We’re not benefiting from what the Chinese are mining. It feels like all the jobless people in China come here to work while our own people suffer... In fact, we’re being underdeveloped by what they’re taking, said a Congolese worker in the documentary Blood Cobalt, which we screened during our Spring Project.

Leading up to our spring break project, the Party held a national call discussing the inter-imperialist rivalry between China and the U.S. in Congo. The panel-style discussion included Congolese workers we’ve been organizing with. The main takeaway: to Congolese workers, there’s no such thing as a “good” imperialist—a title often handed to China for its “development” projects in Africa.

Capitalism, driven by profit, will never solve Congo’s problems. The working class must organize to overthrow the system—building a communist society based on solidarity, collective ownership, and stewardship of the planet.

The Progressive Labor Party’s (PLP) goal is to unite workers, soldiers, and students to fight for a communist world—and Congo is no exception. Armed with communist ideas and leadership, Congolese workers have the power to disrupt global supply chains and bring imperialist warmakers to their knees. The only real path forward for Congolese workers is to join the PLP and unite with the international working class.

Film Discussion Destroys the “China Is Better” Myth

During our Spring Break Project, we screened the Australian documentary Blood Cobalt with a multiracial, multigenerational group of 25–30 PL’ers and friends. The film does a powerful job exposing Chinese imperialism and its devastating impact on Congolese workers. Of the 19 cobalt mines in the DRC, 15 are run or financed by China. These mines offer no safety for workers, many of whom dig as deep as 25 meters underground. The film shows how mining causes cancer, black lung disease, and frequent fatal tunnel collapses—deaths often hidden and ignored by bosses.

One of the most heartbreaking stories follows Mama Nicole, whose village borders the Chinese-operated Congo Dongfang International Mining (CDM) mine. With no barriers or fences, her 13-year-old son, Neomba, entered to collect cobalt from waste heaps. He and a friend died when the embankment collapsed.

The film left us deeply saddened and enraged. Many of us were struck by the impossible choices workers face—like a mother having to choose between sending her kids to religious school or risking their lives in the mines to avoid starvation. While the film effectively shatters the myth of a more benevolent Chinese imperialism compared to the U.S., some attendees, including a PL’er and a friend, rightly criticized its failure to address the U.S.’s long-standing role in Congo’s destabilization. 

Climate Crisis Is a Capitalist Crisis

We also discussed how climate catastrophe is a direct result of capitalism. The DRC and the Central African Republic are seeing the worst forest destruction tied to mining. Deforestation for large-scale mining infrastructure causes direct harm (biodiversity loss) and indirect damage (pollution of aquatic ecosystems). Even more alarming: if deforestation continues, 27% of the Congo Basin’s undisturbed rainforest could vanish by 2050 (Forest News, 11/16/22) As the world’s second-largest rainforest, its destruction will only accelerate the climate crisis for the global working class. During the film discussion, another PL’er argued that capitalism’s solutions can never resolve the climate crisis. They pointed out that the idea of "ethical consumption" is a myth, emphasizing that choosing not to buy an electric car to spare the children of Congo ultimately means bombs will fall on the children of Gaza instead because imperialist laws of competition and profit require the brutal exploitation of our class around the world.

Internationalism: Workers struggles are the same

During our study group on internationalism, a Congolese friend emphasized that no matter which imperialist power controls the mines, conditions for workers remain the same: super-exploitation, entrenched poverty, and a lack of access to education—while billions are extracted from the minerals beneath their feet.One clear takeaway emerged from these two learning packed days: while capitalism may wear different masks across the globe, workers face the same core struggles. From the mines of Appalachia—where bosses profit from coal while towns are devastated by unemployment and opioid addiction—to the mining towns of Congo, which remain underdeveloped, and to Ecuador, where gold miners are killed by cancer or cartels and their children trapped in poverty, the pattern repeats. 

Inter-Imperialist rivalry fuels proxy wars

In March, the M23 militia—backed by Rwanda, and supported by the U.S., Canada, Europe, and Israel—took control of Goma and Bukavu in Eastern Congo. This is not a regional conflict. It’s a proxy war waged by imperialist powers to secure resource flows, displacing millions and deepening the humanitarian crisis. The Congolese government is complicit—paying Romanian mercenaries $5,000 a month while Congolese soldiers earn $100. This betrayal exposes how local bosses serve imperialist interests and multinational corporations. While the bosses profit, the working class is misled into fighting nationalist wars that serve imperialist agendas. 

The dark night of capitalism has a communist horizon

Yet even amid these horrors, there’s hope. Workers in the Congo are fighting back (see our upcoming article from workers in the Congo). We’re also planning a teach-in and fundraiser with our base members and allied organizations.

In the Party, we say Black workers are key—because we understand that the leadership of Black workers is essential to smashing this racist, sexist, genocidal system.

We must win over our Congolese siblings to communist ideas. As Lenin wrote, imperialist competition inevitably leads to war. Our task is to turn that rivalry into a revolutionary struggle for communism. It’s time to build the Party, raise class consciousness, and fight for a future where Congo’s wealth benefits all humanity—not the imperialist bosses.

The choice is clear: either we unite and fight for communism, or continue to suffer under capitalism and imperialism. The future of the international working class depends on the path we choose. Let us choose revolution.

Haiti

Listen, comrades and friends: the bosses’ world is becoming increasingly aggressive to save their dying system. As the living conditions of workers and immigrants continue to deteriorate everywhere, the imperialists try to silence the working class at all costs by creating a climate of terror. The bourgeois politicians use their political power to impose the ruling class’s will on the international working class. And when workers and students rebel, the bosses deploy the most violent means to try to sabotage all forms of resistance to capitalism.

So, on this May Day 2025, as a greeting for International Workers’ Day, we launch a rallying cry from Haiti, where the working class has been petrified and wounded by indescribable violence for several years in the name of the interests of capitalism and imperialism. Comrades! The founder of the first Haitian Communist Party, Jacques Roumain, addressing Black workers who were victims of racism in the United States on their own soil during the first half of the 20th century, wrote: “We are all brothers.” Today, we repeat this phrase and proclaim it even louder. Again and even louder, let us chant, comrades: we are all sisters and brothers, regardless of our color or gender, in the face of capitalist exploitation.

Comrades, the hour is grave!

Yes, comrades, the hour is grave. The future of humanity is threatened, and it is up to our class to save it together in revolutionary comradeship. By standing up together to smash racism, the persecution of immigrants, and the genocide against the workers of the world (in Palestine, Haiti, and so many places) we must turn the bosses’ imperialist wars for profit and control of the world’s resources into class war for communism. We must put the international working class first. We have no choice but to come together to destroy the bosses’ plan to decimate our class and annihilate our planet.

Comrades, we have fought back for centuries and we know how to win. Let us strengthen our ranks to lead the class struggle. We have a world to win!

Long live the unity of the global working class! Long live the class struggle! Long live the revolution! Long live communism!

Colombia

Comradely greetings of struggle from Bogotá, Colombia! On the eve of commemorating the International Workers Day and its historic struggle against wage slavery, racism, slavery, sexism, child labor exploitation -- in general, against all forms of oppression imposed by capitalism -- we unite in this celebration of the international working class. Now is the time for people to commit to the revolutionary communist struggle, actively engaging against school closures, healthcare cuts, imperialist wars and police terror, deportations, and the persecution of migrant workers.

We urgently call on the international working class to unite their efforts and vehemently reject the fascist onslaught of imperialism and its nationalist lackeys. This rejection must range from militant demonstrations to refusing the corrupt and mafia-like electoral system of capitalist democracy.

Political preparation under PLP and the qualitative and quantitative growth of the Party are our priorities. There are advances and setbacks, but our motivation remains intact, and we will continue to fight, supporting our class, guiding and directing it toward future struggles for our liberation from the capitalist yoke.

Our Party, the PLP, chosen by rural and urban workers and students, fights to build communist consciousness with a long-term, revolutionary style of work to create a communist society, without bosses or profits, without racism or politicians, introducing revolutionary consciousness and combating the dishonest nature of capitalism.

With our newspaper, CHALLENGE-DESAFIO, we carry out mass work in working-class neighborhoods, in marches and protests, educating ourselves in collectivity and proletarian internationalism. Only by strengthening our international party can we emerge from this capitalist electoral quagmire, crushing these fascists and defeating the ruling class with communist revolution.

Brazil

In this year 2025, the working class of Brazil continues to suffer from both the state and the local bourgeoisie. Public schools and universities are suffering budget cuts from the state, leading to strikes in the education sector, including teachers and administrative staff. Public schools are functioning badly, lacking work materials; many schools lack chairs for their students; students can only go to school every other day. There are also environmental and climatic disasters affecting the working class due to the exploitation of raw materials by the bourgeoisie and the state, as was the case in Rio Grande do Sul last year and in São Paulo at the beginning of this year.

The local bourgeoisie, for its part, wants to generalize modern slavery. It’s not a number of hours to be worked, but a number of days of work per week. Thus, local bosses want workers to submit to the domination of this 6/1 law, which means working 6 days of work and having one day to stay home. This day spent at home is simply to replenish some of one’s strength, wash one’s clothes, get some sleep, and return to the modern fields that are the industries and large capitalist institutions. In this case, workers have no rest, no social life, no time for study, and even no time for recreation. It’s a life devoted entirely to capitalist exploitation. And to make matters worse for our class, the minimum wage is adjusted at the beginning of each year, but this has no impact on workers’ purchasing power, and since December, prices have steadily been rising.

The situation of the working class in Brazil is similar to that of the entire working class worldwide, regardless of the country in question. The application of exploitative policies may change, but the exploitation of the masses remains the same in all countries.

Thus, we, the members of the PLP in Brazil, continue to affirm that only revolutionary communist struggle can liberate our class from our common enemy, capitalism. Let us join the PLP—we have a world to win

Mexico

Comrades,

I’m sending you and the international working class  greetings from our Progressive Labor Party collective in Mexico. We wish you a large and enthusiastic May Day celebration. Amid the rise of fascism around the world and threats of imperialist war, our active participation in the struggle for the leadership of our class is key to keeping liberals, fake leftists, and fascists away. But above all, it keeps us on the revolutionary path toward a communist society.

Trade wars eventually turn into wars with bombs, most likely nuclear. To try to win our class to fight their battles, the bosses will use their entire arsenal of racist, sexist, and nationalist ideological weapons, as well as state violence to force us to fight for their interests. Our Party has the antidote to this genocidal poison: our red flags and literature in the streets, in the neighborhoods, in the factories, and in the fields; our revolutionary communist line and most importantly, our unwavering trust and love for our class sisters and brothers.

These days we, like you, will gather in modest but meaningful dinners to talk about May Day, communism, and our organization. And like you, we will take to the streets to proudly wave our flags, shout out slogans, and sing our anthems. Like you, we will distribute our literature, we will speak with our brothers and sisters. Like you, with these and many other actions, we reaffirm our commitment to a red future. Have a communist and revolutionary May Day!

Easter offers no respite from Israeli attacks

Al Jazeera, 4/20–Palestinian Christians in Gaza, the occupied West Bank and Jerusalem have marked a second sombre Easter under punishing conditions and Israel’s war on Gaza. In the Gaza Strip, where no food or aid has been allowed in by the Israeli military for nearly 50 days, people observed Easter on Sunday at the Greek Orthodox Church of Saint Porphyrius in Gaza City amid death and destruction. Easter celebrations were limited to religious rituals as families cancelled other gatherings fearing more bombs would be dropped by Israeli warplanes, which killed dozens of people in the besieged enclave on Sunday…Israeli authorities prevented many Christians, including Palestinians, from accessing holy sites for Easter in the occupied West Bank…people were beaten, and Israeli officers and onlookers directed insults and slurs towards Christians.

Colleges jump on board the ICE attacks on students

The Guardian, 4/21–Fears of a new wave of deportations and student visa cancellations are rising at a number of Florida’s most diverse universities after administrators signed agreements recasting campus police as federal immigration agents…The partnerships give campus officers broad new powers to stop, question and detain students about their immigration status, and share information directly with Ice…More than 1,400 international students and recent graduates perceived by the government to be pro-Palestinian have had their F-1 or J-1 visas canceled by the homeland security department…

College political organizer kicked out of college

Rochester Democrat & Chronicle, 4/18–Two words jumped off the page: Interim ban. Guerra knew what it meant…Over the last year, students and officials from the University of Rochester have repeatedly clashed over the handling of protests related to the Israel-Hamas War. “The University retains the right to suspend, ban, or otherwise constrain or restrict students, groups, and organizations on an interim basis until the formal conduct process is completed, if they pose a perceived or actual threat to themselves, others, or to the orderly processes of the University community.” It offered no evidence of his involvement. He had two hours to collect his belongings and leave campus…

Food workers protest factory speed up

MPR News, 4/18–Hundreds of meatpacking workers marched in shifts outside of the JBS Foods plant in Worthington throughout Thursday afternoon and into the early evening. They carried signs and demanded safer work conditions at the pork plant…Last month, the U.S. Department of Agriculture extended waivers for increased speeds while also moving to make the increases permanent…Line speeds have increased significantly over the last few decades, according to Stull. He said in the poultry industry the rate of birds processed per minute was about 90 in the late ‘80s and early ‘90s. Now it’s 140 birds a minute.

Think-tank hacks remind us that capitalism is about competition

Foreign Affairs, April/May 2025–Success in great-power competition requires rigorous and unsentimental net assessment…On critical metrics, China has already outmatched the United States. Economically, it boasts twice the manufacturing capacity. Technologically, it dominates everything from electric vehicles to fourth-generation nuclear reactors and now produces more active patents and top-cited scientific publications annually. Militarily, it features the world’s largest navy, bolstered by shipbuilding capacity 200 times as large as that of the United States; vastly greater missile stocks; and the world’s most advanced hypersonic capabilities…Washington would be particularly unwise to go it alone in a complex global competition.

Healthcare workers in Pakistan take to the streets

Daily Times, 4/20–Pakistan’s healthcare system is in crisis, and the Punjab government’s plan to privatize hospitals is making things worse. With only one doctor for every 1,764 people…Many doctors are leaving the country, and strict rules make it hard for students to become doctors. This leaves people without the medical help they need. The recent protests in Lahore…show how serious the problem is. Doctors, nurses, and health workers marched to the Chief Minister’s Secretariat to demand that public hospitals stay public. They were met with violence from police, who beat and injured protesters…

USAID tool for U.S. Imperialist Terror

While the Trump administration eliminates foreign aid as it stockpiles weapons for war with China, the death of USAID is no great loss for the international working class. Under the guise of providing "humanitarian” assistance around the world, USAID was an agent of imperialist regime change and a partner of brutal forces in Cuba, Bolivia and Venezuela, among other countries (Foreign Policy, 4/3/14).
Born during the John F. Kennedy administration, USAID distributed food and medical care while working as a CIA front in committing atrocities. It collaborated with state terrorists in Indonesia, Philippines and Vietnam. It trained police and military forces in torturing and executing workers who opposed fascist U.S.-backed governments. Beyond funneling money to dictators and their shock troops, a USAID convoy murdered 17 Iraqi civilians in Baghdad in 2007. The agency also tried to organize an uprising in Cuba against the Castro government (New Yorker, 2/25).
Most recently, USAID was exposed for funneling CIA money to opium producers in Afghanistan as part of the U.S. effort to woo Afghan militias to support the U.S. war there (Yahoo News, 2/25).

On March 28, a devastating 7.7 magnitude earthquake rocked Myanmar, leaving more than 3,500 dead, nearly 5,000 injured, and hundreds missing (Deutsche Welle, 04/05/2025).  While the earthquake itself was a natural disaster, its catastrophic toll on the working class is all about capitalism. Its impact was worsened by a four-year civil war, inter-imperialist rivalry, massive economic inequality, and shoddy housing built for profit. Compounding the crisis, Myanmar’s military junta resumed its brutal bombing campaign over the following weekend (New York Times, 03/30). 

The racist brutality of capitalism makes natural disasters even more deadly. The vast majority of aid in Myanmar has been allocated to cities where wealth is concentrated. Rural areas, where most of the impoverished minority Muslim population lives, were ignored for days (New York Times, 4/1). Only communism and an end to the profit system can stop these capitalist disasters for the workers of the world. 

Capitalist death traps

There is no technological barrier to building earthquake-resistant housing. The problem is that developers are in business for profits, not safe and decent homes for the working class. Substandard materials, weak building codes, and corrupt inspectors are the norm, particularly in places where housing profits are limited by mass poverty (Northeastern.edu, 3/25). Capitalism and the dislocation of war forced thousands of workers to settle in high-risk areas. In cities like Mandalay, high-rise apartment buildings were falsely promoted for their earthquake-resistant foundations. They became tombs for hundreds of residents (NYT, 4/1). 

Now workers are battered by the Myanmar government's pathetically weak famine response, a shortage of shelter, and a lack of medical supplies and personnel (France24, 3/30). Damaged road infrastructure has impeded the search for missing persons and care of the thousands of injured. The junta’s minimal help is wielded as a weapon: "The Myanmar military has a long-standing practice of denying aid to areas where resistance groups are active and sending it to areas they control, while denying it to areas they don't control" (BBC, 4/1). 

Crumbs from the imperialists

The big imperialist countries have sent mere crumbs in emergency response to the devastated country, with China pledging just $14 million in aid. The U.S., behind President Donald Trump and his faction of Fortress America bosses, has promised just $2 million. As inter-imperialist rivalry between a rising China and a declining U.S. escalates, Trump’s administration is waging a protectionist trade war while dismantling the “soft power” favored by the liberal main wing of U.S. capitalism, like the CIA front USAID [see box]. The Trump administration’s gutting of international aid aligns with its distancing from multilateral alliances and obligations around the world, including NATO. It marks a sharpening split within the U.S. ruling class and a collapse of the old liberal world order.

China's interest in Myanmar stems from its massive investments in the devastated country, in particular in mega-infrastructure projects that have been damaged by the civil war and now by the earthquake. The Myanmar-China Oil and Gas pipelines give China an alternative distribution route to the chokepoint of the Strait of Malacca. Most of all, China is focused on strengthening its economic and military domination of the Pacific region. While its rulers back the brutal junta that controls most of the country, China is willing to work with whoever comes out on top in the civil war.  It is playing both sides by using "clandestine diplomacy" to approach nationalist rebel groups (Stimson, 8/26/24). The U.S. is also hedging its bets. Although ex-president Joe Biden backed the National Unity Government, a rebel coalition, his administration never formally recognized it.

Meanwhile, imperialist Russia has significant interests in Myanmar oil and gas deposits. Russia is also “a key supplier of military equipment to the Myanmar armed forces, significantly strengthening their defensive capabilities at a time when they are facing internal resistance” (PIA,  3/3). 

As fascism rises and global war looms among the big imperialist powers, billions of workers face death, disease, and a wave of climate crises. Only communism can prevent the unnatural disasters that endanger our class. Under communism, housing will be built to high-quality standards in safe areas. Under communism, the medical care system will be designed to help all workers live longer, healthier lives. Under communism, the fossil fuel pollution that kills millions each year will be ended in favor of clean energy. Under communism, imperialist and proxy wars will be ended for all time.

The banner of Progressive Labor Party must lead the struggle to smash the lethal profit system. Capitalism is a machine of war, death, and destruction. Communism is a society built in defense of life and nature. Let us march on May Day and condemn the capitalist barbarity in Myanmar and the imperialist competition that plunges the working class into misery, hunger, and disease. The bosses have shown they care nothing for the security and well-being of the working class. The struggle for communism is our only way out of this evil system of exploitation. Join us! The future of our class rests in our own hands.