Strikes are schools for communism, and the workers, students, and indigenous movements in Bolivia have been on a general strike since May Day. Strikes are where the working class flexes itstheir power and takes hold of their organizations, their work places, and attempts to fight the bosses. The bosses in Bolivia are divided between the pro-China socialist wing and the Pro-U.S. imperialist wing that is currently holding power. Bolivian president Rodrigo Paz is a vital part of U.S. security at home and its imperialist interests in South America. The one thing missing from this general strike is for the Progressive Labor Party (PLP) to function as a central organization that can coordinate against these government attacks from within the struggle and at all levels in order to fight for a communist revolution.    

The unintended effects of interimperialist rivalry of the U.S. war in Iran are cropping up in Bolivia. Causing the Strait of Hormuz to close severely affected gas prices that were government subsidized. On top of fuel skyrocketing over 90 percent, there is a shortage of it, and the little fuel that is available is polluted. Speaking of pollution, lithium mining is an important part of AI chip production and for lithium batteries.

Workers in Bolivia shut it down! 

The continuing AI war between China vs. the U.S. means that the U.S. needs to control the mines, and they need the Bolivian government to provide the means to do so. Though the miners have struggled in the past against the mining conditions, the strikes are rooted in May Day and the history of struggle associated with the working class holiday. Unions marched and went on strike demanding more money, better working conditions, and for more control over what the state apparatus is doing to their lives. Learning from slave rebellions of the past, the striking workers set up barricades around La Paz and shut the city down.  Capitalism has responded with concessions, but the bosses are threatening to send in the military in order to quell the protests. 

Reject revisionist misleaders!

What role are the revisionists (fake revolutionaries) playing?  Evo Morales’ MAS party for socialism is involved in the strike, but there is no single, cohesive party that is coordinating the struggle. Instead, what we are witnessing is the working class using its self-organizing skills to set up barricades, man them, and use dynamite and other weapons in battles with the police.  Imagine how much more powerful a strike this would be without sellout union leadership or Chinese imperialism behind it. However, it does not appear to be an overt political move by China to support socialism in Bolivia, even though they would benefit from a pawn of U.S. imperialism being deposed.

Bolivia has one of the few conscripted militaries, and it’s spread out over the country. There are way more strikers than soldiers. On top of that, as PLP learned first-hand in Minneapolis, soldiers can be won to join the protesters. The Bolivian ruling class has attacked the strikers twice already, and each attack has only strengthened the barricades. So, though the ruling class can wield the military, they are wary of increasing the strength of the barricades. However, U.S. imperialism requires that this strike be smashed. This contradiction is still resolving.

Evo Morales represents the faction of the Bolivian ruling class that is aligned with Russia and China. The domino effect is being revisited in the Lithium Triangle. With students in Argentina and Peru occupying universities and beginning to take to the streets, seeing a movement where the working class has shut down a city and is forcing the outing of a loyal servant to U.S. imperialism is a spark. Is the fundamental contradiction in the world today shifting towards the working class taking hold of their organizations and challenging capitalism? The answer, unfortunately, is an unequivocable “no.” Without a revolutionary party organizing in the unions, in the military, in the schools, and with the ability to coordinate the working class against the bosses, this movement is a militantly reformist movement. 

The bosses will give what they need to in order to keep state power. President Paz has slashed his salary, offered the teachers concessions, and given token appointments to indigenous groups, but that doesn’t change capitalism. Capitalism will still remain with the capitalists in power until the PLP sweeps them away. 

Fightback is heating up

Regardless of how far this strike movement goes, whether or not the military joins the strikers or attacks them, without a revolutionary communist party organizing to seize and hold of state power, this struggle will lead to reforms and may topple a U.S. pawn, but it won’t lead to the dictatorship of the proletariat. We must learn lessons from and get excited by the new wave of protest getting ready to grip South America, but the ruling class can survive any crisis or catastrophe except communist revolution. With one of the few fully conscripted armies in South America and its size already dwarfed by the number of protesters, it is easy to understand why the Bolivian U.S. backed bosses fear a coup and the soldiers joining the protesters. It isn’t even summer yet and things are really starting to heat up!

Students reject school tribute to U.S  fascism 

In a high school in Boston, a MAGA principal decided to paint a flag mural in celebration of 250 years of genocide, the birth of racism, chattel slavery, and imperialism.  In other words, the history of the USA.  In reaction to this, communist students in the school organized a response.  An email was written to the head of the History Department. 

These are my honest thoughts. This mural is a stain on our school community. Nobody asked for it to be made, and it represents the selfish and patriotic desires of a MAGA man. My immigrant peers and I have dealt with ICE’s cruelty. And this mural feels like a slap in the back of the head to us. As resources dwindle and the U.S. loses its grip on the global economy, we’ve come to a point in history where capitalism and its players have become violent in their imperialist ways. Patriotism is reserved for those who choose to remain ignorant of the state of the world and U.S. empire. In the revolutionary words of Che Guevara, “And then many things became very clear...we learned perfectly that the life of a single human being is worth millions of times more than all the property of the richest man on earth.

When the day came to finally unveil the flag-laced monstrosity, many of the students who were supposed to participate in it abstained in protest. 

One of the communist students was going to make a speech, but due to not having a mass base, and not wanting to act alone and getting shut down, she mailed this speech to the History Department head as a form of protest.  

The event was a very poorly attended affair that opened up a lot of opportunities for class struggle.  This generation is exciting to watch!  The same lies of U.S. patriotism are not going to be enough for the bosses to get them onto the battlefield. What we do counts, especially in the schools
*****

Unheard, ripped off at Mamdani visit

This week Mayor Mamdani came to our campus in the Bronx to host a “Rental Rip Off”  hearing. 

In preparing for this event, student clubs,  along with faculty, met and talked about what role we could play. In the preparation, we got to hear about the real housing issues our students are struggling with. We prepared signs, and had some zines about the MTA fare hike. Progressive Labor Party members and friends distributed almost 100 CHALLENGES outside and there was a lot of interest and enthusiasm for the idea that workers need revolution.

 After waiting for over two hours, what seemed like an eternity, the almost 200 people present  did hear 7 minutes from Mamdani and then another 17 minutes of some questions and answers. However, many workers left feeling ripped off, because it was more of a photo op than anything else. There was little or no time for Bronx residents to speak, despite the vibe in the room being that students and workers wanted to be HEARD!

The struggle for adequate housing is another attack on the working class as the rulers prepare for war.  The reality is that capitalism cannot house and feed everyone- that’s why we need a communist society. We must be wherever the working class is and keep reminding ourselves that capitalism will only rip off our class!
*****

This is how we serve our class

I work in a city office that provides services to low income families. Such help has never fully met the real needs of those who come to our office but federal cutbacks have made it more difficult to provide the help desperately needed. My co-workers and I have discussed this and show our support by going beyond what the rules say we can do.

As workers providing services for those less fortunate than us, like helping to arrange permanent housing, medical care, food, clothing and employment, we provide additional help beyond our job titles. We collect items (like pampers, toys, canned goods and toiletries) to help meet urgent needs. We provide information about food pantries addresses, which ones have long lines and which ones serve cooked food. We let people know that pantries serve a diverse group: seniors, young mothers, men and women of all nationalities (citizens and non-citizens). The folks we see appreciate all we do for them as they try to properly care for their families. During our work hours we are told by our managers not to care or provide additional assistance. We refuse to not acknowledge or aid any individual in need. 
*****

Raise wage and class consciousness

At a  meeting with the City Council, I was chosen—based on the trust I’ve earned within the committee I belong to—to testify on why the minimum wage for New York City workers needs to be raised, and this is the testimony I prepared:

Good morning, I have been a member of this community organization for over 20 years. My purpose here is very simple: to amplify the demands of my fellow workers who cannot be here,, because if they stop working, they won’t have enough money to pay even one bill this month—that’s why they can’t afford to stop working— but I am here to testify as to why we need a law that raises the minimum wage to $30 an hour for workers in New York City, where the cost of living is constantly rising.

I recall  there was a struggle for a minimum wage of $7-something an hour, and a few years ago, after a long struggle, a law was passed that raised the minimum wage to $15. Now it’s $17, but that’s still not enough to survive on. The working class, especially Black and Brown workers are becoming poorer every day due to the rising cost of living, because as long as we live in a brutal and savage capitalist society where the rich get richer and richer due to their thirst for profit and the poor get poorer and poorer.

That is why I am asking the members of the City Council to pass the bill that raises the minimum wage for New York City workers to $30 an hour by 2030, I know that after that date, if I’m still alive, we’ll be back campaigning for a minimum wage of $40 or more, because even that wage won’t cover the ever-growing basic needs of our working class.

Thank you very much; that concludes my testimony.

I gave this testimony knowing full well that capitalism will never give us what we need, and that capitalism thrives on the exploitation of the working class, and especially the super-exploitation of Black and migrant workers. That is why I continue to build within this organization because every worker I encounter needs to know that only under communism, with the workers in power, can all the needs of the working class be met, because we would not work for a wage, but to meet our own needs and those of others. Only a revolution for the seizure of power by the workers will allow us to live in a better world—without wars, without crises, without borders, and without capitalism, which will dig its own grave through our indestructible power. That is why we must build a massive PLP by working hard within the mass movement to win it. 
*****

Israeli army continues invasion of Lebanon

France24, 5/30–Lebanon’s prime minister accused Israel on Saturday of pursuing a “scorched-earth policy” in his country’s south, urging a halt to the fighting as Israel carried out fresh air strikes and issued evacuation warnings for more than a dozen locations. A day after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said his forces had advanced deeper into Lebanon, his counterpart Nawaf Salam warned the country was facing a “dangerous” escalation, and called for “a swift and real ceasefire”. In a televised address, Salam accused Israel of “pursuing a scorched-earth policy and collective punishment” by “destroying towns and villages, and forcing their inhabitants into exile”...The Lebanese health ministry says that Israeli attacks have killed more than 3,371 people since March 2…

Inflation hitting U.S. workers hard as wars continue

Surveys of Consumers, University of Michigan, 5/22—The cost of living continues to be a first-order concern, with 57% of consumers spontaneously mentioning that high prices were eroding their personal finances, up from 50% last month. Lower-income consumers and those without college degrees posted particularly strong sentiment declines; these groups are more sensitive to increases in the cost of gas and other essentials…Year-ahead inflation expectations inched up from 4.7% last month to 4.8% this month. The current reading substantially exceeds the 3.4% reading seen in February 2026 prior to the start of the Iran conflict.

Young U.S. workers struggling through hard economic times

The Guardian, 5/30–Young people are already facing the worst entry-level job market since the start of the pandemic and significant economic instability. But overall economic conditions are making it more challenging for those just entering adulthood. More than eight in 10 young adults rate the economy as “bad” or “terrible”, according to a recent survey conducted with more than 1,000 18- to 34-year-olds around the US by Generation Lab, a research firm studying young people. While young adulthood is known as a time for establishing independence and responsibility, many are attempting to do so amid cuts to social safety net programs and the ever-increasing costs of basic needs like gas and groceries.

Protesters fight ICE rats and now NJ and Newark kkkops

NJ.com, 5/30–Protesters clashed with the New Jersey State Police outside a federal immigration detention center again Saturday night, pushing against barriers and shouting at troopers, who sprayed gas while responding in riot gear. Tensions had been high outside Delaney Hall in Newark all day as both anti-ICE and pro-ICE groups gathered in designated areas. The crowd swelled to more than 200 people by 9 p.m., hours after New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill urged protesters to “bring the temperature down”...The latest conflict comes as detainees are on a hunger strike inside the privately run detention center…Detainees decry what they describe as inhumane conditions inside the facility, including poor food quality and a lack of medical care.

Australian bosses can only afford hand-me-down subs

MSN, 5/30–Australia will only receive used nuclear-powered submarines from the US as part of an agreement to “streamline” the AUKUS deal, with the move branded on Sunday as a “cost-effective” measure by Defense Minister Richard Marles…Under the 2021 AUKUS deal, Australia is expected to receive at least three so-called “Virginia-class” nuclear-powered submarines from the US within 15 years…The US Navy has 24 Virginia-class vessels, but American shipyards are struggling to meet production targets set at two new boats each year.In the US, critics have questioned why Washington would sell nuclear-powered submarines to Australia without stocking its own military first.

Japan bosses disavow pacifism with China in mind

Al Jazeera, 5/31–Japanese Defence Minister Shinjiro Koizumi has dismissed claims that Tokyo is pursuing “new militarism” and accused China of rapidly expanding its military with limited transparency…“Think about it. There’s a country that has a huge arsenal of nuclear weapons and strategic bombers…” Ties between Japan and China sank to ⁠their worst level in years after Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi warned in November that a hypothetical Chinese attack on Taiwan could draw a Japanese military response…Last month, Takaichi’s cabinet scrapped a ban on lethal weapons exports, a major change in its post-war pacifist policy.

When U.S. Racist-in-Chief Donald Trump and China’s capitalist king Xi Jinping convened for a summit, they reflected the growing competition between a decaying U.S. empire and a rising Chinese empire—a rivalry increasingly pushing the world towards world war. Only the working class can turn this kill-line setup into a winning position. For that, we need a communist revolution, a world without exploitation, profit, and borders. Join Progressive Labor Party (PLP) to turn this aspiration into a reality for future generations. 

A struggle to the death

China’s rise to a superpower status has been at least twenty-five years in the making. The Belt and Road, including the digital silk road, was an imperialist strategy to connect 150 countries and 32 international organizations across Asia, Europe, Middle East, Africa, and Latin America under China’s economic prowess (Bloomberg, 12/20/25). Xi has made clear that China intends to become a world-leading power economically, technologically, militarily, and politically (NY Times, 5/14). China was one of Trump’s targets for his “tariff regime,” and China, in retaliation, had cut off rare earths and magnets. U.S. imperialist bosses’ mouthpiece The New York Times captured the panic: “how do you deal with a country that’s trying to displace you as the world’s number one power?” It is no secret that the two imperialists have “fundamental divides” in a “battle of dominance” that “looks like a death struggle” (The Daily, 5/14).

Much of the U.S. panic stems from the realization that not only is the U.S.  facing a true rival vying for world domination, but also that the U.S. ruling class itself is fractured and divided, rendering it weaker against enemies. This is increasingly visible: a Chinese think tank’s report titled “Thank Trump” declared the president an “accelerator of American political decay” and attributed China’s growth to U.S. volatility (NY Times, 5/12).  

Trump’s transactionalist and short-term-profit mindset has undermined and further hastened U.S. decline. Clouded by inflation and war with Iran, Trump arrived at the table weakened (Washington Post, 5/16). His sycophantic attempt to stroke Xi’s ego and insist on “friendship” paled in comparison to Xi’s cold confidence. The actual “friendship” is between Russia and China, as both share an opposition to U.S. world domination. 

While Trump did not cause the U.S. empire to decline—that’s a trend since the 1970s—he sure has intensified it. Trump’s attacks on the very institutions that historically propped up the U.S.-led international world order has alienated allies and severely damaged credibility. European bosses increasingly discussed “strategic autonomy” and began preparing for a world where the U.S. could no longer be relied on as a stable empire. For its closest allies in Europe, “it’s clear that dependence on the United States comes at an impossibly high cost.” Instead of “waiting for rescue,” they are constructing a parallel trading system of  own” (Foreign Affairs, 5/15). In other words, even longtime allies are preparing for the demise of the U.S world order.

Taiwan, a linchpin of rivalry

Besides allies in Europe, another anxiety of the U.S. empire is Taiwan. “The biggest risk of this week’s summit is that Mr. Trump will trade short-term American gains, such as the exporting of more soybeans and other agricultural goods, for long-term Chinese advantages” (NY Times, 5/13). Xi warned that “could enter an ‘extremely dangerous place’ if President Trump sought to impede China as it asserted itself over Taiwan” (The Guardian, 5/14). As the first island chain, Taiwan is a strategic anchor in the South China Sea. The Taiwan Strait links the Northeast Asian economies to the rest of the world, accounting for one-fifth of the world’s maritime trade (CSIS, 6/17/25). More importantly, whoever controls Taiwan can more easily project their imperialist ambitions into the Pacific. So of course, Trump’s unpredictable remarks spread fear of “upending Washington’s longstanding support to Taiwan.” Trump represents the faction of the domestic-oriented U.S. ruling class that is unwilling to sacrifice for world war. He openly called the $25 billion of weapon sales to Taiwan as a “negotiating chip” with China, warned against Taiwanese independence, and that he is “not looking” to “travel 9,500 miles to fight a war’ in Taiwan’s defense” (The Guardian, 5/18). Here is precisely the problem for the U.S. imperialist bosses whose interest lies in world supremacy. They need a population that would be willing to go to war, which is far from reality at the moment.

Like a wounded and cornered beast lashing out, a desperate and more erratic U.S. is a danger to all. While bosses use their state power to delay or negotiate, competition, not collaboration, is primary. When competition is the fundamental basis of society, war is the final tool bosses use to decide on winners and losers. The years leading up to the past two world wars were marked by similar crises: arms buildups, economic instability, nationalism, and intensifying rivalries. Make no mistake—bosses will stab each other in the back before they surrender power. And they will sacrifice workers’ lives without hesitation. None of these bosses represent our interests; only working class power can do that.

Workers at the kill line?

In gaming, the kill line is the marking point where a player’s conditions are so poor, they can be killed in one shot. Capitalist China’s propaganda popularized “the kill line” to refer to the devastation of the working class in the U.S. This sickening inequality is not an American exceptionalism, but rather a global crisis of capitalism. China’s growth is “half what it once was. Youth unemployment is high” (NY Times, 1/13). Teetering at the precipice of ruin feels like the reality of tens of millions around the world. 
While the bosses treat it like a game, we workers and youth pay for their rivalry with our blood and labor. Whether it’s the costs of oil and electricity or beans and beef, we are the ones forced to pay for imperialist failures.

Since capitalism drives the world towards crises, then workers need an alternative rooted in its opposite. In this era of compounding catastrophes, we have two choices: cower before fascism or find your courage to fight for communism. In Progressive Labor Party, we believe ordinary people have the capacity to change the course of history through seemingly small actions. Together, we can build for communist revolution to the max! See transit workers on strike? Send solidarity! See your neighbor struggling? Build community! Hear racist propaganda? Spread CHALLENGE! Whatever you do to fight back, don’t fight alone—build it with PLP!