New York City—With some key organizing by Progressive Labor Party (PLP) comrades, the Radical Caucus of the MLA (the Modern Language Association, the largest organization of literature professors in the world) held an online conference: “KEYWORDS: GAZA— Responding to the Genocide.”  The focus was on how U.S. imperialism was enabling Israeli genocide with arms, money and diplomacy. We targeted “the mass disinformation campaign” by Israel and the U.S. government about the genocide in Gaza. Seventy-eight faculty and students came together to organize solidarity against this genocide.  

The mini-conference took place amid the doxxing, menacing and firing of campus militants just days before the explosion of Gaza protest encampments on over 100 U.S. campuses and in a dozen other countries (Aljazeera.com, 4/29). This was an important effort to stand against the rising fascism of U.S. rulers. PLP members pointed toward a world where students were not only organizing encampments, but workers and students were organizing the world - that’s communism.

Capitalist state monopoly of violence

How cynical are these college administrators, arresting, beating, suspending and expelling students who dare to put up a tent on campus to protest Israel’s forced expulsion of more than a million workers in Gaza. Yesterday’s liberal deans are today’s law-and-order enforcers. Behind the prattle about academic freedom we now see brutes in riot gear. Recently we fought for and  won a MLA motion urging university administrators to defend student protestors. The administrators have done nothing. We must now convince our colleagues and  students that the real enemy is capitalist state violence, partnering with the U.S. bourgeois university to repress anti-genocide students, all while Israel has deliberately destroyed all twelve universities in Gaza.

Political debates about Gaza

The speakers debated how to fight the Gaza genocide, from tacit support of the right-wing leadership of Hamas to aspirations for communist revolution in the region. The opening and closing speakers—a well-known Marxist theorist of globalized capitalism and a PLP comrade—both attacked U.S. imperialism, seeing the crackdown on college campuses as the result of the breakdown of U.S. dominance. Any serious undermining of Israel, the U.S. garrison state in the Middle East, is a real threat that will be met by state violence here in the university as well in the ruins of Gaza. 

The PLP speaker focused first on Israel’s role in the Middle East as the enforcer for U.S. imperialism. But he also criticized the nationalism of Hamas and the Palestinian resistance to Israeli occupation and genocide. Our comrade strongly criticized national liberation politics. National liberation “liberates” one group of capitalists against another. It does not liberate any workers or students. They get to fight and die for one boss or another (See excerpt in Box)

William I. Robinson argued that the U.S. has lost the battle for world legitimacy. The Hamas attack has undermined U.S. plans for expansion. There is a crisis of global capitalism and the fascist response to it. What is urgently needed is to build an alliance of the campus left with workers and unions. A professor of Middle East Studies cited examples of economic trends in higher education: drastic cuts in funding, rising tuition, escalating student debt.

Two graduate students in Comparative Literature described how they gained political understanding of the larger global stakes in the Pro-Palestinian movement. One from the University of Minnesota told how defending a Gender Studies professor on her campus led to a larger campaign for divestment from Israel. The firing of a professor at Hobart Smith College led her to see the limitations of academic freedom. “I disagree with what you say but defend your right to say it”—is inadequate to confront the real genocidal violence of colonialism.

From all the rivers to all the seas workers must unite

Several participants reaffirmed that the task is to turn students’ struggle for a free Palestine into a struggle for all workers and students to be free of imperialism. This event certainly showed, as have the encampments, that this is precisely the mood of many taking strong action now; “Palestine speaks for everyone,” as a newly-banned U.S. professor proclaimed in a widely read article. PLP believes that this movement can indeed thrive and grow if it overcomes racism and nationalism so that the workers of the world unite, “from all the rivers to all the seas,” as the banner at PLP’s May Day march declared. The MLA Radical Caucus is a fertile site of political struggle over such ideas. Join PLP to bring communist thinking into leadership of this inspiring mass movement and link it to anti-imperialist struggles everywhere.

Box - Israel and the U.S.: Ironclad 

The following is an excerpt from the talk given by a PLP comrade at the Gaza mini-conference. See full text at https://multiracialunity.org/2024/04/21/israel-and-the-us-ironclad/

The massive movement in the U.S. and around the world against Israel’s genocide has been inspiring in its breadth and militancy. It has played an important role in exposing this atrocity to millions in the U.S. who see very little on American media. This movement has also exposed the close relations between universities, Zionism and the U.S. government. We must give kudos to the students who are fighting the new McCarthyism at Columbia and Yale, among many others, and who have suffered arrests and suspensions. Some politicians have been pressured to at least express distaste at Israel’s brutality. However, it would be a mistake to think that there is any chance that the U.S. will divorce from Israel or limit its military support, no matter which party is in office, even if it would prefer that Israel mitigate its behavior. . . .
This region remains of paramount importance to the U.S. empire. It is still the source of much of the world’s petroleum, both flowing and unexplored. Yemen is thought to contain the world’s greatest unexplored oil deposits. The shipping lanes through the Red Sea and Persian Gulf  …  are vital. 20 percent of the world’s petroleum passes through the Persian Gulf. 40 percent of all Asia to Europe trade passes through the Suez Canal, including 12 percent of all international trade, 12 percent of seaborne oil, and 8 percent of liquefied gas …  

In the overall picture of inter-imperialist rivalry, China is the biggest competitor of the U.S. China now gets 40 percent of its oil from the Gulf and is Iran’s biggest customer, invests in Saudi energy, and has interest in building a pipeline through Iran. … China is massively extending its worldwide influence through the Belt and Road initiative to boost trade, diplomatic relations and exports. Its worldwide meeting in 2023 involved 0ver 130 countries, including Egypt, and 18 other countries in the Middle East and North Africa. . . 

The question is what can we do…We must organize our fellow students and workers to fight against imperialist wars, against racism, against deficiencies in social services. That could mean professional society resolutions, bans on investments or military support by universities, fighting racism and police brutality, demanding better wages and social services – in whatever way we can unite, build leadership from below, expose the nature of capitalism and ready ourselves to lead the eventual struggle to end capitalism, with our fellow students and workers around the world. We have many ongoing and recent struggles to inspire us and a world that needs to be won

The march to celebrate this year’s International Workers Day was well attended, with many workers joining the march to support a variety of organizations (trade unions, left parties, workers’ centers, environmentalist  and community organizations to defend human rights, and feminists groups, amongst many others). Workers expressed their opposition to racism, sexism, forced displacement, and the devastating impact of the capitalist system. It was common to see here the general support for Palestine and against the ongoing genocide, which is now a central axis of the class struggle and the current global political debates, in the context of the new multi-polar reality.

With this in mind, on this great day, we celebrated one more year of struggle, with our sights set on the unity of the international working class under the banners and leadership of our communist party, Progressive Labor Party (PLP). We denounced the parasitic capitalist class domination and its racist wage system, its endless wars, its sexism that divides us and weakens us, and its fascism and increased violence against our class. We celebrated one more year of struggle, protests, work stoppages, blockades, and mobilizations that sustain our commitment to our communist ideal, as the only way to build a better world.

PLP, as a revolutionary necessity, was an early presence at the meeting place in downtown Bogota, talking to workers, defending our line, and exchanging information to plan later meetings. We distributed our paper, CHALLENGE, and 2,000 flyers, calling for a communist revolution and class solidarity with our Palestinian and Haitian sisters and brothers, who are facing bloody and systematic imperialist genocide and repression. 

Our militant contingent marched behind a large sign featuring our newspaper. We were a dynamic and enthusiastic group of workers and students, members and friends of the Party. The whole event took place in the context of the current support for President Gustavo Petro’s reforms, which responds to a previous march called last April by right-wing followers of former president Alvaro Uribe. President Petro, in a populist and opportunistic fashion, gave a speech at Bolivar Plaza, proclaiming himself the heart of the march and all participants allies to his government.

In spite of that, PLP raising the communist red flag and chanting our slogans generated sympathy and was well-received by participants and people passing by, including men and women from a variety of ages who joined us to add around a hundred new enthusiastic participants to our group, notably many women and young people, who seemed attracted to our anti-sexist position and slogans.

Our daily work has been focused on advancing class struggles, learning from our practice to struggle against capitalists collectively, understanding that the struggle for reforms is insufficient, given the huge needs of our international working class. For that reason, our slogans had strong resonance, including, “No more reformism, long live communism!”, “Peace between social classes serves criminal bosses!” “Israel, racist and fascist murderer, smash capitalism! “Counterattacks in Gaza, Haiti, Ukraine or Venezuela, Workers’ communist revolution!” “Long live International Communist May Day!” These slogans, as well as thirty others, outlining PLP’s revolutionary line, were cheerfully and militantly chanted by our friends and onlookers, who requested printed copies to chant along.

We reached Bolivar Plaza, where the president took the stage to give his speech defending liberal reforms, silencing revolutionary voices, which was traditionally done by the sell-out trade unions. Generally, and in spite of the cynical will of this “government of change” to co-opt the march, there was a feeling of an overall rejection of the capitalists’ onslaught, which nevertheless, would be an opportunity for the reformists, democrathieves, and opportunists to continue providing cover for this corrupt capitalist system. Our task is to steadily work with those workers sympathetic to our line, and hundreds more, discussing and elaborating strategies based on our political understanding, forged by PLP, to smash the bosses’ dictatorship, growing in quantity and quality, and looking to turn these peaceful marches into militant struggles guided by communist ideas and practices.

HAITI, May 12—Comrades and friends of Progressive Labor Party here participated in our annual May Day celebration on May 1. The main activity was a forum and discussion about the nature of work under capitalism, especially for young workers. That was followed by some cultural activity and socializing, with revolutionary poetry, class-conscious music, and dinner. All told, about 60 people tasted real camaraderie that day.

To set the tone of our day, we began with a history of May Day and its importance to the international working class. The presenter, a young woman comrade, gave a short history of May Day, born in the struggle for the 8-hour work day in the United States. Next was the forum on the nature of work under the current system, moderated by two other young comrades. Several workers with different work experiences (teachers, health workers, clerical workers, rural workers, and unemployed workers) spoke about their jobs or joblessness, and how the rulers exploited them by paying low wages, working under miserable working conditions, or keeping them from working for a salary at all through the massive unemployment faced by Haitian workers. 

Then our young woman comrade took the podium again to provide a communist analysis of what these young workers had just told us. She said that the capitalist system exploits workers and keeps them in inhuman conditions. She compared that to a communist system, in which the working class is in power and rules in its interest, concerned with the well-being of all workers so that they can live up to their full potential as a class. She said that these two systems are antagonistic; in the end, the working class, through the communist revolution, will assume power and destroy the bourgeoisie and its private property and borders between countries, and all the misery, racism, sexism, and wars for profit that keep capitalism afloat.

After her conclusion, we moved on to the cultural/social part of the day. Two comrades gave a spirited reading of the poem “Good Morning, Revolution” written by Black communist poet Langston Hughes from the U.S. and translated into Haitian Creole, the language spoken by the masses in Haiti. Another example of international solidarity.

At this point, the floor was opened to the attendees. Many people, students, and workers, spoke out about how this program helped them understand the true meaning of May Day for our class. They felt now they had the knowledge and language to criticize the Haitian bosses’ idea of May 1 as a celebration of agriculture and work (with lavish displays of food products for the local bourgeoisie) rather than the holiday of the struggle of the international working class.

The musical group performed songs of struggle, which animated the audience, who sang along with gusto. The final activity was dinner, which was enjoyed by all. 

We would like to thank all of those who gave leadership in organizing May Day in Haiti and those who participated in the activities. We have already followed up with some of the attendees who participated in the forum, etc. to continue discussing how to fight against the bosses, both local and foreign, especially in light of the extreme crisis the entire working class in Haiti and the gutter gangs,  gangs in uniform, and the gangsters who live in fancy houses. We are discussing how to make our Party grow into a fighting organization of the working class. 
Yes, the fight continues!

San Francisco, Oakland, and Valley collectives of the Progressive Labor Party (PLP) held an exciting and inspiring May Day Dinner at the end of April. Close to 50 multi-generational, multiracial, international workers and students gathered at a local art center. This growth from last year shows “the times they are a-changin.”

The walls were decorated with PLP historical, and international art posters about working class struggles from Mexico, Iran, Greece, and El Salvador, to name a few. This was best summarized by a quote and image from Bertolt Brecht: “Art is not a mirror held up to reality, but a hammer with which to shape it.”

Newer and younger members of our collectives planned and led the program. They are shaping the future towards communism. There were lively discussions throughout the program about the history of May Day and our current struggles within the movement against fascism and genocide in Gaza and around the world. We discussed how we are growing our collectives through our involvement in the mass movement. Our comrades from the Valley collective talked about their future as communists and new members of PLP. They brought drums and guitars to accompany rousing renditions of "Power to the Working Class," "Bella Ciao," and of course "The Internationale." Throughout the event we emphasized the necessity of uniting all workers regardless of race, country, or gender into an international party dedicated to the fight for communism. Only a communist revolution can destroy capitalism and create a share and share alike communist world.

This gathering was the culmination of several months of heightened activity. The external, capitalist world we live in is changing qualitatively and we are responding. PLP members of all generations have participated in many struggles. We have agitated with CHALLENGE and leaflets, held personal and social events, collective planning, and study groups. Education workers held an important and successful teach-in with teachers, students and community members about Israel-Palestine and developed study materials. On campuses, we have supported members and other students who came under attack for fighting tuition hikes and fighting U.S. imperialism/genocide with encampments which demand cease fire and divestment. On the job, we tied the genocide and imperialism to the “financial crisis” that public agencies claim justifies severe cuts in services like public transit, in schools, in jobs, in wages and working conditions. In neighborhoods, cultural groups, and families, we have had many discussions of why anti- imperialism and anti-Zionism are not antisemitism. Our emphasis on class, the structures of capitalism, internationalism and no borders is key. In the streets, we joined mass demonstrations, rallies against the war industry, imperialist genocide, Israeli Zionist capitalism and attacks on immigrants. We have connected with other groups, such as Bay Area Labor for Palestine, which organized in collaboration with immigrant groups for job actions on May Day and helped plan May Day Marches.

Following up on the energy of the May Day Dinner, PLP members participated in May Day marches in three areas: San Francisco, Oakland, and the Sacramento Valley. Our poster, “No War But Class War” and the CHALLENGE headline “Smash Genocide in Palestine” was well received. The May Day Marches responded to a call from the Palestinian General Federation of Trade Unions to stand with Gaza on May Day. In Oakland, the May Day March planned to shut down the port. The strength of on-the-job workers was front & center. Rank and file port workers in the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) carried on their tradition of May Day actions resulting in both morning and afternoon shifts stopping port activity. The Port Authority shut the port down in response. This is a small victory for international workers’ unity. We must continue to bring our communist analysis and organize for the final victory, a communist revolution!