PORT-AU-PRINCE, HAITI, October 25—Students at the public and private universities, among others, marched through the streets of the capital city. For weeks on end, they have been engaging in increasingly militant fightback against the ruling class of Haiti, capitalism, and imperialism, which have brought worsening food shortages, unemployment and inflation to the already devastated working class here.
According to government reports (very skewed statistics that hardly show the breadth of the problem), at least 35 percent of workers in Haiti – over three million people – are facing a crisis when it comes to obtaining food (Miami Herald, 11/1). Every month, for one week at least, there’s been a full-stop general strike, and uprisings all over. For the last seven weeks, there has been no respite. Everyone is demanding the resignation of president Jovenel Moïse and a change of system.
Throughout, as always, our Progressive Labor Party (PLP) comrades and friends have been active participants. However, our task as communists in PLP is to clarify that the masses don’t need merely a change in the system—unless we specify that communism and an egalitarian society is the system that we want. We don’t want legislative seats—we want state power!
“We’ve had enough of this system of exploitation!”
Throughout today’s protests, the students and others confronted police, and armed and hooded paramilitary thugs who are responding with increasing violence. It has been reported that up to 700 demonstrators have been killed since the uprisings began last year.
The students attacked certain institutions which symbolize imperialist domination, like the Institut Français en Haiti (IFH). A bus belonging to the State University of Haiti, the vehicle used by the Dean of the School of Ethnology to run over a militant student, was burned. By the end of the day, the running battles had passed by the Law School, the School of Ethnology, and the main police station, where four students were arrested.
Alongside this march, several demonstrations were going on in different parts of the capital and in other towns. Neighbors of president Moïse told him to move out, since, they said, “We’ve never had thieves and criminals of your caliber in our neighborhood.”
PLP was present to give revolutionary communist leadership, as we have become well known to many students and militants. We oriented our speeches towards attacking the bosses and the capitalist system. We handed out a leaflet blaming the imperialist countries for the poverty and misery of Haiti, and concluded correctly that Haitian workers and students need a communist revolution to end this misery once and for all.
We got very positive responses from those who read our literature and heard our chants. One worker responded with, ““Hey, that’s good! A good leaflet. We have to upset the apple-cart (chauvirer la chaudière).” Another exclaimed, “We need another kind of state, a workers’ state! We’ve had enough of the system of exploitation!”
Liberals try to fool workers
The struggle here increasingly taken on the character of struggle between classes. The names of the big bosses and their corporations are buzzing around; people are aware that these are the barons of the social, economic and political system—capitalism. Attacks on businesses and the marches into the corporate areas of Delmas, and into Pétionville, the center of the Haitian and international bourgeoisie, testify to this.
As always, there are politician fakers that are trying to take advantage of the anti-capitalist movement here. Many of these misleaders are the very same politicians who have been serving the ruling class and the imperialists in the government all along. They are also responsible for the deplorable conditions that workers and students in Haiti are facing.
In fact, at least four of them had recently been called to Washington to meet with the U.S. State Department to get their marching orders. These sellouts cannot be trusted to “change” anything. Many of the phony leftists are supporting these traitors because they are willing to accept a few reforms as they try to rob the workers of their militancy and lead them away from revolutionary communism.
Put capitalism in its grave with communist revolution
The economic and political crisis here in Haiti and everywhere can’t be expected to improve as long as capitalism and imperialism exist. In fact, it can only be expected to get worse as economic crisis worsens around the world and the major imperialist powers like the United States, Russia, and China prepare themselves for the next global war.
As communists we need to continue winning the masses away from liberal fascism and towards the end of capitalism through violent revolution and workers’ power. We can convert the class struggle into class war against the bosses. Then, our international PLP and its Red Army will be the force that finally puts this profit system of poverty, exploitation and war in its grave for good.