PLP members in the Bay Area attended a rally for International Working Women’s Day (IWWD), with about 100–150 workers present. Attached is the flyer we distributed and discussed, explaining how the collective action of working-class women led to the creation of this day and contributed to both the 1917 Russian Revolution and the revolution in China.
One new friend met with us and helped distribute the flyer. We also distributed copies of CHALLENGE and gathered a few contacts to follow up with, as well as people interested in joining our May Day celebration. In total, we handed out about 100 flyers, including to people walking by the demonstration.
We don’t think the numbers are the most important aspect of this action. Rather, what matters is the struggle that this flyer represents—the discussions it can spark with friends, family, and comrades.
International Working Women’s Day (IWWD)
Today the media often shortens this to International Women’s Day, but International Working Women’s Day began as a working-class holiday, rooted in the long history of women-led struggles around the world.
The history below highlights collective action, not individuals. Working-class women organized, fought, and led struggles against class oppression. In 1977, the United Nations officially recognized March 8 as International Women’s Day, but the day itself was built through decades of struggle by working women.
These examples show how class consciousness and multi-racial, multi-ethnic unity—among women, men, and all workers—develop through collective struggle, often with leadership from women.
Hidden histories of women’s struggles in the U.S.
Much of the history of women-led struggles has been hidden or erased.
- Women and slave revolts: Historian Rebecca Hall, in Wake: The Hidden History of Women-Led Slave Revolts, documents rebellions on slave ships during the Middle Passage. Through research into slave ship manifests, she shows that enslaved women fought their captors throughout the Americas, though these stories were largely erased from official history.
- Indigenous resistance: There are many untold stories of Indigenous women who fought European colonization and westward expansion in the Americas.
- Women abolitionists: Black and white women organized against the system of slave labor and helped lead the Underground Railroad.
- 1832: Black women founded the Salem Female Anti-Slavery Society in Massachusetts. Black women were leading abolitionists in both the North and the South, though many of their stories remain buried.
- 1833: Quaker women founded the Female Anti-Slavery Society in Philadelphia. In 1838, racist mobs attacked their interracial meetings. The Second Anti-Slavery Convention brought together 175 Black and white abolitionists.
- 1848: These struggles helped lead to the first Women’s Rights Convention in New York.
Women lead labor struggles
Women workers also led major labor battles against capitalist industrialization.
- 1857: On March 8 in New York City, garment workers organized a strike against inhuman working conditions, a 12-hour workday, and poverty wages. Hundreds of women demonstrated across the city.
- 1907–1908: Women on the Lower East Side of New York organized a rent strike that lasted until January 1908.
- 1908: About 15,000 women marched through New York City, demanding shorter hours, better pay, and improved working conditions in the garment industry.
- 1912: The “Bread and Roses” Strike in Lawrence, Massachusetts, led largely by immigrant women and children, became one of the most famous labor struggles in U.S. history.
Women workers and revolution
Women’s struggles have also helped spark revolutionary movements.
- February 23, 1917 (March 8 in the Western calendar): After nearly three years of brutal World War I, women textile workers in Petrograd struck over food shortages. Within days:
- 75,000 workers struck
- Then 200,00.0
- Eventually nearly 400,000 workers, including students, teachers, and office workers.
- Their demand for “Bread and Peace” helped ignite the Russian Revolution, forcing the Tsar to abdicate. Later that year, the October Revolution overthrew the Provisional Government and established a workers’ state.
- China’s Revolution: During the Chinese revolutionary movement, the slogan “Women hold up half the sky” reflected the central role women played in building the revolutionary movement led by the Communist Party, even though many individual stories remain untold
Today
Today, March 8, 2026, living conditions for workers are worsening around the world. War, genocide, and economic crisis continue under capitalism and imperialist rivalry.
At the same time, resistance is growing.
Let’s build a movement capable of overthrowing capitalism and creating a communist world based on sharing and collective power.
Israelis are systematically lied to by state run media about the costs of war and results of their government's military campaigns. After the Hamas incursion of 2023, untrue stories of mass rape and beheaded babies were widely disseminated. The mass destruction and genocide in Gaza has also been hidden from view.
A friend in Israel writes that the same holds true in the current war. There are five major TV channels in Israel that broadcast 24/7, but they are state run. Panels of ex Israeli Defense Forces generals, Mossad (Israeli CIA), Shin Bet (internal security) and pro-government professors monopolize the newscasts and glorify Israel's military actions. They also give warnings about incoming Iranian missiles, but are forbidden from telling where strikes have occurred.
During a recent day, our friend had to enter a shelter seven times, four times from 1-6 AM. People sleep with their phones by their ears to hear the warnings to be near a shelter. For the first week of the war no one had to go to work and schools were closed, but then work was opened but not schools. Parents with small children then have a quandary.
Major media outlets in the U.S. also agree to allow the Israeli military to censor their reporting in order to maintain access. In general, this applies most strictly to any video of live action. Some arrests have even been made for violating this policy (CNN 3/6). And we know that no international journalists have ever been allowed into Gaza.
There have been some small antiwar protests, but these are also not publicized except on social media. A small wildcat demo by 20 young people was broken by the police who declared it to be an illegal demo (you need a license for a demo with more than 10 people). They arrested two and released them a few hours later.
This media control is only an exaggeration of what takes place around the world, adding ignorance to the nationalism, racism, and pro-capitalist propaganda doled out to all workers to make them support the bosses' wars. The only antidote is to build a mass international movement uniting students, workers and soldiers to build a world they run - a communist world.
Carry the torch to burn capitalism
The world is seemingly becoming a bleaker place. Our fellow workers in Gaza and the West Bank continue to be slaughtered by the fascist ethnostate of Israel, all with the unbridled support from the U.S. empire and its European lackeys.
The vicious and deliberate US blockade/embargo on Cuba has been cranked up to the max, leading to massive fuel shortages for Cuban workers, making life on the island more tumultuous. And now we have the blatantly naked attack on Iran, launched by the mass murder duo of the U.S and Israel. To top it off, the misleader nation of China, often purported as an alternative for the working class, sells its weaponry to the United Arab Emirates (basically Arab Israel) who in turn distributes those weapons to the Rapid Support Forces in Sudan, the current paramilitary group that is committing mass atrocities towards Sudanese workers, causing millions to be displaced.
For many workers not just here in the States, but across the world, we are witnessing the deterioration of our material conditions. Everywhere we turn, it seems like bosses have absolute control, and our fates have no other path but to be sacrificed at the altar of capitalism. But if our history has taught us anything, it is in these dark nights that we must draw strength from struggles of comrades of the past and today. Time and time again, workers were faced with conditions that seemed impossible to overcome.
Slavery in Haiti was simply the way of life, until Haitian workers decided it wasn’t. Feudal misery was the only way of being for masses in Russia, until the Tsarist empire was overthrown, a new material reality was born under the leader of Russian communists. Despite almost a century of French colonial domination and twenty years of scorched earth bombardment of the U.S, our Vietnamese brethren defeated two empires and won their freedom from colonial oppression. Despite Israel committing unimaginable levels of carnage and destruction towards every facet of Palestinian life, workers in Palestine refused to leave their homes, and have refused to buckle to AI powered death machines.
Even now, the women of Sudan have organized committees to protect and advocate for themselves and not leave their future to be decided by corrupt Sudanese elites or warlords. The history of our class indeed has profound and revolutionary moments that paved a different reality for workers. But we must also recognize that these valiant struggles didn’t just happen miraculously. Regular people like you and I build towards these luminous moments. From emancipation to tenant protection laws to crafting of an entire worker controlled nation, so many workers, ones we recognize and ones we may never will, understood one thing. Everyone plays a part.
The deep conversation between family and friends about a communist vision for the future, the daily agitation for a more worker controlled workplace, providing a dialectical material analysis for your classmates who are subjected to capitalist orthodoxy - at first these actions and processes seem miniscule. But it is through these small actions where knowledge is passed, perseverance is inspired, parties are formed, and revolutions are materialized. Workers of the past not only fought to enhance conditions for the working class of their time but understood that their actions were “passing the torch.” Many workers never saw the liberation they dreamed of, but they had the commitment to ensure the next generation was one step closer to freedom.
We see Progressive Labor Party as the culmination of all this history, struggle, sacrifice, revolutionary spirit, and continuous process - a process where many of us may not see a world where racism, sexism, and capitalism is completely stamped out. But we certainly will make sure future comrades around the world have the tools they need to finally abolish the dark night of capitalism with the flaming torch of communism.
*****
1 lesson: need community to build communism
I have to start off by saying that I enjoyed being at the 1 Day School and learned a lot about communism and fascism. All of the presentations were very informative and I appreciated all of the links/readings on the schedule paper because I can share them with friends. I knew vaguely about fascism before, but I got a more thorough definition and examples from history which helped strengthen my understanding. I also benefited from the workshops after each presentation to stop and discuss what we learned. I learned the most from these workshops and got answers to more of my questions. However, the biggest thing I took away from the 1 Day School was the importance of community in the fight against fascism. I got to meet so many new people who were more experienced and more knowledgeable than me who I can learn from. With everything going on right now and how isolated many people have become after the pandemic, events like the 1 Day School could help a lot of people.
*****
A+ for communist school
I attended The Progressive Labor Party school day to get a better understanding of communism. I waned to learn how communism analyzes class, labor, and inequality and compare it to how the political system we have now does it.
Attending this school day allowed me to gain knowledge on social justice and workers’ rights. I also made new relationships and enjoyed the school setting. Having this school day allowed myself and others to break out into groups and have questions and have a better and personal understanding. We engaged in open discussions as well.
*****
Explosion in billionaires’ riches over the past ten years
New York Times, 3/2– …analysis shows the stunning velocity at which the fortunes of the 1 percent have increased across the country since President [Donald] Trump first took office in 2017. The richest Americans saw their net worth soar 120 percent between 2017 and 2025, a colossal leap from the 45 percent growth they had seen over the previous nine years. The number of U.S. billionaires jumped…to more than 900 people…The legislation, which slashed personal income taxes and doubled the estate tax exemption…Overall, the top 1 percent now control $55.8 trillion in assets — more than the G.D.P. of the United States and China combined.
China spends for war as destruction spreads across the world
Reuters, 3/5– China will boost defence spending by 7% in 2026, it said on Thursday, the lowest rate in five years but still outpacing wider economic growth targets and the rest of Asia at a time of growing regional tension, including over Taiwan…China’s share of Asia’s total military expenditure grew to almost 44% in 2025, up from an average of 37% between 2010 and 2020, it added…China gives no breakdown of defence spending, though its budget of 1.91 trillion yuan ($277 billion) is just about a quarter of a $1-trillion defence bill U.S. President Donald Trump signed into law in December.
Israel and U.S. bosses fight for regional control
Al Jazeera, 3/9–...the February 2026 assassination of Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei…are increasingly viewed by military analysts not as the long arm of the Mossad, but as the result of a massive and pervasive United States technological umbrella as well as profound internal decay within Tehran’s security apparatus…The strike that killed Khamenei and Iran’s top military brass was essentially a joint US-Israeli mission. Experts from the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) note the mission relied heavily on a target bank and real-time electronic surveillance provided by the CIA. The technical footprint is undeniably from the confines of Langley, the Virginia, US home of the CIA, and its global web.
As usual, police in U.K. protect, defend, and fight for racists on march through Bristol
BristolLive, 3/7–At one point police officers managed to create a 50-yard buffer zone as around 40 of the ‘Bristol Patriots’ as they continued their slow march around to Cabot Circus…As Bristol Patriots headed back towards the Cenotaph, counter-protesters can be heard shouting “Bristol is anti-fascists”...Scenes of violence erupted in the city as the police battled to hold back hundreds of counter protesters and allow the march to pass into Haymarket. There were chaotic scenes near Primark as police are pushing and shoving counter protesters out of the way.
Are tired U.S. sailors sabotaging toilets?
MarineInsight, 2/25–The US Navy’s largest and most expensive aircraft carrier, USS Gerald R. Ford, is facing persistent sewage system failures…the carrier recorded 205 toilet breakdowns in just four days…The clogs are mainly caused by calcium build-up in the pipes and by improper items like t-shirts and mop heads being flushed… sailors have reportedly described unsanitary conditions and growing fatigue as the extended deployment continues…The prolonged deployment has meant missing major life events…In April–May 2025, the USS Harry S. Truman lost several fighter jets during operations against Houthi rebels in the Red Sea. Subsequent investigations linked the losses to operational strain and crew fatigue.
Mine collapse kills hundreds in D.R. Congo as U.S. bosses negotiate control of minerals
BBC, 3/3– More than 200 people, including 70 children, have been killed after a landslide caused a collapse in a mining area in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo, the government says.The landslide struck Rubaya, the country’s biggest source of coltan - an ore vital in the electronics industry - in the rebel-controlled east on Tuesday following heavy rains…The Rubaya mining site was recently added to a shortlist of assets that is being offered to the US by the Congolese government under a minerals cooperation framework…A similar collapse at the site in late January following heavy rainfall killed more than 200 people.
- Information
US–Israel Bombing of Iran: Another Step Toward Wider War
- Information
- 28 February 2026 845 hits
The most recent bombing of Iran by the United States and Israel is another link in a long chain of imperialist violence and a brutal reality: competing capitalist powers fighting for dominance over land, resources, trade routes, and profits.
It is no surprise that Trump and his warhawks chose to bomb Iran. The Democrats' silence on this attack shows their greenlighting of it. Despite his talk of being the “Peace President,” Trump and co are at the helm of expanding military actions with no end in sight: Venezuela, Ukraine, Greenland, Canada, Cuba etc. Everywhere we look the world’s ruling classes are sharpening their knives to defend markets, oil fields, shipping lanes, and geopolitical advantage.
Imperialism is not an accident. It is a natural outgrowth of capitalism itself. As capitalism’s crisis continues to worsen, sanctions, proxy wars, regime change operations, and direct military strikes are what the bosses turn to.
The bombing of Iran must be understood in this global context: as a warning sign of escalating rivalry between the U.S. and China, Iran’s ally. This may spiral into a regional war — and beyond that, toward a catastrophic world conflict.
Who Pays the Price?
Workers in Iran, Israel, the United States, China, and across the globe will be told to wave flags and defend “national interests.” They will be conscripted, displaced, bombed, and impoverished. They will be turned into cannon fodder while corporate executives and political elites calculate profits and power from a safe distance.
The same system that closes hospitals, underfunds schools, and drives up the cost of living suddenly finds limitless money for missiles and military bases. The same politicians who preach austerity at home demand unity behind war abroad. Racism and nationalism are used to divide working people and convince them that their enemy is a worker in another country — rather than the ruling class that exploits them all.
The Only Solution is a Communist Revolution!
The path forward lies not in choosing one capitalist camp over another, but in building international solidarity against a system that breeds war. Only a mass international movement will crush the racist and sexist profit system that concentrates wealth in the hands of the few, and replace it with a system run by workers, who will harness the enormous potential of all and distribute the fruits of their labor according to need.
PLP has been at the forefront of the communist movement for over 50 years, immersing ourselves in militant working-class struggles in the schools, universities, hospitals, factories, military and churches! We advocate that only a mass international movement of millions fighting directly for communist economic relations will destroy capitalism, its racist artificial borders and its endless imperialist wars! Fight back against these bombings! Fight for communism! Join PLP today!
