- Information
Editorial: Biden’s ICE = gestapo Workers have no Borders!
- Information
- 25 May 2023 655 hits
While the Joe Biden administration has ended the use of Title 42, a public health law that was perverted to stop migrants from claiming asylum in the U.S., the criminal abuse of immigrant workers at the border with Mexico continues unabated. Liberal racist Biden is following in the lethal footsteps of open racist Donald Trump and deporter-in-chief Barack Obama. The crisis of capitalism that displaces workers from their homes is only getting worse. Whoever gets elected as the next capitalist stooge in the White House won’t change that hard reality. Only communism—a new society run by and for the working class—can end this mass misery.
Breaking his campaign promise to create a humane border, liar Biden has instead accelerated deportations by adding a transit ban. His new policy requires proof that a migrant has tried and failed to get asylum from a country they passed through en route to the U.S.—in most cases Mexico, where the bosses refuse to provide safe conditions or a reasonable path to legal residency. Any migrants breaking this bogus rule can be deported summarily and blocked from reentering the U.S. for five years. These workers are forced into lives of utter instability and daily degradation, all for the ‘crime’ of trying to survive. The recent death of an 8 year old Honduran migrant girl, seeking ayslum on the Texas border after being denied medical assistance is just one of the many racist horrors committed by the liberal fascists on a daily basis (NBCnews.com, 5/19)
The cages Obama built are still full of migrant workers and families, with more than four thousand people a day booked into immigration detention centers (Washington Post, 5/19). Undocumented workers are sorted for immediate deportation or bused to inhumane conditions in mass shelters. They sleep on police station floors with no beds in Chicago, or in “respite centers” without showers in New York (Chicago Sun Times, 5/1). Terrorizing migrants coerces them to take jobs with low wages and to accept potential pathways to citizenship that enforce loyalty to the bosses, often by joining their military.
As the bosses’ profit system crumbles all around us, the international working class continues to bear the brunt of its failure. The migrant crisis is part of a broader crisis of global capitalism. Sharpening inter-imperialist rivalry and the war in Ukraine have made the situation even more desperate for the working class.
We, the communists of the Progressive Labor Party, affirm that workers have no borders. We must fight back against racism, nationalism, and the bosses’ brutal attacks against migrant workers. In unity with the international working class, we are building an international communist movement that will smash the bosses’ borders with communist revolution.
Workers uprooted by capitalism
Immigrant workers have been uprooted by the misery generated by capitalism–by unemployment and hunger, by criminal gangs in league with the bosses, by the violence perpetuated by this ruthless system. In countries like Guatemala, El Salvador, Venezuela, and Honduras, workers have long been struggling under extreme poverty. Over the last three years, with jobs lost to the COVID pandemic and living standards eroded by inflation, conditions have gone from bad to horrific.
The working class in the U.S. has not been spared. In New York City, the world’s greatest center of wealth, half the population lacks adequate income to meet basic needs (Citizens Committee for Children of New York).
To divert workers from the reality of the disaster of the profit system, the bosses are criminalizing poverty and displacement. Their targets are the homeless or those forced to make a dangerous trek across thousands of miles to find work. These are the people that capitalism deems most expendable. The racist rulers have sent the message, and the most racist elements of the working class are following their lead. Jordan Neely was murdered on a New York subway for demanding food. To protect the real estate developers’ profit margins, people without homes are refused shelter in liberal-run cities where hundreds of thousands of apartments sit empty (City Limits, 11/17/22). In fact, there are 28 vacant homes for every homeless person in the U.S. (United Way, 3/28).
Bosses’ economy depends on undocumented labor
Capitalists ignore borders every day. They freely span the globe to fight their wars and to exploit workers and raw materials. They use borders to restrict or expand the numbers of migrant workers allowed into their countries, as their shifting economic needs demand. Meanwhile, workers are held prisoner by these arbitrary dividing lines, and used as cheap labor and cannon fodder in the bosses’ wars.
Even as the bosses attack immigrant workers across the globe, they cynically rely on undocumented labor to extract profits. Whole sectors of the U.S. economy would fall apart without undocumented labor: “The vast majority (96.7%) of Mexican undocumented workers are working and contributing to the economy and are vital to critical American industries including agriculture (11.5 percent of the workforce), construction (6.7 percent), and the tourism and hospitality sector (3.4 percent)” (New American Economy Report, 3/8/2021).
One hallmark of capitalism in crisis is rising fascism, as the bosses seek to scapegoat certain workers for the system’s spiraling failures. Trump and his billionaire backers built a movement on attacking immigrant workers. Now that Biden and his band of liberal Democrats and their own billionaire backers find themselves pathetically unable to alleviate the crisis, they are out-Trumping Trump in their racist anti-migrant attacks. The bosses can’t admit that capitalism cannot possibly serve workers’ needs. As the world spins toward global war, they will become increasingly vicious and organized in their assaults.
One international working class
The capitalist bosses have carved up the world through war and genocide. They build nationalism to enlist the working class to defend the lines that imprison and divide us. Every national border has been drawn with workers’ blood. By keeping workers fighting each other, the ruling class ties us to their thieving, murderous rule. The time has come to erase the bosses’ borders and to unite the international working class. The time has come to smash racism, sexism, and nationalism–to smash capitalism itself.
PLP knows that migrant workers are a critical element in this fight. They have deep knowledge of the horrors of capitalism from their own experience. They possess unlimited potential to turn their collective power to endure into a force for revolution. We must unite with migrant workers wherever we are.
Workers everywhere, on all sides of all borders, suffer from the exploitation, incompetence, and brutality of capitalism, from its callous indifference to human life. Communism means abolishing all nations. It means serving one world, one Party, one international working class. Join us!
- Information
May day 2023: Colombia - Workers have no stake in bosses’ dogfighting
- Information
- 25 May 2023 502 hits
Here in Colombia the new government of Gustavo Petro has managed to curb the militancy of the workers, who are waiting for the campaign promises that will never be fulfilled. Our class must not fall for the illusions of change and postpone our revolutionary communist fight in favor of parliamentary and electoral illusions.
Meanwhile, the movement behind former president Alvaro Uribe has not resigned itself to losing its power. It tries to channel the phony promises of the new government and the discontent over the measures that affect the workers into backing their faction. They make statements appealing to easing the cost of living, health and education. They even call for mobilization against the new government.
Some from the former Uribe government even speak of coup intentions and audios have been published that would support these rumors. Although they currently do not have the strength to prepare a coup attempt, with their rhetoric of hate and war they are gaining the support of warmongering soldiers. They are also training their drug-trafficking gangs and even pay vulnerable migrant workers to carry out violent provocations during their rallies and demonstrations, attacking those who disagree.
The current government -- seconded by their congress and union misleaders -- have called to the streets to “support the reforms” without even publishing the content of said reforms. This is because they prefer to arrange things with capitalists and other class enemies, negotiating for the approval of capitalist development “with a human face.” In reality, their reforms are not radical at all but this wing has succeeded in blunting the militancy of workers here nevertheless. The ability of these social fascists to deceive our class while attacking us even harder than the gutter fascists is what makes them more dangerous. We are being called to take to the streets to support and defend the government’s reforms which in fact means mobilizing to support capitalism, wage slavery, racism and private property.
We in PLP are convinced of the need to destroy the current capitalist society entirely. We are committed to root changes that really point towards the structural solution of the problems of the workers, the poor and the oppressed. The reforms proposed by the Government will continue to preserve the privileges of the powerful, which are in turn arranged and haggled over and over again in Congress, with the exploitative capitalists along with representatives of US imperialism. No workers’ or youth input is seriously considered regarding the true nature of this society.
While they make us promises and call us to support their projects, the cost of living skyrockets, wages stagnate, and police continue to kill with impunity. More than 300 young people and workers remain in prison for participating in the struggles of the recent years. Figures report that there is 58% “informality,” that is, unemployment, and millions more with racist contracts of super-exploitation.
The demands that we need from below are not going to come from the negotiation with the bosses and imperialists. The demands for health, employment, wages, the destruction of racism and sexism will not be resolved by concerting to preserve bourgeois and political interests. The streets should be ours, but not to defend the government, much less to support fascism. The streets must be reoccupied to fight in revolutionary unity, to resolve the demands and needs demanded in the multiple popular uprisings.
For more than 20 years we have been supporting different types of workers’ struggle, making space for discussion, and building a base of friends and readers for communism. The current struggles of the farm workers, drivers, builders, the unemployed, housing workers, women’s organizations, students, and sports clubs must unite in a great solidarity struggle to achieve revolutionary class consciousness, advancing the revolutionary process. The anger of the workers has a growing understanding that the profit system of destroys the life of the workers all over the world by radicalizing the current struggles from Peru to France to England and beyond.
Our newspaper CHALLENGE gives us the understanding of what these battles are about; our task is to create a mass base for communism by helping new leaders emerge and fighting to destroy capitalism and its racist, sexist wage system! We have no other choice –Join us!
BAY AREA, May 6—Today, Progressive Labor Party held a BBQ-social to share May Day history, solidarity, and struggle with our comrades and friends. On May 1, PLP members and friends joined an Immigrant Rights’ May Day March in San Francisco with our Red Flags flying high. There were about 400 participants, immigrants, families and supporters from many countries. We marched with the TPS (Temporary Protected Status) contingent demanding a path to permanent residency, adding our class-oriented chants to the march. We continue to focus on the international working class as the power that can challenge capitalism in the U.S. and Imperialism around the world.
NEW YORK CITY--Several comrades attended a May Day rally and march on May 1 sponsored by the Laborers International Union of North America (LIUNA), Teamsters and other unions and community organizations. About 800 workers marched from Washington Square Park to Foley Square in NYC. We distributed 300 CHALLENGE/Desafio newspapers to workers who enthusiastically received it, many of whom already know the paper from PLP’s long term work in community organizations.
- Information
MAY DAY ... Oaxaca: Hoist red flags with working-class pride
- Information
- 11 May 2023 676 hits
On May Day, as part of the mass march of Section 22 of the teachers union of Oaxaca, 15 workers hoisted the red flags of the Progressive Labor Party (PLP) and chanted revolutionary slogans.
We distributed 2,000 flyers with the slogan “Communist May Day,” electoral democracy is bosses’ dictatorship, highlighting the deceitful essence of the capitalist class’s electoral democracy. We attacked the bootlicking political parasites of the pro-bosses’ parties that support this criminal capitalist system that oppresses the working class throughout the world.
We also called on workers to join our revolutionary communist party, PLP, to make revolution and build communism, a new society without bosses that serves the needs and interests of the international working class.
We enthusiastically wore caps imprinted with the PLP logo. Young men and women carried a banner that invited workers and students to “Destroy capitalism!” and “Fight for a communist world!”
Our slogans resounded in unison during the march and in the main streets of the Historic Center of Oaxaca City, drawing the attention of teachers and other workers who were witnessing the mega-march. The slogans that we chanted with energy and great enthusiasm were: “This march is not a celebration, but a struggle and a remonstration”, “May Day is a Workers’ Day”, “The proletarian struggle is not parliamentarian”, “Electoral democracy is bosses’ dictatorship”, “The only path to freedom is workers’ dictatorship”, “Fight, win, workers to power”, “Government and bourgeoisie, the same crap”, “Who are we? The communists from PLP ”, “The workers’ struggles have no borders.”
At the end of the march, we had a get-together where we discussed our participation in this commemorative march of the international working class, and we agreed on activities to give continuity to the revolutionary process outlined by our revolutionary communist party, PLP.
- Information
MAY DAY ... CHICAGO: ‘Celebration of workers’ potential’
- Information
- 11 May 2023 602 hits
As we start our march today, keep in mind that the only way we can create a society that works for our class is that we must fight like hell to get it. We will not win through the ballot box, we will not win it through prayer -- We will win it through building a conscious international working class that is woke to revolutionary communist ideas!
CHICAGO, May 6 –With these true and inspiring words, a veteran Progressive Labor Party (PLP) member helped kick off our International Workers Day (May Day) celebrations. Close to 70 multiracial comrades, youth, co-workers, neighbors and friends enthusiastically rallied and marched through the Uptown neighborhood this afternoon with open calls for communist revolution and workers’ power.
In contrast to many May Day events around the world which have become reformist circuses pushing the bosses’ ideas, PLP unapologetically stays firm in our fight for nothing less than a worker-run egalitarian world. Let the red flag of communist internationalism continue to unite us against capitalism’s racism, sexism, and endless wars for profit!
Rallying our worker forces
The decision to hold May Day in Uptown this year was made in consideration of the sharpened class struggle taking place in this part of the city. In the last year alone, Uptown has been home to some of the most militant fights against capitalist-driven displacement and rotten health care (See CHALLENGE, 9/7/22 and 1/19). Many immigrant and unhoused workers living in the neighborhood have given key leadership to these struggles, and we have been proud to fight alongside them.
Our initial rallying point for the day was a busy intersection next to public transit routes and a city college. Having held weekly CHALLENGE sales and rallies at the same site for months leading up to today, PLP and our communist politics have made an impression already with workers and students in the area.
As more of us filled up the rally area, a pair of comrades led us in chants (including some brand new ones) to get the energy up. We unfurled our communist banners as well as colorful signs that we designed at an art event the weekend before. Along with the veteran comrade’s kickoff speech, another Latin worker highlighted her work organizing among immigrant families in public schools and explained the pitfalls of nationalism:
Nationalism is another one of the problems that we have been fighting to abolish… Internationalism is the goal to end prejudice, injustice and exclusion among the working class.
Take the streets, spread communist politics
With our forces at critical mass, we took the streets and began our march. A security team of marshals helped protect everyone involved and helped guide the pace. A team of CHALLENGE distributors helped ensure the Party’s ideas got into the hands of the masses, getting out approximately 300 newspapers. Many honked their horns and raised their fists in support of our calls for communism. Some even heard our chants and spontaneously joined the march!
We made our way to the site of a clinic associated with Howard Brown Health, one of the bosses’ networks that infamously laid off dozens of workers just before the latest holiday season. At the site a comrade with experience working in nonprofits blasted their exploitative nature with a rousing speech:
We’ve seen schools and mental health clinics close across the south and west sides while racist politicians pour money into policing. Howard Brown is no exception; the cuts and layoffs are happening in the same places where they always make cuts, in Black and Brown communities.
We need to build collective power and abolish capitalism. Under communism we can begin to build a new system where there is mass participation, where workers have real power and control over their labor, and where we can prioritize people and not profits!
Get with the revolutionary program
We concluded our march close to the lakefront, just a stone’s throw from the site of the heroic #RiseUptown anti-displacement struggle last year. A comrade who lives in Uptown shared his analysis of that struggle and the international connections he has built in the neighborhood:
Capitalism can never be reformed… Let’s use the international ties that can be built in Uptown to export our Party’s ideas to more corners of the world, to the international working class!”
We were treated to a delicious lunch along with some pro-worker poetry, May Day greetings from comrades in other countries, and moving performances of Bella Ciao and the Internationale. Lastly, for the keynote speech, another veteran comrade highlighted the power of communist politics and the Party:
The imperialist crisis is providing an opportunity for the international working class and PLP. We are faced with the choice to follow the bosses down the road to war and fascism or to rise as a class to fight for communist revolution and workers’ power. Only communist revolution can end the bosses’ wars!
May Day represents a communist future
May Day will always be a celebration of workers’ power and potential. It is a day when we reinforce our unity, build morale, and are offered a glimpse at a communist future beyond capitalist ideas of race and borders. Let’s live every day like it’s May Day, and win the world we deserve!
