NEW YORK CITY, November 29—About 80 protesters in the Upper West Side opposed Mayor Bill de Blasio’s plan to forcibly relocate workers from The Lucerne (hotel-turned-men’s shelter) to the financial district. Out of this struggle, workers and Progressive Labor Party members are learning two things: the potential power of working-class unity and the inability of this system to provide housing for all.
We demanded that the 5,500 homeless people currently in unsafe crowded shelters be placed in the empty hotel rooms for the duration of the pandemic. Today’s action came three days after we distributed hundreds of Thanksgiving meals to our Lucerne brothers, and four days after losing the legal battle. When the City sought to relocate workers, they sued the City to block the relocation. On November 25, Manhattan Supreme Court Judge Debra James ruled in favor of the relocation, paving the way for the forcible eviction of the nearly 200 homeless men from the hotel.
Displaced by the profit motive
The rising homeless numbers in NY State and the U.S. parallel the 70 million displaced refugees around the world. It is a sure sign that the racist profit system can never meet the needs of the international working class. And the enthusiastic support for the men at the Lucerne by people on the Upper West Side reflects that if given the chance, people give what they can to create a more equal and egalitarian world.
But such a world is impossible under capitalism, a system based on racist and sexist exploitation of the working class, rising inequality and wars for profit. Where there is profit, there is exploitation and where there is exploitation, there is no equality. We need communism where the many skills of the working class are harnessed and organized to meet people’s needs and potential. Out of this month’s long campaign, we are slowly building friendships that will build the Progressive Labor Party and the movement for communist revolution.
As one of the leaders of this struggle said after the NY State Supreme Court ruled against the Lucerne residents, “We won whether the City admits it or not because… the [Dept. of Homeless services] has been served notice. If you violate our humanity, we will fight you…we will keep fighting until we beat you, and until your broken system is replaced.”
This capitalist system in crisis has nothing to offer our class. Join the Progressive Labor Party and help us fight for a better world.