Dutch workers sickened by racist annihilation of Palestinians 

Al Jazeera, 5/18–Tens of thousands of red-clad protesters marched through the Dutch capital to demand their government do more to halt Israel’s war on Gaza in what organizers called the country’s biggest demonstration in two decades. Human rights groups and aid agencies…estimated the peaceful crowd at more than 100,000 people on the streets of The Hague. “We are calling on the Dutch government: stop political, economic and military support to Israel as long as it blocks access to aid supplies and while it is guilty of genocide, war crimes and structural human rights violations in Gaza and the Occupied Palestinian Territories”... 

Workers sickened by black lung gain legal support

In These Times, 5/15–In a rare occasion of good news for the nation’s coal miners, a decision this week in a lawsuit brought by one of their own will reverse at least some of the damage done when the Trump administration eviscerated the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) offices…hundreds of those workers had suddenly found themselves out of a job…As a result, the NIOSH Respiratory Health Division and the Coal Workers Health Surveillance Program (CWHSP), whose ongoing research and health screenings are critically important in addressing the black lung epidemic stalking Appalachia’s coal miners, were left unable to function.  

Georgia prosecutors continue legal hunt of KKKop City protesters

The Guardian, 5/18–Nearly two years into the largest Rico, or conspiracy, prosecution against a protest movement in US history, the case is mired in delays and defence claims that proceedings are politically motivated and ruining the lives of the 61 activists and protesters who face trial. Rico cases are usually brought against organized crime, and are associated with the mafia, but in Georgia a sprawling prosecution has been brought against dozens of people opposed to a police training center near Atlanta known as Cop City. 

Think-tank warning about potential for U.S.--China war

Foreign Affairs, 5/15–Tensions in the Taiwan Strait are growing. Even before Taiwan elected William Lai as its president, in January 2024, China voiced strong opposition to him, calling him a “separatist” and an “instigator of war.” In recent months, Beijing has ramped up its broadsides: in mid-March, the spokesperson for China’s Taiwan Affairs Office labeled Lai a “destroyer of cross-Straits peace” and accused him of pushing Taiwan toward “the perilous brink of war”...Since Lai became president, Beijing has demonstrated growing willingness to use military might to intimidate and punish the island. And it is far more prepared to use force against Taiwan today than it was 20 years ago.

Migrants, escaping capitalist terror, die in large numbers

Infomigrants, 5/5–A new report from the International Organization for Migration (IOM) reveals that most people who die while migrating are not taking dangerous journeys purely out of choice, but out of desperation -- fleeing insecurity, conflict, disaster, and other humanitarian crises.  Since 2014, more than 52,000 people have died while trying to escape crisis-affected countries…More than half (54 percent) of all recorded migrant deaths since 2014 occurred in or near countries affected by conflict or disaster…the central Mediterranean remains the deadliest single migration route worldwide, with nearly 25,000 people lost at sea…

Capitalism fails even to feed Haitian children

ScrippsNews, 5/14–In a sterile, solar-powered facility in northern Haiti, workers suit up like surgeons. But they aren’t performing operations, they’re producing medicine in the form of peanut paste. And in a country teetering on the edge of collapse, it’s a rare symbol of hope. Inside this factory run by the nonprofit Meds & Food for Kids, Haitian workers meticulously measure, mix and pack a therapeutic peanut paste that’s used to treat severe childhood malnutrition. The paste, enriched with vitamins and micronutrients, has become a lifeline for children pushed to the brink by starvation…The numbers are stark: over one million children in Haiti — one in four — are now facing life-threatening malnutrition. 

The first hundred days of President Donald Trump’s return to office have doubled down on the racist policies of Joe Biden, from anti-immigrant state terrorism to the embrace of slaughter and ethnic cleansing in Gaza. The brutal reality of capitalist rule under rising fascism has been laid bare. For the international working class, this moment marks a dramatic escalation of class war. 

By exposing the contradictions of the profit system, Trump is pushing many workers to see that it can never serve their needs. The task of Progressive Labor Party is to lead those workers–and millions more–to smash capitalism with communist revolution. The large and militant turnout of workers and students on May Day renews our confidence that our future can be bright with a growing PLP

A system in crisis

Under capitalism, a tiny billionaire class rules over a world of misery–not because they are smarter or more deserving, but because they have state power. They control the military, the police, and the media. These exploiters ruin human and natural life for profit. Regardless of which faction is in power, they are driven by the harsh reality of their system: grow or die, no matter the cost to the workers of the world. From sweatshops in Bangladesh to the slavery of mass incarceration in the U.S., capitalism relies on coercion and violence on an everyday basis.

Fascism is capitalism in crisis, stripped of its mask of liberal democracy. Today’s global disaster is the product of slowing economic growth, rampant speculation, and exorbitant debt. from national treasuries to credit cards and college loans. When pushed to the wall, bosses sharpen their knives. To intimidate an impoverished working class and prepare to fight their imperialist competition, they’re forced to scrap their democratic charade. “Due process,” “the rule of law,” “free and fair” elections, constitutional “freedoms”--all are being kicked to the curb. This fascist trend is playing out worldwide–not just in Turkey and India and Israel, but also in the U.S. and its junior partners in Europe. 

A rotting empire

Trump is the vicious creature of a rotting United States empire. Faced with a rising China that makes more than a third of the world’s goods and has a stranglehold on critical industries, Trump has crudely responded with a trade war. The tariffs aren’t likely to restore U.S. manufacturing supremacy, but they are sure to drive workers into deeper misery by inflating the cost of living.  

The shock-and-awe assault of Trump’s first hundred days–and the Democrats’ passivity in enabling it–reflects the bosses’ desperation. The defunding of social welfare, the use of soldiers as border cops, the green light to poison our air and water, the anti-immigrant violence and abductions–none of this is entirely new. Trump’s Democratic predecessors, from Clinton to Obama to Biden, helped set the stage for these ruthless attacks. But Trump’s open cruelty and racism, cheered on by a significant minority of deluded workers, mark a transition to more open fascism–unless and until a communist-led mass movement stops it in its tracks. 

The rulers are helpless to solve the problems of their system. Pressed to shovel money into their war machine, they can no longer afford reforms to make workers’ lives even a little better for even a little while. In this decayed phase of capitalism, they can no longer build–they can only destroy. Trump serves his wing of the ruling class with scapegoats and wrecking balls. Today the bosses are shredding what’s left of the U.S. social safety net and disappearing “legal” immigrant workers to El Salvador. Sooner than later, they’ll be forced into the mass destruction of world war, the temporary fix to what Karl Marx called the crisis of overproduction–the inability of workers to buy enough of what’s produced. But there is only one permanent solution to the contradictions of capitalism. That’s communism, a world without money or wages, a society built around serving workers’ needs.

No borders in a communist world 

In a world run by the working class, there will be no borders, no “citizens” or “aliens,” no imperialist wars. From the apartheid wall in Palestine to the militarized line between the U.S. and Mexico, borders are designed to protect capitalist profits, divide workers, and super-exploit immigrants. In a communist world, the nationalist divisions that tear our class apart  will be abolished. Workers will be united in their shared struggle to construct a world free of racism, sexism, and exploitation. As we’re seeing today in the bosses’ bloodsoaked atrocities in Ukraine, in Sudan, in India and Pakistan, nationalism is poison for the international working class. Communism is the cure!  

Build the Party, build the future 

Workers fight back. The history of class war and revolution is one of heroic resilience. From the communist-led defeat of the Nazis in World War Two to the multiracial cadre that founded PLP and picked up the red flag, we have never stopped fighting. We can see our future in the growing worldwide solidarity of workers and students who’ve joined the fight against genocide in Palestine, who demand climate action, who reject nationalism and fascism. These are not isolated fightbacks. They are the sparks of a global fire. 

Again, fascism isn't merely an option for the domestic capitalists who back Trump or the finance capitalists behind the Democrats–it's a matter of necessity. Workers too have but one choice: communist revolution. We must break from the illusions of reformism and expose the liberal misleaders who betray us. We must reject all war but class war and choose life and working-class liberation. Most of all, we must build an international revolutionary party to end capitalism for all time.The future belongs to a communist-led working class–but only if we fight for it. Down with the bosses! Join PLP!

Brooklyn, NY, May 3— Flatbush Avenue turned red once again as over 200  members and friends of the Progressive Labor Party (PLP) marched to celebrate May Day, waving bold crimson flags in solidarity with workers around the world and fully in sync with this year’s theme: “Raise the Red Flag Against Fascism! Fight for communism!” In what has become our Brooklyn May Day tradition, our march was headed up by a banner-decorated truck with a sound system that blasted backup music for our militant and celebratory chants. Workers in the neighborhood danced along to the beats, chimed in with chants, opened their windows to express support, and in some cases, joined our march. Many marchers sported floppy red hats and red umbrellas to go along with the theme.

March for communism! 

Prior to kicking off our march, our day’s emcees read out international greetings from Haiti, South Asia, East Africa, and the United Kingdom. Three young comrades, one who joined PLP around a year ago, collectively gave the main speech (printed on page 7 & 8).  It validated workers’ fears in this time of growing fascism while also sharing highlights of worker and communist fight back in the last year and inspiring revolutionary optimism in the fight for communism. While marching, we distributed 2,400 copies of CHALLENGE and 125 flier invites to an upcoming “Meet PLP” event. We closed out the event with a singing of the Internationale and lunch distribution, sharing with workers who were in the park. Many stuck around to socialize and hear what friends and comrades had to say about our energetic day.

Post May Day reflections

On a bus ride that some marchers took back uptown, participants had a chance to share what they thought of our May Day. Some commented on how energized the neighborhood was about our march. Another person shared how few groups are as multiracial as our march was. For many on the bus, it was their first May Day! One comrade shared that it was his 39th May Day. A comrade invited the riders to join PLP and commit their lives to fighting for a better world for the international working class. 

As fascism continues to develop and intensify, and as the drums of world war beat faster every day, many workers are scared. We must fight this fear and the cynicism and individualism that the ruling class hopes we will hold onto. Only through fighting for communism can we end the nightmare of this murderous profit system known as capitalism. Our May Day march was just a beacon of light in a dark night. Dark night shall have its end! Join us!

Maryland, May 21—Members of Progressive Labor Party (PLP)  joined rallies outside a courthouse in Greenbelt, calling for the return of Kilmar Abrego Garcia–who the bosses deported based on racist lies to the hellish CECOT (Centro de Confinamiento del Terrorismo) prison in El Salvador, where he remains as of this writing. CHALLENGE issues and bilingual flyers were on hand, inviting protestors to May Day. While the outrage over Garcia’s treatment is needed,  PLP says that the ruling class wasn’t making a “mistake” in deporting him – such repressive actions are built into the capitalist system. The collective working class must come together to smash all borders worldwide and fight for communism!

Workers fight back

Workers from around the region protested Abrego-Garcia’s deportation. Signs attacked the lack of “Due Process,”  executive disregard for the judiciary, and lamented the failure of “the rule of law.” Familiar chants included “No HATE, No FEAR, Immigrants are Welcome Here” and calls for justice. A “Rapid Response Choir” from the local Mennonite Church sang. The outpouring of solidarity was a great step forward, but liberal slogans aren’t enough. Battle lines, marked in the dirt years ago by “Deporter-in-Chief” Obama, are being crossed daily as attacks on the working class escalate within the U.S. All immigrants are targets, including students on visas and with green cards! U.S. citizens who oppose the ruling class’s policies are next in line. 

Borders only benefit bosses

International borders are creations of capitalism. Borders were established as nation-states consolidated power and sought to divide workers from each other and terrorize those who migrate. They allow bosses to more easily exploit certain workers, such as those escaping capitalist created civil, proxy and gang wars in their home countries, paying them poverty wages for work, which drives down wages for all workers. In times of rising inter imperialist rivalry with China and Russia, workers are being forced to cross borders across the globe for survival, while the ruling class uses them as pawns for profit, allowing and restricting access based on their fascist needs. 

All politicians support these borders. Senator Van Hollen (D-Md) made a performative trip to El Salvador to make the case in favor of Abrego-Garcia’s return, but said nothing about the many other deportees savaged by the U.S. capitalist state and imprisoned in CECOT. At the same time, Trump and Bukele (President of El Salvador)  doubled down on lying about Abrego-Garcia’s character to build racist sentiment against immigrants among U.S. workers.

Gang lists are racist tools of repression

The lying cop who said Garcia was a gang member is on the Maryland State Attorney’s list of cops who are disqualified from testifying in court hearings because of their history of false testimony. The “gang file” that was kept on students and residents of Prince George’s County was filled with young Latin workers deemed “suspicious” (without evidence) by any random cop. Destroying that file was a focus of protests by PLP and CASA since it had led to falsely-based deportations at that time.

Contrary to most U.S.  liberal analysis, Abrego-Garcia’s deportation and subsequent detention in El Salvador is not a Trump administration (or even a U.S.) anomaly; the European Union is following the same playbook much to the chagrin of hundreds of human rights organizations (Amnesty International, March, 2025). The treatment of Abrego-Garcia is a harsh reminder that the international working class must unite against capitalist exploitation. 

Don’t be fooled by “cool dictators”

In 2019, after decades of U.S.-sponsored civil war, gang war and economic instability, self-described ‘coolest dictator’ President Nayib Bukele of El Salvador basked in popular support. Many people felt a momentary reprieve from decades of state-sponsored violence and ignored the government’s punitive security policies being carried out with their knowledge, while ignoring the continuing economic and political assaults on the poorest (Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA). 

But now the same working class faces the highest incarceration rate in the world. Anyone might be swept up and tossed into El Salvador’s brutal mega prison (CECOT) with no legal recourse (WOLA). Trump isn’t the only U.S. president to court fascist Bukele. In 2024, high ranking officials from the Biden administration attended Bukele’s inauguration for a second term. 

Don’t fall for liberal politicians

Despite Van Hollen’s trip to El Salvador, neither Democrats nor Republicans will allow systemic change from capitalism and racism. In their eyes “The working class be damned.” It is only us, the international working class, that can end capitalism with mass revolutionary change. Capitalism has got to go. In its place? An egalitarian system called communism with the world’s workers collectively running the world.