LOS ANGELES, CA—The Shootin' Newton station can now add detonating a truck of explosives in a residential neighborhood to its list of terror it inflicts daily on the working class of South Central LA. The anger in the community is palpable! Progressive Labor Party (PLP) members and close friends have gone door-to-door in the neighborhood, attended a community forum, and will have an upcoming protest with families brutalized by the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD).
Only under capitalism would a stockpile of fireworks cause 17 injuries and a whole square mile of homes and businesses being destroyed. The LAPD has a long, racist history of brutal oppression in this primarily Black and Latin neighborhood. People were told they did not need to evacuate, that the fireworks would be safely detonated. But workers’ lives and belongings have no value in this system. This explosion is just another example of that.
As members of PLP, we know that in a communist world without the relentless drive for maximum
profit, incidents such as this would never happen. The safety and well-being of workers would always be primary. Many workers want to see the police abolished. That can never happen without a communist revolution.
As members and supporters of PLP, we have been organizing for almost two years in this community, which is just a few short blocks from where Alex Flores was killed. The leaflet we distributed at the community forum, along with copies of CHALLENGE, explained how the murder of Alex, along with countless others, and this bomb explosion are two examples of the role police play under capitalism – inflicting terror on those most oppressed. The cops and their bosses think their terror will paralyze us in our fight to smash the system, but they are wrong!
Although state power and its defenders, the police, can be intimidating, we can and will unite our class to end this brutal, racist system once and for all! We are meeting new people every day who want to fight back. Many are open to the idea of smashing capitalism. We will continue to raise communism as the only solution to racism, exploitation, and oppression.
Liberals are the main danger
The Party’s political position that the liberal bosses are the main danger continues to lead our ideological struggle. To try and squelch the anger of this community, the liberal politicians of South LA, all Black and Latin, pulled out all the stops hosting a forum with LAPD and ATF “to get answers.” (The ATF is The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives). They faked anger and sorrow about the incident, but when the community demanded names of who made the call for the detonation, the politicians played their usual role trying to convince people to wait patiently on the “full” investigation.
The front row of the forum was reserved for people with signs that read “God Bless the LAPD”. They carried noise makers and when we shouted down the LAPD or their politician apologists, they tried to drown us out. We confronted them asking why they were supporting the police when we know they will never hesitate to kill us or our family members. One of the people admitted that we were right. He said he was paid a lot of money by the LAPD to show support, but that he couldn’t do it anymore. He left the front row and moved to be with us.
Once the two sides of the forum were clearly identified, there were calls from the stage and one or two speakers for people to unify. A woman responded to that strongly when it was her turn to speak. “Don’t ask me to unify based on the color of our skin. If you are supporting the cops, even if you look like me, there is no basis for us to unify.” Many cheered for her.
Patience and urgency
We have learned from the experiences of many comrades that when the working class faces brutal attacks such as this explosion, urgency in response has to be primary. The presence of communist ideas will only come from PLP, so the sooner we get them out there, the more effective they will be. We did a decent job in our response to this attack by going door-to-door twice and attending the forum. Also, this month’s Flores Friday protest will change from our typical route to go through the blocks most directly impacted by the bombing, continuing to raise communist ideas along the route and connect the two fightbacks.
Additionally, we know that only a long-term outlook will sustain the level of fightback we need to ultimately lead to communist revolution. It is in the day-to-day seemingly small actions that we learn and relearn the lesson that our objectively small Party has a reach far beyond our size. While distributing copies of CHALLENGE at the end of the community forum, a Black worker looked quizzically at the paper. The worker, who had just recently moved to LA, said he had seen the paper before. The comrade asked where. It turns out the worker had gotten the paper years ago from a comrade professor all the way on the other side of the country!
The comrade and worker exchanged contact information and the worker will join our study group here and attend upcoming actions with us. The fight back continues!
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Maryland: PLP unites worker struggles against capitalist rulers
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- 23 July 2021 84 hits
MARYLAND, July 20—The struggle in Maryland continues on many fronts! The Archie Elliott III rally covered recently in CHALLENGE is one of many arenas where we raise communist ideas among our friends and neighbors.
In Mount Rainier, Maryland, we participated in a Pride Parade and met people who understood how the Pride movement is related to other aspects of capitalist exploitation. We managed to raise a political struggle with beads that had a mini-flyer attached about getting cops out of our schools. There was a van with JUSTICE is GLOBAL calling for vaccines for the world, and “Money crosses borders, why not workers.” Under communism education will be a lifetime process with schools everywhere from the factories to hospitals to offices. Meanwhile cops will be nowhere as there will be no billionaire capitalists that need the protection of cops. And getting vaccines to the world will be a priority, not just political bullshit from politicians. As far as money and borders, they will be relics of the past, long gone. Loved the article on PRIDE in the last issue, which showed how the capitalists try to undercut movements. Our parade was more pro-worker instead!
We are also active in fighting the criminal legal system: a Progressive Labor Party (PLP) member joined a rally and distributed CHALLENGE to several workers at the U.S. Department of Justice to FREE GWEN, a 76 year old woman reincarcerated after failing to answer her phone during her computer class. She is now FREE!
Workers at the University of Maryland are fighting to get a contract to include teleworking. One of the rally leaders was happy to see us because she had been active as a young student with our International Committee Against Racism group years ago! We planted a lot of seeds through that antiracist, multi-racial organization!
Reaching out at the food pantry to tenants has expanded our efforts to meet folks and share our paper. Tenant organizing and support is ongoing in Hyattsville where we have joined with residents to pressure landlords and help with the devilish effort to apply for rental assistance. We went with Eduardo (not his real name), a young father, to court on his eviction and his case was dismissed! It took at least 40 hours of work from several folks including one comrade (a tough bulldog!), a pro-bono activist lawyer, and the folks from Housing Initiative Partnership. A PLP comrade had to gather all the required papers, go to court, file the case and follow up to pressure the county to approve his application for rent relief. Whew! It’s not as dramatic as blocking an eviction with our bodies (or making a revolution!) but a win nevertheless. Under communism everyone would work collectively to share the available housing and to build more and better housing. We would not waste our time filing applications and court papers. So congratulations to all those involved in this winning struggle and join us in the fight for a better world, communism.
Meanwhile, the tenants who have been rent striking for 11 months are now suing their absentee landlord in Langley Park through CASA of Maryland. This campaign is led by one of our good friends in that organization who has also championed the fight against racist police brutality in the County as a member of Community Justice.The class struggle is everywhere! We need to be too, with CHALLENGE and communist ideas and strategies of intensifying the class struggle. Build leaders in the workng class! And get out there!
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CUNY Fightback Students and staff speak out against racist administration
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- 23 July 2021 84 hits
NEW YORK CITY, July 9—“It’s the best meeting I have attended all year!” This statement was made by a professor who participated in the City University of New York (CUNY) Student Speak Out, where over 30 students, along with professors, from CUNY participated in this virtual event to challenge the latest wave of racist attacks coming from the administration. Four students immediately joined a student strike community at the end of the event and pledged themselves to get more involved with this growing movement.
Friends and members of the revolutionary communist Progressive Labor Party (PLP) are part of this organizing effort. From learning about the daily frustrations that the racist CUNY administrators impose on students to guiding the fight-back with principles of multi-racial unity, youth leadership is growing to transform these reform struggles into a fight for communist revolution.
Rising student anger, sharpening class struggle
Anger is rising at the worsening conditions and racist “austerity” measures taken by the CUNY administration: decreased services coupled with rising costs in a university system that serves 274,000 mainly Black, Latin and immigrant students. Students are organizing against increases in class size, financial barriers to registering, reduced class offerings because of layoffs of part-time professors, decreases in services because of understaffed campus offices, and a rush to return to unsafe campuses.
The Student Speak Out gave us an opportunity to advance the struggle over the idea that we need to destroy capitalism – and its colleges and universities. The stories were powerful:
Multiple students reported not being able to get in touch with the financial aid office or the registrar for weeks.
Bursar holds – a block on registering because of money owed to the college – prevents students from graduating on time. This despite CUNY receiving more than $800 million dollars in pandemic relief from the federal government!
One student reported that a class she signed up for, which she thought was going to meet asynchronously, meaning there is no set class time, was meeting four days a week for four hours. Neither the students nor the professor knew that the modality had been changed by administration.
Another student had been kept waiting to learn about her financial aid. Still others were barred from registering, even though they were just about to graduate, because they owed money.
These daily humiliations feed worker anger with a racist capitalist system and with communist political leadership can result in openness to revolutionary ideas. One of those ideas is that the workers on campus, mainly Black and Latin, are not the cause of students’ problems- they are poorly paid, and the first ones to be called back to schools that may not meet health and safety standards.
This event did not just focus on the problems that the system throws in our faces. We also heard stories of faculty and students fighting together to solve these problems – a display of crucial solidarity. The assembled students rejected the politics of identity and representation, clearly seeing CUNY administration as the enemy, even though the Chancellor is Puerto Rican and the president of one of the campuses is Nigerian. They spoke about their past organizing of motorcades and rallies throughout the year, whether it was snowing, raining, or during a heat wave. Most importantly, we agreed to continue the fightback.
Capitalism and universities
Capitalism’s entire existence depends on exploitation of the working class. Schools and universities like CUNY train workers and professionals essential to running the capitalist state on one hand, while on the other hand producing and force-feeding us individualist, anti-communist, racist and sexist ideas. While the universities pretend to be “neutral” centers of “free” or “critical thinking” the reality is that since the capitalists hold state power, they wield it at the universities to ensure their “education” meets the capitalists’ needs, not the working class’. Ignoring the fake liberal hoopla around CUNY’s Latin Chancellor, proof of this can be seen by looking at CUNY’s Board of Trustees.
CUNY’s financial stream is made up of Wall Street bankers and lawyers who only have more racist attacks in store, starting with how to make the cuts that were implemented during the pandemic permanent. More online classes, fewer professors, fewer campus workers, and fewer classes mean working-class students are working even harder to make less—the capitalists are launching the same attacks against students worldwide.
Students and revolution!
The U.S. capitalists’ empire faces sharpening rivalry and increasing threat of world war with Chinese and Russian imperialism. As the U.S. turns toward fascism, students have a historic opportunity to join a revolutionary movement instead of lining up as cannon fodder for the bosses’ next war. Student demonstrations against racism and imperialism have fanned wider flames of working class rebellion around the world for decades, and CUNY is no exception. At the end of the Speak Out, students planned to participate in and help to lead a motorcade to the homes of two of the campus presidents, bringing our righteous anger at the racist treatment of our students to their doorstep. We invite all students to join this event next time around and join PLP to turn the next bosses’ world war into revolutionary war for communism!
Try as the capitalist class might, they can never extinguish the flames of rebellion. CUNY’s future is student, worker, and faculty unity and, led by communist politics, to transform the fightback for a better CUNY into a revolution for a new, worker and student-led communist society.Join PLP and help build a fighting student movement!
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End of strike—Capitalist healthcare conditions sickens workers
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- 23 July 2021 96 hits
CHICAGO, July 13—Today marks the official end of an 18-day strike of Cook County workers against the racist and sexist city bosses. Over 2,500 workers united across many different job titles and workplaces to fight against the County board’s profit-based cutbacks. The majority of these workers are Black and Latin women, providing another clear example of Progressive Labor Party’s (PLP) outlook that those most exploited and oppressed under this ruthless capitalist system are those most ready to organize for its destruction.
The striking workers of the Cook County system have fought boldly, asserting their dignity and a good deal of power in the face of a system not designed to suit working-class needs. But even the gains of the most militant and prolonged strike can and will be blunted or even erased, as long as the racist capitalist profit system remains intact.
Members of PLP have been proud to support this struggle, marching on the picket lines, distributing leaflets and copies of CHALLENGE while making conversation with the strikers. The workers are fighting for a better deal from the Cook County bosses, and no doubt learning from their experience. We in PLP encourage all workers to join the fight for an egalitarian communist society to end racism and sexism once and for all.
Racist bosses keep safety net hospitals on the chopping block
A racist trend that the working class has been grappling with is a significant reduction of services for the so-called “safety net” hospitals under capitalism. These publicly-funded institutions primarily care for uninsured and underinsured workers, the majority of which are Black, Latin, and immigrant.
Around Chicago alone in the past few years, we have experienced the complete closure of two hospitals (Westlake and Metro South), the proposed closure of Mercy Hospital on the south side, and major reductions of service throughout the Cook County Health system, which includes Provident Hospital on the south side and Stroger Hospital on the lower west side. These cuts have proven devastating to workers’ health outcomes, with life expectancy varying as much as 30 years between different neighborhoods (Chicago Tribune, 6/5/19).
In the majority of these cases, especially in Chicago, it is the Big Fascist liberal bosses that are leading the attack on our health and wellbeing. This Big Fascist wing of the U.S. ruling class (see glossary on page 6) uses identity politics and progressive-sounding language as a means to try and mislead workers into supporting pro-capitalist policies. Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle and Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot – both Black women – have led the charge against striking healthcare and education workers as well as anti-racist protestors in recent years.
The truth is, capitalist bosses of all stripes have little to no interest in funding public services that serve working people. As the U.S. bosses watch the rise of their rivals in Russia and China, they are pressed to funnel more trillions of dollars into their war machine. They understand the contradictions of their system can ultimately only be settled in the arena of global imperialist war, the most deadly assault on the international working class.
Pro-boss unions put workers on reform carousel
The workers represented by the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 73 include many of the lowest-paid workers in the Cook County public system. Despite the financial hardship no doubt involved in a prolonged strike and union organizers failing to engage patients and the community, these workers remained boldly committed to the cause.
In exchange for their commitment, the most that SEIU leadership could scrape together was a meager $50 strike fund per worker. Contrast this scant amount to the one million dollars that SEIU donated to Preckwinkle’s mayoral campaign in 2018 (Herald and Review, 12/10/18). The union leadership actively contributed to the same class enemy that we fight today!
But such collaboration should come as no surprise when we consider the overall role of unions under capitalism. Their purpose is to keep working-class fightback within acceptable limits for the bosses, build loyalty and dependence to capitalist politicians and their courts, and negotiate the terms of our exploitation on the job. They will never by their nature challenge capitalism and its rampant inequality and unemployment – only a mass communist PLP can do that.
A communist society is a healthy society
Regardless of shortcomings, the Cook County strike has had a motivating impact in the lives of countless workers. It has no doubt stimulated our local PLP collective to struggle to push past our limits in order to follow up with new contacts and raise communist politics more broadly.
We don’t need a system that takes care of the needs of billionaires—the capitalist system. We need a communist society in which we share equally in the fruits of our labor. It is a system in which workers are appreciated, racism and sexism are eliminated, and good health and health care are shared by all.
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A worker experiencing homelessness finds a politcal home with PLP
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- 23 July 2021 91 hits
NEW YORK CITY, July 21—In July 2020, the Progressive Labor Party (PLP) got involved in a struggle on the Upper West Side of New York City when 280 homeless men were moved to the Lucerne Hotel from a congregate homeless shelter so that they could physically distance during the Covid-19 pandemic. The vast majority of the workers were Black, and a wealthy, racist community organization hired a high-price lawyer, a friend of both Small Fascist Rudolph Giuliani and Big Fascist Bill de Blasio (See Glossary on Page 6), to have the workers evicted from the hotel.
An antiracist community organization, Open Hearts UWS, was formed to defend the men and fight the racist eviction. It is through Open Hearts that PLP met Andre, a Black worker who became a leader in this fight. After a lot of pizza and conversation, inviting him to Zoom meetings and getting to know each other better, Andre marched with us on May Day and said he wanted to join PLP. He recently participated in a Summer Project study group on homelessness and displacement. Below is a brief interview with Andre.
CHALLENGE: Where were you a year ago?
Andre: I’d like to go back a little further. I got out of prison in 2017 and lived with my lady in Harlem. For a while I was working as a dishwasher in the tourist industry. I lost my job in March, when everything shut down due to Covid. In April, I attended the funeral of one cousin, and a few days later, another cousin died of Covid. In June, I found myself back in the shelter system, and on July 3, 2020, my lady died of a stroke, yet another painful funeral. In a matter of weeks, I was transferred from a shelter in Brooklyn to the Lower East Side, to 51st St. and finally to the Lucerne.
CHALLENGE: What were your thoughts about the racist backlash on the Upper West Side when you and the men were housed in the Lucerne? How did you feel about getting involved in the struggle? Were you a political person?
Andre: I really wasn’t aware of the racists. My lady had just died, and I was working at the Brooklyn Navy Yard making face shields and masks for front-line workers. In one of the shelters, I came in contact with the Coalition for the Homeless and got involved with them, going out once a week and feeding homeless people on the streets. I also had my first interview for an apartment. The Coalition for the Homeless had a media person who arranged for me to have a letter in the Daily News about the need for housing, not shelters. I never thought of being an activist. It wasn’t in the plan. I was just thinking about the rotten conditions in the shelters and trying to survive on $200/month in food stamps and $54 cash every two weeks. I always tried to keep up with current events, even when I was locked up. Everyone in prison is trying to keep up.
CHALLENGE: How did you get involved in the legal case to stop the evictions from Lucerne? How did you come to discover the billion-dollar “homeless industry” in NYC? [see CHALLENGE, Crush Racist Parasites That Live Off the Homeless]
Andre: One of the homeless shelter providers I worked for was Ready, Willing and Able, run by the Doe Fund. [There are many shelter providers with similar operations that have replaced city sanitation workers-CHALLENGE.] We sweep up sidewalks and streets in different business districts around the city for minimum wage. Then the Doe Fund withholds 25 percent of that for rent! I knew there was a lot of exploitation going on here and spoke with my friend in PLP about it. The CEO of the Doe Fund and his wife made $350,000 salaries and their kids each made about $150,000, getting us to work for minimum wage and replacing City workers.
I got active in the Lucerne legal fight after we held our first march on Gracie Mansion [the Mayor’s home]. I met another leader from our shelter and some of our supporters in Open Hearts. After a court hearing, the judge ruled that he could not hear the case unless there were residents of the hotel bringing the case against the City, so three of us decided to sign on as the lead plaintiffs.
CHALLENGE: How did you decide to march on May Day? What did you think of it?
Andre: I believe if you want something different, you have to do something different! We had just come through the summer of Justice for George Floyd and a lot of talk about revolution. I keep an open mind and look for different experiences. I learned a little about communism in prison, which we all called “Pen State,” a play on words for State Penitentiary. There are a lot of talented and smart people locked up. For a while, I was a facilitator for the Nation of Islam, and I read a lot in jail. I read about the Soledad Brothers. Some people get radicalized in jail.
I was most impressed by the unity expressed at May Day–Black, Latin and white, young and old, there was a real spirit of unity! After that, I decided to join.
Join PLP
As we go to press, Andre now has his own apartment, and the Lucerne is closed. More than 200 workers at the Lucerne were given permanent housing during this struggle and about 60 were recently moved back into a congregate shelter, before the Legal Aid Society temporarily stopped the City from moving 6,000 hotel residents back to shelters.
As a result of the City’s rush to crowd people back into shelters, Andre and many others have lost their jobs. There are many workers, working 40 hours, living in homeless shelters in NYC. About 90 percent of the families in shelters are Black, including thousands of public-school students and many City University of New York community college students. Andre is helping us to open the door to many more of them finding a home in PLP.
