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Editorial: Capitalism in crisis - From trade wars to world wars
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- 13 March 2025 436 hits
In his latest episode of imperialist reality TV, Donald Trump scolded Ukraine President Zelensky, then shut off U.S. arms and intelligence to Ukraine in its war with Russia, then restored them–for now. Trump announced across-the-board tariffs on imports from Canada and Mexico, walked some of them back, then declared a new global tariff on steel and aluminum–revenue he needs to cover his planned tax cuts for the rich (reuters.com, 1/22). Canada and Europe, long the closest of U.S. allies, fought back with tariffs of their own. With Trump igniting trade wars and admitting the potential for recession, Wall Street markets took a nosedive (BBC, 3/10).
In the current period, as the rulers sow death and chaos and everything seems up for grabs, a communist analysis is essential. Beneath the daily drama lies a global crisis of capitalism and sharpening tension between a U.S. in decline and rising Chinese and Russian imperialism. At the same time, boiling disagreements have split the U.S. ruling class over how to plunge the working class into fascism and war.
Recent worker-driven struggles have brought terms like “fascism” into everyday conversation. But simply calling Trump a fascist paints an incomplete picture. Our ultimate enemy is the capitalists’ dictatorship, whether it’s under the guise of liberal democracy or the more open state terror that ushers in full-blown fascism. As Vladimir Lenin, a leader of the Russian communist revolution, warned over one century ago, trade wars are the gateway to shooting wars. The bosses will use workers as cannon fodder, no matter which party wins the next U.S. election or who is the president.
The revolutionary communist Progressive Labor Party fights to turn the guns around on this entire racist, sexist, imperialist system, from Port-au-Prince to China’s Pearl River Delta. Our task is to win millions to fight for communist revolution and a society run by and for the working class.
Ukraine war reveals U.S. bosses’ conflicts
The March 2 Trump-Zelensky showdown exposed deep divisions among the U.S. rulers. The Small Fascist, Fortress America bosses who’ve hijacked the Republican Party have no interest in paying for a costly ground war between the U.S. and China or Russia. A rival group, the finance capital main wing led by the multinational banks and energy companies, is fronted by the Democratic Party. With trillions of dollars in worldwide assets defended by over 800 U.S. military bases, these Big Fascist imperialists see Ukraine as a linchpin of their anti-Russia containment strategy. Trump challenged this strategy in his 2019 phone call to Zelensky, when he attempted to barter U.S. military aid for dirt on Genocide Joe Biden, the main threat to Trump’s re-election in 2020. The Democrats responded by impeaching Trump.
Trump’s openly racist, crudely transactional approach lacks the Democrats’ phony gloss of “freedom” and “democracy” or their cynical pandering to Black, Latin and immigrant workers. The Big Fascist finance capital bosses use these deceptions to mislead honest anti-racist workers into supporting liberal Democrats–even though the Democrats, if and when they regain power, will lead the drive to war and open fascism. Faced with the escalating crisis of capitalism, they will have no other choice.
In truth, neither faction of the U.S. ruling class cares about the more than one million working class Russian and Ukrainian soldiers dead or wounded. There are no good bosses! All capitalists–and their politician stooges–serve only the brutal profit system. Communists serve only the international, multiracial working class. That means uniting to smash ALL bosses and their racist, sexist, nationalist ideas.
The rise and fall of U.S. imperialism
Since World War II, U.S. imperialism has mostly dictated the global political and economic order through the supremacy of the U.S. dollar. The dollar’s status as the world’s reserve currency was the foundation for the United Nations, the World Bank and International Monetary Fund, the World Trade Organization, and the NATO military alliance. For decades, the U.S. bosses and their European junior partners carved up much of the world’s markets, labor, and resources. When workers’ power in the once-revolutionary Soviet Union and China was reversed, U.S. imperialism became even more dominant. But now, with renewed imperialist rivalry, the U.S. is no longer an unchallenged global superpower. Its “unipolar moment” is done (polsci.institute, 4/9/24).
One marker of this fall is the fracturing of the U.S.-European alliance (Atlantic Council, 2/24). Three others: the economic and military rise of China, the de-dollarization of the BRICS alliance, and Russia’s defiance of NATO in Ukraine. Grand strategies aside, the Ukraine war has been a disaster for U.S. imperialism. It has depleted U.S. military stockpiles while bringing Russia and China closer together and expanding markets for Russian fossil fuels in China and India. Meanwhile, nationalist bosses from Brazil to Burkina Faso, long subjected to U.S. imperialist coercion, are realigning with Russia and China. In Africa’s Sahel, local capitalists are swapping French troops for Russia’s Wagner Group mercenaries (Deutsche Welle, 10/27/24). They’re also signing more profitable trade agreements with Chinese mining companies to extract gold, lithium and uranium (Le Monde, 1/5).
Lenin was right. The imperialists’ unquenchable thirst for profits drives them to redivide the world’s spoils, over and over again. When imperialist diplomacy inevitably fails, imperialist war inevitably follows — and the global imperialist order is reset. It’s worth noting, however, that the two biggest imperialist wars - World Wars I and II - ended with millions of communist-led workers smashing the rulers’ war machines and uniting the working class under the red flag. And they will again!
The only solution to fascism: communist revolution
Within the U.S. and Europe, inflation and price gouging, mass racist and sexist terror, and sickening wealth inequality have created fertile ground for fascism – and for PLP. Just as the capitalist bosses use imperialist war to resolve their differences with bosses in other countries, they use fascism to resolve crises within the countries they rule. They develop extreme racist, sexist, and nationalist ideas to their fullest, most deadly expression. Their aim is to reorganize the social, political and economic life of a country around their necessity for imperialist war.
It’s not just Trump and the nazi-loving Elon Musk and J.D. Vance. The European Union’s liberal president announced that Europe is in “an era of rearmament” and must transition to war preparation (Reuters, 3/4). Meanwhile, the bosses of Europe’s largest economy, Germany, have “reawakened” and pledged to reorganize their economy for war (Financial Times, 3/5.) Their alarm went off after the openly fascist Alternative fur Deutschland doubled its share of the vote to 20 percent and finished second in the recent federal elections. Building a mass international PLP will remind the German bosses of the last time they “reawakened,” and the Soviet Red Army obliterated Nazi fascism from Stalingrad to Berlin.
Workers today are bravely resisting in isolated struggles, from fighting genocide in Gaza to resisting racist police terror and deportations. But only a united international working class, led by a mass revolutionary Progressive Labor Party, can smash capitalism for all time. The growing international crisis presents both dangers and opportunities. As the capitalists dismantle reforms won by previous generations, it’s a dead end to try to fight fascism through alliances with sell-out liberal capitalists. The only solution is a communist revolution! Join PLP!
On a Saturday afternoon, a multiracial, multi-generational group of 40 participants gathered in Lennox, California, for a powerful forum on the history of immigration. Organized by the Progressive Labor Party, the event spanned three crucial sections that explored the current state of immigration, the historical roots of displacement, and the ongoing fightback led by the working class. The forum reminded attendees that borders are a tool of capitalist oppression and only serve to divide and exploit our class. Leaders called for a revolutionary approach to addressing the crisis— emphasizing that the only solution to the ongoing deportation machine is communist revolution.
It is important to note that all participants in attendance were connected to us through the various aspects of mass work we have engaged in over the last decade. Whether it be the schools, the anti-police brutality work, the healthcare work, or the tenant’s work, the time and commitment to these areas yielded results for this event. Our commitment to organizing in mass organizations has led to modest growth in our area and we are continuing to reap those benefits.
Data, displacement, and the reality of immigration
The forum began with a thought-provoking presentation that provided data and statistics on immigration over the past 12 years. Graphs depicting the rise in immigration detention, deportations, and family separations set the tone for the discussion, showing that both Democratic and Republican administrations have largely followed similar policies. Despite their political differences, both parties have upheld and even expanded the immigration machine that deports families and denies basic human rights.
Participants were invited to reflect on how displacement is not limited to people crossing borders. The discussion highlighted how gentrification forces working-class families, particularly in neighborhoods like Inglewood, to leave their homes and move to poorer areas. Whether it is Latin American migrants seeking to escape imperialist-made disasters or working-class people being pushed out of their homes by profit-driven “urban renewal,” the root cause of displacement is the same: capitalism’s relentless drive for profit at the expense of human lives. The “Aha” moment came when a Party member pointed out that bosses have no borders when on the hunt for profits. For the ruling class, the borders are porous. They are only used to control movement of the working class.
The session left many participants with a clearer understanding of the economic and political forces behind the immigration crisis. As one participant put it, “The immigration issue isn’t just about borders—it's about people who are displaced by a system that sees us as commodities, not as human beings.”
The history of immigration and the role of NAFTA
The second section of the forum took a historical approach, examining how immigration issues have been shaped by international policies, including the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). NAFTA, which came into effect in 1994, is directly linked to the rise in migration from Mexico and other Latin American countries. The agreement displaced millions of workers by allowing multinational corporations to exploit cheap labor and destroy local economies. It also made it easier for U.S. companies to ship jobs abroad, while impoverishing communities in the process.
The presenters emphasized that the history of immigration is one of capitalist exploitation, with immigration policies often serving the interests of big corporations that benefit from cheap labor. This historical context is crucial to understanding why immigration policies have remained so harsh and discriminatory, no matter which party is in power.
The fightback – Organizing for change
The final section of the forum focused on the growing resistance and fightback against the immigration system. From individual actions to mass protests, community-led initiatives have been increasingly successful in interrupting immigration enforcement operations. The presentation highlighted grassroots efforts to block deportations, organize school walkouts, and disrupt ICE raids. It was clear that the struggle for immigrant rights is a vital part of the larger working-class struggle.
A particularly moving part of the discussion came from two young Black students, leaders of the school walkout on February 3, which saw hundreds of students protesting the threat of deportations (see CHALLENGE 3/12/25). These students shared their experience and the urgency they felt in pushing back against a system that criminalizes their families and communities. These students fought to strengthen the politics of the entire walkout by reminding the student body that immigration issues don’t just impact the Mexican community. “The bosses benefit from keeping us divided,” one of the students said. “This is why we felt it was so important to bring the message of working class unity to our peers.”
The forum concluded with a call to action: participants were urged to join in regular neighborhood rallies leading up to the May Day event, where the working class will take to the streets in solidarity. The rallying cry was clear: "The working class has no borders."
A communist solution: No borders, no deportations
Throughout the event, the underlying message was that the current system of immigration enforcement is not just a product of bad policies, but a direct result of capitalism. The capitalist class benefits from the exploitation of immigrant labor, and both the Democrats and Republicans have contributed to creating the deportation machine that has been expanded under Trump’s administration. As one participant pointed out, “The Democrats laid the groundwork for Trump’s deportation machine with policies like ‘Secure Communities’ and the expansion of ICE. In this system—it doesn’t matter who’s in power. What matters is dismantling the system that oppresses us all.” Additionally, policies like NAFTA, the criminalization of undocumented migrant workers, and the militarization of the border are tactics of U.S. imperialism. The growing inter-imperialist rivalry will continue to drive displacements until we overthrow this rotten profit-driven system.
The forum closed with a powerful reminder that communism is the only real solution to the issue of deportation. The working class has no borders—workers from all corners of the world share the same struggles. Only through collective action, solidarity, and the overthrow of the capitalist system can we truly dismantle the forces that exploit and oppress working people, including through deportations.
As the forum concluded, participants left with renewed conviction and a sense of purpose. The battle against deportations and displacement is far from over, but it’s a fight that will continue to grow in strength—until borders are abolished and the working class is united as one under the red flag.
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From International Working Women’s Day to May Day, Fight On!
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- 13 March 2025 146 hits
Our recent May Day Brunch was a resounding success. A vibrant intergenerational showing of comrades and friends exceeded our seating capacity. The power of collective struggle in the fight against capitalism and sexism was on full display. Over a dozen students came to their first Progressive Labor Party (PLP) event to celebrate International Women’s Day! They joined workers from health care, transit and education sectors as well as retirees to engage in critical discussions on women’s resistance across the globe, and explored strategies for building communism.
One organizing highlight - a young woman brought five of her friends from different schools across the city. This act of organizing highlights the exponential nature of our movement—when one person’s consciousness is raised, it spreads, inspiring others to join the fight. Revolutionary ideas continue to resonate with and galvanize the next generation.
Throughout the brunch, participants recreated revolutionary art and studied the history of past struggles while confronting the limitations of movements that lacked or lost their revolutionary communist horizon. Engaging discussions examined both successful strategies and historical pitfalls, pointing a way forward that equips us with tools to carry future struggles forward to final victory.
From sharing an umbrella to joining the Party
A particularly stirring moment came when one comrade delivered a powerful speech, tracing her journey to the Party from a Palestine rally where a Party member offered her an umbrella. Self-critically, NYC comrades have at times allowed inclement weather to derail plans for outdoor agitation. Through steady rain that day a year ago we shared in the internationalist rage that brought thousands out to demonstrate. We learned to chant, just a bit, in Arabic that day. Energy ran high in our intergenerational group and the simple act of solidarity of a comrade sharing an umbrella led her to find a political home in the Party, and now, the rest is history. She is building a multiracial fightback against ICE, connecting students and workers across struggles. New comrades are reaching toward a new communist horizon. Her story deeply resonated with an audience full of people searching for a way to serve the working class. All comrades were reminded - WHAT YOU DO COUNTS!
With the energy from this event, we are now preparing for the May Day march with even greater momentum. About a hundred blank lists of twenty with organizing check marks were distributed and time was given for comrades and friends to fill them out. Club meetings and study groups have clear marching orders: 56 days left until May Day! The brunch made it clear—our movement is growing, our youth are engaged, and our commitment to smashing capitalism remains unwavering. The fight continues, and with every new face in the struggle, we move closer to a world free of exploitation and oppression. We move closer to communism. Onward to May Day!
The following is the opening speech delivered at a Progressive Labor Party (PLP) pre-May Day brunch in honor of the 114th celebration of International Working Women’s Day.
Thank you all for joining us today at our annual May Day brunch. This event is a special celebration for many reasons. First and foremost, our pre-May Day gathering coincides with the 114th celebration of International Working Women's Day (IWWD), a day to honor the historical struggle of women against capitalist exploitation and sexist oppression.
This year, it's no accident that our celebration coincides with IWWD. Like May Day, International Working Women's Day is a communist holiday, born from workers’ labor movements. IWWD has its roots in three pivotal strikes. The first, in 1909, was the garment workers' uprising, where 20,000 women demanded better working conditions. By 1911, a million workers across the globe were celebrating the day. However, it wasn’t until later that IWWD became firmly tied to the revolutionary communist movement. On March 8, 1917, women workers in what would later become the Soviet Union organized a mass strike against Russia's involvement in World War I. This strike helped ignite the Bolshevik Revolution.
Today, we observe IWWD against the backdrop of a global capitalist crisis and intensifying imperialist wars. The U.S. ruling class’s competition with China and Russia, internal divisions, and their endless scramble for profits is further exposing the brutal reality of their system. For over a century, liberal rulers have dominated U.S. imperialism, paving the way for fascism and giving rise to a new breed of capitalist gangsters, led by Donald Trump. Under his rule, we’ve seen open racist and sexist attacks, especially targeting women and migrants.
Migrant workers, many of whom are women and children fleeing domestic and state violence, are scapegoated. Attacks on abortion rights, essential government programs for women, and workers' rights—including those of trans workers and youth—are intensifying. From Sudan to Gaza, women make up 40 percent of the casualties in ongoing genocides.
Women workers leadership key to communist revolution
Despite these grim realities, IWWD serves as a reminder of the resilience and fightback of the working women who came before us. As the revolutionary feminist Alexandra Kollontai once said, IWWD is part of the long chain of the women’s proletarian movement. We inherit that tradition today. Across the globe, we see remarkable anti-sexist resistance led by women—whether it’s fighting police brutality, striking nurses, Amazon workers, or standing up against fascist deportations, racist displacement, and genocide.
What is urgently needed is the development of a global communist movement under the banner of the Progressive Labor Party (PLP). In contrast to the bosses’ whitewashed propaganda that celebrates bourgeois women like Hillary Clinton and Oprah Winfrey, the fight against sexism is inherently tied to the broader struggle for class liberation. When women fight for abortion rights, against sexist violence, for childcare, and for higher wages, they are not only fighting for themselves but for all workers and the elimination of gender roles. This fight benefits our entire class.
Our Party views the struggle against sexism as inseparable from the fight against racism. Black women workers are central to the revolution. The bosses' propaganda aims to divide us—separating men and women—but as communists, we believe that to destroy sexism, we must unite men and women. Men too are harmed by sexism, just as white workers suffer from racism.
In spite of this (war and fascism) the women fight
This brings us to the third reason for this year’s May Day theme: “Raising the Red Flag Against Fascism.” Today, we will hear from women workers who continue the fight against imperialism and fascism, drawing inspiration from historical figures like the women who led the underground resistance against the Nazis during World War I, the communist led apartheid movement, and other pro-communist women led underground resistance. The words of Black anti-racist and anti-sexist fighter Williana Borroughs resonate now more than ever: “…the atrocities of war and fascism loom much nearer. The misery, suffering and degree of exploitation under capitalism and in the colonies is very great. In spite of this, the women fight.”
These lessons are crucial as we navigate our own struggles today. Instead of feeling discouraged, let us commemorate the lessons and sacrifices of the brave working women who came before us. From Harriet Tubman to Claudia Jones, Lucy Gonzalez Parsons to Alexandra Kollontai, from the women soldiers in the Haitian Revolution to those who fought in the Paris Commune, and the women who led the Chinese and Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution—women workers have always held up half the sky and raised the banner against fascism. No successful movement for liberation has ever been led without women workers at the forefront.
Together, we can forge another link in the strong chain of women fighters, working to liberate all of humanity. This May Day, let’s raise the red flag against fascism and fight for a communist world free from sexist and racist violence and exploitation.
Read CHALLENGE, donate to the PLP, and join us today!
NEW YORK, Feb. 25—Tonight more than 100 union members and immigrant rights activists met to discuss how workers can combat President Donald Trump’s plans for mass deportations. The rulers are whipping up fascist anti-immigrant hysteria in preparation for wider wars and further attacks on citizens and immigrants alike. Building a fighting movement based on international solidarity, smashing all borders, and taking on local and federal police can build the base of the revolutionary communist Progressive Labor Party on many levels. This was one of dozens of meetings taking place across the area as workers and youth organize to fight back.
The head of the 28,000-member, mostly Muslim, NY Taxi Worker Alliance (NYTWA) opened the program describing how the migrant crisis has been caused by U.S. imperialism, through wars, poverty/sanctions, gangs and/or climate crisis. She described how NYTWA went on strike and shut down JFK International Airport during Trump’s first term when he announced his Muslim travel ban. More than 700 taxis refused to move, choking off the airport as thousands more activists rushed to JFK to oppose, and defeat the ban.
A leader of the United Auto Workers (UAW) spoke next about how legal-aid attorneys and legal service workers walked out and shut down the court system to stop ICE agents from patrolling the hallways looking for immigrants who were there on official court business, also during Trump’s first term. These strikes succeeded in keeping ICE out of the courts. A Service Employees International Union (SEIU) member described how 30 percent of all healthcare workers and 20 percent of home healthcare workers are immigrants and how these threats will affect far more than the immigrant workers being targeted.
The big contradiction here is that while many workers in many unions are open to defending immigrants and taking on Trump, the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO) leadership and most major unions are politically and financially tied to the Democratic Party that has paved the way for the fascist attacks on migrant workers. The big contradiction here is that while many workers in many unions are open to defending immigrants and taking on Trump, the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO) leadership and most major unions are politically and financially tied to the Democratic Party, which has paved the way for the attacks on migrant workers (see glossary on page 6). The Democrats built up the deportation apparatus that Trump used to deport our working-class siblings. Big liberal fascist President Barack Obama still holds the record for “deporter-in-chief.”
UAW President Shawn Fein, who was praised as a militant reformer, is supporting Trump’s tariffs and wrote in the Washington Post of his willingness to work with the new Fuhrer. And despite numerous plane crashes and the firings of thousands of federal workers, the AFL-CIO leadership has yet to call a national action in response. They don’t want us in the streets, they want us trapped in the voting booths and keep this violent system intact.
By taking this fight to our unions and mass organizations, on our jobs and in our schools and communities, we can help workers break away from this treacherous leadership and get on the road to revolution.
