The Progressive Labor Party (PLP) collective in Mexico participated in a forum on dialectical materialism organized by teachers from the National Coordinator of Education Workers, as part of their pedagogical, philosophical, and political training. About 60 secondary school teachers and workers from other areas participated.
At the beginning of the meeting we thanked the attendees for their presence. We introduced ourselves as an international communist party made up of workers from all over the world that has always joined in the resistance of teachers against the bosses' attacks. We reported on the struggles the party has participated in and organized in Mexico, such as the strikes at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), at a car factory, and in neighborhoods in the Valley of Mexico.
Two comrades from the Party presented the laws and categories of dialectical materialism - a philosophy that equips us to make sense of the world and the reality in which we live in order to transform it. We criticized the superficial and pro-capitalist ideology pushed by the media, the universities, and all the think-tanks of the capitalist system. One teacher asked if UNAM was on that list. We responded that many of the leading cadres of the recent governments all trained at UNAM! We also argued that a distinction should be made between the students, professors, and workers who fight against the bureaucracy and the academic elite who control that bureaucracy  and serve the interests of the capitalist class.
To explain the categories of appearance and essence, we explained that the current liberal government of Morena, in appearance, is pro-working class but in essence, like all governments under the capitalist system, serves the interests of the ruling-class. As an example, we explained that social programs have been used to infiltrate communities, weaken their organization, and co-opt leaders to weaken resistance to President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador’s mega-projects: the Mayan train, the Dos Bocas refinery, and the Interoceanic Corridor that all represent the interests of local capitalists and imperialists, mainly from China and the United States.
A colleague asked how these categories could be applied to the teaching process which sparked a very important discussion. Teachers noticed that in appearance, students are trained so that they can complete a degree and find a "decent" job. But in essence few students “succeed,” making the educational system a failure for the working-class and beholden to the needs of the capitalist system. Teachers also questioned the current situation of the union. They pointed out that in appearance it is very combative and defends the interests of its members, but in essence it is paralyzed and does not fight.
When we talked about similarity and difference, we referenced how the Covid-19 pandemic has affected the working-class much more than the capitalist class. Although we are biologically and physiologically similar, our social and life conditions are very different. Our class could not stop working, particularly those of us who work in factories or in service industries. When we got sick, we did not have access to timely and quality medical services.
Then we reviewed the laws of dialectics. We talked about the contradictions present in natural and social processes. Though the main contradiction of capitalism exists between bosses and workers, currently what determines things in the world is the contradiction between the imperialists. We explained that contradictions are only resolved by intensifying them.
When we spoke of the negation of the negation, we described how capitalism had negated the previous social system, feudalism, and that communism would negate capitalism. Each historical change moved us towards a higher stage.
At the end we distributed our newspaper, CHALLENGE and invited teachers to join a PL study circle. Two teachers mentioned that the forum had helped them to understand many of the processes that took place in their communities, such as the appropriation of common land at the hands of private companies or the unhealthy quality of processed food made attractive by marketing. Participation in the forum motivated our collective and that night we made new plans to continue the dialectical process of building a new society – a communist society.