Friedrich Engels introduced the concept of “social murder” in The Condition of the Working Class in England in 1845. Engels argued that the ruling class knowingly forces workers into conditions where they cannot live full or healthy lives, conditions that steadily “hurry them to the grave before their time.” This murder is not the act of an individual. It is the routine violence of capitalism that puts profit above human life.

Social murder: business as usual

Social murder remains as deadly in the twenty-first century as it was in the nineteenth. The fires at Grenfell Tower in London in 2017 (The Guardian, 9/4/24), the Twin Parks North West fire in the Bronx in 2022 (New York Times, 1/9/22), and the Wang Fuk Court inferno in Hong Kong in 2025 (The Guardian, 11/27) expose, with painful clarity, the continuing disposability of workers—especially migrant families forced into the most precarious housing by class domination and borders. A World Health Organization (WHO) report illustrates the devastating magnitude of unhealthy living conditions for workers. In 2012, an estimated 12.6 million people died as a result of living or working in an unhealthy environment—nearly one in four deaths globally. Environmental risk factors such as air, water, and soil pollution; chemical exposures; climate change; and ultraviolet radiation contribute to more than 100 diseases and injuries. The highest share of these deaths—some 2.2 million—occurred in Africa, further underscoring the racist and murderous nature of life for workers under capitalism (WHO, 3/15/2016).

Only communism can prevent future Grenfells, Bronx fires, or Wang Fuk Courts. Safe housing cannot exist under markets or profit-driven development. It requires abolishing housing as a commodity, ending the wage system, and building a society organized around human need. But that future will not appear on its own. It demands an organized, international communist movement. That is why joining the Progressive Labor Party (PLP) is essential. Join PLP to fight for a world without borders, without bosses, and without the profit system that incinerates workers.

Inferno: a dossier of class crimes

Engels insisted that capitalists are responsible when they maintain conditions they know will kill workers. Racism sharpens this process. It pushes migrant and racialized workers into the most dangerous buildings and jobs, feeding them into a blaze that never stops consuming the working class. Under capitalism, racism is not ignorance or prejudice. It is a weapon to divide, weaken, and disarm workers.

This reality was unmistakable at Grenfell Tower, where seventy-two people were burned alive after flames shot up the building’s exterior (The Guardian, 9/4/24). Grenfell stood in one of Britain’s wealthiest boroughs, yet housed low-income workers, many of them migrants or refugees. For years, residents warned about broken alarms, faulty wiring, and hazardous renovations. Their concerns were dismissed (The Guardian, 6/14/18). 

The capitalist bosses installed cheap, highly flammable cladding because it was cost-efficient and hid the “ugly” tower from nearby wealth. 

The Bronx fire of 2022 repeated the same script. Seventeen residents—mostly West African migrant workers—perished when a faulty space heater ignited in an apartment left freezing by landlords who refused to provide adequate heat (New York Times, 1/9/22). The self-closing doors that should have stopped the smoke had been broken for years despite constant complaints (Pulitzer Center, 12/9/22). For the ruling class, these workers were disposable: bodies to extract rent from and nothing more. In a city of billionaires, workers died choking in toxic smoke because business as usual demanded it.

The Wang Fuk Court fire in Hong Kong in November 2025 was yet another chapter in this global dossier of class crimes. Flammable bamboo scaffolding, phased out by the government because it’s a fire hazard, sealed windows, and dead alarms transformed the complex into a dripping fuse (The Guardian, 11/27/25). When it ignited, flames tore through seven towers, killing more than one hundred residents, including elderly tenants and migrant domestic workers from Indonesia and the Philippines (Reuters, 11/27/25). These workers keep the city alive, yet their lives are exposed to a hell of capitalism’s making. Their confinement in cramped, unsafe housing reveals capitalism’s worldwide sorting of the working class into two categories: those temporarily protected and those already marked for sacrifice.

Across Grenfell, the Bronx, and Wang Fuk Court, every hazard was known long before the flames erupted. Tenants warned. Workers begged for repairs. Authorities documented failures. The ruling class ignored it all because protecting working-class life is never on capitalism’s agenda. Engels would recognize these infernos instantly: they are social murder.

Communism will end the hellfire

A communist horizon envisions cities where no worker is disposable, where no migrant is forced into unsafe rooms, where no family is wrapped in flammable cladding to beautify a neighborhood for the wealthy, and where housing is built as a shared social necessity rather than a financial asset. Only communism can abolish social murder entirely rather than manage it.

Capitalism must be actively overturned through organizing, collective struggle, and disciplined revolutionary action. To fight social murder, workers need organization rooted in workplaces, schools, and neighborhoods, a direct challenge to racism, nationalism, and every division within our class, and a long-term strategy to destroy the capitalist system entirely. This requires a revolutionary communist party capable of giving direction, clarity, and unity to that struggle.

This is why building the Progressive Labor Party is essential. The Party fights for a world without borders, without bosses, and without the profit system that burns workers alive. It organizes across countries to turn outrage into revolutionary power. The fires in Grenfell, the Bronx, and Wang Fuk Court show the stakes with brutal precision. Joining PLP means taking up the fight to end social murder at its source.

 Every day it becomes clearer that the education bosses who run a small Los Angeles school district only care about one thing - maximizing profit. While schools are seen as non-profit organizations, the bosses running this district have over $80 million piled in reserves. Year after year they have robbed students of what they need in the classroom to continue to line their pockets and stack their reserves. But educators have only deepened their resolve to fight for a “fair” contract (see 11/16 article for the backstory). Members of Progressive Labor Party (PLP), who had already played a central role in uniting teachers, counselors, and community members, continue to help organize a growing rank-and-file movement committed to centering the needs of their students.

Party members’ message throughout this struggle has remained consistent: even the best-won contract cannot fix an education system rooted in inequality. We are struggling with those around us to not only be involved in the fight for a “fair” contract, but for a long-term goal of building a society where all people can fully realize their potential - communism.

One coworker in particular was hesitant to attend the last board meeting. A Party member struggled with her and she decided to go. She was so inspired by the event that she came back to the school and gave a rousing talk to the rest of the staff about how empowering it was to participate, and she encouraged everyone to join the November protest. The group in attendance from that school tripled in size as a result.

Then, at the protest, she shared that she always would drive by protests and not pay much attention. Since the October board meeting though, she drove by a protest and laid on her horn enthusiastically, remembering how important supporting workers fighting back was. This seemingly small change is important in building a growing class consciousness among workers with whom we have influence.

Bosses’ lackeys fail to trick workers into backing down on protest

The district’s administration attempted to pressure educators into jointly filing for impasse—an effort many workers saw as an attempt to shut down legitimate collective action. Instead of backing down, organizers helped mobilize another 50 workers to attend the district’s monthly board meeting in protest.

Outside the building, passersby leaving work or driving by honked, slowed down to listen, and accepted union leaflets. That organic support energized the crowd—and students joined in too. Several wrote to the board to express their solidarity with the educators they see every day, highlighting the deep ties between school staff and the young people they serve.

As protesters entered the meeting, the district’s two highest-paid officials glared, but the atmosphere shifted when the union president took the microphone. He reminded the board that the people who keep schools functioning were in the room—organized, united, and unwilling to accept disrespect.

When he yielded the remaining time to a veteran math teacher of over 20 years, the district’s CEO abruptly attempted to block the educator from speaking. Witnesses described this moment as a turning point. A PLP member in the crowd began chanting “Let him speak!”, to which the entire group joined in. Despite warnings to “remain civil,” the workers continued chanting until the CEO relented.

Party members’ involvement is essential to the fightback

The math teacher addressed the board with calm resolve. He noted that the district’s 25-year history of passive labor relations had ended and that  a new chapter—defined by confidence, unity, and collective action—was beginning.

Once his remarks concluded, the same PLP organizer led the group in another chant as they marched out in lockstep from the district’s polished downtown offices. On the sidewalk, workers congratulated one another and began planning how to bring even more coworkers, parents, and students into the next action.

Party members will continue to emphasize with base members, coworkers, and students that although they are fighting fiercely for a fair contract, they view the deeper struggle as much larger. Capitalism inherently produces educational inequality, regardless of how many small improvements are won at the bargaining table. The lasting achievement of this movement is the political development of workers, students, and families who—through participation in collective struggle—begin to question why the system operates as it does.

Our fight is far from over. We refused to file for impasse jointly, so the district filed unilaterally. The review board has since denied their petition, so they will be forced back to the table. Of course district leaders will continue to rely on intimidation or delay tactics, but educators and their supporters appear increasingly confident in their collective strength. More actions are on the horizon, but we will remain focused not only on immediate contract demands, but also on building a broader movement capable of reshaping the future of our schools and communities.

The old Progressive Labor Party (PLP) song, “Power to the working class,”or at least its chorus, rang out once again on the Starbucks picket line this afternoon. Starbucks United Workers has been carrying out pickets with large numbers of striking workers and their supporters, leading militant chants and at times taking bold actions in front of the stores. PLP members are actively supporting the strike, standing shoulder-to-shoulder with workers.

These actions are important, as they show the working class is willing to defy the bosses and fight back. Next, Starbucks workers, along with fellow working class comrades, must push beyond picketing and take actions towards building a movement for workers’ power: communism!

New store in the crosshairs

Today, the target was a Starbucks store located in the Empire State Building on 5th Avenue and 34th Street. A tourist mecca during the holiday shopping season, people heard all the loud chants of “what’s disgusting, union busting” and “no contract, no coffee” while passing this Starbucks location.  To chants of “Brian! Brian!  You can’t hide!  We can see your greedy side!”, a dozen Starbucks union members blocked the entrance of the shop and were arrested.

Once again a principal speaker was a young woman from the south who once worked in a North Carolina Starbucks but transferred to a Starbucks in NYC where scheduled hours are more common. She is a rank and filer we have met three times now who keeps speaking out against capitalism and its system of oppression. She pointed out that the new Starbucks boss, Brian Niccol, earned 96 million dollars in his first three months of work (Fortune, 1/25). Meanwhile, Starbucks workers need to get government support such as food stamps and Medicaid and are unable to get secure shifts and work enough hours a week to make a living. The contract demands are around these issues and similar ones like safety and health and arbitrary management. Workers have unionized but cannot get management to meet their demands.

Meanwhile, the fight keeps growing, because workers aren’t backing down. Hundreds of union baristas from 26 new stores joined our national ULP strike this week. That brings us to 3,000 baristas at over 145 cities holding the picket line. Ninety-five percent of the Union membership voted to strike without a contract. 

A number of labor unions sent supporters to stand in solidarity with striking baristas, including SEIU Local 1199 of the hospital workers union, members of the UFT retired teachers chapter (Party members and friends are active in this group), and some building trades members.

A vice-president of SEIU spoke glowingly of the strikers’ courage and her wishes that this movement will someday create a whole new world. A rank and file leader told us that she was hopeful they will win the strike, and in the meantime they have strike benefits, and in New York State can collect unemployment insurance while out of work. But thus far the Starbucks management, one of the richest corporate entities in the world, has made no offer.

Need to fight reformism

Unfortunately, many members of the DSA (which many strikers are part of) really just want to reform capitalism to become more fair. This is a perspective many people carry around. But the capitalist system, while it sometimes can be pushed back through mass struggle, always regains its footing. Then, with the ferocity of its murderous forbears, it makes life worse for working people. We sang “ain’t gonna let no capitalist turn me around, turn me around”.

Capitalists can be Democrats or Republicans. They have some differences in their style and manner, but the engine of capitalism’s  ever expanding growth for profits through the exploitation of the worker and the natural world will not cease unless the working class rises up and makes a revolution. The capitalist system must be replaced by a communist egalitarian world. History has shown that socialism does not lead to a classless society but maintains some capitalist ideas and eventually returns to capitalist modes of production and thinking.

The Progressive Labor Party, while still small, seeks to bring its revolutionary communist ideas to the working class on the picket lines, in the work place, and in schools, churches, mosques and synagogues. We are building an international multiracial movement to win!

On November 21, students and educators from Hostos and Bronx Community College returned to the streets to continue our mutual aid work in the South Bronx. From our first effort, we learned that 60 bagged lunches were not enough, so this time we prepared 100 lunches, including vegetarian and vegan options. We were also excited to distribute hygiene kits—complete with toothbrushes, toothpaste, and body wash—as well as ANTI-ICE care packages containing Know Your Rights Red Cards, a whistle, and an instructional zine explaining how to use the whistle to alert and organize against ICE when they inevitably raid and terrorize our communities.

Our mission continues to grow, but our message remains consistent: it is long past time to organize workers into a force powerful enough to dismantle this fascist system and build a communist world—one led by workers, for workers—capable of guaranteeing and the fulfillment of all basic needs and a life of dignity for all.

Feeding the workers, permit or not

Giving away bagged lunches is a small and simple act of resistance in a time and place where the bosses would have us hate each other. If we, the workers, are distracted with hating each other, we lose sight of who the real enemies of the working class are. Despite the clear need for more mutual aid efforts like ours, surprisingly there was a small resistance to our presence in the neighborhood that day. We picked a corner close to a row of produce stands and even interacted with a few who were happy to take our literature. One vendor, however, who was manning the only NYC-run produce stand, decided we were the enemy and threatened to report our group for distributing food without a permit. We held our ground and did not move. Threats of reporting our operation proved empty, as no one showed up to remove us. Perhaps it is a coincidence that the workers in NYC-run produce stand voiced issues with our work, while the freelance produce stands, normally manned by immigrants, were warm and welcoming. Nevertheless, the lesson we learned from this situation is to always have a safety plan in place to deal with agitators and possible police interactions.  

Our supply of sandwiches was depleted after an hour. We met many unhoused individuals who expressed their deepest gratitude for our work, one saying “Thank you so much for thinking about us! They don’t care about us and will let us die in the gutter.” This  statement does not only ring true for the unhoused population but for the entire working class. This point is proved by the 400 million dollars in SNAP funding that was withheld from New York State during the most recent and longest government shutdown in U.S. history. No one deserves to go hungry, and the ruling class parasites weaponized  hunger against us. 

Staying in touch

As good as it felt to help those in need, simply feeding people may not be enough to gain traction on the road to revolution. Education is paramount, so we handed out over 100 copies of CHALLENGE as well as our club’s literature with our club’s email. We hope adding contact info on our literature will help us make more connections with students and workers in the surrounding area and encourage them to join in the fight. We are excited to continue our mutual aid work and will give an update after our next mutual aid event. But more importantly, we will continue our antiracist fightback to secure a communist  future freed from capitalist hunger and racist deportations.