliament while in session with the Members of Parliament (MPs) fleeing like cockroaches. After protesters threw rocks, the killer cops opened fire on them with tear gas, water cannons and live ammunition. So far there are 49 protesters dead, 361 injured, 32 disappearances, and 627 arrests.
The protests started with the passage of the 2024 Finance Bill that funds the annual budget. It included massive, anti-working-class tax hikes and more money for politicians. For example almost 3 million shillings (US$23,000) were allocated to wives of 3 high-level officials for offices (that sum could feed more than 80 working-class families for a year). The bill would dissolve 26 government corporations that provide services duplicated by private companies, resulting in mass layoffs and cuts in affordable services to the working class. Protesters demanded that the Finance Bill be rescinded and the resignation of President Ruto and those MPs who voted for the bill. The reform demands show a young, working class that is fed up with capitalist oppression and the ruling class trying to solve their financial crisis on the backs of workers.
Young Workers Take the Lead
The protesters are mainly Gen Z, men and women, students and university-educated lawyers, teachers, and doctors, without jobs or prospects of jobs. They claim there’s no leadership to this movement and refuse to meet with Ruto. Some MPs wanted to join the protests but they would only be allowed if they resigned from parliament. The protesters halted the demonstrations temporarily because the police and government had sent infiltrators in to sidetrack the demonstrations with individualist attacks and looting with the goal of discrediting the protests.
Ruto is widely despised by the Kenyan working class but his corruption is actually business as usual for capitalism. Kenya ranks 8th in the world in extreme poverty, but MPs are paid the second highest salaries in the world, earning over the equivalent of US$7,000 a month, in addition to US$750 every time they sit for a parliament session. While Kenya has its own national airline, Ruto flies all over the world in privately-leased Saudi jets. A common local expression is “When Ruto’s not flying, he’s lying.” Biden just named Kenya a major non-NATO ally, a first in sub-Saharan Africa.
As the U.S. bully loses out to Chinese and Russian influence in Africa, Ruto is trying to help it maintain a foothold. Inter-imperialist rivalry forces all governments to choose sides between the superpowers at the same time as it deepens the inequality in the world. Half of Kenya’s revenue goes to repay foreign debt to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) the World Bank, the U.S. and Saudi Arabia. In fact, Ruto wrote the Finance Bill in response to the IMF’s demands for cuts in spending.
Reforms Are Not Enough
As of this writing, the protests have forced Ruto to withdraw tax hikes and many other parts of the bill. The movement has already inspired and emboldened the working class of Kenya, as well as other African countries, such as Nigeria and Tanzania. While some protesters did carry signs connecting the Finance Bill to imperialism —“IMF, World Bank, Stop the Modern Day Slavery”— the focus was on reforms to the Kenyan government. Without internationalist, communist leadership and goals, all reform struggles are bound to fail. The ruling class of Kenya will eventually take back the reforms. By linking local issues to the failures of world-wide capitalism, the movement can broaden their base and work towards the goal of destroying capitalism with communist revolution. Progressive Labor Party supports workers' struggles around the world with the goal of world-wide communist revolution, Join us!
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Spanish Civil War: Lessons from ferocious fight vs. fascism
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- 19 July 2024 954 hits
This article was excerpted from a PLP magazine article titled Lessons of the People’s War in Spain 1936-1939 Progressive Labor, Vol. 9, No. 5 (Oct.-Nov. 1974), 106-116. This July marks 88 years since the start of the Spanish Civil War. The lessons from the Spanish People’s War continue to be invaluable to the working class, sharpening our understanding of how we can defeat capitalism, fascism. Above all, learning the history of the Spanish Civil war can help us learn from the mistakes made by fighters in that period, so that we don’t risk repeating them on the march to communist revolution.
The Spanish Civil War in 1936-1939 was a heroic example of working-class internationalism, led by the communist movement to fight fascism. At the same time it continues to hinder today’s communist movement. We must learn the mistakes from history in order to successfully smash the capitalist ruling class once and for all.
The war was a ferocious fight between the Spanish Republicans and the fascist forces. The Spanish Republic was a weak liberal democracy, defended by an anti-fascist coalition made up of communists, anarchist organizations and other fake left groups, along with small bosses who were being ousted by the move to a fascist government. The fascist forces were backed by the main wing of the Spanish ruling class and the ruling classes of Europe and the U.S.
The Spanish Communist Party (PCE) and the Comintern (the Russian leadership of the international communist movement at the time) provided the only effective leadership--political and military--in the struggle against fascism in Spain. The PCE, unlike the numerous groups of fake leftists, was able to organize hundreds of thousands of workers into a powerful military force, despite the enormous material difficulties and their own weaknesses.
The PCE established the Spanish Republic in 1931. From the outset, the Republican government struggled to hold onto power. The growing fascist forces, backed by a large section of the Spanish ruling class, made several attempts to overthrow the Republic and move to fascism.
In 1936, the leftist parties formed a so-called “Popular Front” slate, the rationale being that in order to confront the dangers of fascism and imperialist war, communists should form an alliance with Social-Democrats and some bourgeois elements to preserve the liberal democracy, which ultimately means preserving peace for the ruling class.
Capitalists unite in support of fascists
In 1936 the fascists launched an attack with help from the European ruling class. Hitler sent the first substantial military aid of 20 transport planes to bring the Fascist Army of Africa to Spain. At its peak, German aid to the Fascists stood at about 6,000 troops plus a large amount of material. The maximum size of the Italian forces was about 100,000 troops, with enormous quantities of material. The European democracies refused to sell arms to the Republic and set up a naval blockade in conjunction with Germany and Italy to prevent weapons and volunteer anti-fascist fighters from getting to Spain.
U.S. companies also sold arms to Nazi Germany, then shipped them to Spain. In April 1938, President Roosevelt publicly admitted that the bombs falling on Spanish cities were American-made. “It is all perfectly legal,” he said.
While the rest of the Soviet Union sent aid to the Republic, the total number of Soviet personnel in Spain at any one time likely never totaled 700. Soviet arms shipments were limited after the closing of the French border by the necessity to run the blockade and also by the desire to avoid a world war, a desire unrealized.
Communist organize the working class to fight
The communist movement, through the PCE, organized the defense of Madrid. Their famous Fifth Regiment recruited over 60,000 militiamen (half PCE members), which soon became the backbone of the People’s Army.
Partly because of the seriousness and effectiveness with which the communists organized the militias, membership in the PCE, and their affiliated groups soared: from 30,000 at the beginning of the war to 200,000 at the end of 1936 to 1,000,000 by June, 1937.
Remote volunteers recruited largely by communist parties were organized into communist-led International Brigades. About 40,000 served in the brigades to fight back against the fascists
Famous for their discipline and courage, the International Brigade were some of the few troops in the early days with any sort of training , and they fought well throughout. Their recruitment was an act of internationalism enormously appreciated by the workers.
In another costly error by the communist movement, foreigners were withdrawn in 1938 in a vain effort to secure League of Nations (the precursor to the U.N.) action against German and Italian intervention.
As fascist troops approached Madrid, communists assumed the functions of the departed civil servants; radio, leaflets and banners urged the workers of Madrid to dig trenches and build barricades. Communists organized block by block; Fifth Regiment leaflets gave advice on battling tanks and house-to-house fighting.
On November 7th, 1936, fascist troops, expecting an easy victory, assaulted Madrid from the west, southwest, and northwest, but were repulsed by the hard-pressed militias, particularly the communist organized Fifth Regiment, in hand-to-hand fighting.
At the same time fake left groups undercut the anti-fascist fight. For example, the leaders of the 3,000-man anarchist column from the Aragon Front, demanded an independent section of the front “so that their achievements could not then be claimed by other units.”
The anarchists were given a sector in the University City, with artillery and air support, but refused to attack. When the Fascists attacked the anarchists broke and ran, abandoning a key bridge and positions in the University.
Failure to fight racism deadly mistake
Throughout the war, the fascists relied on troops recruited and conscripted in Spanish Morocco. Around 100,000 Moors fought for the Fascists. The Fascists encouraged every sort of atrocity on the part of the Moors, playing on the racism of the Republicans with great success.
Republican propaganda repeated and embroidered this racist trash. The PCE never made a public fight over this crucial issue, which should not only have been a matter of principle, but could have produced a powerful and proven ally in the struggle against the fascist bosses. The biggest error by the communists was not understanding that the key to victory in the civil war was the fight for the dictatorship of the proletariat, not as a vague objective for the far-off future, but right then. There can be no doubt that the opportunity for taking power existed: the PCE was the real organizer of the war against fascism, and could have united the working class even more completely around workers’ dictatorship
Key to winning: Rely on the working class
The bosses can be relied on for racism, murder and exploitation, but not for help. The only alternative is to rely on the workers, and that means fighting for workers’ power. Spain shows clearly what relying on the bosses means. The fascists won the war in 1939. In the aftermath 400,000 people--apart from those dead in the fighting—were slaughtered after the Republic fell. The clear lesson of Spain and the larger conflict which was to follow is that workers have absolutely nothing to gain from alliances with bosses. We must rely on our own strength, fight racism and settle for nothing short of workers’ power and communism.
A new book, Anti-Racism as Communism, written by Paul Gomberg, is thought-provoking and insightful in its argument that only communism can abolish racism. He takes us through the history of racism in the U.S., and the central role it plays in capitalism’s development. He posits a definition of racism that focuses on social inequality, not just prejudice or bigotry, and emphasizes the uniqueness and viciousness of anti-Black racism.
The book carefully develops a summary of the historical events and the relationship to profit that led to the invention of racism. In the early 1600’s and beyond, class solidarity was embedded in Black/poor white relations. In this period, indentured servants from Europe and enslaved people from Africa were friends, lovers, partners, and companions. As the 1700s brought new racist laws required to be read in church twice a year, and punishments meted out for disobeying those laws, racism began to develop.
Examples of Black and white worker unity against racism
Racism was integral to the founding of the U.S.—all of the “founding fathers” were racists. Most were enslavers who got rich off racism, including the leading racist theoretician, Thomas Jefferson. Class solidarity was also a factor of black/poor white relations in this time. “The capitalist system drove down the enslaved and the poor white farmers, but differently.” (p. 43)
Of course, racism did not end after the Civil War. The purpose of Jim Crow was to separate Black and white and prevent anti-racist class unity.
“The tragedy was the failure of white labor to understand that the racist oppression of black labor was their own oppression, that the working class as a whole needed to fight racist oppression. Instead, many white workers participated in the oppression of their black fellow workers, undermining them all.” (p. 57)
There were, of course, exceptions. In the 1880s and 90s there were integrated fights of coal miners. In some places, white miners realized that if Black workers were paid less, white miners were more likely to lose their jobs. Rendville, Ohio, for example, with a majority white population, had racially integrated schools and elected a Black mayor in 1887. Still, because the bosses hold state power, gains for some workers mean losses for others. “Only the seizure of power makes a truly human society for workers possible.” (p. 74)
Paul details the many anti-racist fights organized by the Communist Party, particularly in the 1930s - 1950s. The fact that these struggles brought Black and white together was a powerful blow to Jim Crow. Black-white worker unity was prominent in struggles of Memphis maritime workers, Ford Rouge workers, Waterloo meatpackers, the Chicago Packinghouse Workers, and Louisville farm equipment workers, to name some examples. The Communist Party was instrumental in helping to develop racial unity in these struggles.
When Nazis came to power in Germany, the Soviets and communists elsewhere allied with liberals against fascism instead of organizing for communist revolution to smash fascism. Later, in 1947, the Taft-Hartley Act was passed by Congress in an effort—which ended up being successful— to destroy communist-led unions. Party members were caught off guard because they did not fully understand how incompatible capitalism is with workers’ needs. We must learn from both the successes and mistakes of the Communist Party, as we continue to fight for an egalitarian world.
The Civil Rights movement ended many forms of discrimination, but Black workers were still relegated to lower-paid jobs, their children went to segregated schools and they lived in segregated neighborhoods. “The civil rights movement… did not place racism in the context of exploitation of workers and benefits to capital of a divided working class.” (p. 126) Furthermore, Black workers are still prominent in low-wage work, are often “last hired, first fired”, and have considerably less inherited wealth mostly due to past and present racist policies and practices regarding home ownership.
From his own experience as a teacher at the predominantly Black Chicago State University, Gomberg presents the idea that racism can be committed by Black people against other Black people. In one example, a student is unjustly beaten and arrested by a cop, who is supported by administrators and never disciplined for his actions. Everyone in this example is Black.
Racism also is harmful to white and other non-Black working-class people. Racism has divided the working class, weakened unions, and encouraged a culture of individualism. It has driven down conditions for Black and other non-white people, but also, to a lesser extent, white people. The capitalists increase their share of wealth, while poverty creates stress for the working class. The only way to end racism is to end capitalism.
Only communism can end racism
Gomberg argues that an important aspect of ending racism is to “alienate race”. This is not a process that ignores the existence of racism. Rather, it is the process of thinking of yourself and others in terms other than the racial identities that the capitalists have created. He does not posit that this is an easy process or even one that can be completed under capitalism. He does argue that alienating race is an essential part of the elimination of racism. It is a process that can begin when we are still under the yoke of capitalism, even though it can only be fully realized under communism.
Additionally, Paul discusses the importance of what he calls “race-centered Marxism”. In other words, while it is true that there are many groups of people who are discriminated against by the capitalist class, racism is historically and currently their primary weapon to divide the working class.
The book ends on a hopeful note. It briefly analyzes the strengths and weaknesses within the Chinese Communist Party. We have much to learn from both. While encouraged by their success, we must also learn from their mistakes, which led to their current capitalist state. Combining our practice in militant class struggle with dialectical materialist understandings of history like that in Antiracism as Communism will guide us to construct a new communist society that’s stronger than ever.
(Note: Antiracism as Communism currently is only sold in hardcover form, for over $100. CHALLENGE suggests that readers ask their local libraries purchase for circulation).