MEXICO CITY, September 4 — About 17,000 workers in the Mexican Union of Electricians (SME) continue fighting to win back their jobs. Ten months ago President Calderón ordered the police and army onto their worksites to advance the move towards privatization which would leave over 44,000 workers in the street and 22,000 retired workers in poverty.

“When I was born I was already part of the union; my father was an electrician and I took his place,” declared a worker at a Party meeting. “We can’t allow them to defeat us.”

This exemplifies the spirit that encourages thousands to keep fighting. Another worker responded, “His resistance is admirable, but won’t end the exploitation and attacks on workers. For this we need a revolutionary party and a communist revolution.” He invited the electrician to get to know the Party and our paper. He said he would. 

A young transportation worker thought some struggles like at SME can succeed. In the Atenco region, the farmers were able to prevent the rulers from taking their lands to build an airport. We all refused the ridiculous paltry amount they offered for their lands. A young teacher commented, “The Party must be part of these struggles, to unify the workers’ struggle for their jobs, which is part of the fight towards communism.”

Young students and workers from those areas also attended the meeting. We all saw the importance of studying CHALLENGE collectively and individually to better our understanding of what happens in the world, of the workers’ struggles and the task the Party carries out to win them to our ranks.

This important discussion reflected our debates to help resolve the contradiction between reform and revolution. The Party will lead towards the destruction of capitalism and the creation of a communist society. The unions almost always side with the bosses, while saying they’re fighting so that workers can live a little better under capitalism. However, this spreads the illusions that this system can be reformed. But in these organizations there are thousands of workers who can be won to destroy capitalism. Communists must fight alongside them to win them towards revolution, not reform. This is a long process but is the essence of our struggle.

Until now we’ve made modest advances in building a base for communism. The areas of this work change daily. Workers’ conditions here worsen rapidly. Unemployment is increasing. The few jobs that do exist mostly have no benefits or are jobs as street vendors.

Under the guise of the “war against drug-trafficking,” the army, police and paramilitary groups saturate entire cities. A small number of billionaires openly control the political parties and government, helping to reveal their fight amongst themselves. Inequality, racism, repression, sexism and exploitation intensify. Conditions are changing rapidly towards fascism.   

To make the struggle for communism a priority for workers, we must advance from a modest struggle to a major dedication to liberate the working class from the capitalists’ yoke. Our key tasks are massive circulation and hand-to-hand distribution of CHALLENGE and our active presence in the class struggle to build a base for communism.

PARIS, September 4 — One hundred thousand anti-racists demonstrated in cities across France today condemning the Sarkozy government’s racist attacks on Roma people. But the movement’s leaders — the associations, trade unions and “left” parties — ignored the essential link between racism and capitalism.

Here in the capital 50,000 marched, led by the Roma families whose camp in Choisy-le-Roi (eight miles south of Paris) was razed on August 12.

Gens du voyage* marched side by side with trade unionists in Bordeaux in a protest of 3,500 behind a banner reading “Stop racism — liberty, equality, brotherhood are in danger.” (“Liberty, equality, brotherhood” is the motto of the French Republic.)

The action itself — working-class unity against racism — was excellent. But the slogan suggests that racism is foreign to the bourgeois republic, that it can be ended without destroying the bourgeois state and capitalism itself. It steers the working class into supporting capitalist “law and order,” which the Sarkozy government is supposedly violating.

In fact, government racism against Roma people goes back long before Interior Minister Brice Hortefeux’s July 28 announcement that 700 Roma would be deported to Romania within a month and 300 “illicit” Roma camps would be closed, 150 within three months.

In 2002, when Sarkozy was Interior Minister under President Jacques Chirac, he said the government would “crack down” on Roma people with a new anti-Roma law. No one in the “moderate right-wing” Chirac government blinked an eye and the law was duly passed.

But why attack the tiny Roma population at all? In 2004, there were only 5,000 Roma in France. Today, there are 15,000; that’s 0.024% of the population! Clearly, the French Republic’s long-standing anti-Roma racism has nothing to do with the number of Roma, and everything to do with the needs of capitalism.

First, with official unemployment at 9.4% in December 2009 — plus 5% of the workforce working part-time but wanting full-time work (Dares Analyses N° 50, July 2010) — and with the austerity plan hitting the working class hard, the government needs a racist diversion to focus people’s anger on a scapegoat group. This is widely understood in France.

Secondly, racism performs two vital jobs for the capitalists: (1) it produces super-profits for the bosses through the super-exploitation of the victims of racism (and low wages paid to one part of the working class acts as a brake on all wages); and (2) racism divides the working class, when organized unity is our key weapon in the fight against capitalism.

Thirdly, the racists’ attack on the Roma is a step on the way towards attacking France’s estimated 3.3 million people of North African origin and the1.1 million of Sub-Saharan African origin.

Racism is as vital for capitalism as it is deadly for the working class. Consequently, racism can never be ended under capitalism. That can only happen through communist revolution, which abolishes bosses and profits, the source of racism.

* “Gens du voyage” is the French expression for Sinti and “Gypsy” people who are French citizens, as distinct from the Roma, most of whom are Romanian citizens. There are 400,000 “gens du voyage,” 15% of whom are nomadic. 

PLP’s Summer Project started off with teachers and students going to a high school in Washington Heights, an area that used to send thousands to May Day marches. CHALLENGE was distributed to students and to workers at the subway stop.

In the evening, we viewed the film “Sir! NO Sir!,” about resistance by rank-and-file soldiers in the U.S. Army during the Vietnam War. A parent and some students came to the movie showing. It was the parent’s first introduction to the Party, and she was interested. It is important to have parents, students and teachers united, as PL is trying to build a Party that includes all members of the working class.

Summer Project participants had a CHALLENGE sale at a local community college. Students eagerly took the paper and one was interested in coming to a protest in Harlem on Wednesday. Campus security guards told the PL’ers that they couldn’t do their sale as the college was “private property.” How a campus that is paid for with public money is off-limits to the public is a contradiction that only makes sense under the logic of capitalism. These students, like those on campuses all over the U.S. and the world, are seeing their tuition skyrocket while their quality of education declines.

The sellers refused to move as one participant talked to the campus KKKops. Eventually they moved to the sidewalk and distributed some more papers. Even though we don’t have state power in this period of history, it is important to challenge the state within the limits that we can, whenever we can. When campus security yelled at a female CHALLENGE seller, they all stood their ground and refused to make it easy to drive communists off the campus.

On August 8, the racist thugs in blue — NYPD KKKops — murdered a young Latino man and shot over 20 bullets at another, putting him in intensive care in Harlem Hospital (HH). Comrades working in a church in Harlem wrote up a leaflet condemning the racist murder, as well as racist cuts at HH, and called for a rally there and a meeting at the church later on in the evening.

The small but spirited rally chanted against police brutality. Hundreds of leaflets and CHALLENGES were distributed to angry workers leaving and entering their shifts, as well as passers-by. Comrades working in the church brought out children, youth, and adults from the black working class of Harlem. PL’ers must continue to work in community organizations and churches to build the Party, coordinate actions, and increase the level of militancy within the working class to build for communist revolution.

Manhattan PL’ers participated in a discussion of the important PL document “Build A Base in the Working Class.” Comrades from all over the world discussed the difficulty of creating ties with people based on revolutionary communist politics. Their stories underscored the Party’s present analysis of our line, “Dark Night Shall Have Its End.” Great amounts of work lead to modest results, but this period will lead to greater advances when the tide of history shifts and the working class takes the offensive. Only communist leadership will prevent the working class’ offensive against the bosses from becoming mired in reformist struggles and Obama worship.

Highlights of the Experiences of PLP Summer Project Participants

My experiences during this past week have been a self-revelation. Selling CHALLENGE and actually standing up for a cause has made me feel like I can make a difference in this capitalist society we live in. Everyone I’ve met is highly intelligent, inspiring and motivated. We see a cause and stand up for it. We don’t allow the working class to get walked over or get taken advantage of. I appreciate listening to everyone speak about communism and the different terms I heard, because I’m constantly learning something new. Having this unity and common cause makes me feel like we can rise up and win. I feel appreciative to be here and have the reins handed over to me and pass it on from our generation to our kids.

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My first day here was a nervous one. I haven’t participated in anything political in a while. But after hearing from the people who are experienced, I realized why I was really here in NY. I’m here to unite the working class, to fight imperialism, racism and sexism!

The first day selling CHALLENGE was very difficult. I didn’t have a chance to read the issue first, so that made it hard to sell. I offered, and some would listen then ignore me. Some would put me down. It did put my morale down. Luckily, I had comrades to help me and lift my spirits. They explained to me what I could say  and what’s a good way to get donations. Each day of selling the paper got easier. I read the paper and supplement, which helped to understand our fight a lot better.

I felt the study groups would be difficult, but after listening to everyone I realized it was more about sharing our thoughts on the paper. We get a better understanding of what we are here for and how to improve our Party.

The experience I enjoyed the most was our rally protesting the Council on Foreign Relations. I hadn’t realized the bosses had secret meetings in regular old buildings. As I looked around my comrades, I saw unity. What made me really feel our unity was that even when the cops came, no one moved. Our line marched on, chanting, “Exxon Mobil, BP Shell, take your war and go to hell!”

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My name is Dion and I’m a worker. For the last week, I was in NYC with other fellow workers like myself, working on the Project. When I first was asked to come, I was glad, but I didn’t think it would be work. I thought it was going to be all play. It was my first time on a plane and in NYC, so I was hyped up. I met all types of people from all over the globe and everybody was here for one reason: to fight for the working class, to get the public’s attention and to show them that the times we are living in are not right at all. We all want to expose these ruling-class assholes for who they really are.

I’m from the block, the hood. We don’t really pay close attention to those things at all. We just chill, live our life the way we always do and pray to see tomorrow. I love my experiences in this past week. It has opened my eyes, my mind and given me new questions about life.

The most important thing I learned is that workers are all just one big family that wants to be treated fairly, and if not, we will fight back. Like I said in the beginning, and as it will be in the end: I’m Dion and I am a worker.

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My favorite part of the Summer Project was seeing the many different “races” in NY. There are many different types of food, clothing, languages and music. Seeing all this in one place is inspiring. Staying with other people in the Party made me feel comfortable. I liked being in NY, helping others in the same struggle as me. It’s inspiring to meet other people from different parts of the world who come together with me and fight for the same cause. This trip gave me the experience of selling CHALLENGE for the first time, and learning new ways to organize a communist group by attending study groups and movie nights. I also enjoyed sightseeing on the Staten Island Ferry and going to the best museum I’ve ever been to. I am grateful I was invited to come here and make a difference.

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What I loved the most about the Summer Project was taking naps. Seriously though, this
summer, I learned to remind myself not to quit when people intentionally ignored me while trying to sell the paper. I felt welcomed from the NY comrades and being in the Party really feels like being in one big family.

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This Summer Project was fun and filled with new ideas and new people. I have done three Projects before, but none were like this one. I went to the VA hospital with two young comrades and we gave out a few CHALLENGES. I had a nice discussion with a 40-year veteran. He was telling me that we are doing a good thing, but we need to make sure that we are doing what we talk about. Hospital security kicked us out. I never got kicked out of anywhere before, but I was proud that we made a plan to get out safely and we executed it perfectly. I loved the CFR rally. It was full of energy. I really felt like we were an army.

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I sold the newspaper CHALLENGE. I watched a movie about how back then women couldn’t decide or vote to help their family (Salt of the Earth). I went marching with people, protesting for the workers. I think in all the things we did, it was important how everybody stood together; they never gave up. I learned how many people were fighting and how many people agreed and others didn’t. I felt great about this Summer Project.

JERUSALEM, September 1 — Dozens of Palestinian-Arab residents of the Silwan neighborhood of east Jerusalem, supported by more than a hundred anti-racist activists, marched against a phony “scientific convention” serving as a cover for a racist land-grab in the neighborhood by upper-class Jewish settlers.

The settlers, backed by the cops and by city hall, use a massive archeological dig in that neighborhood — supposedly revealing the remains of the ancient City of David — to justify their violent takeover of multiple houses in the area while evicting their original, Palestinian-Arab, residents. First they take over a few houses, then harass the local Palestinian-Arab population and make their lives miserable until they have to move away. Then the settlers take over more houses. The same policy is used in Silwan, Shiekh Jarrah and Hebron to seize real-estate assets.

The demonstrators tried to march towards the City of David “archeological park,” where the convention was being held. Their way was blocked by armed riot cops, despite the fact that they were marching in one of their own neighborhood’s main streets. The cops then proceeded to brutally attack the residents and the activists, injuring three activists and arresting six. But the demonstrators did not back down; for three hours they stood up against the fascist cops and shouted slogans such as “King David died a long time ago — cops and settlers go away!” and “Wake up! Fascism is marching against us!”

This land-grab is not an isolated incident, nor is it a local initiative by a few extremists, as some of the liberal activists believe. The ELAD organization, which is behind the settlers, is funded by several real-estate tycoons, including the Miami mogul Irwing Moscowitz and the big Israeli bosses Lev Leviev and Roman Abramov. Irwing Moscowitz funds a number of racist land-grabs all over Palestine, such as in Ras El-Amud and Shiekh Jarrah. Similarly, another U.S. capitalist, Ron Lauder — the heir of Estee Lauder’s business empire — is
behind the fascist demolition of the entire village of Al-Araqib in southern Palestine. Obviously, such skilled investors did not throw all this money into the fascist settler NGO’s out of philanthropy alone: there are business interests involved, and the whole wave of house demolitions and evictions of Palestinian-Arabs from their homes is nothing but a real-estate land-grab by big capital at the expense of local workers.

It is not surprising that the Israeli regime — the same regime that maintains the fascist blockade over Gaza and slaughters its residents — actively supports these land-grabs. Ever since its foundation in 1948, the Israeli state followed the colonialist policy of “Judaization,” that is, as many Jews (especially upper-class) on as much land as possible, and as little Palestinian-Arabs (and Jewish workers) on as little lands as possible. This policy serves the interests of local tycoons and their wealthy U.S. masters, who gain profitable real-estate assets for cheap or for free. It also serves the need of all bosses to separate workers on the basis of racism and nationalism, thus weakening the working class.

Three local PL’ers came to the demonstration, armed with a red PL flag. They distributed leaflets revealing the real-estate business interests behind the house seizures. The PL’ers called for the workers of all nations and “races” to unite against the bosses and the fascist state and smash them once and for all.

PLP fights for the overthrow of the “Zionist” Israeli apartheid regime and its puppets in the Palestinian Authority, who might be getting a few more bribes in the current round of “peace negotiations.” We want the workers of the entire Middle East, Arabs and Jews alike, to unite and replace colonialism and capitalism with the communist rule of the working class. JOIN US!J